I’m hard of hearing AMA

doodlesmom

Wed, Dec 23 2020, 6:48 pm

Wow! Your life gets more interesting and inspiring every time you post! Amazing!

Sprinkles1

Wed, Dec 23 2020, 7:00 pm

Did it affect your speech?

Ima Piano

Wed, Dec 23 2020, 7:02 pm

Do u wear cochlear implants

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 12:25 am

GLUE wrote:

How about cell phones?

Do you have a problem hearing on them?

Not usually.
Unless the person talks really fast.

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 12:27 am

Sprinkles1 wrote:

Did it affect your speech?

I guess it did
I didn’t “talk” until the end of kindergarten. When I started I had a lot of trouble expressing myself.

I had speech therapy till 8th grade.

I don’t remember what was done there though.

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 12:28 am

Ima Piano wrote:

Do u wear cochlear implants

No usually people with severe hearing loss wear those. Or if they’re nearly deaf.

amother

Pearl

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 1:00 am

Hashem_n_Farfel wrote:

What kind of things did you work on in speech?

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 2:34 am

I barely remember to be honest. It was a long time ago :/

advocate

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 7:00 am

Do you use closed captions?

Do you wish there were more Jewish videos with captions?

Shabbat.com. Rabbi Juravel in the Parsha section! In this week's Parsha, Vayigash, he mentions Cushim ben Dan who was "a little bit deaf"

All the best!

WitchKitty

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 9:09 am

Can I ask a lot of questions? I'll delete if you mind.

Did anyone ever insult you with this?
Do you remember missing out on anything because you're hearing impaired?
When you take off your hearing aids on shabbos and can't turn it off, do they still make that horrible screeching sound? If yes, do you hear it? Where do you put it?
Are you friends with others like you?
Does it have a genetic component?
Does your husband take off his mask to talk to you? Does he even wear one?
Do you know if it's hard to manage with a mask that has elastic around the ears- how can you put on both that and a hearing aid?
Do you ever have fears that you might not hear something, like your kids, or a fire alarm, or whatever?
Am I horrible for asking all this?
I never even knew I had all these questions embarrassed

ShishKabob

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 11:23 am

Did it affect your learning in school? were you able to hear or understand the teachers?

amother

Cerulean

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 11:38 am

Hashem_n_Farfel wrote:

No usually people with severe hearing loss wear those. Or if they’re nearly deaf.

There is a newer type of implant called a hybrid implant that is used for people with severe hearing loss in certain frequencies.
For example, the high frequencies are heard through the device, while the low frequencies can be heard naturally.
I am a candidate for this a I have severe hearing loss in one range of frequencies, but near normal hearing in the other range (and the regular hearing aids were unsuccessful due to the severity).

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 2:57 pm

advocate wrote:

Yes and yes lol.

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 3:15 pm

WitchKitty wrote:

Whew!

Eh in school I was just asked “what are those things in your ears?” “What’s wrong with your ears”
“Do you have a volume button?”

I think I did miss out on a couple stuff. Actually before corona I was at a shiur about tznius I think and the lady was talking about loving your fellow Jew and all I heard was “tshstf” she spoke in a whisper and I barely understood her and sadly that was one speech I really wanted and needed to hear!!!!

Don’t have hearing aids at the moment but when I was a child I had those horrid bulky ones that the mold goes into the ear and the earpiece goes behind the ear and when I took it off it would squeak and whistle lol.

Nope don’t know anybody with hearing loss here.

Lol at home we don’t wear a mask and he speaks loud enough for me to hear. He’s normal hearing.

