Hearing

[lois1112]

I've recently lost most of my hearing. I can hear somewhat with hearing aids, but not at all once I take them out.

My concern is not hearing if there is an emergency.

How do others handle this? Do I notify them at the front desk? 

I actually had a flood about 2 years ago and the woke me coming into my room in middle of night- embarrassing for all of us (they knocked but I didn't hear them- that's how I first realized how bad my hearing was)

any suggestions?   Also since I'm fairly new at this any suggestions for air travel (my last flight they moved the gate and I didn't hear the announcement- lucky I didn't miss flight)

[Mike981]

I can relate, I just had to buy a new set of hearing aids. Talk about $$$$

I believe you can get a handicap room that has a doorbell that will turn on a light in the room so you know that someone is at your door.

 

Per your flight question, if you have a smart phone I suggest you download the airlines app and watch that for any changes. Also keep on eye on the flight boards around the airport. My wife has very good hearing and even then with all of the noise and the lousy audio quality, she can have a hard time making out the announcements.

Good on you for enjoying life. Hearing loss often makes people feel they should stay isolated. I hope you have wonderful travels.

[lois1112]

1 hour ago, Mike981 said:

I can relate, I just had to buy a new set of hearing aids. Talk about $$$$

I believe you can get a handicap room that has a doorbell that will turn on a light in the room so you know that someone is at your door.

 

Per your flight question, if you have a smart phone I suggest you download the airlines app and watch that for any changes. Also keep on eye on the flight boards around the airport. My wife has very good hearing and even then with all of the noise and the lousy audio quality, she can have a hard time making out the announcements.

Good on you for enjoying life. Hearing loss often makes people feel they should stay isolated. I hope you have wonderful travels.

Thank you.............other than not hearing, I don't need a handicapped room (and I have to have a balcony) 

I guess I'll just let them know at the desk.  

[Mike981]

You are welcome. I believe each line has an office you can contact before you leave to help people with these kind of issues.

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, lois1112 said:

Thank you.............other than not hearing, I don't need a handicapped room (and I have to have a balcony) 

I guess I'll just let them know at the desk.  

 

You should let the cruise line know in advance of any special needs you may have, so the information can already be in front of all the staff/crew who would need to know so that your trip can be both comfortable and safe.

 

Each line should have some sort of "special needs" department, be it for service animals, wheelchairs/other devices, food allergies, hearing or sight difficulties, etc.

 

A room with strobe lights (and similar) for those who have impaired hearing is not necessarily what you would think of as a "handicapped" or "accessible" cabin, but that would depend upon the cruise line and the ship.

 

I don't know if they equip beds with some sort of vibrating alert, as someone sleeping might not notice even a strong strobe light (??).

 

Also, why do you think a "handicapped room" would mean not having a balcony?

 

GC

[Bloodgem]

5 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

I don't know if they equip beds with some sort of vibrating alert, as someone sleeping might not notice even a strong strobe light (??).

 

We were on a Royal Caribbean ship a few years ago. The cabin crew placed a vibrating pad under the mattress when they noticed my son wore hearing aids. The bed vibrated every time someone rang our cabin or knocked on the door.

 

Check out if the cruise  line you are sailing with has a similar device.

 

   

[kokopelli-az]

Definitely check with your cruise line's Access Department.     I don't know what cruise line you are looking at, but here is an example of information from Norwegian:

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising#guesthear

[Taters]

I was suddenly deafened in an instant 7 years ago, and had no prior hear issues.  In fact, I'd had perfectly good ears!  No one knows what caused my hearing loss at the age of 49.  I had a very fast introduction to life as a deaf person.  I have cochlear implants now, but the hearing I have with them is not like natural hearing and I consider it sub par.  When I take my processors off of my head, I cannot hear anything at all.

 

I have a Sonic Boom alarm clock at home, which vibrates me awake instead of a standard alarm.  However, it is also equipped with (according to my husband) a very loud alarm, as well.  Sonic Boom also makes a travel alarm and I take it with me on all of my trips, whether it be business or pleasure.  It can go under my pillow while I sleep or I can tether it to my nightshirt.  These have never failed to wake me up.

