HA Diary - Day Two - The Fun Zone

Everybody has to visit their fun zone, now and then - and of course, a Saturday evening is one of the best times.

Mine is called "The Graduate" and it's in easy walking distance (a good thing, since I don't drive) from my home.

All day long, while doing my chores, I worked - in anticipation of visiting my fun zone - to get my right ear in shape (recall: fungus infection) to strut into my fun zone with both ears blazing.
I succeeded! With diligence of cleanliness, and some Tinactin cream, I beat that bully back to a NO SYMPTOM state!

I then engaged my new BTEs on the directional, noise canceling program, about half volume (like yesterday), and made my way down the boulevard.

It wasn't long before I met my first "customer" - a guy by a crossing light, wanted to borrow my cell phone for a quick call. It took about 3 tries for him to get through to me (at first, I thought he wanted money), but eventually I got that he only wanted to borrow some cell time (and he seemed to be willing to pay for it too - but I deferred).

So score about 50% for that one - not too good, but this guy had no clue he needed to work me.

So now, enter The Graduate - a blue collar bar & grill not far from where I live. I'm white collar by profession, but blue collar in personality, and so it fits me pretty well. I'm crazy about their rib-eye steak sandwich, which (if the right guy is on the grill) they do to perfection.

I won't claim "Cheers" here, but everybody behind the bar really does know my name. ;)

Dennis greets me in his usual fashion, and doesn't hesitate after a thumbs up validation to make me my fav (I'll leave that to your imagination).

I ask him - do you see them? (pointing at my ears)

"No!"

So I turn my head to show them.

He asks "So is it better?"

And I tell him the truth. I'll have to work it for awhile - I have a pretty good program set up - very directional - if I look right at you, I can understand you better, but most of the ambient noise is muffled.

Dennis has been one of my best allies (I guess he has good reason - I'm pretty good with tips ) in dealing with my hearing issues. He's been happy to go get my food orders for me when they call it over the intercom - it's always dicey whether I'll recognize.

Everyone goes to their fun zone for a reason.

My reason showed up about an hour after I got there.

Eva.

There she was, acknowledging me. I asked her the same question - see them?

"What?" (showed) "Oh, you got them already!" - Same questions, same answer, of course.

I should tell you a little about Eva. I strongly suspect that Eva is the Matriarch of a BFEA (Black Folks Escort Agency). I have no proof. It's just intuition. ;)

Eva is perpetually busy on the cell phone. Eva has long and winding and passionately crazy conversations on said cell phone (details, I can't know, but emotions, I can read well). Eva comes to the bar, drinks a few drinks, and then really has to go.

So why would Eva be a "reason"?

Eva talks to me. Eva doesn't mind that she has to repeat. Eva feels me out for a thought (repetitively if she must). Some people are good, even if they're not that good. 'Nuff said.

My score (hearing ) with Eva was about 75%. It's better than it was before BTE.

The TV I couldn't hear, but that's not unusual, even before I was HOH.

Eventually, I wound it down, and decided (before I got too stupid) to call it an evening. Back home I came, to write this entry into my HA diary.

Whatever you get from this, I'm glad you got it. :)

Paul S

Hearing Aid Diary - Day One - My First Experience

Hopefully, this diary will help others who are new to the HA (hearing aid) experience - and keep my friends and family updated on my progress as well. My blogging friends are welcome to link to it.

Today, at 2:30 p.m., after a nervous 1 transfer bus ride across town (Sacramento) from work (nervous you would understand if you frequented city buses - the schedules of which can be somewhat unpredictable), I was greeted by my now familiar audiologist, and introduced to my first ever pair of HAs - Siemens Centra S BTEs (behind the ear).

My Audi recommended binaural (two aids) because to both of our surprise, my "thought dead" right was actually adding significantly to my speech recognition (SR), and so it's worthwhile to equip both.

