[NAGDU] Hearing past noise

[Joy Relton]

Tracy Et Al,

I agree with all of your comments and questions. I have hearing aids and am still evaluating whether they are helping in the directional noise and sorting out background noises issues that I experience. (for those of you who are grammarians I apologize profusely for that last sentence).
My Starky hearing aids have settings that permit adjustments for background noise including my tinnitus. The problem is that it isn't that easy to adjust the balance of these things. More importantly I am not impressed with the way that they automatically adjust for background noise. I had one of those hours that seem to last a week yesterday. I wasn't scared or really in danger but I was frustrated. We live in a new development where there is much construction going on. So, we have very noisy street cleaning, jack hammering workers blocked corners and putting boards and obstacles to navigate over, around and through, saws and other noises from actual houses becing built and highway traffic and those darn airplanes overhead. Vicky was trying to tell me that we needed to turn at a corner that I couldn't detect because it was block off. So, we went a block further than we needed to. I couldn't hear my gps over the noise so I couldn't determine exactly where I was. Eventually, I managed to get my husband on the phone and asked him to walk to find me. I was more impatient about exploring an area with all that noise because I wasn't sure where I would end up. I do know that I have to practice all of the techniques that I have been taught through the years before navigating streets. I.e. Stop, look and listen; Make sure to hold my arm in the correct position and to position my body to line up to cross the street as straight as I can in these curving streets, don't panic and trust my dog. It gets more challenging every day. The one thing I do know, having temporarily lost my sense of direction due to a burst aneurism in my brain, is that not going out is not an option. I intend to consult my audiologist about these questions relating to location and directional sound, blocking background noise and, keeping the hearing aid sound loud enough to hear over the sounds around me. Thank God for audible signals and tactile strips at corners. Most importantly thank goodness for well trained guides. Vicky took me around several construction blocks and would not have taken me that extra block yesterday had there not been several trucks and construction equipment blocking the intersection where I needed to turn. I so wish that she could talk to me once and a while.

I like the idea of the ear plugs and have also been considering blue tooth head set with my iPhone to listen to the GPS rather than hearing aids. I'd love to hear about people's experiences.

Thanks.

Enjoy that autumn weather out there if you have it! Vicky and I are loving the fresh air and exercise.  the 

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jenine Stanley via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2023 6:24 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jenine Stanley <jeninems at icloud.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Hearing past noise

Tracy, rather than hearing aids, you may want to look into earplugs that, rather than blocking all sound, only block certain frequencies. They make these for musicians, hunters, and probably even landscapers. I believe you need to see an audiologist but such plugs can be really helpful. 

I have a pair of musician filter earplugs. They make a mold of your ear so the plugs fit well. The only issue for me is that they are not water tolerant. They do still allow for directional hearing but may decrease accuracy a tad. 

I know what you mean about the noise levels though. 

> On Oct 31, 2023, at 8:44 AM, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I'm having some trouble hearing past noise.  I don't know if my 
> neighborhood is getting noisier (I think it might be), or cars are 
> getting quieter, or I'm just getting older.  Probably all these things are true.
> 
> There are jets flying over to a nearby small airport, a freight train 
> rumbling past a couple blocks away, and the dreaded landscapers from 
> Hell whose racket can drown out sound for at least a block.  Today 
> there's a big truck working on the road near our house.  I listen the 
> best I can, but once in a while Igloo still has to use his Seeing Eye 
> superpowers and stop to keep us away from a car.  Not too often, but I'd prefer next to never.
> 
> Do people have strategies for hearing past noise?  I don't think I 
> need hearing aids yet, but wouldn't they just amplify all the noise anyway?
> 
> Tracy
> 
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