 

Since obtaining my cochlear implants I've cruised on Carnival and Holland America.  Prior to final payment I always let them know via their respective Special Needs desks of my hearing issues and I am supplied with a kit in my cabin upon embarkation that includes a travel Sonic Boom alarm clock just like the one I own, a strobe light door bell flasher thingy that is installed by a technician, usually before I board, and some other things that they think I may need.  They also set it up for me to have a device for hearing in the main showroom, which I plug my CIs into, and anything that comes over the PA system in that room ONLY is streamed right to my head.  I keep this throughout the length of the cruise.  I can understand!  How awesome!  (*Note: If you get one of these and it doesn't work, don't take it back to the front desk, but to the SOUND GUY about 30 minutes prior to any show.  He can make the needed adjustments.  The front desk staff know nothing about this, but the sound guy is an expert!)

 

Whatever you do, please don't let your hearing loss slow you down.  Yes, severe/profound hearing loss is difficult to deal with, but there is so much help out there!  Your audiologist should be a great help for you in pointing you in the right direction.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Taters

[Covepointcruiser]

My husband is also very hearing impaired even with his hearing aides.   Don’t expect to watch the TV as there are almost no closed captioned programming.   This includes the ship’s channels so he can never tell what is being said by the Captain, Cruise Director, etc.   We have been on five cruise lines with the same problem. 

[lois1112]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions

I have contacted the Access person at Princess cruises and am waiting to hear back from them. I image with the holiday weekend I may not hear until Monday

I'm going to look into the sonic boom alarm clock

[kokopelli-az]

4 hours ago, lois1112 said:

Thank you everyone for your suggestions

I have contacted the Access person at Princess cruises and am waiting to hear back from them. I image with the holiday weekend I may not hear until Monday

I'm going to look into the sonic boom alarm clock

Since you're looking into Princess, here is their information.   And they do have closed caption for their in-cabin movies.

 

https://www.princess.com/news/backgrounders_and_fact_sheets/factsheet/Princess-Access-Makes-Cruise-Vacations-Accessible-For-Passengers-With-Disabilities.html

[lois1112]

11 minutes ago, kokopelli-az said:

Since you're looking into Princess, here is their information.   And they do have closed caption for their in-cabin movies.

 

https://www.princess.com/news/backgrounders_and_fact_sheets/factsheet/Princess-Access-Makes-Cruise-Vacations-Accessible-For-Passengers-With-Disabilities.html

thank you that is who I contacted

[Caribbean Chris]

You’ve been given lots of great advice here.

 

I cruise two or three times a year and have profound hearing loss (cochlear implant) in one year, and severe-to-profound loss in the other (very high-powered hearing aid). Like others, I am deaf when the devices come offer to nap, shower or sleep.

 

I have a couple of long-term suggestions for Lois1112 that could improve every aspect of your life. (Unlike Taters - I am so sorry yours provide only subpar hearing), I have had an excellent, natural-hearing result from cochlear implant surgery two years ago. You might want to research the nearest C.I, specialist and be evaluated as a possible candidate.

 

The second suggestion is to investigate getting a Hearing Dog. My Lab Raylene came from Dogs for the Deaf (now known as Dogs for a Better Lives. Canine Companions for Independence also now trains Hearing Dogs. She  performs numerous tasks for me. We’ve had two cruising episodes when my husband accidentally locked himself out of the stateroom in the middle of the night and obviously knocking did no good. Raylene awakened me with her alert, and when I turned the light on, she led to me to the sound (door). She has taken 12 cruises and does very well on board, as well as on flights. 

 

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of frustrating experiences with ship devices. Years ago I was on a long transatlantic cruise, and was given a headset for the theater. It wouldn't work, and then we realized there were no batteries inside. The ship’s customer service desk said there were no batteries of that size anywhere on board, but I could buy some in port (eight days later!?)

