Hearing aid dopers. HELLO.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Shit. I’m only 48 and it looks like I’ll need hearing aids in the next year or two.

I’ve seen an audiologist. I have tinnitus that would make Quasimodo stop and listen.

It never stops. Never.

Last night at a busy restaurant, I could not hear my Wife at all. My Wife had no problem hearing me. I can no longer smile and nod my way through life.

It’s just getting worse. And I have a responsibility to be able to communicate with others.

Two times in the last two days, I did not hear something my wife said. I can usually figure out things with some context. But this was a complete miss. I didn’t even know that she had spoken.

So I’m going to need to take the next step.

What’s it like to have hearing aids?

2

For me, it was a major shock. I have been almost completely deaf in my right ear all my life and I’m losing the hearing in my left. When I got hearing aids, I was totally astounded at how goddam loud the world really is.

They will take some getting used to, but it’s worth it.

3

At first it’ll feel weird, just like wearing tiny ear plugs or ear buds in your ear. Your ears have sensory receptors on them to touch, it’s just most people never really sense it except when they stick plugs in or put their finger in their ear. So having something in it for the good part of the day? Really kinda odd at first.

But the key is- Make SURE you wear your Aids, eventually your ears will sensitize to it (I’m not saying hours, or days, it may take a few weeks), but then you’ll start to forget that you even have them in. But the first few months might feel a little weird because you’re putting something in your ears. Also it depends on what kind you’re getting: there’s the ones that go completely inside the canal and are less visible (but less powerful), the ones that fill up your ears and can be seen, which are a bit more powerful and have larger batteries, and then there’s the behind the ear models which are the more powerful ones for greater losses but they feel totally different than the other two models (and a BTE model you have a little spongy part that comes down and goes into the ear canal).

But the big thing is to habituate yourself to wearing them. My grandfather needs hearing aids, but he doesn’t like wearing them constantly, and if you do that, you can’t get used to the feeling of them, so every time he “tries” them on, he’ll complain and want an instant fix, that’s just not possible.

So make sure you stick with them, and also yeah- the World can get loud. Whenever I switch to a newer model I always get blown away by how much I can hear, and if I go from my Completely in the Canal hearing aids to a Behind the ear model (usually because my CIC model is in the shop) it always gives me headaches because it’s too powerful, I have to turn down the volume quite a bit on those.

But it’s… a very cool feeling to get your hearing back if you’ve had it missing for a long period of time. Things do sound different, and you start to notice sounds that you never really paid attention to- like in my instance, I didn’t know that scuffling shoes made noise on different surfaces, and I never knew that birds actually made noise. I assumed people just put the words “chirp-chirp” in there, but no idea what that MEANT. BLEW MY MIND the first time I walked outside of the office with them in and I asked my mom what that noise was and she was confused.

But yeah. The world gets loud- Cars whizzing by, airplanes, and people talking all so much. I get kinda used to taking out my hearing aids when I’m alone and I enjoy the silence sometimes, but I couldn’t imagine living always with that silence. So if it’s painful or your hearing is being affected you feel by the noise- TALK TO YOUR AUDIOLOGIST. These hearing aids are for you, and if somethings not working with them, just talk to him about it. There are enough customizations and things you can do to try to help fix a lot of the minor issues such as loudness, loose fits, certain background noise being amplified (My digital ones will now decrease monotonous sounds like air conditioning and such, and amplify changing sounds such as talking so that way I can focus on the people around me vs. having just EVERYTHING around me amplified which is what the older models used to do).

Best of luck to you and if you have any questions feel free to ask away.
~Roosh, wearing hearing aids soon for almost 20 years. :slight_smile:

4

Only 48? I’m only 23 and I need hearing aids. Consider yourself lucky you made it this far.

My audiologist let me try them on and I was completely amazed by what I was missing. Normal people are experiencing a different world than I am.

I haven’t bought any yet because I can’t afford them and my hearing is good enough so that I can function in the world. Just about 10 months ago I started experiencing tinnitus in my ears. That’s a lot of fun. The aids block the tinnitus, so now I’m seriously considering buying a pair once I can find a paying job.

RoOsh and Clothahump, how old were you when you started wearing aids and how often do people notice them enough to make comments about them?

5

Thanks, that would be great if I just just try some for a few days.

Didn’t know they blocked tinnitus. Is that common?

6

Getting hearing aids for tinnitus is not the first thing I was thinking of, (and I have personal second-hand experience - my mother has had hearing aids for a long time).

The first thing to remember is that they are HEARING aids, not UNDERSTANDING aids (as one help-book put it). In other words, the hearing aids increase the volume of what gets inside your ear. So if you’re sitting in a busy restaurant with lots and lots of background noise, the hearing aid won’t allow you to hear the low-key conversation at your table, because the background noise will still drown it out.

