The Official No Need To Start a New Thread, Thread

[whitev70r]

^ there are studies that connect loss of hearing with accelerated dementia, if hearing is not corrected. Makes exact sense as you described in social settings. Hearing loss leads to lost of comprehension -> which leads to frustration of family -> less social interaction -> less stimulation ->social withdrawal / isolation ... increased deterioration of cognitive function.

[Badhobz]

i blame you loud ass guangdong fuckers for talking in your shrill, annoying, guangdong dialect for your hearing loss

WHAT? SALMON ZI ? no i dont want any salmon eggs.

NO i said sandwiches!!!

WHAT?!?!? i told you i dont want fish

=====

now you've turned me into a guangdong fucker too. I HATE YOU GUYS

dui le ge lun yungs

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by RabidRat

There's a silver lining here in that you're conscious of it and making the most of it!

For years, my dad wouldn't admit there was anything going on with his hearing, and would pretend to himself that he could perfectly hear what we were saying. He would fill in the gaps and insist it's what we'd said, when it wasn't. This got really confusing for my 8 year old niece, when increasingly his responses to her didn't make any sense. Eventually she just stopped talking to him. This was hard on him because he and my mom had basically raised my niece in her younger years. After a ton of painstaking convincing that this was really no different to getting glasses, last year we got him -reluctantly - to try new hearing aids.

We got our dad back, and he got his granddaughter back.

My mother in law isn't far behind. She has it bad enough that if her right ear is turned to someone, she doesn't know when they're speaking, even if they're talking loudly in the same room. She also doesn't think she needs hearing aids, because she "still hears perfectly in the other ear" (she doesn't: she just pretends she does and makes stuff up as we talk).

My wife's insurance has some amount of hearing aid coverage and I'm sure my hearing isn't great anyway after years of power tool use without hearing protection: I figure I'll wear them a while and kinda normalize it around her so she'll have an easier time accepting these glasses for her ears.

Yeah, it's tough. A lot of folks have stigma attached to hearing aids (I did for sure before I got them when I was around 35y.o. - 13 years ago) but I've learned that pretty no one notices them and it's much more noticeable when you don't understand what people say (they think you're dumb or out of it or rude). People just end up not talking to you b/c it's too hard for them (like your niece). My FIL needs hearing aids as well but insists he doesn't want them and it leads to needless fights with his wife when he misunderstands her.

I also don't think a lot of people realise how much energy they get back by getting hearing aids (in the same way that glasses help you see). I work in a job that requires a lot of listening so not being able to hear well is exhausting - I have to spend so much more of my energy concentrating so I can make out what they're saying. I'm fairly certain that I couldn't do my job without hearing aids (also thank goodness for WFH).

Originally Posted by whitev70r

^ there are studies that connect loss of hearing with accelerated dementia if not corrected. Makes exact sense as you described in social settings. Hearing loss leads to lost of comprehension which leads to frustration of family -> less social interaction -> less stimulation, social withdrawal / isolation ...increased deterioration of cognitive function.

Yeah, it's as much a 5x increase in the chance that you'll get dementia if you have severe hearing loss (which is me). The science is early days but it does make sense - the loss of stimuli leads to deterioration of the brain which is why they encourage seniors to be active.

I'm still kinda in my grieving period with this recent loss - I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to work the job I have and I realise that I'm much closer to becoming deaf than I expected (hearing loss gradually gets worse over time). On the bright side at least I'm in a position financially where I likely could semi-retire if I needed to - I'm semi-serious about getting a job at Costco - and semi-retirement means more time with my family.

[whitev70r]

Oh yah, you mentioned that other factor, it can drive your spouse nuts if you can't hear. I mean in one sense we selectively hear our spouses anyhow .. . But it would make me go nuts.