 

One useless accessibility thing I disconnected was a device that made the phone flash very brightly for a call. My husband knew when the phone rang anyway - but obviously I couldn’t HEAR phone messages or conversations, so never used the phone.  It was a complete waste of space on the nightstand. Sometimes you just laugh....

[Taters]

On ‎11‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 3:04 AM, Caribbean Chris said:

 

 

I have a couple of long-term suggestions for Lois1112 that could improve every aspect of your life. (Unlike Taters - I am so sorry yours provide only subpar hearing), I have had an excellent, natural-hearing result from cochlear implant surgery two years ago. You might want to research the nearest C.I, specialist and be evaluated as a possible candidate.

Caribbean Chris:

 

It has been explained to me that the sound quality is a matter of perception.  Those of us who are suddenly deafened with no prior hearing issues often feel that hearing with CIs is sub par.  22 (or thereabouts) electrodes cannot do the work of 30,000 tiny hair cells. 

 

Those folks with long term progressive, degenerative hearing loss usually LOVE the sound they get from cochlear implants because they've never heard this well before, or it was so long ago that they were able to hear this well (possibly decades), and for the first time in their lives are able to understand and identify sounds that were previously unavailable to them.

 

I am thankful for my CIs, but my perception is that the technology has a long way to go.

 

Cheers,

 

Taters

[Caribbean Chris]

1 hour ago, Taters said:

Caribbean Chris:

 

It has been explained to me that the sound quality is a matter of perception.  Those of us who are suddenly deafened with no prior hearing issues often feel that hearing with CIs is sub par.  22 (or thereabouts) electrodes cannot do the work of 30,000 tiny hair cells. 

 

Those folks with long term progressive, degenerative hearing loss usually LOVE the sound they get from cochlear implants because they've never heard this well before, or it was so long ago that they were able to hear this well (possibly decades), and for the first time in their lives are able to understand and identify sounds that were previously unavailable to them.

 

I am thankful for my CIs, but my perception is that the technology has a long way to go.

 

Cheers,

 

Taters

 

I think all your points are very valid. We do hear with our brains. It had been decades since my progressive deafness first began, and the clarity with which I now hear from a deaf ear is miraculous. And as incredible as the technology is, there’s no doubt it will continue improving as the years go on. Just a couple of years ago, the made-for-iphone feature was developed so that people with CIs and some HAs now can talk on the phone again without some intermediary device. A real game-changer, and more ahead.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Caribbean Chris

[lois1112]

thank you everyone for your support

as taters said that hearing is really perception. I can hear especially with hearing aids, but perception and understanding is down. (and that is something that people without hearing loss don't understand)

Chris- I have thought about a dog- and may eventually go that route........I have currently a 5 year old very spoiled dachshund (pet) that I don't think would take well to an intruder! 

For now I will continue to travel and do the best I can. 

[drrtc1]

Just turned down a 161 day cruise on Viking since none of their ships will offer closed captioning.  I have looked up the pertinent laws on this and I think it is clear that ADA feels under Title II that closed captioning is mandatory for cruise ships that embark or disembark passengers in a US port.  Fairly clear and has been the law for years.  I loved my last Viking cruise of 12 days but cannot fathom having zero input on the world for 1/2 of a year on a World Cruise or ability to watch a movie at sea.  Of importance, the cruise lines continue to dissemble on the aspect of what is CC transmitted and what isn't.  All CC (CC1 thru CC4) is transmitted in the 21st line of the 542 lines (or so) of the TV.  It would cost CNN or MSNBC loads of money to take that line out of a broadcast program.  However, since it is broadcast and received by the ship, they may not be paying for the captured signal.  If that is true and they are using video receivers (not real TVs which have a built in decoder for CC), then they would be unable to decode line 21.  They would have to replace all their TVs and pay for the captured signal. They don't do that.  It is the cruise ships that will not invest in a $50K decoder.  DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU WITH THEIR TECHNICAL GOBBLYGOOK ABOUT THE STATIONS REMOVING THE CLOSED CAPTIONS!!  The Closed part of it is so that the watcher can turn it on or off on the TV. (otherwise it would be open captioning).  The fact that they make excuses is that they don't understand it themselves.  I had three I.T. guys from Viking in my cabin and they didn't have a clue.  I have blue tooth hearing aids and they couldn't even turn that on on the TV.