Now, technology progresses, and the researchers have been working on putting tiny chips into the hearing aids that detect and differentiate “unwanted noise” like traffic on a busy street, background in a restaurant from “wanted noise” like conversation, and then outputs an exacte opposite wave that dampens the unwanted noise and lets only the conversation through.
Doesn’t work a 100%, but better than the non-computer-aided aids. Trouble is, a normal hearing aid costs about 300 Euros, the computer-aided one about 3 000 Euros (rough numbers).

Next point: because a hearing aid increases the volume of what reaches your ear, it won’t stop you from going deaf, it might actually increase it (the more noise reaches the tiny little hairs in your inner ear, the more the hairs get damaged. That’s what makes young people at rock concerts, or listenting to the Ipod, deaf).

Next: you can buy hearing aids from unobtrusive flesh coloured to colourful funny, but you’re still putting a piece of plastic on your skin. I don’t know how widespread it is, but my mother has an irritating itch if she wears hers for a longer time, because she sweats (naturally), but the skin in her ear can’t breathe, so the sweat irritates the skin. If you remember, try cleaning the ear with warm water salt solution afterwards to lessen the itch and irritation, or chamomile (talk to your ear doctor for best advice, of course).

My personal opinion: I think that people who get hard of hearing because of age should try hardest to join the community of the Deaf by learning sign language. You can’t make everybody around learn it, of course, though your closest family might want to help you. (And if you all take a course together, it might be easier to learn).
Because studies show that over 75% of hard-of-hearing seniors get completly shut out. Even with hearing aids, they can’t understand everything, and their hearing continues to deteriote, but they don’t want to keep asking for repetition of each sentence, and - worse- they understand a bit and start guessing and get it completly wrong - lots of hurt feelings (I have seen this situation with elder family members often enough, until we clear up what was really said).
So the old people lose contact to the hearing world, and pass up the chance of joining the Deaf World because they don’t learn ASL or similar. I find that unnecessary.

7

I don’t know if it’s common, but the “treatment” for tinnitus (rather, masking the symptons if you don’t know what really helps) is often to send a different sound that masks the irritating noise.

8

The way my doctor described it is that it can suppress tinnitus for some people and didn’t say more than that.

I’m sure they’ll let you try it out first so that you can see if it works for you.

9

Kind of random information here, but I hope it helps.

I was five when I got mine, so I have few memories of not being able to hear. (Or rather, I have few memories of being able to hear on my own.) However, when I was twelve I got digital hearing aids - previously I had been wearing analog. The shock was there for me. I could hear the air conditioning. I could hear the microwave going off from another room. The sheer amount of sounds that most people hear every day was a real surprise, and an adjustment.

If you get the kind that go behind your ear and have earmolds, be aware that sweat can get in the aids and cause problems. (I’m actually pretty sure this can happen for any type of aid, but I don’t know about specific issues with other types.) I use a small dehumidifier every night, which is simple - just plunk the aids in and press a button. (My audiologist sells them, and can make recommendations for me for other equipment.) My audiologist’s office has a big industrial dehumidifier, and I take it in there every four months or so and let them dry out.

Also, if you have earwax or itchy ears the molds will irritate them. My ears itch all the time. It gets easier to live with over time. If I give in and use Q-tips, I get earwax built up and get tinnitus. So, I just let them itch. Or use my finger.

Don’t forget to stick them outside the bathroom or inside the medicine cabinet when you take a shower. You don’t want moisture anywhere near the aids. Bring a plastic baggie when you go to the pool or beach to put the aids in. Even if you leave them on a table, somebody might splash the table.

Don’t give in to just taking the aids out. Let yourself get used to having your ears plugged up. :slight_smile:

Teaching a few significant people around you the American Sign Language alphabet may be helpful for communication in the pool, at night, or anytime you do not have your aids.

10

I was around 4-5 years old when I got my hearing aids.

Growing up, I had lots of random comments and such from the other kids- usually because they were the older non-digital models (the ones that basically filled up your ear), those tend to be noticable to children but they’d be comments like “what’s that in your ear?” or “Why do you have bubblegum in there?” sorta things. Adults almost never questioned a child about it. I don’t know if it was tact or they knew or they just didn’t care.

In college- again most people didn’t notice, and by this point I got digital aids- that coupled with my longer (think 70s beatles) haircut- most people currently in my medical school don’t know I have them unless I’ve pointed it out to them, including a few teachers. So yeah, it depends on the type of Aid that the noticing occurs. If I have my digital ones in, they’re pretty much invisible if you’re talking to me, unless you get into a position where you can look down my ear canal, but they’re not visible from the front or sides that easily. So now the comments are almost none. But with the other types, yeah, I got comments but mostly curiosity especially from children/peers, rarely from adults though.

