[Dixielandjazz] RE: hearing aids

[Bill Horton]

I've read with interest comments about hearing aids by Don Ingle, Tito
Marino and others.  My hearing problem comes not from sitting close to drums
onstage, but from cutting fuses too short when blowing up German pillboxes.
Absorbing a lot of left hooks when I was a boxer didn't help, either.

I'm in my second generation of hearing aids, and must add my tuppence on the
subject.

There are 3 basic types: In the canal, in the ear, and behind the ear.  The
"canal" types are virtually invisible but, despite being more expensive, are
not as efficient as the "ear" types, which provide the best results.

I had an uncle with lousy hearing who put the little earpiece of a
transistor radio in his ear and tucked the end of the cord into his shirt
pocket.  I remarked that that couldn't possibly help his hearing and he
replied, "Oh but it does.  When people see that cord coming from my ear they
all talk louder!"

Someone commented that they got an aid for the poorer one of their ears.
This seems logical and it is what I did when I first bought one.  However, I
learned later that, logic be damned, if you're getting just one, you should
get it for your better-hearing ear.  I have my poorer ear pumped up about as
far as it will go and it doesn't help much.  However, I get very good
results from the aid in my "good" ear.  It's the left one, which I use for
the telephone, and has a tiny button I press to put it on a different
program so that I don't get feedback.  It's a great feature.  Before, I
would get feedback and have to remove the aid.  I'd always forget to put it
back until I needed it for normal conversation, then couldn't find where I'd
left it.

I've talked to many with hearing aids of different brands and quality, and
all have the same complaint:  they just don't work well in places where
there is a lot of background conversation and noise.  Maybe some day the
engineers will come up with a solution to this problem, but that isn't
today.

It is very difficult to decide which brand is best for you.  I devised a
test that's too long to describe here, but will send it off-list for anyone
who sends me a personal request.

Bill Horton