New hearing aids… I hate them!

[keithb7]

We’re all getting old folks. We may not like it. We may not like change either.

I turned 50 this year. I got my fist set of hearing aids in Sept. Tinnitus was a factor. So was building tube amps and experimenting with natural tube dirt. Then there was all the loud band gigs and rehearsals.
Yet, so was genetics a factor. My mother’s hearing wasn’t great 50 either.

I love my hearing aids. I’ve worn them every day since I got them. Rechargeable batteries. I put them in at about 6AM. They come out at 8-9 pm. No problems with battery life.

They are connected via bluetooth to my i-phone. Fantastic when someone calls. There are 2 buttons on the hearings. Volume up and down. It’s like having spidey senses. I can turn them up in meetings at work and hear everything perfectly. Its fantastic. If I am driving a car, maybe wind and road noise is too much, I easily turn them down. It takes about 1-2 seconds worth of effort to adjust the volume.

Certain people with voices that tend to nag on and on, I just turn ‘em down. Its fantastic. Whats not to like?

When I plug my guitar into my amp I take the hearing aids out. Easy as that.

The audiologist asked me what my main reasons were for needing hearing aids. I said #1 was hearing people at work. Hearing my family at special gatherings. Like Thxgvg or Xmas. He listened and got me exactly the results I needed. I did not state that my #1 priority was to be able to have perfect amplified guitar tones.

My aids are tweaked for human voices. They do that exceptionally well. I agree that music and car stereos don’t sound the same. I don’t expect them to be tweaked for music. Yet, I can remove my aids at any time and carry on like before. Half deaf. My highs are low almost totally gone, without hearing aids in.

I accept my hearing loss. I am learning to cope with it. Any improvements to my hearing makes my life better. My family happier too. If you “hate” your hearing aids that’s unfortunate. I love mine. I am not insecure about people seeing them tucked behind my ears. I really could care less. What’s to hide? That I’m getting old? Lol. We all are.

For the people here who’ve said they’ve never heard anyone say they “loved” their hearing aids…There ya go. There’s me.


We all need to adapt as our bodies change. The sooner we accept that the better, in my opinion. You can avoid getting them, or leave your hearing aids out if you choose too. Others around you are affected. Your wife, your kids, whoever. You’ll often become more introverted as well. Withdrawn from conversions and social gatherings. Its hard to laugh over a beer with your adult sons or daughters at the family xmas gathering when you can’t hear them…Just sayin.

The audiologist told me that on average it takes a person about 7 years to finally accept that they need hearing aids. For 7 years they fight the solution to restored hearing. In denial, or compensating somehow for their hearing loss. Why wait? Its been one of the best things ai’ve done for myself in a long time.

 

[Leonardocoate]

I have been wearing them for 15+years. Of course they s**k, but for me the alternative s**ks even more. Your aids will require adjusting. Mine range from 60 to 8K hz with 16 bands. When I first got them I could hear my cat lick himself so I had the high end turned down. It helps a lot when your provider is convenient. They want you to come back and have them adjusted. There should be no charge. Think of them as equalizers. Write notes on what works and what doesn't. You can also have multiple settings for different environments. Don't hesitate to reach out for help...I have lots of experience

 

[randomhitz]

Saw an featuring Steve Lukather promoting a brand called Widex. Their claim is that they have much lower latency and have a demo of that on their site. I have an appointment next week to get a new hearing test and try them out. I have had Costco brand aids for about five years and have not worn them for the most part. They are much cheaper than the prices I've seen for most hearing aid outfits, about 1600$ and a free audiology test. The current ones have a bluetooth function for your phone that has a 2 band eq and volume capability. To give you an idea what the range of adjustment they can accommodate, once your audiology test info is in the computer you there is an eight channel graphic eq. a compressor for volume leveling, the option to change the mic from omni to directional and a few more that I don't remember. Mine offered 5 different settings. I chose 1 general one, one more directional for hearing people across the table from you and one I designed for music. For the music one I brought in an acoustic guitar and tried to adjust that preset so it sounded as much as possible like I wanted the guitar to sound.

