The Hearing Aid Experiment Part-3
I've used my hearing aid for about one month now and this is part-3 of my journey with this tech in my ear.
I've really gotten used to wearing the hearing aid now. I'm not entirely comfortable with all the high frequencies I'm hearing, but at least my ear canal has gotten used to the speaker sitting in there.
ON THE PHONE WITH A HEARING AID
The biggest downside to the hearing aid has been using a phone with it. I'm right handed. My only working ear is my right ear, and that's where the hearing aid goes. I'm completely deaf in my left ear. See the problem?
Well, if I'm taking a phone call at home and it is quiet, it isn't such a hassle. I take the call on speaker phone and then I am able to take notes or look things up while on the phone.
The problems arise when I'm not in a quiet environment and I have to check my phone for my calendar or take notes while talking. I couldn't hear a thing and got really frustrated.
Knowing that there must be a bluetooth hearing aid that makes life a bit easier. I googled, and yes, there are such devices. However, they are really expensive.
FINDING A SOLUTION
At my check up the other day, I asked if there was some kind of device I could get that didn't cost a few thousand euros but did the whole bluetooth thing, and to my surprise, there was just such a device.
My hearing aid uses a wireless technology (not bluetooth) to talk to the "control" software on a computer at the clinic. (My hearing aid is made by ReSound.) So the good folks there suggested a "bridge". A device that speaks to the hearing aid wirelessly in the command language and also speaks to my iPhone by bluetooth.
The device is a lot cheaper than those hearing aids with built in bluetooth. SCORE!
I'm a happy camper now. This dongle is awesome.
Life with a hearing aid is shaping up to be quite palatable. I can listen to podcasts when I'm out and about. Unfortunately, the speaker in my hearing aid does not handle music very well. It sounds like AM radio (for those old enough to remember what that sounded like.)
That's all for part-3. I might write a part-4 after next month's checkup.