11

I don’t have anything to add, but I giggle every time I see this thread title, when it gets back to the top of the page. Almost as funny as “Non-English-Speaking Dopers. HELLO.”

hehehe very cute :slight_smile:

12

We had an “Ask the Audiologist” thread some years ago. From that thread (post 32), on the subject of hearing aids and tinnitus:

Not sure if this post, or any information in that thread, would help with the question of tinnitus or of hearing aids in general. But I recalled it, and thought I’d link to it, in hopes it might answer some of the questions of the OP. Certainly, technology has progressed since the linked thread was posted, but I have no idea how. I do know that Abraca Deborah doesn’t check into the SDMB very much anymore, but I’m still in touch with her, and will mention this thread to her when I can. Maybe she can offer some more insight as to the OP’s, and others’, questions.

13

I’ve had a hearing aid in my left ear since I was little. A couple years ago I got one for the right. I had a few earaches, but they stopped after a while. You’ll likely go through some minor discomfort - for a while you’ll always be conscious of it in your ear - but you get used to it.

You might want to consider getting a dry aid kit. They come in a wide variety, but they’re basically a container you put the hearing aid in while you sleep. It has some type of moisture absorbing agent (typically little beads) inside. Usually you have to heat the beads in the microwave or oven every so often to dry them out. Moisture and tiny electronic components don’t mix well and the kits help a lot with that.

If you can find one, a keychain battery holder is incredibly useful. It’s a pain carrying battery packs around with you, and you’ll invariably forget them when you need one the most. But I found a little 2 battery keychain holder, so I just make sure there’s always a couple in there and I don’t have to worry about it. You might be able to get one at a drugstore.

If you get digital hearing aids, make sure there’s a setting with no filters. They filter out background noise and amplify voices, which is nice, but music doesn’t sound good that way.

Don’t wear your hearing aid when you’re sweating. They are very sensitive to sweat and moisture, so take it off when you’re mowing the lawn or whatever.

Make sure you ask the audiologist about the T-coil. You may or may not need a stronger coil for telephone use.

The tubing that goes from the aid to the earmold gets brittle and cracks after about 6 - 8 months. Longer with the newer tubing they’re using now. It’s no big deal, but if you tell them you just want the tube and you can install it yourself, they’ll usually charge you $2.00 instead of $20 to put it in. It’s not that hard, attach the tube, cut off the excess and you’re good to go.

You’ll notice different brands have vastly different battery life. I always get duracell, they cost slightly more but they last the longest.
Most movies and tv shows now have closed captioning or subtitles. Makes it a lot easier. If your remote doesn’t have a CC button, usually you can get to it through the tv’s menu.

14

Wow, thanks for all the good advice.

The moisture problem was news to me. I do live in a very dry climate, so it may not be as bad.

I’ve only been to the audiologist once. I believe I’ve only lost about 15-20%. But it is noticeable.

I never thought about using the CC on the TV. I’ll have to try that.

15

Heh, I just put the pack of 10 in my wallet (behind my driver’s license area), and I’m good to go.

16

Here is a recent article about it. It’s from The New Yorker and it’s pretty comprehensive.

According to the article there are two things that have produced real results in dealing with tinnitus. First is Neuromonics, which I don’t think is covered by health insurance. And the second is hearing aids.

17

Out of curiosity, what do they cost ?

18

Low level hearing aids for people with slight loss are a couple hundred dollars. The analogue ones I used to get were around $700. Digital aids can run a couple thousand. Maintenance usually costs a couple hundred a year (earmolds, tubing, batteries). Repairs usually need to be sent back to the factory, are a couple hundred dollars and up, and can take a month and a half. I’ve never worked at a company where their insurance covered tests, aids, maintenance, or repairs, so it’s all out of pocket.

19

I’ve had aids since I was 3. Pretty much all the good advice has been said above, so I don’t have much to add.
I highly recommend a desiccant system to prolong the life of the aids and tubes. They’re cheap and some are reuseable. I used to see droplets in my tubes from living in a humid environment, but not anymore.
Clean the molds every few days…earwax builds up and it looks gross if nothing else. Just wiping with a tissue is fine.
Change the tubes often; it makes a huge difference in putting them in and yellowed tubes are more visible than clear ones. Most audiologists do it for free.
CVS and Walgreens usually have great deals on batteries, but you have to keep an eye out. When they have a BOGO sale, I stock up.

My first pair lasted age 3 til 10 or 11, my second til age 17, my third til age 25, and now I have these. They were $1200 each 3 years ago.

20

Regarding tinnitus, I started having a relatively severe case several years ago, and asked my Dr. about it. His advice was "Just ignore it, and pretty soon you’ll not even notice it). I took his advice, and shortly got to the point where it literally would not be heard. I can go for days without hearing that ringing, but if for some reason I happen to think about it (damn this thread!) it will come back as strong as ever. But on ignoring it for a few minutes - no more ringing.

Don’t know if this would work for everyone, but it sure did for me. So just try to not obsess over the condition, and give yourself a chance to let the body’s normal defenses kick in. If it works, whoopee!