Shopsmith Forums

dusty wrote:The only time that it is this quiet around here is when I first get up in the morning, while I am having my first cup of coffee.

My hearing aid has gone south. I have no hearing in one ear and very little in the other. The doctor tells me that it is most likely due to my exposure to jet noise from the engine test stands. The Air Force and VA tell me that it is not service related therefore the hearing aid is mine to pay for.

If you are paying for your hearing aids, I highly recommend checking out the MDHearingAid Air hearing aids. https://www.mdhearingaid.com/shop/mdhearingaid-air/

I have been using these MD hearing aides for many years. I have been very pleased with these cheaper price hearing aids and feel they are better than any of the much higher price hearing aids I have had in the past. I much prefer the over the ear hearing aids to the in-ear ones. They have been through the washing machine a few times and still work but not a recommend way to clean them. I am happy to answer any hearing aid questions and give my opinion as I have used hearing aids for more than 40 years now.

So from what all you have said, Medicare does not cover hearing aids?

That is correct. Medicare does not cover hearing aids, as they aren't seen as medically necessary.

According to the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) “Medicare doesn't cover routine hearing exams, hearing aids, or exams for fitting hearing aids.” It will, however, cover certain diagnostic hearing tests.Jun 22, 2015

roopurt5 wrote:That is correct. Medicare does not cover hearing aids, as they aren't seen as medically necessary.

According to the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) “Medicare doesn't cover routine hearing exams, hearing aids, or exams for fitting hearing aids.” It will, however, cover certain diagnostic hearing tests.Jun 22, 2015

This is correct, I just went through this for mom and her very good Audiologist, Also depending on hearing loss/damage a hearing aid is just that, an aid, and cant bring things to normal, just can help improve hearing, but not all tones depending on the damage to hearing.

Let me back up a it, after mom spent about 20 minutes in the booth with head phones on and his trained voice pronouncing certain words and at different volume levels, and recording them and her responses to what the words were that she thought she heard, she got 60% correct.
The Hearing Aid he recommended and felt comfortable for her was a behind the ear one, she hated an in the ear one. It was $1200 model, he said he could sell her a $3600 one BUT it would not do anything more for her type of hearing loss to improve it. Also the price includes all future visits/adjustment too it, which she has been back about 4 times, to increase the volume and tone control, since you have to do it gradually because you were not hearing anything b4 in hear case unless yelling.

dusty wrote:The only time that it is this quiet around here is when I first get up in the morning, while I am having my first cup of coffee.

My hearing aid has gone south. I have no hearing in one ear and very little in the other. The doctor tells me that it is most likely due to my exposure to jet noise from the engine test stands. The Air Force and VA tell me that it is not service related therefore the hearing aid is mine to pay for.

Dusty sorry to hear that, no pun intended, I bet they can write you off on that IF no hearing test was done at discharge to evaluate any normal hearing loss from normal do to your MSO. I am no expert on that. Just my guess, but take the time to push it if you so desire, I mean, only an idiot would think no loss doing jet engine test stands even with the best hearing protection.

I guess we all wish we had something different to live with. I have tinnitus in my left ear. It is NEVER quiet. The ringing is at about 4700Hz if I remember right, maybe it was 4300??? They have a tone generator and when you get to "your" tone you can't hear it.

While I'd like to blame the army it actually showed up after I had an ear infection and took antibiotics. I can's say for sure the 81mm mortars or rifle fire was a bad thing or a good thing for it or if that is a contributing factor. I've never tried getting any comp from the government so who knows what they would say but for now I don't care.

I think it has been about 20 years now, it helps to have some cover noise. Tried all sort of things but as my Dr. has said they don't have a cure. About once a year I bring it up and that is about as far as it gets.

If anyone wants to sneak up on me all they have to do is find the right frequency to hide behind.

Just checked it is 4300, here is what I hear 24/7/365:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlJoUwXAZbM

Ed

Guess I am fortunate. That is a factor of two above my upper limit.

I recently experienced a sudden loss of high-frequency hearing in my right ear. It seemed to coincide with a very minor ear infection, no pain, but a touch of pressure and vertigo. The vertigo went away after a day or two, but not the hearing loss. So after a week or so, I made an MD appointment, but couldn't get in to see my regular doc on short notice. After first offering some vertigo pills (which I no longer needed, and never really did), the substitute doc said really helpful things such as "now that's just weird", "I can't see your inner ear with this scope", and "try taking some Sudafed". Been wondering if I should see the regular doc anyway, to get an audiologist referral. I mostly just notice the difference in the "color" of white noise, especially when getting in the shower.

After seeing this thread, It dawned on me that there are probably online audio tests out there. Sure 'nuff. The Beltone test seems designed mostly to generate sales leads, but fortunately they don't seem to think I'm a good prospect.

But here is a clean & simple online test that doesn't try to collect personal info. I took it using my good Klipsch earbuds. With my left ear, the tone fades out around 8500 Hz, which is fairly typical for my (soon-to-be 58) age. But the right ear fades out at about 4500 Hz.

How do you guys score on that test?

Cymbals don't sound right at all now to my right ear. I have no military experiences to blame, although that ear did ring for a few years as a teenager, after an M80 (chucked in my general direction by my brother) exploded about three feet away. Hard to see how that would cause sudden loss some 40 years later.

I now have a temporary solution until I can get appointments and receive a new hearing aid. I bought two "sound level amplifiers" at Walgreens. They are less than perfect but at least I can hear when I am being spoken to. The problem with these is that I need to be almost looking right directly at the sound source. No filtering - just amplification.

When I type, it sounds as though I am pounding on the keyboard. There is sort of an echo with every sound (at least the ones I hear ).