I spent a good chunk of my adult life making my living as a recording engineer and producer so when my hearing started to go wonky on me it was tough to accept. Mostly I have gotten by not wearing my aids but my hearing has now gotten to the point where I have to ask to ask my wife to repeat herself often. Female voices are harder to understand than male voices. I need to start wearing them more and daily. I know my ears will accommodate to the artificial sound over time but I'm afraid that will result in my brain shutting down the overhyped frequencies of the aids so that when I'm not wearing them my hearing will be worse. I don't know if this is true--I hope not. Anyway the thought of having to wear them more full-time has me looking at upgrades. The technology has advanced quite a bit in the 5 years since I bought mine. I'm hoping the Widex brand makes the experience more tolerable. They look to cost about 3 to 4K. If they are good enough for Luke---

 

[Chicago Matt]

They will take some getting used to as you have gotten so used to sub par hearing for so long.
Things like water running in a sink and paper rustling will sound very strange.

It does get better.

This ^^^. As pointed out by others, they aren't perfect. Work with your provider to keep adjusting them, they should do it for free. They do at Costco where I bought my Phonaks for $1500, less than half of what an audiologist charges for the same.

The brain is an amazing organ. It adjusts over time. As you gradually lost your high frequency hearing, the brain told you lack of these frequencies was normal. So when you can suddenly hear those frequencies with the hearing aids, it's unpleasant. But it definitely gets a lot better with some time. Your brain adjusts and you will no longer perceive them as being harsh. Costco gives you a full refund if you aren't satisfied within 6 months if memory serves.

I've gotten to where I really appreciate mine, and so do those close to me who are relieved I'm not saying, "What?", every other sentence. For music in my band, I've found a good place I can turn the volume on the aids down to before playing. I hear the high frequencies I was missing pre-hearing aids, but it's subtle. To me it's been very worth it to have them.

 

[Larry F]

My grandfather had a pair inside his glasses. These were very popular in the 60s.

We had an Oldsmobile that had an alarm buzzer that could keep track of speeding. My dad and grandfather once took a road trip. At some point my grandfather drove while my dad napped in the passenger seat. My dad woke up as they were doing 80, with the buzzer sounding and my grandfather's hearing aid pulled out of his ears. Go grandpa, Go!

 

[nojazzhere]

How is it for you after wearing those for two months? Did it get better eventually? We are going to visit a hearing aid store these days with my aunt cause her hearing is getting worse unfortunately. Just curious what is the bog difference between hearing aids for $2000 and $6000. Is it really necessary to buy the expensive aids or those for $2000-$3000 will do the job?

It's been about two months for me, too......and they DO get better. I still don't wear mine 24/7, because I often forget to put them in. As I said in earlier posts, my #1 reason for getting them is to understand the TV, so I'll often not wear them during the day, but put them in in the evening. I frequently watch PBS, with imported programming, and British shows have terrible audio.....and it's NOT just their accents or dialects. Their audio recording is far inferior to most American.
As to differences in costs vs. quality, here's something I Googled. I'm sure this is largely an ad to sell more expensive aids, but it does apply.
https://www.connecthearing.com/blog/hearing-aid-accessories/cheap-vs-expensive-hearing-aids-what’s-the-differe/

 

[Andy B]

I have had hearing aids for a long time. Can't play any music wearing them. They have been tweaked to death by the audiologist as well as a Phonak company rep. They help me in certain situations but mostly I don't wear them.

I'm always interested in what brand hearing aids other folks have and how well or poorly they work for you. Mine are CIC Phonak.

Check out: Hearing Health Foundation. Also The Les Paul Foundation's work with hearing.

 

[Chester P Squier]

I posted in this thread on November 4 prior to my appointment with the audiologist's office.

Turns out I do have hearing loss but don't need a hearing aid at this time. I was very happy when they told me this.

I'm living with my tinnitus. No worse than the refrigerator noise, or HVAC sounds, or computer fan, or hard drive, or whatever. About the same.

