Hearing Aids — How Do They Feel?

Hello everyone!

I hesitated beginning this thread in " treatments" section, then i decided to post here.

How does it feel to have an hearing aid? Concretely?

One of my friend said it was dangerous for th ears to have always a speaker.

I have just a litlle hearing loss, and i hope to have at least a masker.

Is it disturbing to have a tube in the ear? Does the sounds seems natural or totally artificial?

Is it right that you hear your voice "from the inside"?

If i have aids it will be with minimum settings probably. How do you deal with TV or cinema? Is it ok?

Thank you!

 

How does it feel to have an hearing aid? Concretely? You get used to it. It's comfortable and I don't even consciously know they are there. I finally got them when I was 33 because I wanted to try out the latest technology. I am 34 now, and I won't leave the house (or the bedroom actually) without wearing them.

One of my friend said it was dangerous for th ears to have always a speaker. This is not true. Hearing aids are specifically designed now to only amplify the frequencies you need and up to a safe level. They don't simply amplify all sounds 30 additional dbs even if they are already past a safe volume. An audiologist will tell you it is better to have hearing aids so that your hearing doesn't further deteriorate. This is, of course, referring only to hearing aids fitted by an audiologist, NOT the cheap ones you can buy off a shelf at the local drug store that came straight from an infomercial.

I have just a litlle hearing loss, and i hope to have at least a masker.

Is it disturbing to have a tube in the ear? Does the sounds seems natural or totally artificial? Feels completely natural to me now. I've had mine for a little over a year. I actually have BiCROS aids where I have a normal hearing aid in my good ear and a transmitter aid in my right (deaf) ear that sends sounds to my left hearing aid. All the sounds seem natural, and I can't distinguish between what is artificial and what is not.

Is it right that you hear your voice "from the inside"? I would never describe it that way. My own voice is normal and all sounds are normal. It took me 3-6 months to get used to new sounds, but now NOT wearing my hearing aids seems wrong and worse. I remember when I first got them, my own voice was louder. But now, its what I would consider normal and sounds like I always remember.

If i have aids it will be with minimum settings probably. How do you deal with TV or cinema? Is it ok? No issues with TV and honestly I have not been to a cinema since I got them.

 

Thanks for your post! It really reassures me!

If others have hearing aids and maskers, please share your opinion! Thanks

 

Quentino,

I have a hearing aid for my left T ear. My hearing is much lower in the left so I just got one hearing aid to try out. It has a built-in masker which I find to be nice. However, I believe I will have to turn the aid back in after the trial because the ear specialist indicated that hearing aid will not help me at this point because of my fluctuating hearing loss. It would be better to wait and see where my hearing lands. I have been diagnosed with endolymphatic hydrops (some form of Menieres).

 

I see. Hope you'll get better!
So maskers are good. I'm optimistic for this.

 

Quentino,

I actually went to get tested for a hearing aid and I actually got to try them on for about 30 minutes (programmed for my hearing loss which is minimal as well). I really didn't feel a drastic change since mine is minimal and high frequency loss in my both ears but is only a mild loss in my left. I tried the behind the ear ones and it felt fine. You can barely tell they are there but it is not a bother, well atleast not for me. I also don't care what other think so I don't mind if they see I have hearing aids. I am still contemplating if I really need them though which i am sure you will too. I went to Costco which has two HA's with a remote, 2 year loss replacement and 3 year repair warranty for $1899.99 out the door. The only thing that I had trouble with is she said I have mild low frequency hearing loss (250 hz and 500 hz) in both ears. I have taken many audiogram tests online and I can actually hear at almost 0 db in both those frequencies on EVERY test. Even though it was done in a "sound proof" booth I still heard the outside noise and I think those frequencies are harder to hear for me but I do hear them. I don't know if she did it on purpose to try and sell me both HA's, lol. I say try them with at least a 30 day risk free trial and see if it improves the quality of your life, if so, keep them.

Best regards,
Enrique

 

Mine also have maskers but I have found I don't use them much anymore. They were nice for the beginning of my T when I wanted another sound to focus on. The problem I have with maskers is that within minutes I would easily tune out the white noise sound and couldn't even tell if it was on. I would turn them off then back on and I then could distinguish the masking sound again. It's strange how it works.

 

Thanks for your answers! I'll definitely try!

I also don't care about what other people think! If you can feel better, it worth it

 

Supposedly some hearing aids can completely mask tinnitus. I read some report and it stated that if you're tinnitus is around the 5kish mark that there's a good chance it might be masked, less so if it's higher.

 

I don't know if it will totally mask man only by amplification, so i hope masking works well on my high pitched buzz sound.