I don’t have hearing aids but maybe I hope to get the ones that go into the canal. Looks more “normal” and besides I think my shaitel would hide it. If I was still dressing Williamsburg style with a chasidish tichel it wouldn’t be worth it to get hearing aids....because when I used to wear that my hearing was even worse because my ears were covered by the foam thingy and the silk scarf.
So switching to a shaitel was a good idea. The best idea. BH.

funny. I actually made a post about it a while back about my son crying for me in a store and people started ganging up on me because even tho I did hear my son it was a bit tricky to get to him because of all the people there and the strollers too. I think I may have deleted it though. I did feel crappy for a good few hours. From then on if I can’t get the stroller past near the front door because of really narrow aisles or too many people I take my son and shop that way. If he’s not sleeping. People still may not agree with this practice (I live in Boro park where it’s so common...usually there’s someone watching the babies) and I used to judge the mothers for doing that....but that’s a different subject. BH my son has a unique high pitched cry so I recognize it and go to him.
But sirens and fire alarms, I can hear those easily BH. I wonder how loud they must be for normal hearing people because when I hear a siren like from an ambulance or fire truck (don’t remember which one) it’s crazy loud and bothers me.

NO YOU ARE NOT! ask away!!

Also no problem hehe.

PeanutMama

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 3:16 pm

ShishKabob wrote:

Did it affect your learning in school? were you able to hear or understand the teachers?

I always sat at the front. In high school tho lol I sat in the back because I wanted to (unless we had assigned seats...). In elementary school I always sat up front and kinda hated my teachers for that lol. I wanted to sit near my friends....

FranticFrummie

Thu, Dec 24 2020, 3:56 pm

Can I chime in? I don't want to hijack OP, I just want her to know that she's not alone.

I lost most of my hearing due to a high fever when I was 3. I taught myself how to lipread before anyone realized I couldn't hear.

On my report cards, I always got comments like "Doesn't pay attention in class, daydreams too much." I'm pretty sure I only heard half of what was going on.

My parents finally figured out that I was hard of hearing. My mom learned sign language, and we used it around the house. She went on to be one of the top rated interpreters in the country. I use my hands a lot when I talk, and I have some basic signs I mix in to help get my points across. I've forgotten a lot of the signs, but I do sign in my sleep!

Mask wearing is horrible for me. I am extremely dependent on lip reading, and in Israel understanding accented English makes it even harder. Everyone sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04

My biggest problem is men's voices. I can hear the volume, but I can't hear distinct sounds. It sounds like they are underwater. On the other hand, I can hear a clock ticking a mile away, and it drives me crazy!

I am in the process of getting hearing aids, but every time I get an appointment (that has to be booked months in advance) there ends up being another lockdown.

I am completely dependent on subtitles. I also use noise canceling headphones if the volume is too low. I need both sounds and words to put the whole thing together. This is why I can't listen to books on tape, or podcasts.

Cell phones are a nightmare! Sometimes if I can't hear well, I pretend I'm getting bad reception, and hang up. It depends on who I'm talking to, of course. Wink

Facebook video chat and texting have been sanity savers for me. I'd be lost without them.

I had speech therapy as a child, and I have perfect diction and enunciation. When people speak crisply and clearly, I am incredibly grateful.

Do NOT try to talk to me when I am not in the room. This is my number one pet peeve. The only answer I will give you is "I can't hear you." If it's important enough to say, it's important enough to get off your butt, come over, and say it to my face so I can lipread. Otherwise, you are just being rude.

I could be right around the corner and just a few feet from you, but if I can't see you, I can't hear you. You'd be amazed at how many people just can't get that through their heads.

Something that most people don't understand, is that there are different types of hearing loss. In my case, I don't need anyone to be louder, I need people to be clearer. Yelling at me will still sound like a mumbled mess, but louder.

BTW, if you yell at me in Hebrew, I still won't understand what you are saying. If I don't understand your Hebrew at regular volume, I won't understand it at full volume. You might as well yell at me in Chinese, for all the good it's going to do.

One more thought about lipreading. If you wear dark lipstick it helps a LOT. For signing, no nail polish please, and wear a dark, solid colored shirt.

WitchKitty

Fri, Dec 25 2020, 7:40 am

All of you who can lipread- just know that you are the only ones who can understand anyone at a wedding!
I found it so much fun to talk to my friend at a wedding because I didn't have to scream.
I had no idea what she was saying though.

H&F- thanks for answering!