Using hearing aids in aircraft

My apologies, but I beg to differ @WhiteHat, I was trained in deaf communication tactics… No 1 rule, you never shout at a Deaf/HOH, tis a very common misconception, apart from being rude, shouting has a tendency cause alarm, and not to mention distortion to a hearing aid user… Raise your voice slightly, but do not shout, make sure any ambient light is in your face, so the HOH/Deaf can clearly read your lips, slow down your speech slightly, and clearly annunciate your words, try to use facial expression, do not constantly repeat the same sentence, rephrase after a couple of attempts, use mime if needed, and hand gestures, pick up a pencil or pen, it can become lots of different things, this will assist you in injecting some contextual information into the conversation, with a pen or pencil in your hand, it becomes many, many things, a drum, music, pool cue, a bat, a guitar, etc., etc., etc., you can draw imaginary objects with it, in the air… The deaf person will get the gist, their eyes are their ears… Cheers Kev

You are right, of course. But we didn’t have a lot of finesse in our tweens/younger teens.

WH

Yeah WH, until someone actually teaches you, or you learn by self endeavour, this usually point’s you in the correct direction, most folks think they are helping by shouting, which they are not! I must admit, I was just as guilty of this, in my youth…. But, we live and learn

While in general I agree with the “don’t go around telling strangers you’re deaf” concept, we’re talking about a VERY specific situation here. That being a flight attendant, and the person next to you on a plane. That’s not at all the same as telling random strangers you’re deaf. I think the chances of the person in the seat next to me “taking advantage of me” is slim to none. But hey, if you’re not comfortable doing it… don’t!

I’m deaf. Without my devices, I can’t hear a thing. So I’m deaf. What’s interesting is how rarely someone will ask, “So if you’re deaf, how can you hear me now?”. Maybe one out of ten times I get asked that. My reply is “I read lips, plus I wear a Cochlear Implant.” Some ask more questions, others just nod.

With moulds, turning off the HAs let’s the,pm act like ear plugs - sort of. I wouldn’t use them this way in loud situations, but for a plane ride, works great.

That may be true. For me, I have been having significant trouble ‘equalising’ my ears, on the up and down, and I find it a bit easier to do without HA’s in.

I generally fly with them in my hand, like image below.

@SpudGunner said:

I stand corrected: BrBarry is, indeed, DEAF!

I know this got away from the OP question, but I just need to clarify the definition up for us in Australia (not having a go at anyone).

We might use definitions and title differently than US/CAN. The word ‘deaf’ is used two-way here.

‘Deaf’* would define someone who has no hearing at all, usually from birth.

‘deaf’ on the other hand is everyone else (to a point), they may also, as you say, define themselves as HoH.

NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) legally define someone (eligible) as ‘deaf’ if their hearing is 90dB or worse in the better ear (hence me), and there for I define myself as being deaf and Deaf.

When on a plane, I either set my Phonak Marvels to “Speech in Loud Noise” or turn them OFF completely (till meal service). Can NOT tolerate the takeoff noise.

As for music, I have a standalone Astell&Kern music player1 plugged into a small, rechargeable battery pack1 that I connect the Phonak TV streamer to. With that basket of doodads in my lap, it streams music to my aids pretty good without my even noticing the airplane noise.

Just an FYI: Streaming music (via Qubuz or ROON) to my aids directly from my One+ Android phone gives me FAR BETTER quality! Those old TV Connector units are pretty lame by comparison to just streaming off a phone.

Yeah @BrBarry, Uk is much the same, with a couple of proviso’s…. We have Big “D” Deaf, pre-lingually Deaf, with sign language their first language…. Little “d” deaf/HOH, and never the Twain shall meet, confer or otherwise associate with each other…. in my experience, Big D are rather aloof, we HOH are out-with/outside their culture, doesn’t matter if you have a profound loss, you are an outsider, even if you can sign! As such, they will tolerate us, but only just, in their eyes we are only just above the hearing world, whom do not peg very high in their esteem, in fact they probably regard animals a peg or 2 above hearing folks, they probably got that one right? But this stems from their history, they were badly treated, and suffered persecution! Funny enough, perfectly hearing family members born into Big D families, are classed as Big D, again this is because sign language is their first language, the only other people accepted into their culture, is a BSL, (British Sign Language) Social Worker, Social Workers whom are highly proficient in sign language, and maybe interpreters, these are their main point of contact with the outside world…. Although the Big D culture, strangely enough, detest Cochlear Implant’s, they want their children to be born Deaf, so their culture lives on, for them they see no problem with being profoundly Deaf, as they can sign, it’s the hearing world that have the problem…. Cheers Kev

@kevels55: Your posts along this line are articulate, and I find them fascinating. Please continue, when you have the time and the inclination, since you’re permitting me to unravel a very complicated and fraught relationship we (Karen and I) had with a Deaf person we tried to help out of a bad spot in the late 1980s, and invited to stay with us for a spell. I never understood his world view before reading your posts along these lines.

Tis indeed a fascinating subject @SpudGunner… Although, I am no expert in British Deaf culture, much of the learning of BSL, is focused on the cultural side of Deaf people, and how they view the world, suffice to say, many aspects are completely at odds with our viewpoint… Your BSL teacher is nearly always Big D…Because their language is visual, hand shape of signs is ultra important, facial expression equally so, and eye contact, sign language is fun, but difficult to learn, I say fun, because you have to get up in class, and make a complete fool of yourself, so the class gets plenty laughs, usually at your expense, its very back to front, for instance, being polite, we might say to someone on first meeting them, “if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name”? Then a Big D would sign, "your name what’, it is brutally direct, no small talk (until they know you), and direct to the point, sign language is very condensed, its 5 times faster than you can speak, and up to 7 times quicker, this is very dependent on who is signing, it has its own structure, grammar, verbs, and nouns, it has placement, timelines, finger spelling, and something very interesting called multi-channels, these have no oral translation, they are unique to Deaf culture/sign language… Personally, thinking back, I probably put in many, many hundreds of hours learning BSL, I might get a fright, if I knew the exact figure, but it was a most enjoyable experience, gave me (eventually) a lot of confidence, and a fair bit of insight into Deaf culture, and I ended up working with mostly HOH, and sometimes Big D… Cheers Kev

@kevels55: Thanks, Kev. Karen and I send best regards to you and Elspeth. Have a great weekend. (Playing any 8-ball??)

Thank you Jim…Likewise, I hope you Karen are both well. I got beat in a big comp today, in the last 64, lost 6-5, I played well though… So no complaints! I won (5-3 in the final) in the League doubles annual comp, about 6 weeks ago, tis not bad at 65, I am now the oldest player to hold a league title in Inverness, my playing partner is 63 yo, he’s now the second oldest I am still competing against players more than half my age, the day before (a Saturday) I got beat in the final of the another annual league singles comp 5-3, I play in 2 different leagues… I still enjoy playing against the better players, and I get an occasional trophy

@kevels55: Is it true they’re so cheap in Inverness that they paint golf balls and use them?

But … to get back on topic: would you mute your hearing aids lest the sound of the balls clicking distract you while playing in a tournament?

I sort of feel as though we’re getting too sensitive to everyday things, sometimes … Anyone who has ever flown in one of the older military prop-driven sky buggies will tell you that cabin noise while flying today is nothing compared to the old days. Hell - ask Chuck @cvkemp !

As for me, if cabin noise bothers me, I just mute my aids. That’s enough attenuation for me.