Reviews of EARLENS Hearing Aids Targeting HIGH FREQUENCY Hearing Loss?

I was wondering if anyone has had the opportunity to try these new EARLENS hearing aids?

They are supposed to increase and target the high-pitch hearing loss typically associated with tinnitus.

It's not a masker. It's a hearing aid that fits on your eardrum much like a contact lens fits on your eyeball.

I believe they cost around $6000 USD each, plus they also require a lot of frequent follow-up visits and maintenance. You have to put daily mineral oil drops in your ear to prevent wax build up.

Remarkably, I cannot find any real-life reviews online. All I found were a bunch of useless testimonials put out by the company which are basically worthless marketing/advertising.

Anyways, being desperate, I think these might be my last hope as I'm fortunate to still have some hearing left in my tinnitus ear (right sided) that I can benefit.
I prefer "maxing out" the normal hearing aid function as opposed to masking my tinnitus with white noise or bells.

I think EARLENS may have changed from magnetic coupling to laser beam or vice versa. There's not a lot of info out there.

I have another appointment set up towards the end of this month. My initial appointment went very well, as my tinnitus was significantly reduced when I placed the headphones they gave me over my ears. It's supposed to mimic the effect of EARLENS. I wonder if this will translate into success with EARLENS in real life. My audiologist said they have a 30-day money back minus $200 fee, unless you buy another hearing aid. Then the $200 goes towards the new hearing aid.

Thank goodness I only need one of these expensive hearing aids. I'm still not sure I can afford it. But if it helps my tinnitus in any way I must try as I'm at the end of my rope.

Plus, these EARLENS hearing aids aren't marketed towards people suffering with tinnitus. I just find that when I personally "max out" my top-of-the-line hearing aid, it helps my tinnitus more than masking it.

Any advice or reviews would be appreciated.

https://www.earlens.com/patients/

 

Greg,

This seems very expensive, twice the price of normal hearing aids. If it worked well, wouldn't there be more positive anecdotes online?

When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is... Don't let your desperation fool you into buying these. But I think the 30-day trial period is acceptable, so if you don't get benefits, you can return them.

 

Supposedly works better in the 8 kHz to 10 kHz range (but like other hearing aids doesn't cover above that) than standard hearing aids -- at least that's what is claimed. If your tinnitus is specifically in that range, especially, might be worth a try.

 

Yes, my thoughts exactly. My tinnitus is in that high-pitch range. Plus I can return in 30 days with a $200 USD penalty. I think it's worth a try for me.

 

Another concern, every once in a while throughout the day I like to remove my hearing aid to let my ear "breathe."

With this new Earlens hearing aid, it is literally attached to my eardrum. I wont be able to remove it to let my ear "breathe."

I wonder if that takes some getting used to?

Plus, I still need to get my annual MRI to monitor my Acoustic Neuroma brain tumor that destroyed my hearing and caused my tinnitus in my right ear.

I'm sure my ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) can remove the Earlens before the MRI procedure, and replace it once a year for my annual brain MRI.

It's been more than 5 years and my Tinnitus just keeps getting worse. The white noise/jingle bells doesn't work for me. Plus, being post-gamma knife brain surgery most people in my situation completely lose all their hearing within 8-10 years. If I lose my hearing completely, I wont be able to get any relief from any hearing aid.

If I haven't habituated after 5 years, it's not going to happen. I've searched and tried everything. I even considered getting a cochlear implant as a last resort which is a huge gamble in and of itself and would only be a last ditch effort.

The future looks rather hopeless regarding tinnitus caused by acoustic neuroma and subsequently treated with Gamma Knife. People want us to keep a happy face, but forced "positivity" doesn't always cut it.

Anyways, I will post any new info if I ultimately end up trying the Earlens.

 

I had a second meeting with a different audiologist this morning, as my first audiologist is on maternity leave until next summer.

