... particularly those that belong to my octogenarian mom, because they don't appear to make a difference, despite the large price tag, much to the frustration of everyone around her. (It's unclear how much she is aware of the issue.)
My mom has a pair of Rexton hearing aids that cost her upwards of $2K. I'm suspicious of them for 2 reasons - first, after having spent the last week with her, I've seen ample evidence that she really can't hear that well when they are in her ears. Clearest example of this - I was on the phone with someone, the connection was 100% fine, I had no trouble hearing the speaker on the other end. I then handed the phone to my mom, and she couldn't hear a thing. Additionally, there were countless instances where, despite the fact that we were in an otherwise silent environment, she simply did not hear the conversation that was taking place around her. Her BF confirms that this is how things have been for sometime. The hearing aids don't seem to make a difference.
Second: a few weeks ago, she lost one of these hearing aids. This gets to the crux of what I don't understand - she didn't notice that it had fallen out for hours. Now, these hearing aids are very small, so I can sort of understand that it doesn't feel that different whether they are in your ear or not - it's not like there's a big clunky piece of machinery clipped on to the back of her ear. But what I can't wrap my brain around is that she didn't notice a difference in her ability to hear after the hearing aid fell out. Surely that must be a sign that it's not working properly, right?
While I was with her this week, she scheduled an appointment with her audiologist. I went along and asked some questions, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the answers, so I thought I'd put it to the Green to see if anyone has any experience or wisdom that they can share.
My frame of reference has been contact lenses, which I've worn for years. There is no way that I could fail to notice if one had fallen out - I wouldn't be able to see! But apparently hearing aids are different - the audiologist explained to me that it's not simply a matter of finding the proper setting (prescription?) once and for all, after which you are good to go. I'm lead to believe that hearing aids require periodic settings tweaks to let your brain adjust to them. And it's not just a volume up or down kind of thing - different frequencies can be adjusted in order to clarify different sounds and de-emphasize others.
So apparently the contact lens comparison falls apart, because, with lens, you just find the right prescription and go about your business. OK, I get that. But that still doesn't answer my question about how a $1000 hearing aid can fall out of my mom's hear without her noticing - and, according to the audiologist, this still falls within the parameter of normal functioning.
I also understand that, when the audiologist sets up the hearing aids, she is dependent on my mom to tell her how it sounds - if things are more clear, too loud, etc. This makes me think again of eye exams, which frankly I hate - you know, where they ask you to read small letters on the wall with a few different prescriptions in order to determine which is best for you. Sometimes there's an obvious difference, but not always. To make matters worse, my mom is a people-pleaser - it's not hard for me to imagine her getting anxious with the audiologist and giving answers that she thinks are expected of her. This is heartbreaking, of course, and makes me want to try that much harder to help her.
Anyway - does any this make sense? Does it jibe with anyone else's experience with hearing aids? Is there anything else I can do to try to improve the way my mom's hearing aids are performing? |
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