To cut to an obvious set of questions, these HAs have the following features:

Fully digital, multi-programmable (I have 3 programs).
T-coil
Multiple microphones (directional and omni)
Automatic situational adjustment (volume and directional feature)
Learning: Will adapt each program to user volume preferences over time
Remote control of program and volume ("ePocket")
Tiny and nearly invisible! Front view in mirror astounded me - never expected that for a BTE!
External input (e.g., FM)
"e2e" wireless technology - volume/program adjustments for L/R can track each other (you can also defeat it)

Yes, Virginia, they ain't cheap. ;)

My audi had them set up beforehand with 3 programs: 1 - Good Days - omnidirectional limited volume, 2 - Noisy Environments - highly directional, 3 - Bad Days - full volume range, omnidirectional.

She spent about an hour with me, teaching, testing and (slight) tweaking - didn't want to tweak too much on the first visit, as there's much adjusting this 49 year old brain needs to do first. She promised we'll tweak more next visit, once I find my performance pattern on different kinds of days.

For my nearly dead ear, we'll eventually settle on a "fixed" program, once we find out what works best. The "variable better" L will stay dynamic, to account for that variability.

Ok, now for the important part - my hearing experience. Based on my first day, I'm guardedly optimistic - I did notice an improvement, but of course, it wasn't the perfect hearing experience everyone hopes for (and probably nobody gets). My SR with the audi definitely improved once I got the program and volume settings right. Too much volume, and my right goes nuts with distortion (as expected from experience with ALDs), but I can trim it to an acceptable point where my SR is quite good (today wasn't a particularly bad hearing day though - we'll see when I have a really bad one).

I was quite happy, though, when walking home from my bus stop, with my program set to 2 (noise reduction, directional), and the volume in the middle; neighbors doing the "howdy do" came through with almost perfect SR - and one of them was 20 feet away! If you knew what my normal experience is, you'd be as amazed as I was.

There's always gotta be one glitch, and this one is partly my fault (haven't gotten to the doctor yet) - I've got an annoying recurring fungal infection in my right, that I have to get taken care of before I can continue wearing the R HA. Audi insisted I clean the earmold with a magic pad she gave me on removal, and don't put it back in until the doc blows his magic powder in my ear and knocks the fungus out.

Well at least now I'm motivated to demand a fast appointment. :)

That's Day One!

Paul S (AKA: LifeWrecked) - Out.

My Personal Cell Tower

Technology can wow us, sometimes - even those of us who've been hardened into cynicism by the constant barrage of glitz and hype.

I am currently "wowed" by an astonishing coincidence of techno-melding.

When I bought my 3G wireless router, my only intention for it was to break me free from the physical Ethernet cable on my laptop - I was thrilled that I could roam the whole house unhindered.

Enter now a difficult conundrum. My "ex" and I have been sharing a cell phone "family" plan - and stupid me, I'm the "payer" but not the "primary"! I'd finally had enough when she (apparently) lost her handset AGAIN (4x? 5x? I've lost count). I called up T-Mobile (our carrier) and told them I want out! Of course, since I'm not the account holder, they could do nothing for me. I'm not mad at them, but I'm not paying any more either. ;) So it's a new phone and number for Paul. Did it a couple days ago. T-Mobile I like, so I stuck with them...

I was happy when the gentleman offered me a free (with contract) Samsung t490. I like Samsung phones better than any Motorola (Nokia runs a close second). I had no idea I was about to have a really annoying issue with my cell service solved by happy circumstance.

T-Mobile, it seems, is now offering phones that include a "HotSpot @ Home" feature. This amazing phone will (after initial setup - I'm a security fanatic) automatically use my "Wi-Fi" router to connect through my broadband (DSL) to the T-Mobile network! In other words, my router just became a local cell tower!

I've been suffering for years with the fact that I live in a cellular "hole" (carrier doesn't matter). I'm sandwiched between concrete and chicken wire, and it's iffy at best to get a good cell signal here. So you can understand how happy I am - I've got as good or better connection (and it really works, folks!) as somebody standing right next to a cell tower would have. And the phone knows how to choose the best signal!

I post this for anyone suffering the "cellular blues" at home or at their business. I picked up my Linksys (Cisco) router for about $50 at Circuit City. My Samsung SGH-t490 was free from T-Mobile with a 2 year contract (easy for me, they're the best I've ever had, and I've had them all). It's a solution made in heaven, and it can work out in the big world too - all you need is a wireless network (open or not - of course, you'll have to set up "not").

Happy Digital Trails,
LifeWrecked (aka Paul S)