Surprisingly, I'm seeing younger adults <50 (or so) much more receptive to wearing hearing aids than grannies and grandpas. They have this 'vain' ness about them not being seen or pride but nowadays, they are tiny and all you see is like a thick thread sticking out, if you don't look, you won't even realize the in ear ones (vs. the over hanging ear ones).

I should get them early and be like the Bionic woman.

[6793026]

speaking of which; i had duct cleaning yesterday and man the guy must be deaf from the high power air spraying when done in enclosed rooms. I said " how do you not deaf", he said his hearing is tough and even his ears are bleeding..

we wears a mask but somehow doesn't wear hearing protection....

[Badhobz]

im pretty sure a lot of these kids nowadays are going to have hearing problems. I see them at the gym wearing those huge headphones (also disgusting how they are wearing those over the hear headphones to the gym.. dont you get sweaty in that shit?) blasting out volume so loud that i can hear it like 10ft away from them.

most of these kids have them on their heads like 24/7.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

im pretty sure a lot of these kids nowadays are going to have hearing problems. I see them at the gym wearing those huge headphones (also disgusting how they are wearing those over the hear headphones to the gym.. dont you get sweaty in that shit?) blasting out volume so loud that i can hear it like 10ft away from them.

most of these kids have them on their heads like 24/7.

I'm not sure if the current generation will have it worse than past generations - in the past no one talked about protecting your hearing and most people would do stuff that would be considered unsafe. Like my dad use to take me and my brother to the airshow every year as kids and we never wore any hearing protection. Back in the day the guys operating the leaf blowers weren't wearing anything hearing protection.

Nowadays there's a lot more discussion about hearing health - my watch warns me anytime I'm in a place over 90dbs, there's noise cancellation in a lot of earbuds/headphones, hearing loss is covered as a workplace injury in a lot of jobs, and there's much more education about hearing loss in general.

Because loss is cumulative it can take a long time to realise it's happened so the construction workers, heavy equipment folks etc may not know they've got big problems coming their way. Last week my Uber driver noticed my hearing aids as he also wears them - 35 years old who worked in construction in Abu Dhabi for 10 years and he has bad tinnitus (ringing in his ears) so he needs hearing aids to suppress it.

[Badhobz]

what? what did you just say?

[EvoFire]

There's a lot less stigma about protection with the recent generation. The toughguy image isn't nearly as prevalent as for the boomer generation.

I recently read an article about the reason why the millennials are looking so much younger than the generation before it and there are apparently a ton of reasons. The millennials are the first group of adults where smoking was no longer "cool". Heavy drinking was still common for the older set but it drops off considerably as you get to the younger end of the group. Everyone is much more health conscious in that working out, drinking enough water, not going to a tanning salon to give yourself skin cancer, wearing sun protection, are all much the norm.

It will lead to hopefully a healthier cohort as they get older, and a group that's much more receptive to aids, mechanical or otherwise. The stigma of hearing aids will be much much less.

[Badhobz]

I rather have skin cancer

[EvoFire]

^ Ok boomer

[Badhobz]

you're dark anyways you guangdong fucker, skin protection my ass!

[donk.]

This generation will have brain damage from being glued to their phones for 8hrs a day.

[mikemhg]

Speaking of hearing aids, anyone have a decently priced suggestion on something that's more place in the ear, bud-like?

My dad is in his 70s and his hearing is garbage, and he has too much pride to wear a hearing aid. I've been trying to convince him to purchase one, but I need an option for him that is more discreet and can be placed in and out easily, something similar to an earbud.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

Speaking of hearing aids, anyone have a decently priced suggestion on something that's more place in the ear, bud-like?

My dad is in his 70s and his hearing is garbage, and he has too much pride to wear a hearing aid. I've been trying to convince him to purchase one, but I need an option for him that is more discreet and can be placed in and out easily, something similar to an earbud.

Sony and Sennheiser both have over the counter options that look like b ear buds.

https://electronics.sony.com/otc-hearing-aids

https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/e...909uld0brbw2d/

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

Speaking of hearing aids, anyone have a decently priced suggestion on something that's more place in the ear, bud-like?

