Beck: Good Morning Charles. Thanks for your time this morning. I believe you had an interesting story about your hearing aids, and I was hoping youd share that with us.
Charles: Ive had a hearing problem for years and years. A long time ago I tried a hearing aid and it just didnt work out. It wasnt a very good aid. I didnt do anything probably for another ten years or so. And then my wife would take my mother-in-law to the audiologist and they really liked her. So I decided that I was going to be able to hear again and so I went to her.
She gave me the normal examination and she suggested this SeboTek hearing aid because I have very small ear canals and she was afraid that I wouldnt be able to be fitted with anything else properly. The SeboTek has different tips on the end and we down sized a little bit to get them in there, but weve got a good fit and they work quite well for me.
Beck: Can you tell me a little bit about the type and degree of hearing loss?
Charles: My right ear is very, very bad and she didnt think she could help that at all. The left ear was the better one and so she tried the SeboTek on that and it was working very well. Then I said, Well I still have this little dead spot over on my right side. She said, Well we can try it. It worked way better than she expected and better than I expected. So even though my right ear is very bad, the SeboTek definitely helped it.
Beck: Very good. Are you working or retired?
Charles: Im retired now.
Beck: In your daily life, what might happen if you went out without your hearing aids versus with your hearing aids?
Charles: Well, I just cant hear anymore without the hearing aids and Im much more aware of my hearing problem now that I have hearing aids, so I try not to go out without them anymore. Ive had them since May, 2003 and Im quite used to them now. Ive worked with my audiologist to hear better in noisy environments, like a restaurant, and weve come along pretty well with it.
Beck: And what about conversation with your wife, family, or friends?
Charles: The SeboTek hearing aids work really good in one-on-one conversation. If you have too many people around of course it picks up those other people too. But with just one-on-one it works very, very well.
Beck: And do you feel plugged up when youre wearing it?
Charles: No, not at all.
Beck: Any whistling or feedback sounds?
Charles: Occasionally I got that, and then we had to go to the smaller tip. But it seems to be working out okay. So no, its not a problem.
Beck: What about the soft tip, the part that goes deep in the ear canal. How long do the soft tips last?
Charles: They last quite a while. When I first started maybe I got a couple of months out of each, but I had the wrong size and they were a little too big. Now that Ive got the right size, theyll last even longer, and theyre only about 5 bucks each, so its not a big deal.
Beck: What advice would you give to somebody who recognizes that theyre having difficulty hearing conversational speech?
Charles: Well I recognized the problem early on, I just didnt do anything about. I guess many people are like that, they just put it off and put it off. I suppose Id tell them go to a good audiologist or a dispenser and try it. The audiologist I went to gives you 60 days to try it. She really works with you well. So I think thats probably the secret. I really got a good person the second time that I tried.
Beck: Are there any sounds you hear now that you couldnt hear without the hearing aid?
Charles: Theres a lot of things. It takes a couple of months to get used to things like air conditioning and other sounds in the house. I dont have my hearing aids in right now because I use my left ear for the phone, and Im hearing you fine with the phone against my left ear. So I dont hear anything else in the house at the moment!
Beck: I understand. If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?
Charles: I guess I wouldnt wait ten years! Its nice to be able to hear again.
Beck: OK then, I guess thats a good place to end. Thanks so much for speaking with me.
Charles: Youre welcome. Thank you too.
