HEARING AIDS

ncreichs · July 6

This is a very practical question. My wife has mid to early late stage dementia. She has delusions and hallucinations about "a man" who comes into her room and removes, moves, or takes her things. Because of this, she routinely hides her hearing aids. This usually happens before she takes a shower or before she goes to bed. Of course, she doesn't remember where she puts them and almost always claims that "a man" took them. My wife is profoundly hard of hearing, so having hearing aids is almost essential and most assuredly for her dementia care. Up until now, I have invested in the state of the art hearing aids that have given her maximum clarity of sound in many different settings. However, at $7,000 a pair, it becomes a tradeoff between the best at such prices and good enough at prices that I can almost consider them disposable. That's because I recognize that I will never be able to control where they go when she takes them out and the app tracking only works if they are charged, which frequently they are not. So to the point, any recommendations based on your own experience on brands and types of hearing aids that combine a reasonable level of quality of sound, ease of use, and price, suitable for a person suffering from dementia? I really appreciate any help with this.

harshedbuzz · July 6

@ncreichs

Hearing aids can be such an issue in dementia.

Since dad had significant loss of hearing, we ended up with whatever they offered at Costco. The fitting wasn't done by an audiologist, we had a "hearing aide specialist" instead, but he'd had them for years and was very happy with the ones we got there. They came with a decent warranty— 6-month money-back return and some insurance as I recall. Mom lost one of hers, and they did replace it "free" within a certain timeframe. Her pair were no longer made, so they swapped her out a new pair and gave one free.

For less profound losses, certain Apple Airpods function as hearing aides.

https://seniorsinfo.org/hearing-aid-faq/how-to-use-airpods-as-hearing-aid?msclkid=d630a4ee584917fd4818cc84e2e85a70&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Hearing%20Aid%20FAQ-1&utm_term=how%20to%20use%20airpods%20as%20hearing%20aid&utm_content=how%20to%20use%20airpods%20as%20hearing%20aid-1

Given that she has a delusion about them being taken, I wonder if she'd be open to you protecting them from "the man" when she's not actively using them. Later in dad's dementia, mom took over keeping track of them. My friend also supervised hearing aids with her mom after mom's dumped them into her denture bath.

HB

H1235 · July 6

My mom is stage 4 and can’t figure out how to work her hearing aids. She did get them just before she was diagnosed so there was not really any long term memory of how to use them. With that in mind I wonder if a different brand of hearing aid may be difficult for her to figure out how to use. I don’t know how similar the different brands are. There will probably also come a time that she struggles to figure out the current ones. You may eventually need to help her put them in and take them out. Could be more involved in that process now? Maybe put them away for her and get them out for her each day. Storing them in a place she wouldn’t find. There would probably be a lot of obstacles to that. I hope you can figure out a solution.

SiberianIris · July 7

Another cheap (relative to the cost of hearing aids) alternative is a Pocket Talker, which costs around $200. It's battery operated microphone and headphones that reminds me of the old Sony Walkmans from the 1980's.

I got this for my mom after she put water(?!) in her hearing aid charging station and caused them to short out. Fortunately the audiologist was able to get her hearing aids working again, but it meant that mom could no longer be trusted to look after them herself. The Pocket Talker allowed us to communicate with her without wearing out our voices until the hearing aids were repaired.

MSPeter · July 7

I do not have personal experience, but know there is a newer type of extended wear hearing aid called, Lyric. It might be worth speaking to your audiologist to know if your wife is a good candidate.

HEARING AIDS

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