Went to the audiologist today...

[kimwim8]

...and wow are hearing aids expensive!

I only need one, for my left ear, and it's gonna cost me at least $2000!!! That is for one that goes into the canal of my ear (not completely in the canal...that's even more money).

I'm gonna wait til January, when I can start up a new medical flexible spending account at work, and use pre-tax money. I've waited for years to go and get one...a few more months isn't gonna hurt anything!

I am going to do some more research and shopping around, but wow, I was thinking about half that much! Why oh why doesn't my insurance help out???:

Thanks for listening! I guess I just needed to get that out in the open.

 

[missypie]

Don't know how old you are, but I'm proud of you for going and taking care of the issue. People are very willing to wear glasses, but lots of folks would rather die than wear a hearing aid. DH's whole family is so deaf...DH is getting deafer by the year and he won't even consider going to an audiologist. He just thinks we're all talking way too soft. (I used to teach deaf and hard of hearing kids. I got so used to seeing hearing aids that I didn't even notice them. If everyone who needed a hearing aid wore won, none of us would notice them.)

 

[Dan Murphy]

So true, Kim, about the flex account, at least save on the tax portion. My best and hope all works out and you are hearing just great real soon.

 

[kimwim8]

Missypie - I am 30 and believe me I'm not happy about wearing a hearing aid. I am pretty much only looking at the completely in the canal models. Nothing against older people, but why does all of the hearing aid literature have to have silver haired people pictured??That just makes me feel a little worse!

I just came to the realization that my quality of life without one was no where near what it will be with one. (I've gotten so tired of hearing myself say "excuse me" or "what", and I'm sure the people close to me are tired of it too!

Thanks for the well wishes. If anyone out there has one, I'd love to hear from you!

 

[missypie]

You are so right...I don't think I've ever seen hearing aid ads that featured anyone under about 65!

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

kimwim8, may I be bold and ask a personal question?

What led to your need for a hearing aid at 30? The reason I ask is that I have some recurring hearing problems and am working up the courage to see a doctor about it. I am worried that they might tell me that I, am indeed, losing my hearing. I had many ear problems as a child (repetative ear tubes, holes in my ear drum, ear infections...always had something or another going on) and had hoped all that was behind me. I am 32 and am curious about your situation. If you don't want to share, that's okay...and I hope I am not asking too personal a question.

 

[huey duey & luey]

Im sorry they are so expensive and not covered by ins. My dad had one, but never wore it. He used to say it was so he couldnt hear my mother when she told him how much she paid for something. So maybe its a good thing to wait until after your WDW trip, you can just pretend you did not hear the amount and who could dispute you
Tara

 

[mickeyfan1]

Hearing loss is not just for the "older" generation. Whn I was 26 or so, I noticed that I couldn't hear my son if he was up in his bedroom and I was down one flight in the kitchen. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Otosclerosis, which is easy language meant I had a build up of calcium on the bones in my ears that kept them from moving. The sounds were not being tranmited from my ear drum to my inner ear. I had about an 80 percent loss in my right ear and about 60 in my left. Hearing aids would not help as the sound would still go no where. In 1983 I had 2 of the bones in my right ear removed and replaced with a piece of Teflon wire. 2 weeks later I had the packing removed from my ear and I could hear! I could hear the birds singing, I hadn't realized that I hadn't heard that in years as my loss was gradual. I finally had my left ear done in 1997, the surgery has changed, and now I have a titanium wire in my left ear. While I don't have 100% in either ear, it is still better than before. Unfortunately, I will still lose my hearing eventually. THe calciu, will grow on the artficial bones and cause them to stop moving, and the surgery is a one time shot.

Now as to why insurance won't cover hearing aids, this is a big issue with AARP and other advocacy groups. You can get vision insurance to pay for corrective lenses, but no one will pay for you to hear. Or even help. Let me tell you, if you have ever walked into a room of stranger and you can't hear anything, it is really bad. Being deaf or hard of hearing is an invisble handicap. I hope in the future insurance will start to cover hearing aids.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I used to wear hearing aids, but i got a cochlear implant about a year and a half ago, so i don't wear them anymore(the implant is a long story that wasn't suppossed to happen). Yes it is unfortunate that ins. doesn't cover them, lord knows mine were never covered. But i gotta ask, why on earth are you comparing the glasses? I wear glasses too, and hell, they're cheap compared to hearing aids. A couple hundred compared to a couple tousand(minimum) seems like comparing oranges and apples to me, especially since glasses get cheaper or at least stay in the same general range, while hearing aids just go up.

I'm not defending ins. companies btw, would be great if they covered the aids, but I have to admit we don't hear much about the changing technology of eye glasses, while the technology of hearing aids is growing on a fairly rapid scale. The 2 of them seem a moot comparison to me is all.

 

[kimwim8]

kimwim8, may I be bold and ask a personal question?

Not too personal...nothing I did to cause it!

I had the ear tubes twice: once at 5yrs old & again at 7. I needed the tubes b/c of lots and lots of infections...some so bad I would bleed from the ears. The tubes helped a LOT when they were in. When I had the second set...the right tube fell out when it should (somewhere between 6 months & a year) but the left tube never did. My ENT at the time decided, since it was working...leave it in. 7 years later, when I was 14, he decided it should probably come out. They removed it, and then a few days later, I was screaming in pain & bleeding from the ear again...turns out the artificial patch they used to close my ear drum came off! So they put me under AGAIN and grafted skin from my neck & patched it again.

Long story short (too late ha ha) I have a lot of scar tissue in that ear. The ENT (different one) I went to this year said he thinks my hearing loss is from so many infections as a child - not the tube being in there so long. I tend to think it is a little of both.

Like I said in a pp...I'm finally at the point where, yes I can function with the way I am now, but I feel drained from trying so hard to hear, even in one-on-one conversations. Group settings - forget it! I work in an office of a million cubes, and it's effecting my concentration at work.

I wish you all the luck in the world & if I can do it, you can too! It's not easy to have the dr. confirm that you have hearing loss...but we can get through it together!

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I never even thought about the possibility of scar tissue causing hearing loss...my dr. always comments on the fact that he can tell I had lots of ear troubles as a child...I guess he can see the scar tissue?

I am going to get it checked out. I am tired of having to compensate for not hearing well...I end up looking stupid in group conversations (and one-on-one ones, too) by covering up the fact that I can't hear well...will answer non yes/no questions with "yes" or "no" or answer yes/no questions with strange answers...I can tell by people's quizzical looks that it doesn't make sense. I thank you again for posting your post...I am glad to know that I am not the only young woman out there constantly saying "What?" and need to find out what's going on!

 

[lmj]

I am an audiologist and I do fit hearing aids. I would be happy to answer any questions or give you more info about hearing aids if you would like. Just let me know.

 

[Microcell]

My sisters have been deaf since birth, and at least hearing aids have gotten better! They used to squeal like the dickens! I do know that the state helped pay for my sisters aids as kids, but I think they stop as adults. My sister was talking about it the other day and I asked why the state was no longer helping her and she said she makes too much money. You could check into that -deaf service orginizations. Like I said Voc rehab in our state helped my sisters get aids, lighted alarms and doorbells when they were in college.

I understand comparing glasses to Hearing aids, because while they cost $2000 they last longer than $2000 worth of glasses in some vision impared people! My glasses retailed at $700.00 last time. Thank goodness I work for an Ophthomologist so they were cheaper!!