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Help for my 96 year old Mum

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the old age home

  • didn’t change batteries
  • didn’t change waxguards
  • drove over and smashed one of her hearingaids. They had to be replaced.
  • mixed up her glasses with someone elses

And the list goes on…

@thecaz said:

She still has a good deal of trouble hearing normal or raised conversation even in quiet situations.

thecaz, without knowing your mum, other than she is 96, there could be more going on than just a poorly-fit hearing aid. I say that cuz my own mom is 98, could run circles around me for the most part … BUT … as of a few months ago, I’m seeing some cracks in the wall.

Hearing requires brain + ears to work together. A properly-fit aid will bring those two parts of the equation closer … but never actually “fix” a hearing issue. As one ages, not only does the brain slow down, but the hearing drops off, and as a result, even a properly-fit aid may not deliver speech comprehension as well as it used to. The person is straining to put all the words together, make sense of them, then respond in an appropriate way. Talking to my mom on the phone last night, it was very apparent that she was muddling up things I was saying and not getting the “big picture”.

On top of which, one’s dexterity fails with age, so my mother-in-law had that prob: she simply couldn’t change programs or volume on her aids cuz her hands didn’t obey what her brain told her to do. She was 91 at the time, and passed at 93.

So maybe you need to step back and look at the total picture here. Is there any device that could help your mom understand speech in noisy places that SHE is able to operate on her own? Maybe something to beam sound to her aids (like the Roger On in does for Phonak aids). Or is she past that? And keep in mind that as brain + ears age, the mind deteriorates even faster with that lack of communication skills.

I’ve seen this pattern in my mom and my mother-in-law, both in their 90s. I cut them ENORMOUS slack for their natural aging process. We are living longer, but not necessarily with the same quality as ourselves 30 or 60 years younger.

Thanks to all for the thoughtful and helpful contributions.

When we bought the aids in 2021, we also bought a Roger On which had just been released. The Advance/unitron aids have Roger receivers built in. My strategy, after months and months of research was to aim for a mid level aid rather than premium, and then pair it with a Roger. The Roger has been helpful but not world changing. The pointing mode is not particularly successful. It’s great as a very expensive tv connector though!

We have Bluetooth all sorted and mum can communicate quite well with phone calls.

We change the filters and clean the aids regularly so no issue there.

Cognitively, yes I can see a decline and I can understand how this must be impacting on word recognition and her ability to comprehend full phrases and sentences.

Last time we visited specsavers we reviewed her prescription and were done. With my limited knowledge I watched on and saw that the clinician did seem to achieve a pretty close match between the aids and mum’s prescription.

So, rather than attempting to achieve the unachievable by trying a new clinic, it might be time to accept that taking everything into account, particularly mum’s age and age related cognitive decline, there is not too much that can be done.

@thecaz said:

Last time we visited specsavers we reviewed her prescription and REMs were done. With my limited knowledge I watched on and saw that the clinician did seem to achieve a pretty close match between the aids and mum’s prescription.

OK. I humbly submit that even the revered isn’t The End Solution either. I’ve worn aids almost 35 years, and have had the last maybe 4 models programmed according to REM. But, it’s almost a joke between my audis (past and present ones) that the initial setting is far FAR FAR from how I want to hear my world. It tries to compensate and tell us what we need and how to hear the world, but honestly, I could not understand ONE WORD from anyone - 2 feet away and forget about across the room after trying out my newest Phonak Lumity Life aids with the REM recommendation.

Since I was at a loss as to where to go from there, I had a brain-fart! Why not just transfer the MUCH LOVED Phonak Marvel setup to the new Lumity Life aids! I asked my audi if it could be done, she got on the phone with Phonak Tech Support to do it - live! - and I walked out of her clinic with ears that I LOVED. I was finally hearing speech, music, ambient noise and MUCH improved speech recognition with the newer aids that had the same program lineup and settings as my older Marvel aids.

Your mom’s aids may be the first she’s had, or perhaps the older aids’ program/settings won’t copy over for optimal hearing, but that’s the other wrinkle here: brain + ear dexterity and understanding fail, and the way aids are set up - PER THE BEST programming methodology - simply doesn’t work for a lot of people.

Now I’ll leave you alone! Cuz you are an angel to care so lovingly for your mom. I am like that nagging REALITY that sits on the sidelines saying, “Yes … BUT!” :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

No! Please don’t leave me alone. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

I think it’s time to give it one more crack with a real audiologist rather than a salesman. Does such a species exist?!

OK you convinced me! YES! It’s possible to find a “real audiologist” for SURE! In fact, I tend to avoid any hearing aid dispenser who wears a labcoat sporting the logo of a particular brand. Likewise, if the outlet pushes a single brand of hearing aid.

I try to find a hearing clinic where the audiologist(s) are trained to fit across multiple brands, perhaps make a suggestion as to which brand may be optimal for your mum’s hearing issues, but mainly, this audiologist has the patience to work with you and your mum as a team to keep fine-tuning and adjusting and checking to see if you mum is able to use the entire solution: the aids, a cell that hopefully streams audio to that phone (her “life line” of safety), and other accessories to help her hear in her world - eg a TV Connector to stream the TV, or things like the Roger On in to use in settings where speech should be beamed to her ears.

I wish you all the BEST of luck in this and definitely keep coming back here to let us know what works for your mum. :slightly_smiling_face:

I’ve contacted Value Hearing in Sydney, a company recommended right here on the Hearing Tracker website.

Their initial response is that they might be able to work with my mum’s existing aids to improve things for her. That’s promising. At least they didn’t just tell me that those aids are garbage and we need new ones!!

Time will tell…

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