When it came to the idea of wearing hearing aids, Helen Yager, was not convinced they were for her. “I hated the idea of needing to get hearing aids, but many members of my family seemed to be mumbling when they were speaking to me,” she said. They started encouraging her to at least get her hearing tested. Like so many people, the fear of missing out on a major family event had magnified the troubles she had been experiencing for years. So with the support of her family, Yager got a hearing evaluation in 2003. The event propelling her to do something about her hearing was her first granddaughter’s wedding happening that summer. Her family insisted she would enjoy the occasion more if she were really able to hear.“My audiologist insisted I try a pair of hearing aids. That was several years ago and I did get along with them [her hearing aids] very well.” She and her family noticed that she was more responsive in conversations and interacting more then she had been in a long time. Yager was truly able to enjoy her granddaughter’s wedding in a way she simply could not have without her hearing aids. It also prepared her well for many celebrations in the future because she attended 3 more of her grandchildren’s’ weddings over the next 4 years.
One way Yager was able to measure the benefits of her hearing aids came from a common household item. An old clock, which chimes every quarter-hour, has been on display in Yager’s home for nearly fifty years. Although Yager had long suspected that the clock was losing it’s boisterous chime, she did not mention this to her family. It was not until she started wearing her first set of hearing aids that she realized the clock chimed as loud as it did when she first got it.
With the programming capabilities of digital hearing aids, Yager was able to have separate settings for the different situations she found herself in daily. There was a setting programmed so that she could listen to the TV at a comfortable level for those around her as well as for normal conversations. A second setting helped to reduce the level of background noise she experienced regularly. A third setting was compatible with the telephone, which she uses regularly to talk to her family around the country.
.
After about 6 years, “the old set had started to lose their effectiveness so I now have a new set. I find I really need them all time and especially for use on the telephone. I cannot hear without them in place.” Yager’s new hearing aids are part of Audibel’s Anthem technology. The Superior Speech Locator feature allows her to hear even better in crowds and with background noise and the Automatic Feedback Intercept feature takes care of whistling she used to occasionally get on the phone.
At ninety years old and recently widowed, Yager lives alone in the big house she and her husband shared for over 60 years. Even though she lives alone, she wears her hearing aids every single day so she can hear the phone ring, the oven timer ding, and all the other little sounds that help her be aware of her surroundings. Now that her hearing aids are part of her daily routine, Yager does not feel like she is ready to start the day until they are in her ears.
Yager is so pleased with her audiologist and the company where she has purchased her hearing aids. “I feel like I can really trust my Audiologist, Whitney Swander, who owns Hearing HealthCare Centers. And it’s not just because she’s my granddaughter.”
Posts
