Leaving his Disorbal cost, the problem with the recipe hearing aid It’s the recipe. Find a doctor. Get an appointment. Sit in a waiting room. Suffer an hour of tests before selling the hard sale in a couple of hearing aids. Why, the indignity of everything is even worse than going deaf.
Telehealth offers a shin of a solution, but as everyone who has tried to show a mole about a doctor through a smartphone camera knows: Video technology can only reach you so far. The audiological tests require interaction one and a lot of technology to back up. Each Audiogram for whom I sat It has been inside a sophisticated and soundproof chamber.
Listen.com– A company that sells online hearing aids and through traditional sale channels has a solution. Put all the technology needed to perform a full hearing test in a box and email you along with a set of auditors with a prescription, and then travels with a audiologist through a video call. I have done the virtual hearing test of Hear.com twice: This is what a television-artesia exam, if you decide to do one.
Everything is online
Photograph: Chris Null
Photograph: Chris Null
The process begins With a simple discussion. If you had not had a hearing aid before, it is probably a good first step; Veterans will probably jump, especially if they know what hearing aids they want (or how much they want to spend). A Hear.com seller will discuss your personal impressions of your hearing loss, apparatus devices you have tried, previous audiological tests and your budget (along with any insurance you have). From there, they will suggest the best hearing aids (from their product line) to meet your needs, but you can also defend a specific product if you have already identified it.
You will then set a time for tests and hearing aids, and a few days later a box will arrive at your door. Open and the collection of hardware and the entanglement of cables that connect everything may seem bewildering, but stay safe, with even a technical knowledge modest, everything is united quickly and Hear.com professionals can guide you through any telephone confusion.
Despite the significant amount of gears inside, the box is as organized as it can obtain. At the top you will find a Microsoft surface tablet It has been stripped to do one thing: Serving a conduit for a video -based audiology session. After connecting the surface to the power of the wall, you will find a USB dissemination box to connect to the USB port of the surface. If we assume that all the other devices are still connected correctly to the USB Dissemination Box (which is far from being assured; it is good to check that everything is welcoming), it is indeed good. The surface has no other functionality, in addition to starting the call with the audiology professional and, at the scheduled time, tap a button on the screen to sign in.
Photograph: Chris Null
Photograph: Chris Null
After greeting -your audiologist will guide you through a series of tests. The first is a physical examination of the ears, which is possible thanks to the USB motor otoscope included, which you probably know better as the tool lit with the black conical tip that a doctor uses to look at your ear channel. There is no doctor to guide the tool by hand, so the audiologist will tell you how to position it in each ear so that they can have a good look at your eardrum. And yes, you can also see what the doctor sees on the surface screen. SPOILER: There is more wax inside the ear channel than you think.
Can you hear me now?
If we assume that you do not have any physical damage that prevents the use of hearing aids, it is achieved in traditional auditory exams. This series of tests will consume most of the appointment time and most involves bringing a couple of large headphones that isolate noise as professional musicians. The tests were very familiar to me, starting with tones played at different frequencies and volume levels on each ear, during which you touch the surface screen whenever you listen to something.
Then the test is repeated with a bone driving device that joins the forehead with a velcro band for another look in the way of processing sound. Finally, a third test measures your ability to distinguish several consonant and vocal sounds …sh sh v. chFor example, that is done by repeating the words you think you listen to the audiologist several times.
