Your Experience with Hearing Aids

Hello all,

Today i had a problem with my ears ( solved in another thread), but it reminded me something.

I don't have a perfect hearing, not deafness but not optimal for my twenty years.

So as I know that one day i will wear hearing aids, i would like to ask you how does it feels to have an hearing aid? Is it comfortable, is it good for restaurants, cinema, how do you cope with this if it's not good for restaurant/cinema, if you can wear headphones for tchatting with skype for example...
Is it satisfiying to say all?

(I already posted a similar thread last august, but i want new opinions^^)

Thank you in advance for your answers!

 

Hi Quentino, I've had hearing aids for 8 years. I haven't worn them since I got T since it seems to make my T louder, but a lot of people do ok with them. Before T they did help me as I have severe high frequency hearing loss. I used them all the time when I would go to the cinema and they helped a lot. Restaurants were not good because of all the background noise. They just made everything louder for me. if I could wear them now I would because they did help me.

 

I think I probably answered in your last thread, so I won't repeat what I think. I just wanted to say though, that at this point the best opinion you could possibly get is YOURS. Seriously. They have free trials for these, so go get fitted and see what you think.

Just remember that it does take time to adjust to them fully. For me, I put them on as soon as I wake up and I forget they are even there for the rest of the day. I couldn't live without them at this point.

-Mike

 

Thank you for your answer, so you can use them at cinema, good thing!

Thanks For your answer again Mike! But things have changed since Last time, some of my hearing is back in my right ear according to my ENT ( i had glue in this ear) but even, it’s an "acceptable hearing " but my ENT said that i will one day wear HA, soi want to have anydea of this.

But i’ts complicated in France, even to have a trial. Here Hearing aids are controlled by "the social security" ( for french speakers la Sécurité sociale, but I don’t know the term in english sorry.)
You must show a medical prescription from your ENT ,obligatory.

But for all i’ve seen on the internet HA does the job which is cool! But it’s just that i still want to have a more precise idea of the quality of hearing with them, so in the future when the time to have those will come i will be rélieved and not stress and doubtfull.

 

any new experiences?
Also, how works the"directivity" of the sound with hearing aids? do you localize tbe sound like a normal hear? with more difficulties? Not at all?

How do you do when you want to use headphones, on pc for example?

 

I don't think you can get much help with this question since every persons experience with hearing aids is so different and it also depends on the type of hearing loss and what's causing it. I do not wear hearing aids but I am an interpreter for the deaf. Some of my Deaf friends have absolutely no hearing from birth and of course hearing aids will make no difference for them. But many others have some amount of hearing and many wear a hearing aid, many hate the hearing aids with a passion and do not wear them. I also know many people who are not Deaf in the sense of the Deaf that use sign language but they are hearing people who lost their hearing through many different causes. Of these people also there is a mix of those who are constantly battling with their hearing aids (for years, trying to find one that feels right and works the way they want) and those who have good results as well as those who hate the hearing aids and rarely bother to wear them. There is no way of knowing how your hearing aids will work for you or how your ears Will work with them. Sorry if that sounds depressing! But each persons ears are so individual.

 

Also there are so many types of hearing aids these days as well.

 

I got a hearing aid 6 weeks ago and have found both good and bad reasons for them.

Apparently 50% of tinnitus suffers find relief from their tinnitus when wearing hearing aids, unfortunately I was not part of that percentage.
There is a 'tinnitus mode' set up on my hearing aid which plays a noise aiming to mask the ringing - although I have tried this numerous times but it feels as though the louder the masking noise, the louder my tinnitus is. It becomes a extremely loud mess of a noise that I cannot handle.

Although despite this negative point, I still find myself using my aid a lot. I 20 years old, and a university student. I go to a lot of social gatherings, and work in a loud environment. In these three settings, my aid is a life saver. Before I got my hearing aid I didn't go to classes as I couldn't hear, work situations brought me to tears due to rude, impatient, unaware customers, and social events were humiliating having to have people continuously repeat themselves, or not even noticing people talking to you at all.

I guess it's all personal and contextual preferences, but it more than worth the try. Any changes for the better is better than no changes!

 

I'm so sorry people were rude to you. I experience this a lot working with profoundly deaf people and often because I'm signing people think I am deaf and make rude comments thinking I cannot hear them. I hope you have met enough caring people to make up for the less intelligent among us.

 

Someone who works at my favourite burger place has the same issues, he's got my order wrong sometimes, but I don't mind as I understand. The more understanding we have the better people's lives are. Awareness is key.

 

@Angela i’m glad to see that you are satisfied from your HA, i can’t imagine people could be so rude with you!

@Mad maggot sure, every person is different so HA too. I was a little scared reading your post ( talking about deaf people, hopefully i’m not and i will not be before some time i hope ^^) but it’s not depressing, i totally understand that there are people who have difficulties to accept HA. This is why i asked for informations, to accept my current state and be prepared if in the future i lost some of my hearing too soon.

As you can see i’m absolutely not someone who worry for everything. #irony

 

I am getting some t relief from hearing aids with maskers. In the mornings, the HAs alone help but as the day goes on, I go thru some of the different noises. It is definitely helping overall and I find a real difference when I take them out for the night.

 

I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you or make any comments that are depressing.
All the Deaf people I know have rich rewarding lives and are very clever people.

 

No need to be sorry it's okay^^
And i won't die d totally deaf! Not at all!

 

The irony of it all... Most of the ringing, or at least the increases in my ringing (and decrease in hearing) is because I interpret for the Deaf. I interpret songs on stage. The monitors are way to loud!

Anyway... I recently got a hearing aid for my bad ear, the one with the ringing. It helps a lot to reduce the ringing. I can tell the difference. I have a behind the ear with the tiny speaker in the ear. I wore it for a couple of days before my family noticed! So, it's not very noticeable. I wear it all day and and forget it's on! Most of the time, I don't remember until I put my head on the pillow. The sound is quite natural. I have directional hearing again! If I got a more expensive model, I could have it programmed for restaurants and other situations. You should go to a hearing aid website to see what's possible these days! It's amazing! Oh. I don't have the tinnitus masking on my hearing aid. If I need white noise, I will put on a podcast to help me go to sleep.

I can wear headphones if I want, but on stage I wear in-ear-monitors that block the sound on stage and gives me voices only. That doesn't work with my hearing aid, since they both go in my ear canal. I accidentally did that a couple weeks ago... Oops!

Many Deaf have hearing aids that have ear molds. Those can be uncomfortable, but that depends on you. It depends on what you need. I'm not an expert.