If you missed our March 2025 HOPE support meeting, here are the notes. This month, we focused on the power of telling others about your hearing loss, neckloops, being persistent with a new cochlear implant, and more.
For more information on our free, online HOPE program to help people with hearing loss, visit our HOPE page.
The Power of a Friend Who Understands Hearing Loss
A participant with hearing loss shared her experience of traveling with a lifelong friend. The friend not only understands the participant’s hearing loss, she takes time to be an ally and understands listening fatigue and the need for downtime, and more. Having a friend like that made the trip much more enjoyable.
The group noted that communication behavior is often unconscious, and it’s also OK to remind people of what we need.
Accidental Loss of Hearing Aids
One participant mentioned that after a contractor visited his space, one hearing aid was missing from his hearing aid box. The hearing aid was lost for quite a while, but fortunately they did find it behind a dresser, and it still worked. Perhaps it was an accident or just carelessness, but it was upsetting to the participant. Other participants expressed empathy.
Some new hearing aids have a system that helps you find them if you lose them, kind of like an Apple AirTag.
Telling Others You Have a Hearing Loss Can Change Everything
A participant mentioned that it’s helpful to tell others that she has a hearing loss, but that she’s had to train herself not to apologize for it.
Participants agreed that hearing loss is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed by. A participant suggested apologizing for something else, perhaps, but not the hearing loss (“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I have a hearing loss. Could you please repeat that?” or “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you I have a hearing loss.”)
Another participant wears a nametag that has her name and “I’m friendly but I may not hear you” written on it. She mentioned that simply outing herself opens up discussions about her hearing loss. Doing so also gives her a kind of permission to interrupt them if needed, and it reminds them to get her attention before talking to her. Simply being “out loud” with her hearing loss has dramatically changed the relationships she makes with people in public. Another participant agreed that life got easier when she started disclosing her hearing loss–others realized she was not rude or uninterested.
Assistive Listening System at a City Council Meeting
One participant noted that she asked to use the assistive listening system for a city council meeting. They prepared for her by charging the RF unit, which she used with her neckloop and telecoil. It made a huge difference in how well she heard, though she still missed what was said on Zoom. The council chambers had no signage, so she followed up with an email asking them to put up a sign and to work on the connections so people can hear what’s said on Zoom. Hearing accessibility on hybrid meetings is a widespread problem.
Help with a New Cochlear Implant: Keep Trying
A participant got a cochlear implant a few months ago and is still struggling with speech recognition. Another participant empathized, noting it took a while for her CIs to work well, too. She recommended AngelSound, an auditory training program you can do at home on your computer. This free program helps you differentiate sounds, like a bell ringing vs. a baby crying. Some cochlear implant manufacturers also offer training that might help. Another participant said listening to books on tape while reading the words really helped her. It can take six months for a year for your CI to really work well, so the participant was given encouragement and support to keep trying.
Some other auditory training programs that may help:
- Amptify App Click Here
- Cochlear America training exercises Click Here
- Lace AI Pro* Click Here (see below for discount)
- Meluda music training-MED-EL Users Click Here
- MED-EL AI Assistant training Click Here
- Neurotone AI Click Here
- LACE, Lifetime license, $170 Discount Code=DRCLIFF: Click Here
Hearing Better During Travel Abroad: Try a Neckloop
A participant is going to Portugal. Other participants suggested bringing a neckloop to connect to assistive listening systems and asking whether venues have hearing loops that connect directly with the telecoil in his hearing aid. Headphones can also be helpful, like on tours.
There are two kinds of neckloops–passive ones and ones that have volume control, and it can be helpful to experiment with both. Inexpensive neckloops are available on eBay. Neckloops can be plugged into lots of sound sources, even televisions, computers, iPhones, audio books, and so on. Another participant shared her experience traveling in Portugal: She plugged her neckloop into the bus’s sound system. At museums, she also downloaded Bluetooth apps onto her smartphone.
Another suggestion: attach a microphone to a telescoping pointer and point it toward the person who is talking. Captions on smartphones can also help: BigText is great for IOS. Nagish is another option for captioning cellphone calls.
Regular Audiology Checkups Can Help
A participant shared that she saw her audiologist for a checkup, and the hearing in her CIs had dropped. The audiologist reprogrammed them, and now the participant hears much better. To help relieve her anxiety about losing the ability to hear during an outage, her audiologist also suggested a “power outage kit” that would include her old processor, just in case.