 

[TeleSlug]

Have you ever gotten a new pair of glasses and everything was off for a little while as your brain adjusted to the new angle of the lenses?

That's what happens with hearing aids, just at a much slower pace.

I've worn hearing aids for about 8 years and it took a good month of wearing them for my brain to catch up on what I had been missing. My guitars sounded terrible so I took the aids out for playing but even that has improved over time.

On the reverse side, I was able to have surgery to restore hearing in one year about 3 years ago. The first walk I took after the procedure was terrifyingly loud and everything sounded weird. Then, within a few weeks my brain figured that out, too.

TL;DR - Give your brain time to make sense of all the new input before deciding the hearing aids don't work.

 

[Warren Pederson]

I love mine, had them for about 3yrs now. It was weird the 1st couple months though

 

[Leonardocoate]

How is it for you after wearing those for two months? Did it get better eventually? We are going to visit a hearing aid store these days with my aunt cause her hearing is getting worse unfortunately. Just curious what is the bog difference between hearing aids for $2000 and $6000. Is it really necessary to buy the expensive aids or those for $2000-$3000 will do the job?

Unfortunately the price is what keeps many people from getting them. The quick answer is that the worst your hearing is the more it's gonna cost. The more expensive aids have a wider frequency range and more band widths. They sound more natural. Other features might include programmable settings for different listing environments. Mine I can adjust through my phone. Example: My wife and I where in a pretty loud restaurant the other night so I shut off my rear mics and turned down my right ear so my left front mic was aimed at my wife so I could hear every word she said. All I had to do was listen. (FYI hearing aids won't cure a listening problem) Find someone convenient with a good reputation you will need to make several trips to get them adjusted right.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I guess I missed this thread back when it was built. I think a lot of folks have some discomfort from "hearing too much" when they get aids for the first time. It was the same with me two years ago. I actually had to go back and have them reduce the "normal" volume slightly to the level I was constantly doing manually with the phone app. Aside from volume, there's also that "wow factor" when frequencies that hadn't been there in years suddenly are up front and left-right spatial imaging suddenly is noticeable for those of us with radically different loss factors in each ear. My left ear mostly only has age-related volume issues. My right ear, however, has/had significant frequency gaps as well as a much larger volume issue. Having my aids in is like walking into a completely different room. So my advice to anyone who is new to hearing aids is have a LOT of patience with yourself and also don't be reluctant to go back to your provider for adjustments, including "turning them down". If you have a modern set of aids that work with your smartphone, use the app to determine what you really want the "normal" to be for your own comfort. The real world is quite different than in the provider's office. My aids are from Costco (biggest provider in the US) and they cheerfully make adjustments with not problem, both in-store and remotely, depending on the capabilities of the devices one has.

 

[MarkieMark]

If only there was an affordable device to prompt my wife to speak toward me instead of turning away to look at something and talking to me about it...
I'd be fine.
For now.

Oh, and can I program said device to get her to stop leaning forward to use the car mirror while I am backing up please?

Eh, on second thought, this makes me sound like I am complaining about my precious wife.
Nope.
She is awesome.
Just needs to speak toward me and let me use the mirror, that is all.

 

[trapdoor2]

About 7 yrs ago, my insurance changed and would pay for hearing aids. So, knowing my hearing was a problem, I asked my ENT about it and they put me thru their program. I qualified and got a set of expensive Phonak rechargeables. I wore them for a year and was never happy with them. They fit perfectly...but never really did what I wanted them to do. Seems I have a spectrum missing from my hearing in my left ear. Hearing aids can't make you hear frequencies you physically cannot hear. Except the audiologist wouldn't tell me that, they never deviated from the "you'll get used to it" or "we can adjust that out" line of BS. They didn't want me to return the aids within the return period, of course. Once the 90 days was up, I had to keep 'em. Fortunately, the insurance paid for them.

