Hello! Welcome back to deaf awareness month, and this week is international week of deaf
people. In today's video I want to talk about the downsides of hearing aids
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If you followed me this year you will know the complete palava I have been
through with my hearing aids, and my hearing aid journey, and the chaos that it's been,
and I've been very honest, and I've talked about how much of a lifesaver my hearing aids have been,
and how I would be absolutely nowhere without them, because I would be very lost
and very deaf. But that doesn't mean to say that there are not downsides
to having hearing aids. So in this video I just wanted to talk about that, and address it because
I don't think we talk about it enough, and when newly deaf people are considering whether or not
they should get hearing aids, there are some things that we don't really talk about. So
by far the most annoying part of hearing aids is not the hearing aids themselves, it's the
fact that by having hearing aids people think that I am hearing, or somehow not deaf anymore,
I mentioned in my last video that to some people having hearing aids means that you're hard of
hearing instead of deaf, when in fact that's not really a thing, there isn't such a divide
between deaf and hard of hearing, and that divide is not whether or not you use hearing aids-
more on that in this video up here. But people think that having hearing aids means that I'm
suddenly able to hear every single thing somebody is saying, that I can hear way outside of the
range of normal hearing, that in every single environment I'm going to be able to hear every
single thing and that I'm not having any sort of struggle, and not having to lip-read at all.
And it really bothers me because then all of the access and the way that we've been speaking to
each other and being aware that I need to lip-read, that all goes out of the window.
People then forget, they're like oh you've got your hearing aids in you'll be fine. I'm like
will I though? Because that doesn't mean anything, and another part of this conversation is when
people say “oh you didn't hear me? Just turn your hearing aids up” and it's a miracle that I have
not punched anybody for saying that to me yet, and I'm not a violent person but I'm about to be.
Having a volume control on your hearing aids is such a blessing, and mine only goes down. So
I don't have as much control over the volume as you think I might have, and for most deaf
people who use hearing aids, that is exactly the same situation: we are not as in control
of the volume on our hearing aids as you think we are. Which brings me on to my next point,
inconsistency with the NHS. So I want to preface this by I am so grateful to have my hearing aids,
as I've mentioned they are a lifesaver for me, and it would be very very difficult for me to
go about my life without them, but that doesn't mean there aren't problems. And I'm also very
very privileged to be living in the UK, and I'm under NHS treatment and NHS audiology and that is
a complete privilege, and I'm not taking that for granted. however NHS treatment especially now is
so super inconsistent, it is not really that helpful all of the time. So
with my hearing aids before we've had them turning down the volume even though I didn't ask,
and it wasn't really indicated they just were not comfortable with me having my volume at a
certain level, they have changed the brand, they have refused to change the brand back,
they have then given me temporary hearing aids which have turned into permanent hearing aids,
they have again set the volume on that really low, they have changed programs without me really
asking for it, they have done- they have sunk so much money into tests that I don't really
think are necessary just for the sake of a few decibels, I get just appointments out of the blue
where I haven't asked for them, and they're not necessary and then when I go in they'll
be like “oh yeah we're just gonna take these hearing aids, and oh look at the
volume we're just gonna turn that down” I'm like leave me alone, let me live my life!
So I got, um, a letter from audiology the other day saying “hello we need you to come in for a
specialist hearing clinic to alter your hearing aids” I'm like leave me alone no you don't I've
been living with these hearing aids now for long enough to know that they are absolutely perfect,
please do not touch them, do not fiddle with them, do not turn the volume down, don't do anything,
just leave them in my ears, leave them alone! But NHS guidance keeps changing, so they keep changing
my settings for me, and then it's a nightmare to get them changed to something that actually works.
And especially if you're under the NHS you don't really get that much of a say in it,
so I can't just be like no because it's not how the NHS works. And even having an audiology
appointment it is impossible, at least in my clinic, to see the same person twice.
I would really like a consistent audiologist, so I can not have to keep explaining the fact that
yeah I'm DeafBlind, yep I'm visually impaired, yep my hearing aids are this way to compensate
for the sight that I don't have or the vision that is corrupted let's say- more on my visual
impairment up here. Every single time it's a new person, and then I have to convince them that
my hearing aids are set up correctly because I do have more things going on than just hearing loss,
and now audio processing disorder, and it's- it's stressful. So dealing with audiology
is a big downside of hearing aids because your hearing isn't yours. Another downside of hearing
aids if you're not under the NHS is they are expensive. They are in the thousands of pounds,
so while I'm all for treating hearing aids like glasses, I wish the pricing would follow suit.
