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Subject : Why I'm here... Why are you here? posted by kooch on Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:05 pm |
| I’m a retired geologist. I worked at mining sites throughout the USA and Canada, and in the offshore oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico. I was always covered by top-notch health insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Shield, no co-pay required). Every year, no matter where I was, an industrial audiologist would show up with a collapsible sound booth and everyone on site would get a hearing test. For almost 20 years I was aware of my increasing sensorineural hearing loss (excellent low-frequency hearing, uniform high-frequency loss, ski-slope audiogram). Competent medical teams at these worksites advised me to forego hearing aids until I retired, as aids would not work reliably in my work environment, and feedback problems in a critical moment could get me killed. I adopted their skeptical attitude and followed their advice… When I retired, I underwent a truly comprehensive medical evaluation at a reputable ENT clinic, obtained copies of the audiogram from that evaluation, then begin looking seriously at hearing aids. Like most HOH, I spent way too much time reviewing specific hearing aids, and not nearly enough time investigating the competence and integrity of the hearing aid dispensers/adjusters. As a naďve newbie user, I became the target of a dispenser scam, described in a recent thread. If you ever find yourself in a trial where the only adjustment your aids receive is the initial input of four thresholds and your DOB, and the embarrassed dispenser is unable or unwilling to fully disclose what’s going on, pick up your marbles and leave the game… you’re being scammed! Embarrassed and shamed dispensers posting on this forum are unlikely to provide helpful information to such HOH victims. But a knowledgeable HOH reviewed my dilemma, and advised me to terminate this bogus HA trial. I followed his advice, and actually recovered my ~$ 5K purchase price! What a marvelous private HOH forum this is, a rare website that is not controlled by cartel mfgrs and dispensers! Articles on the home page explain the positions of Warren Hanna, the forum founder and benefactor. Reading the many HOH postings in the forum archives, I subsequently realized how lucky I had been… far too many HOH discovered this site only after they had been bilked out of their initial HA investment by crooked or incompetent feral dispensers. I learned that HOH with moderate to severe hearing loss could avoid dealing with the ‘street’ promoters, by trialing at reputable alternate dispensing locations like Costco hearing centers and America Hears online. Competitively priced HAs, salaried dispensers, generous trial periods, absolute money-back guarantees with no ‘restocking penalties’… and truly professional customer service. I became a committed HOH activist… In 2006 I got myself appointed to my state’s Licensing Advisory Council for SLP (Speech Language Pathologists) and Audiologists. For 8 months I was the only member wearing hearing aids; I stopped attending meetings when the six audies and SLPs promoted a signed ‘concensus’ agreement, whereby all decisions would be based on a simple vote count… <grin> My current HAs are four years old, and I’ll probably be purchasing new manually operated 4-channel (or maybe a bit more) aids in the next year or so… or maybe something entirely different… :) Why are you here? kooch |
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