Helloooooo, fellow HH'ers!!!!

FINALLY, a forum of our own! I feel like such a freak sometimes during the day, and I get so tired of not understanding people and of having to figure out the CC mechanism on TVs that it'll be great to come in here and be with people who know exactly what I'm dealing with every day!

I have what is known as sensorineural hearing loss, or nerve deafness. I started noticing it about thirty years ago, at the age of 11. While I had trouble hearing, I could often hear that people were saying something, but I had great difficulty with what they actually said, (discriminating speech, in other words). I was wearing hearing aids in both ears by my freshman year of college, and have done so ever since. They often don't help too much, since they just amplify sound and don't discriminate actual words; I simply cannot afford the newer digital ones that help specifically with that. Hell, I'm still paying off my latest pair I got three years ago, and will be doing so until the end of time, with the damned finance charges and fees. The loss has gotten progressively worse through the years, so that I now have roughly 50% loss in each ear.

I got a closed caption TV about eight years ago, for my birthday, and consider it a godsend. Now I can actually understand exactly what's being said. When I watch old shows and movies I've previously seen, I can see just how much I missed the first time I saw them. I still have a lot of trouble at movies, since there's currently no closed captioning in movie theaters (not sure how they'd do that, anyway). I have a lot of trouble with employment, as well, it's been a problem with every job I've ever had.

It's great to see this forum!

When I went to the movies, that is what I used. One nice thing about the headphones is you can go to the bathroom and still listen to the movie!!

Some of the newer theaters have the capability. The captions are displayed backwards on the back wall of the theater. Then you get this little device that's little more than a small plane of clear plexi-glass attached to a kind of flexible but sturdy stem (like you'd see on some desk lamps). The other end of the stem has a weight that fits into the cupholder. Once you secure the weight in the cupholder, you can bend and twist the stem to maneuver the plex-glass pane into a position so that you can properly read the captions in the reflection.

Open captioned movies! :woohoo:

http://www.insightcinema.org

I just usuallly watch movies on DVDs and read the subtitles. I can never watch DVDs with my dad as he doesn't like the subtitles being on.

Blue

People at work can be very insensitive and patronizing.

An artist friend of mine also had hearing difficulties. After a request to repeat something, an insensitive young guy would invariably look straight at Nick, point to his ear, and over-enunciate "Miracle Ear." Nick would respond by pointing to the guy's prematurely bald head and reply, "Rogaine."

I need to replace the old broken-down aids I have, but it's difficult to interview for new work with bad hearing. But I need the money from new work to afford new hearing equipment. It's a Catch-22. When things were going well, I had a digital set, but they're broken down and the dealer wanted to sell me new ones. I had a bad experience with them because I moved back home to CT, they broke down, and that particular brand (Nu-Ear) was not sold there, and no one could repair them. Since I couldn't hear to continue with job interviews, I was forced to return to SC because without a job I couldn't afford to settle there. I had previously mentioned to this dealer that there was a chance of my moving, but he sold them to me anyway. In the course of my life I've lived in several areas of the country and have found that hearing aid dealers do not like to repair aids they didn't originally sell. They might if they think you might be in the market for new ones.

The close-captioning is great, but sometimes very strange things appear on the screen.