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BitaTruble -> RE: Speak up Jali... (1/13/2007 11:23:52 PM)
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Jali,
It sounds as if your Master has a conductive hearing loss (as opposed to a sensori-neural loss) but he'll need to see an audiologist and be tested to be sure. An audiologist does the diagnostics , and if it is conductive, he can go on and see an otologist if necessary. If, on the other hand, the loss is sensori-neural, an otologist won't be able to do a damn thing for him, but an audiologist can still fit him with aids which may be of great help.
He'll need an audiogram if he hasn't had one already and a competent audiologist will take a complete medical history. The questions I would ask your Master: is the hearing loss unilateral or bilateral(one or both ears)? Are there issues with speech discrimination? Does background noise infringe on his hearing or is it strictly volume related?
There are three different style of hearing aids to choose from: BTE (behind the ear), ITE (in the ear) and ITC (in the canal) .. depending on the impressions, he may be a candidate for an ITC which is so small as to be virtually invisible to anyone who doesn't know it's there. Hearing aid technology is so advanced, that someone with a 70% conductive loss often times only has to remain deaf if they choose to do so.
Here's some good news. It costs about $130 - $150 to make a single hearing aid (in general, the smaller the aid, the more expensive it's going to be with ITC being the smallest and BTE being the largest and most noticable) and they retail for 1 - 2000 dollars a piece (not a pair) depending on what style you get .. if you go to an audiologist or hearing aid dispenser, he's going to be paying the manufacturer about $1000 - $1500 for a pair (that's top price for the latest and greatest ITC digitals) and anything above that is going to be his profit, so don't tell them I told you this, but BARTER .. and the odds are, he'll come down on price for the pair (if your Master actually needs a pair rather than just a single unit) because a smaller profit is better than no profit. Also, shopping around is going to benefit you because while there are literally hundreds of audiologists, there aren't all that many manufacturers and most of them have the same sort of technology with a few exceptions. So, if you go to the audiologist or dispenser and he tells you $3500 for a pair of aids (pretty standard retail price), offer him $2000 and see what he says. ::winks:: If he says no, tell him you're going to shop around and that might be enough of a nudge to get him to come down on price as he's still going to be making a nice profit if he sells them to your Master for the discount. You've been given some great ideas already and I agree with them as far as getting his attention before speaking, making sure you're in front of him ect, but how great to really help him by saving him a ton of money while also helping him to hear your natural speaking voice in all it's submissive beauty by finding him a great audiologist who might just be able to alleviate his hearing impairment with relatively little effort. [:)]
Oh, one last thing - Hearing aids are made to order, so depending on the manufacturer, it can take from a week or two to several weeks before they'll actually be delivered and he'll be able to be fit. Also, most audiologists and dispensers will allow for a trial period (it's the law in the US, 90 days is standard, but not sure what the law in your neck of the woods would be) so if he finds that they just don't work as they are supposed to, he can take them back and get a refund. (Check that out for your area though as, again, I'm only familiar with the USA laws for hearing aids.) In the US, an adiologist can ask the patient to sign a wavier if they choose not to go see an otologist .. but that's generally for a sensori-neural loss where an otologist is not going to be of any assistance. I truly hope your Master decides to go get tested and see what, if anything, can be done. From the way you've described his loss here, I've be surprised if he had to live with the loss though he may choose to live with it but only an audiologist will be able to tell you for sure.
Celeste
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