Anyhow, this audiologist today refused to "max out" the EARLENS hearing aid (as the first audiologist did). She claimed she had to program it to my "hearing prescription loss" and refused to "max it out". As a result, I could clearly still hear my tinnitus as opposed to my original meeting.

So I decided not to spend $6000 USD as I could still clearly hear my tinnitus. I don't think it's worth going through the 60 day trial with a $250 USD penalty to return it when it wasn't very promising in the office this morning.

 

Can you not go back to the first audiologist? That's ridiculous. "We can't help you because we would have to change the settings..."

 

The original audiologist that I saw 6 months ago returns to the office sometime next summer in June.

I think the second audiologist that I saw a couple days ago was saying she doesn't just put the most powerful hearing aid setting on everyone and then call it a day; however, she needed to explain herself better.

Perhaps the first audiologist shouldn't have "maxed out" the demo of the EARLENS in the first place, as that wouldn't be what I would be receiving in real life.

Nonetheless, I didn't like the feeling of "fighting" with my audiologist to get what I wanted, or to get an appropriate explanation. And she is a PhD!

All I know is that I could clearly hear my tinnitus during my second demo of the EARLENS with this second audiologist, which defeats the purpose of me spending $6000 USD.

I may be wrong, but she appeared more eager to make the sale than assuage my concerns.

 

By the way, this is exactly how my high-pitched tinnitus sounds like 24/7 for the rest of my life:

12000 Hz Test Tone

And "unmute" to hear this:

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php?l=00000000000000375799&mt=1

 

My tone is similar (I am guessing), my hearing loss is severe at 12000 Hz and I can't really hear that tone. My tinnitus sounds slightly higher pitched than about 11000 Hz, which I can hear.

Can you mask yours? I have fans on 24/7.

 

I feel for you FGG, and everyone with tinnitus.

How can they expect a person to go from normal silence to this "high-pitch" 24/7 ringing in the ear for the rest of our life? I'm serious?

It's hard enough to want to get out of bed to go another day with this nonsense, let alone work or have relationships. It's like wake up and suffer. Repeat. Wake up and suffer. Repeat.

At the beginning, before my Gamma Knife brain surgery, my tinnitus was a lot lower and more tolerable. After the GK surgery, and loss of more hearing, the tinnitus became torturous. It hasn't subsided in over 5 years.

Some like to say I haven't "habituated" with the proper neuro-plasticity or whatever people like say while giving false hope that doesn't work for my situation.

Xanax is good for sleep, but makes me way to drowsy during the day.

Anyways, I can mask it for a while, but as soon as I remove the hearing aid it makes my tinnitus twice as loud after the masking.

It's a win/lose situation. And I have too much "good" hearing left in my right ear to consider getting a Cochlear Implant.

 

I've said it before. The treatment options available are absolutely worthless. If any of these so called specialists had tinnitus like most the people on this page they would be out of their minds. Audiologists are absolutely worthless in my opinion being most of them have no idea how to treat tinnitus. In my case I have low frequency hearing loss severely and mild to moderate loss rest of the way. It was so loud and painful to use the device I never felt it was worth the money. I do wish I could hear those high frequencies in my right ear. I can barely hear 8,000 Hz. 16,000 Hz in the left ear with no hearing loss. They need a cure now. Not in five or ten years.

 

I can't even hear this

Does that mean I have profound hearing loss?

 

No. I can't hear it either cranked up as loud as it will go at home and I am "severe" at 12000 Hz. If you want to see where you are, get an extended audiogram.

 

Sorry to hijack the discussion real quickly, but is this something you can typically just ask for at the audiologist rather than the traditional audiogram, or do I need to find a specialized establishment equipped with one?

I don't want to end up as one of those with supposedly perfect hearing up to the normal ranges that might still have drops in higher frequencies.

 

In the US, a lot of regular ENTs don't offer extended audiograms but Otologists at research universities are more likely to have them. Just call around.

 

Even with an extended audiogram, you still have huge gaps between the frequencies they test.

 

I agree. Every day is a struggle. Life should be enjoyed.