Hearing loss is something that can be measured, look at the audiogram and judge for yourself if it seems serious. The chart looks like this image I found on Google, although even 30dB in the high range was very noticeable for the person I learned about this from.
As to whether or not you or your GF need a hearing aid, like others said I guess that depends on much the hearing loss actually bothers you? I don’t think it’s like eyeglasses where not using them will make things worse.
There was a time I was 99th percentile for high range hearing (and boy was that a nuisance in the age of CRTs). These days I have loss at the high end from tinnitus (the primary tone I hear is in the 12k range).
I feel no need for a hearing aid, though.
What?
Yeah, my wife’s hearing aids are bluetooth-enabled.
I dunno, but I have separate vision and health insurance through work, and I have always had that.
My company uses VSP for vision care. I think it is fairly common for them to be separate offerings Vision and Health.
Hearing loss can bring about other issues (other than not hearing) specifically dementia, and should be taken care of even if the person c
Is coping.
Just tried this last night, changing transparency mode so that amplification was maxed and constant noise reduction was minimized. Wow. I can hear people talking a floor higher up than I normally can in my house.
Great! Happy to hear it, so to speak, heh heh. Sorry.
Relatedly, I went to the optometrist the other day (eye pain from a side effect of a nasal spray turned out) and she tested my eye sight. She said I had excellent nigh on perfect long and short range vision, but also yada yada yada I should get low grade supportive lenses. Made zero sense to me.
I got hearing aids about 4 years ago and I got them through Costco.
You will save 1/3 to 1/2 by getting them through Costco and they also sell batteries at cut-race prices.
Costco has certified audiologists and they will let you take a pair home with you for a few hours to try out. I tried several different ones until I found ones that make music sound good - as I listen to 6-8 hours of music a day, and I love going to concerts this was a top priority for me over speech.
The point is - Costco is the place to go. Their prices are very low, they make $0 commission, and they give you free cleanings every 2-3 months where they replace the inserts and give you fresh batteries.
Depending on your insurance and what it covers it starts around $100 a month and goes up. I don’t know for sure but with my current Blue Cross plan I think it’s under $125.
Covers actual appointments and maybe a third of the cost of glasses.
Probably not a great deal but it’s one of those “just in case” things.
I had vision insurance, but I didn’t see the point. My regular health insurance pays for the annual visit and anything that includes. The extra vision insurance will pay for one set of glasses, but nothing fancy. I did the math and found it was cheaper to buy my own glasses (Warby Parker) than pay for the insurance. I couldn’t figure out what the point of it was other than making glasses from the actual optometrist’s office affordable.
I had to get some extra tests last year, the vision insurance didn’t even pay any of that.
As others have noted, everyone over the age of 30 has progressive high frequency hearing loss, it’s a natural part of aging. This seems like something it would be better to bring up with a GP you trust rather than a new doc you’re not sure of.
In addition to AirPods transparent mode, make sure to actually take the iPhone hearing test in the settings and it will actually correct your frequency defects pretty damn well.
Wow, that may be useful for my parents, thanks for the tip.
Indeed, I got them for my mom and she finds them useful watching TV.
Good news, everyone!
Just saw that elsewhere. I know my time will come for hearing help soon enough.
