Hearing Loss: Assisted Listening Device

[broncovet]

This applies to HOH (Hard of hearing) Vets: I asked for an assisted listening device, as I have not been able to watch tv (without closed capitioning) for about 15 years.

The device is incredible. It is 50 times better than hearing aids for hearing on the TV. If you are unfamiliar with these, they plug into your TV, and you put on earphones. The earphones picks up the signal and pumps the music and voice directly into your ears. I can HEAR the TV with this! Its amazing. If you are HOH and still cant hear the tv, with hearing aids, ask your VA audiologist if a ALD will help you. Mine was provided free. It opens up a whole new world.

[Philip Rogers]

broncovet - that's great but why not get hearing aids??? All vets are entitled to them and w/the bluetooth attachment the TV goes directly to your hearing aids.

pr

This applies to HOH (Hard of hearing) Vets: I asked for an assisted listening device, as I have not been able to watch tv (without closed capitioning) for about 15 years.

The device is incredible. It is 50 times better than hearing aids for hearing on the TV. If you are unfamiliar with these, they plug into your TV, and you put on earphones. The earphones picks up the signal and pumps the music and voice directly into your ears. I can HEAR the TV with this! Its amazing. If you are HOH and still cant hear the tv, with hearing aids, ask your VA audiologist if a ALD will help you. Mine was provided free. It opens up a whole new world.

[carlie]

bronco & all,

They also have this (headphones) available at all movie theaters for no charge.

They usually just want you to leave an ID as a deposit.

[broncovet]

PR

I already have hearing aids from the VA. They will only give you new ones every 4 years or so, and I still have more than a year to go on my old hearing aids, which do not have blue tooth. Yes, if your hearing aids are new enough to have bluetooth, then my guess is that if your TV was also blue tooth ready, then you may not need an ALD. For the rest of us, who do not have either blue tooth hearing aids or a blue tooth ready tv, then the ALD is a good alternative.

Carlie..

I have not had real good luck with the ALD's at theatres, tho a couple theaters have them.. They are used by many, so the batteries are often dead and they get knocked around enough that the ones I tried had a lot of static and did not help much. If they were in great working condition they would help, providing there was not too much background noise to "drown out" the ALD headphones. At the theaters I tried, they had "cheap" ALD's or they did not maintain them well, so they were of little or no help at all.

The device I got from the VA was of good quality...Sennheiser 830-TV Infared devices. The only problem I am having with them is that my TV is HDMI (Hi defination...hooked to a computer to save the cable bill), and Windows wont allow two speakers at once, probably to prevent copying of DVD's or recording TV shows. This means that the sound comes to the headphones, OR to the speakers, but not both at the same time. I would like my wife to be able to watch with me, but that wont work right now, or at least I have not figured out how to make both the headphones (ALD) and speakers to work at the same time.

[Philip Rogers]

broncovet - I apologize, as I didn't mean to infer that they weren't a good idea or that they wouldn't help. My VA will replace hearing aids if they are lost, especially if you've had them for a few yrs. Just a suggestion.

pr

[carlie]

bronco,

Seems like I remember something about a 2 year rule for updated technology and HA from VA,

also as pr posted if they become damaged or lost......

[broncovet]

Carlie..

Yes, I seemed to remember something about the 2 or 3 year upgrade , also, but I just got done with a hearing test, and the audiologist told me that I was not eligible for new hearing aids until the old ones were 4 years old. I dont know if this is my VAMC policy, or the VA's. Im guessing this could have changed when they raised the copayments about a year ago. In other words they apparently making Vets wait longer to get new hearing aids to save money. They are expensive.