I hope it's not too disturbing to have always someting in the ear, or having a little device behind the ear.

 

I tried hearing aids, WNGs and combination products.
I have no hearing loss in the speech area (up to 4 kHz). It goes down after 6 kHz (ski slope audiogram).
My T is somewhere in the high frequencies, high like a dog whistle.
The hearing aids gave a little bit more input up to 10 kHz.
But they did not change much. So I could not get more external sounds in the high areas since most sounds are lower. Therefore my audiologist said I don't need hearing aids.
WNGs also did not help since my T cuts through anything.
Therefore my recommendation: If You have no hearing loss in the low frequencies, don't take hearing aids.
If WNGs help, take them. Or just use your IPOD and listen to nature sounds, white noise, crickets etc.

 

I have normal hearing ( but quite low , as good as 45 year old man = -10db) and same thing at right ear, except -20 db in mild low frequencies ( 500 and 1000hz)

It's not so much but i feel the loss. So i think HA are adapted for me.

 

@Quentino did you already go get an official hearing test?

 

I have a pair of RESOUND aids with the built in masker and fully programmable to my loss which is in the high frez. range. They have a built in white noise masker which I can choose to use or not as well as full volume controls for each ear with a nice remote control..About as nice as one could hope for. However I never wear them. They amplify only the frez. of loss that I have but still everything is just too loud and crisp. Your voice does sound different and I felt that I was often talking to loud. I have no hearing loss in the speech range. TV. etc. was no problem. If it seemed loud it was easy to lower the volume in both or either ears.

I normally just use white noise maskers which do no more than make noise.

The doctor told me anyone should wear aids for at least 3 months in order to get use to them. I must agree as they require some lifestyle adjustments.

Here in the US most insurance companies will not pay for aids and one should expect to pay 5 thousand dollars plus for a good set. If you choose to try the aids, most companies will allow at least a 30 day trial period. One company allowed me a 60 day trail with no deposit Most companies will require a 10% non refundable deposit should you return them.. Get as long a trial period and least amount of deposit as you can.

The only way you will know if aids are right for you is just to test drive them for awhile. The first pair of aids I tried had the ZEN sound masker in them... Sounded great in the office but after a week or so that sound was getting on my nerves as much as the tinnitus.

After test driving the aids for awhile I decided that all were not for me. I have the pair now only because the Vet Adm. said I needed them and went and ordered and paid for them over my objections.

 

No, not yet. In one week i will do a precise hearing test with an ENT specialized in tinnitus, the only one next to where i live.

Other ENTs are on vacation or really busy)
( and not specialized in T. I succedeed in having a meeting with the specialist at the end of his vacations)

Other solutions for specialists where at Paris... But very expensive and very hard to go to Paris.

And i wanted a specialist to be sure that hearing loss is the cause of my T, and not some allergies or sinus problems... Even if now i have no illusions about this.

 

Can anyone out there on this forum give me any previous experience of having the one hearing aid in the ear where the T is coming from, I am currently seeing a specialist in TRT training and part of this process has been to fit me with an aid that sits directly in the canal of the ear and tuned to pick up the sound where my minor hearing loss is working on the basis that the brain is working harder to pick up the extra sound and will filter out the T.

My slight concern which I have noticed over the last few weeks is that my T now seems to be more consistent in noise,i seem to have less good days than I used to, i would describe the noise like bike pedalling I would call it cycling tinnitus and I think I am now picking up some T in what was the good ear, I wonder if this is now working on overtime to keep up with the other one.

Has anyone else experienced something similar and might it settle down, I have noticed when it is good it is pretty good but always still there just got to try to not keep focusing on it I guess ?

Any suggestions

Thanks

 

I thought hearing aids come in pairs. Why have only one in the ear with T ? Do you have hearing loss ?

 

Hi Rico Napoli, I have a slight hearing loss in the right ear which where the T is ( I never knew I had this until the T came ) I don't think I would have got the T if I didn't go through a stressful period that was happening to me then, so the idea of my TRT person I am seeing is to get more noise into the area where the hearing loss which it is tuned to so the listening brain has that to tune into.
Sounds great in theory but I wonder if that puts any pressure on the other ear, it has been pretty bad these last few days.

 

So helpful thanks !

 

Enrique..dude you look like a kid..Glad you are open to getting hearing aids...Good for you not to give a crap what others think..>I feel the same way about ear plugs.....Costco does seem the best...They are undercutting the rip off audioligists....From what I have read hearing aids should cost no more than a few hundred bucks ! Such a scam..It's the hearing aid Mafia keeping prices artificially high ! Go Costco !