It is apparent to me that the cruise industry could do a lot of good for themselves and passengers by learning about the ins and outs of closed captioning.

Edited December 4, 2019 by drrtc1

[drrtc1]

After Viking told me that they were a EU company, I looked up the law on both US and EU.  Theirs is same as ours.  If they pick up or let off passenger in the US then they need to follow ADA law.  Here is the FCC comment to the complaint I filed yesterday. 

"

Thank you for your submission. Your request has been received and assigned Ticket No. 3690816. Throughout the complaint process, you will receive periodic emails updating you about the status of your complaint. 

If you have information to add to your complaint, please respond directly to this email.

You can view a list of frequently asked questions about the informal complaint process at: https://www.fcc.gov/consumercomplaints/FAQs

Your submission provides the FCC with important information we can use to develop policies to protect consumers, remedy violations of the Communications Act, and encourage future compliance with the law. 

Thank you for your help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers."

 

We all need to become consumers and demand that the ships treat us as well as the crippled handicapped.  Tired of being a second class citizen on the ship and I have $7000 hearing aids.  

[Caribbean Chris]

I agree with you that lack of TV captioning is a big annoyance (we cruise two or three times a year, divided between HAL and Celebrity. They don’t have consistent TV captioning either.)

 

The 2005 Supreme Court decision (Spector v. NCL) did uphold that Title III of the ADA applies to foreign flag vessels operating in American waters. But that title III does NOT apply to their “internal affairs.” So you will find on ships that, while there have been great strides in the right direction, not everything will reflect accessible conditions on land in the US.  A cruise line could successfully argue that satellite signals to the ship fall under their internal affairs.

 

So on a practical note, you may want to investigate alternatives like amplification devices that work with hearing aids or cochlear implants, or experiment with newer Apps for smartphones like AVA or LiveTranscribe (a great app that works on Android phones).

 

For example, I have a mini mic2+, which is a small, lightweight, wireless microphone that streams sound directly to my ReSound hearing aid  and Cochlear implant. If I struggle to hear a TV show, I can place the mic right in front if the TV. The mic is also useful in noisy restaurants.

 

[okpaddy]

Hello to all of my fellow cruisers with hearing loss. I also lost my hearing suddenly, literally overnight during the summer of 2014. I had my first CI surgery two months after the hearing loss and was both pleased and dismayed at the same time. It was amazing to hear again, but it was frustrating to not understand what I was hearing. I worked very hard at my therapy and was making progress. Unfortunately I developed a bad infection and had to have the CI removed. The follow up surgery nine months later was much more painful and life changing. The CI was replaced, but in the process a lot of nerve damage was done, that created the loss of smell and taste. It has been four years since the second surgery and many of those senses have still not returned.

I am especially thankful for finding a really helpful Audiologist. I have progressed from everyone sounding like a computer, to something closer to normal sounding speech. I have made great progress with lip reading and often rely on having my DW repeating whenever I cannot understand what people are saying.

What I hope to pass along to others is that after my struggles and setbacks, I have learned to embrace the "quiet".  I really enjoy cruising, and don't feel as though I am missing out because I don't hear whats going on around me. I guess it could be a concern if you were traveling solo, but there are phone apps, and pagers provided by the major cruise lines to inform you of important announcements. Please don't let hearing loss prevent you from experiencing the wonderful joys of travel. There are phone apps that will convert speech to text, and even translate while traveling abroad. 

Bon Voyage, happy sailing.

Jim 

P.S. Has anyone else had negative reaction from their wearing CI's from the "Deaf" community ?

