Hard of hearing in the middle age. Any help available?

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Alexis

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Hi!. I live in Mexico City with a 75% of hearing loss. I see that hearing loss in the middle age (>30 and <60) do not receive much attention. Maybe I am wrong and there are a lot of nice pages out there. If you know those sites let me know please. Also if you know some ways to overcome hearing loss in the work share them with me. It will be very helpful!. Regards
 
Hi, no good advice here, but welcome to AllDeaf. I am sure someone will help you. :)
 
Hi Alexis and welcome to alldeaf. I too have become hard of hearing in "middle age" ok..so a wee bit past it (unless I live to be just over a 100 :giggle:) I am basically deaf in one ear (nerve damage) and have "60%" loss in the other ear. I do wear a ha in my "good" ear but most voices sound tinny and distorted.
Adjusting to hearing loss can be tough at any age, but when you are older, and "normal" hearing is a part of your everyday work, it can be really tough. You do not mention whether you wear a ha or not, but either way, there are all sorts of assisted living devices that can help. I don't know what the norm is in Mexico, but here, we have the ADA act and if the phone, for instance, is a part of you job, you can request your employer provides you with a phone for the hearing impaired, or a TTY device, etc. If you have access to the internet at your work ,there is also IP relay, all sorts of things and there are people in this forum much more knowledgeable than I am who could help you with that. For me, I just don't answer the phone. If you want to speak to me, it has to be face to face. Most of the calls I handle are within the business, not outside.
The main thing you need at work is for people to understand your situation and for them to know that they need to approach you differently than they would hearies. Be upfront and honest. Let them know that they need to look at you and speak clearly. They don't need to shout, as that usually doesn't help in most cases. If you don't like being touched, let them know that you would not like to be tapped on the shoulder or back...if you find their tapping on the table or desk works best, let them know. The place I work has been great, for the most part. I have been there 17 years and have only lost my hearing in the last two. I have found two types of people where I work. The ones that treat me with respect, and the ones that consider me a "non-person" (thank goodness those are the minority). Most people have learned to politely get my attention either tapping my shoulder or tapping the table/desk. They look at me and speak clearly, and if I don't understand, they are happy to write it down. Most of these people realize that just because I am hoh, I still know my job, have not "gotten stupid", and that I care about what their needs are.
Most important...it is going to take time. Time for you to adjust and them also. Be patient, as many hearies feel uncomfortable around the hoh/deaf and are not always sure how to act.
If you are interested in learning more about the relay services, etc, there is a link to them on the main page of the forum
 
Good posting, Etalton. :welcome: to AllDeaf forum, Alexis. I hope you can learn a lot from us and ask any questions that you want to know to make your life easier. There are many topics to choose from, I hope you enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. Have fun with us. See you around. :wave:
 
:ty: Bebonang. See what less than a month in here has done for me? LOL....
 
etalton said:
:ty: Bebonang. See what less than a month in here has done for me? LOL....
Click to expand...


You are welcome. It is good to have a reward for praise on what you wrote about your experience is like for you to be late deafen. Just enjoy your praise while it last. :deaf: and :cool2:
 
This is true..as knowing me, the next post I make I could put my foot in my mouth..as I often do....:laugh2:
 
Hard of hearing in the middle age.

Bottesini said:
Hi, no good advice here, but welcome to AllDeaf. I am sure someone will help you. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Bottesini for you nice wishes!. I really hope to find good friends here. All of you count on me too!
 
etalton said:
Hi Alexis and welcome to alldeaf. I too have become hard of hearing in "middle age" ok..so a wee bit past it (unless I live to be just over a 100 :giggle:) I am basically deaf in one ear (nerve damage) and have "60%" loss in the other ear. I do wear a ha in my "good" ear but most voices sound tinny and distorted.
Adjusting to hearing loss can be tough at any age, but when you are older, and "normal" hearing is a part of your everyday work, it can be really tough. You do not mention whether you wear a ha or not, but either way, there are all sorts of assisted living devices that can help. I don't know what the norm is in Mexico, but here, we have the ADA act and if the phone, for instance, is a part of you job, you can request your employer provides you with a phone for the hearing impaired, or a TTY device, etc. If you have access to the internet at your work ,there is also IP relay, all sorts of things and there are people in this forum much more knowledgeable than I am who could help you with that. For me, I just don't answer the phone. If you want to speak to me, it has to be face to face. Most of the calls I handle are within the business, not outside.
The main thing you need at work is for people to understand your situation and for them to know that they need to approach you differently than they would hearies. Be upfront and honest. Let them know that they need to look at you and speak clearly. They don't need to shout, as that usually doesn't help in most cases. If you don't like being touched, let them know that you would not like to be tapped on the shoulder or back...if you find their tapping on the table or desk works best, let them know. The place I work has been great, for the most part. I have been there 17 years and have only lost my hearing in the last two. I have found two types of people where I work. The ones that treat me with respect, and the ones that consider me a "non-person" (thank goodness those are the minority). Most people have learned to politely get my attention either tapping my shoulder or tapping the table/desk. They look at me and speak clearly, and if I don't understand, they are happy to write it down. Most of these people realize that just because I am hoh, I still know my job, have not "gotten stupid", and that I care about what their needs are.
Most important...it is going to take time. Time for you to adjust and them also. Be patient, as many hearies feel uncomfortable around the hoh/deaf and are not always sure how to act.
If you are interested in learning more about the relay services, etc, there is a link to them on the main page of the forum
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Etalton for the very good and honest information. I really appreciate it, as it is coming from a person who is facing the same challenges than me. I work now as a Project Management IT consultant and 70% of my work can be done by email, thanks God!. The problem is the other 30%. I speak Spanish daily but due to my work I need to communicate sometime in english by phone. It seems that English has more high pitchead sounds than Spanish because I have lost more understanding of English than Spanish. It has becomed almost impossible to me understand spoken english. I started noting a tinnitus and loss at 21st. My loss is also sensorineural related -suposely, because the Doctors can not find a clear cause- to I played drums in a teens rock group during the great 60s. I started to use a couple of ITC Starkey hearing aids on 1991. Later on 2002 I changed for a single BTE Phonak. I had not been decided to use two BTE basically due to cosmetic reasons but I am about to take the decision to buy a new BTE pair to improve a little my hearing and understanding. Although there a lot digital thecnology now, I am planning to buy again a digitally programable Bernafon pair as I feel more confortable than with all digital ones. You say that you can talk others face to face, that mean you can do lipsreading? Do know some place/page/book which can help me to develop my own lips reading skills? All the help that you can provide me will be gratelly appreciated.

Alexis
 
Hard of hearing in the middle age.

Brian said:
Hi Alexis, welcome to AllDeaf.com!

You are looking for organizations that help the deaf/hard-of-hearing, right? If so, try Instituto Mexicano de la Audición y el Lenguaje, A. C. - they should be able to answer your questions and whatnots. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian. I was there about 8 years ago. Maybe it is time to get back to see what is new there now!

Alexis
 
Hello and :welcome: to AD! Hope you will be able to find some solutions from this interesting forum. Enjoy. :)
 
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