My dad is in his 70s and his hearing is garbage, and he has too much pride to wear a hearing aid. I've been trying to convince him to purchase one, but I need an option for him that is more discreet and can be placed in and out easily, something similar to an earbud.

A mid-step we took with my dad, was actually to get him AirPod Pro 2's, which integrate hearing aid -like function via Transparency Mode.

You can use a hearing test app like Mimi to generate an audiogram (they play a series of tones across frequency range, checking to how low a volume you can still hear it, and the audiogram is a graph of the hearing loss across frequency), and then you load that into the AirPod Pro in Accessibility Mode. I tried it on myself and it was really cool: it was like getting super-powers, I was able to hear conversations from really far away and through windows and stuff lolol.

It's not as effective as real hearing aids but they did help my dad enough that he saw the value. Like whereas before I would say numbers at him from across the room and he couldn't make them out. Afterwards he got most numbers right. And AirPod Pros are a fraction of the price. It eased my dad into the idea of having something in his ears and helping him hear incrementally better, before going all the way.

Some more on this:
https://hearingup.com/blog/airpods-p...logists-review

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

Speaking of hearing aids, anyone have a decently priced suggestion on something that's more place in the ear, bud-like?

My dad is in his 70s and his hearing is garbage, and he has too much pride to wear a hearing aid. I've been trying to convince him to purchase one, but I need an option for him that is more discreet and can be placed in and out easily, something similar to an earbud.

Most modern hearing aids do come in an "in canal" form factor that usually comes in skin colours that make it largely invisible.

For example: https://www.jabra.com/en-ca/hearing/enhance-pro-20



If that doesn't work then the AirPods Pro can be a decent substitute if his hearing loss isn't too bad (it wouldn't do the job for someone with severe loss but should be usable if you have mild or moderate loss). For reference:

[spoon.ek9]

If any of you end up working at Costco, you better be wearing this shirt:

[Hondaracer]

The resistance to using a hearing aid is so weird lol, it’s akin to not wearing glasses when you’ve got terrible vision in terms of quality of life

Even in my 30’s I wouldn’t think twice about using hearing aids if I had to lol.. but old fucks he stubborn af.

My wife’s grandma was 98 and couldn’t hear shit, she couldn’t even hear the TV cranked, we said we’d take her to Costco and pay for everything take her there etc. and it was always no no no like this huge resistance to it, you don’t even leave your home! The least you can do is fucking hear lol

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by supafamous

LOL, after 15+ years of always asking for a pack of salt for my order I would have hoped they got the message to salt their fries. And they ALWAYS have packs of salt to give out too - more so than ketchup packs so it's not like no one else asks.

The owners are such odd people - I imagine they are printing money with that place considering they haven't invested a single cent into the space ever (they might have replaced their chairs at one point), the place is always busy and they've only ever had a single other employee there (some old Chinese guy in the back).

PRE-COVID, I think they had some fillipino's working at the back. I'm not joking.

I'm using plural because I distinctly remember there were 2 younger dudes at one time when I was there

[xxxrsxxx]

I'm using google flights to search for flights and after selection, there are quotes from various providers. Has anyone ever booked with Flighthub or JustFly before? Preferably I would just book with the airlines but they are much more expensive.

[EvoFire]

I've booked from flighthub before, haven't had any issues with it.

[bcrdukes]

...Until you have an issue.

[underscore]

After the headaches I had with Expedia I'll never book with a third party again. Especially with how often flights get cancelled and changed these days the last thing I want to do is add a middle-man to that mess.

[sonick]

Tbh not sure what flights you're seeing but I've NEVER seen a flight price on a third party site that I couldn't get booking directly from the airline.

I worked a bit in travel years ago although not as an agent but based on my understanding there's really no way to get a better price than the airline, they all book thru the same booking engines and same source of pricing and availability.