[Caribbean Chris]

8 hours ago, okpaddy said:

Hello to all of my fellow cruisers with hearing loss. I also lost my hearing suddenly, literally overnight during the summer of 2014. I had my first CI surgery two months after the hearing loss and was both pleased and dismayed at the same time. It was amazing to hear again, but it was frustrating to not understand what I was hearing. I worked very hard at my therapy and was making progress. Unfortunately I developed a bad infection and had to have the CI removed. The follow up surgery nine months later was much more painful and life changing. The CI was replaced, but in the process a lot of nerve damage was done, that created the loss of smell and taste. It has been four years since the second surgery and many of those senses have still not returned.

I am especially thankful for finding a really helpful Audiologist. I have progressed from everyone sounding like a computer, to something closer to normal sounding speech. I have made great progress with lip reading and often rely on having my DW repeating whenever I cannot understand what people are saying.

What I hope to pass along to others is that after my struggles and setbacks, I have learned to embrace the "quiet".  I really enjoy cruising, and don't feel as though I am missing out because I don't hear whats going on around me. I guess it could be a concern if you were traveling solo, but there are phone apps, and pagers provided by the major cruise lines to inform you of important announcements. Please don't let hearing loss prevent you from experiencing the wonderful joys of travel. There are phone apps that will convert speech to text, and even translate while traveling abroad. 

Bon Voyage, happy sailing.

Jim 

P.S. Has anyone else had negative reaction from their wearing CI's from the "Deaf" community ?

 

I’m so sorry you had such an ordeal with your CI and the infection. Those of us with hearing loss are lucky to be living in age with apps and other tools to assist us if our devices can’t do the whole job. It was a great day for me and others with hearing loss when email became commonly used - I edited a magazine for years and wrote a book without needing to use a telephone.

 

To answer your question, I’ve never experienced any negatives from the Deaf community. Our HLAA chapter had a “Signing Santa” last Saturday for deaf children who use ASL in our town. Some of these little kids had cochlear implants, some had hearing aids, and some were profoundly deaf with no devices. Some of the parents were deaf as well, and used ASL. It was a great success and the kids had fun doing crafts, talking to Santa, and meeting each other. I guess a party is a party, even when you belong to different communities within the same world.

[drrtc1]

Hello deaf and hard of hearing cruisers.  I am very disappointed to have received numerous replies by hard of hearing individuals who have "solved" the lack of "closed captions, hearing assistive devices and audible and light warnings by using THEIR resources, hearing professionals, and purchase of other goodies like microphones, telephones, etc to help them on their cruises.  Many suggestions are inappropriate since I do not have a cholerar implant (CI).   And in any case, I was not looking for suggestions to "solve a problem".  I was looking for a movement that effects 50%. of males on ships--hearing assistance.  DO NOT REPLY UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO AND BECOME AT LEAST AS ENTITLED AND THE UNFORTUNATE AND ELDERLY THE RUN US OVER WITH THEIR MOTOR SCOOTERS AND GET FIRST SEATS ON THE BUS.    START DEMANDING HEARING ACCESS AND DO NOT SKIP STUFF SINCE YOU CAN'T HEAR.

I have a list of every ship in the world cruise ship business.  I know every ship that does not offer even simple decoding of closed captions on TV.  Viking is Top of the List and they blame it on the satellite company.  CRIPPLED, YES.  DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING, NO.  THEIR PROBLEM NOT OURS, DON'T PARTICIPATE and they will suddenly realize that they have a problem.  GO ON HAL, CELEBRITY, RCL, PRINCESS CRUISES.

For the hard of hearing, please go get your hearing checked and get some aids.  But recognize that there are a lot of things that the ship can do to make it easier.  Ever try to listen to an exclusion talk on the TV?  It only costs $2.00 a minute to convert to CC.  This would be about $120 and they could use it over and over.  Can you use the telephone?  Order room service?  Do you hear the door knocking?  Do you hear announcements that are not in the cabin?

Can you understand the talk on the tour.?  (that is one thing Viking does well, everyone gets an audio receiver).

 

One thing that we are all going to be if we are lucky,  IS OLDER.  If you are male, you have a 50% hearing loss by definition by 65.