Apparently I was wrong about how old my hearing aid is. According to my records at the audiologist, I got my current hearing aid at the beginning of 2004, the second half of my junior year, not the beginning of high school. So I was a couple years off. It's 6 years old, not 8 or 9. Still, it's falling apart, and I read somewhere that the life of a hearing aid is typically 5-7 years, which would make sense.
Going to see various audiologists and researching the features of various hearing aids online has been fun. Technology is so cool. Now nearly every hearing aid is blue tooth compatible if you buy a separate little device. I hear the sound quality should be much improved as well.
I "sold" my parents on the Phonak Versata after various audiologists told me that it was the way to go for my specific hearing loss. My current hearing aid is a Phonak Perseo. They don't even make the Perseo anymore, apparently. Amazing how fast technology moves along these days. I'm going to HearX this week to discuss my options with Kaiser discounts and such. I went through the whole rigmarole with voc rehab and they said based on my family's income I would be responsible for the whole amount, so I'm not going to bother to go through their vendor anymore.
At any rate, it'll be really cool once I figure out where I'm going to purchase it and how much it'll cost. I'm trying to decide if I want to get a funky color or something or go with a plain gray like I have now. The Versata comes equipped with "whistle block" (feedback reduction) and "wind block" (for outdoors). The best thing is that with blue tooth capability I can get sound from the tv, phone, my laptop, etc. to go directly to my hearing aid, so my mom won't have to worry about me taking my hearing aid out and blasting the sound through headphones, possibly doing even more damage to my hearing. I'm so excited! I can't wait to actually purchase it. Oddly, it feels weird to always be using singular to talk about my hearing aid,
since usually one buys them in pairs. Thank goodness I can only use one, because typically hearing aids are a couple thousand dollars each.
About Me
- Rachel Margaret
- I recently graduated from Chapman University and am hoping to make a career in writing and/or editing. One of my major goals is to use my skills as a writer to advocate for myself and other young hard of hearing adults and young cancer survivors. I hope that by sharing my story with others they may relate to- and have a better understanding of- what people like myself are going through.
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