Some people don't have a choice, especially if you are in a different country like America. Another
downside of having hearing aids is the fact that one of my senses is now battery powered. And
I'm pretty good at remembering to bring batteries everywhere,
but I'm not perfect, nobody is. For the longest time, one of my biggest flexes
was the fact that I always had batteries, and I'd never had it run out on me when I didn't
have a battery. Well that changed… don't get cocky with that one. So the fact that one of my senses
is battery powered is massively inconvenient, and just not helpful. I could be in a really important
life or death situation and my hearing aids would just be like no. Luckily I get a warning,
it gives me like a warning tone, but that itself is so anxiety-inducing. At least without hearing
aids- so if I've taken a day and not worn them, my hearing is consistent throughout the day, I'm
not going to have any surprises or panic attacks because a battery has stopped working. So the
whole battery situation can be very very stressful and if you're prone to anxiety or forgetfulness
that can be a downside. Likewise rain. Rain will ruin a hearing aid so quickly and then you have
to deal with, in my case, NHS audiology once again to get them replaced or fixed, and I... no.
I'm doing absolutely everything in my power to never have to deal with audiology unnecessarily,
and if that means being afraid of rain then I guess that means being afraid of rain.
I always- good. I always have some kind of hat with me, or I have some kind of scarf, don't
really do umbrellas because they are very very loud especially with hearing aids on, they are not
so great, um, or some kind of hood. I make sure that I have something to cover my ears with to
protect them from the rain or a little carry case with me so that if I can't cover my head or cover
my ears, I take my hearing aids out and just be deafer. We'll just stay here, it's fine. And that
brings me nicely onto my next point of some things sound very very strange or excessively loud.
So umbrellas- rain hitting umbrellas is excessively loud like if you think you'll be
able to hear someone over the top of an umbrella, although that could just be my APD talking,
you're wrong because hearing aids while they say a lot of the time- is it safe to come back now? Kind
of. So while a lot of hearing aids say that they filter speech, or they process speech and select
that, and amplify that sometimes they do the opposite. So don't expect them to ever be perfect.
So a lot of the time they will recognize the rain hitting that umbrella and they'll say oh
that's words while filtering out the actual words of the person I'm walking with,
so that's not ideal, and then my brain does the same thing
so I can't blame that all on the hearing aids, but for the most part yeah that's not-
they've tag teamed in not a very helpful way. Next up is they scream. All of the online advice
it said if your hearing aids scream that probably means they don't fit.
But what's actually happening is you're probably just being hugged,
or you've moved your ear weird, or something is covering the microphones, or you have skeleton
moulds, or someone's hugged you and there's like a pocket of air like- can you hear- where's the
microphone on this thing? I don't know, can you hear this? [Hearing aid screaming]
All I have to do is cover my ears and they're screaming so if I want to hug somebody,
or if I want to lie down in bed, if I want to just lean on my arm that's going to cause screaming and
it's not because my hearing aids don't fit, it's just because ear canals move. They are flexible,
they are a moving thing, so when I had my ear moulds done I had to take my mask off so it didn't
distort the shape of my ear. Ears move, that's okay. Your jaw will have an effect on that too,
it's okay screaming doesn't mean a bad thing, but sometimes it really ruins moments if you know what
I mean. They can also be painful and uncomfortable sometimes, so the amount of times I've fallen
asleep with them in and then woken up and I'm like oooow. It's a thing because these- the moulds
are hard plastic, they are going to cause pain sometimes. My old, um, my micro tubes,
they used to hurt me all the time, these are way better, but they used to hurt all the time because
they would go far too far in my ear and it would really hurt. So they can be painful if you find
you have sensitivity to sound, sometimes that can be painful, if your settings aren't right
that can be painful, if you have migraines triggered by anything they can cause pain,
uh, wearing a mask that can cause pain... Another downside of hearing aids is the stigma.
Some people are so strange when they realize that you have hearing aids,
I was talking to someone and it just didn't come up because it's just hearing aids, it's fine,
and then I met up with her and she noticed the hearing aids,
and then she was like I'm just not into the whole hearing aid thing.
So yeah, there's still a stigma about hearing aids. Most people will say oh stop talking about
it's not a thing, it's still a thing. But on the opposite side of that we have the devotees who
really really enjoy hearing aids I've had far too many people in my DMs on Instagram
telling me how much they enjoy my hearing aids and some
a few telling me exactly what they would want to do to my hearing aids including “I
would like to take your hearing aids out for you and then [blank] your deaf little ears”
so that's nice I suppose... that's more of a downside of being active and vocal on social
media about it, but it has happened in real life at least once, so I guess that's a downside but
again not really to do with the hearing aids themselves. So that's my list of downsides of
hearing aids, I did not make this video in any way to put people off getting hearing aids, especially
if they are a free option for you to try, always give them a go if you can, but I think it helps
to be aware of all of the downsides, and I also made this video so that hearing people know that
when they tell me to just put my hearing aids in, why that's a problem. So on that cheery note don't
forget to like this video, happy deaf awareness month and international week of deaf people, drop
a comment down below if you have any comments or questions, subscribe to my channel if you haven't
already, and ring that notification bell so you get notified every single time I post a new video.
Videos go up every Saturday at 6 p.m UK time with at least one bonus video every single month. See ya!
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