As someone who is losing her hearing, I am begging everyone to lower the noise volume!
Hearing aids are expensive. I paid almost $5,000 for my hearing aids, plus buying batteries every month. Hearing aids help, but they do not restore normal hearing.
Medicare will not pay for hearing aids. Hearing loss is emotionally devastating. Sometimes loud noise will cause an instant headache and/or nausea. People with normal hearing find it tiring to communicate with us.
Consumer Reports magazine states that a noise level of more than 70 decibels will cause hearing loss. Dr. Brian Figor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital in Boston says, "We are prematurely aging our ears."
If you are interested in learning about hearing loss, contact the Hearing Loss Association of America, www.hearingloss.org, or at (301) 657-2248.
Doris Charnock
Augusta
Comments
Hearing loss of any magnitude is indeed devastating. I have been struggling with it for years. I thank God for closed captioning and of course the printed word. Why Medicare will pay for an electric wheel chair or power chair but not for hearing aids is a mystery to me. I have lost many opportunities to get back in the workforce but my loss of hearing prevented that since my qualifications depend on communicating. I did learn lipreading.
Mc, I agree. I have never understood why medicare pays for these expensive electric power and wheel chairs . I believe it also pays thousands for the special vans that haul them as well.
Regular insurance does not pay either. The VA will provide hearing aids if service connected hearing loss. The real truth is there is just not a big enough lobby in DC for those who have lost all or part of their hearing.
Thanks for this LTE. I keep telling my youngest brother that he need to keep that TV down when he is playing on the Xbox Live. My ears are far more important than hearing footsteps on Call of Duty: World at War. He needs to be taught that too.
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