Hi everybody!

[tobywallis]

Hi I just discovered this forum and thought I'd say hello. I have had TNT as I call it for as long as I can remember - certainly I had it when I was about 10. I suppose it's mild - a continual hissing. Occasionally it gets worse and affects my balance a bit.

I started rresearching online because I'm now 65 and beginning to go deaf. I tried a hearing aid a few years ago but although it helped me hear, it made my TNT worse, so I stopped using it. I am now about to try again (they tell me hearing aids have got more sophisticated nowadays) but as it's just an NHS one I'm a bit concerned it might just be the same old problem. The audiologist told me the volume can't be adjusted which I think may make it useless for me.

does anybody else have experience of such a situation? If so, did you find a solution?

Thanks so much and I hope I can help somebody else in return

===Toby===

 

[Karen]

Hi, Toby, and welcome!

I certainly understand your concerns about tinnitus, hearing loss, and hearing aids. My tinnitus is similar to yours --- a steady hissing sound, along with hearing loss. (I'm 67 years old). I also have pulsating tinnitus in addition to the hissing sound, but I decided to try hearing aids to see how they would work for me. The first one I tried was one of the in-the-ear models, and it simply did not work for me. I had to remove it within 24 hours of receiving it, due to the fact that it amplified my tinnitus and pulsating sound.

About a year later, I decided to try a different kind of hearing aid, which was a combination hearing aid/masker that could be adjusted for various conditions. The aids have come a long way, technology-wise, and I was optimistic that this time would be better. Well, it was, until I tried to wear the aid for a longer period of time --- 6 hours. It made my tinnitus much worse, so I finally decided to take the hearing aids back. I haven't tried any other hearing aids since then.

I am hoping that others on this forum who have been successful with aids will have some suggestions or tips for you.

Anyone out there who wants to comment on their experiences with hearing aids?

 

[tobywallis]

Thanks for the reply Karen. I've just had them fitted this morning so we'll see. However they seem much better than the last one I had - I can still hear things direct and the amplified stuff is already beginning to merge with the live stuff a bit. Apparently it can take up to 3 months to acclimatise properly. I'm lucky - the local health cerntre is about 2 mins walk away, on the way to the shops, and (although you have to make an appointment) they can tweak all the settings for you until it works OK. Tinnitus seems unaffected so far, but obviously it's early days.

I'll keep you informed...

===Toby===

 

[tobywallis]

Hi all. I've now been wearing my hearing aids for just over a month so I though I should report back. Maybe I'm a lucky one, but my experience has been pretty positive all round. The audiologist told me that some T sufferers find that a hearing aid can actually help with the condition, and if anything I find myself in that group. The T is still there, of course; but it's a lot less intrusive when I can hear "real" sounds more clearly.
So in general my experience has been pretty positive, and it's done, and is doing, wonders for my morale. My advice is certainly to give it a try! In the UK, they're available on the NHS and so there's pretty much nothing to lose. They even supply batteries for free!