In recent months, our ability to communicate informally between us seems to have deteriorated greatly. We have attributed that to my hearing aid's contributing gradually to extending my hearing loss. That's another imponderable issue, however. As though guided by mystic intervention, about a week ago the word "McGurk" popped into my mind out of nowhere, as though guided there by force unknown. Stupid-sounding word, I wrote it down on my "to look at" list, and forgot about it. I figured it involved some pugilist from "Joe Palooka"; remember him? Here it is, in reality: "The McGurk effect is a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. The illusion occurs when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of a third sound.[1] The visual information a person gets from seeing a person speak changes the way they hear the sound.[2] [3] If a person is getting poor quality auditory information but good quality visual information, they may be more likely to experience the McGurk effect.[4] Integration abilities for audio and visual information may also influence whether a person will experience the effect. People who are better at sensory integration have been shown to be more susceptible to the effect.[2] Many people are affected differently by the McGurk effect based on many factors, including brain damage and other disorders." Damn! It turns out to be a definition of explanatory physiological cause for our distress! The last underline certainly fits. I think, if I interpret the above in simplified terminology, that it says the near-deaf individual uses visual stimulus to subrogate acoustical information, processing it by imagining a third, non-contained function, and injects that into the perceived reaction. (much simpler interpret, don't'cha think?) IOW, she talks, I listen, she waits, I interpret, mince things around while trying to reason out whether she made a statement or asked a question. If the latter, I'm often in trouble, though, the former often expects a response which may not be made at all. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk_effect
I think I get what you are saying Frank As I am noticing hearing loss at times, are you saying your 'aids' are contributing rather than helping ?
@Patsy Faye I asked the hearing aids guy, (what would he be, an Audiologist?) about that little theory of mine; he waggled around the question using technical jargon. My idea stems from the fact that long-term exposure to loud noises is a main cause for hearing loss. As that loss progresses, louder inputs to the ears must be made, in order to hear the sound adequately. Therefore, it seems to me that hearing aids enable us to hear by blaring the sounds loudly into our ears, thereby very likely contributing to further hearing loss. Do you "hear" me? Frank
My hearing loss, gradually worsening over maybe the past 10-15 years, prompted me to get the hearing aids about 2 years ago. During that time there is no doubt in our minds, the loss has worsened very noticeably. Frank
You would think with the cost of hearing aids, you would get some better bang for your buck. Michael recieved his two aids from the VA for free, but we were informed that should even one need to be replaced it would cost $5,000. He only had them for a year when he died, so I took both back to the VA. They said they could be recalibrate them for reuse for another veteran or two. But I don't think they really helped him much, he said they caused other sounds that irritated him.
The research I did on hearing aids definitely did not sway me to even thinking of buying them. Plus, if I understood this right...there are different kinds of hearing loss and hearing aids cannot help all of them. What I also found strange is that most Health Insurance plans including regular Medicare consider hearing aids and false teeth to be a cosmetic need, and not a necessity. Wait until the ones making these decisions lose their hearing and teeth then they will understand how much of a necessity these things are.
I believe that most regular Medicare plans do not include things like optical and dental and hearing; but many of the Medicare Advantage plans DO include those benefits, as well as the fitness benefit. We also have an "allowance" for regular OTC meds like aspirin or vitamins that we can use each month with our Advantage plan. I have heard people say they didn't like the Advantage plans; but ours is perfect, covers just about everything we need or want. Plus, we have really great doctors here that accept the Cigna Healthsprings Advantage plans.
Yes, I have been on my Medicare Advantage plan for almost a year now and signed up for it again for the next year because so far I have been well pleased with it. My plan covers some vision testing and a set amount towards a pair of glasses or contacts. My dental coverage I have to pay extra for and there is a $1500. limit each year as well as rules abut how many teeth you could pull a year, etc. And the dental coverage pays very little on the major things old teeth often need such as root canals, crowns, and dentures. My hearing coverage is pretty good with $1000. going towards hearing aids. My plan also has the free health club and OTC pharmacy benefits. I also pay nothing for the 3 prescriptions I take since I order them from the mail order pharmacy and get a 3 month's of my meds each order. Plus I have a card that lets me save 10% on all healthy foods I buy from Walmart. And I get points for exercising, watching short health videos, having regular checkups, etc. that give me bonus bucks to spend on gift cards, and other things. They also let me pick out a free gift pack for at home exercise which contained everything I needed to start exercising at home.