So, the aids went in a drawer and I just keep on keeping on. Like many with poor hearing, you develop a form of lip reading over time. Now everybody wears masks...and I'm sunk.

And yup, if I could get Miz Diane to face me when talking...

We have a new ENT now that we've retired and moved. I have my first appointment coming up in March and I'll bring the old hearing aids. We'll see what happens.

 

[Fenderdad1950]

What I would give to hear with a hearing aid again, 0% in my right ear. Count your blessings

 

[El Tele Lobo]

Have you ever gotten a new pair of glasses and everything was off for a little while as your brain adjusted to the new angle of the lenses?

That's what happens with hearing aids, just at a much slower pace.

I've worn hearing aids for about 8 years and it took a good month of wearing them for my brain to catch up on what I had been missing. My guitars sounded terrible so I took the aids out for playing but even that has improved over time.

On the reverse side, I was able to have surgery to restore hearing in one year about 3 years ago. The first walk I took after the procedure was terrifyingly loud and everything sounded weird. Then, within a few weeks my brain figured that out, too.

TL;DR - Give your brain time to make sense of all the new input before deciding the hearing aids don't work.

I would love to hear more about this surgery...congrats on it working out so well.

 

[TeleSlug]

I would love to hear more about this surgery...congrats on it working out so well.

Thanks! I'm lucky (I guess) in that I have otosclerosis, which is essentially an overgrowth of bone on the little moving parts of the ear. The surgery I had was a stapedectomy where the surgeon punches out the overgrown bone and replaces with a teeny tiny prosthesis.

The first few days it sounded like I was underwater, but over the first few weeks my hearing adjusted and I now have what my audiologist describes as "low normal" hearing in that ear.

 

[schmee]

Timely post.....I received mine about a week ago. Yes, they are disorienting at first. Mine were set initially at 70%, and the audiologist said we'll "up" that as I acclimate. However, my issue was, I had a choice for either battery or rechargeable. My first instinct was rechargeable, right? No batteries to deal with makes it simpler. However.....I found the rechargeable weren't staying charged for up to sixteen hours as touted. I took them back on Monday, and am exchanging for battery powered. I can always carry a couple spare batteries in my pocket should they die.
My MAIN reason for getting aids is understanding TV shows. I can have TV volume up full blast, and still not comprehend my favored PBS/BBC shows. With the aids, I can have the TV HALFWAY up, and understand 95% of the dialog. It does take getting used to when I walk across my hardwood floors.....sounds like a herd of horses. With my Medicare Advantage insurance, my copay was $1750 for both. NOT cheap, (at least to me) but if they last a good while, it will be worth it. They had to send mine in first to make the trade, and I actually miss them. I have not tried playing with a band with them yet, I'll probably turn them way down or just taking them out.....we'll see. Good luck, I bet they get better.

Yes, a sound bar doesn't help either.
I bought wireless headphones... trouble is they have too much latency, unless you like slapback watching tv!
I made some "mickey mouse ears" out of a plastic cup. They look funny as heck, but man they improve the TV sound remarkably! I did it because I would cup my hand behind my ear when watching and noted how much it improved things.
Someone should make clip on MM ears!
.
These actually worked I guess!

 

[nojazzhere]

Yes, a sound bar doesn't help either.
I bought wireless headphones... trouble is they have too much latency, unless you like slapback watching tv!
I made some "mickey mouse ears" out of a plastic cup. They look funny as heck, but man they improve the TV sound remarkably! I did it because I would cup my hand behind my ear when watching and noted how much it improved things.
Someone should make clip on MM ears!
.
These actually worked I guess!

I agree on the sound bars. I tried three (progressively more expensive) and they did nothing to help. As I've mentioned before, it's often NOT the volume or lack of that makes understanding difficult.....it's the "frequency". There are frequent days that I don't even put in my aids until evening, for watching TV.
I'd love to see those Mickey Mouse ears you made......bet they're good for a giggle!

 

[nojazzhere]

What I would give to hear with a hearing aid again, 0% in my right ear. Count your blessings

My youngest brother is like that. He has a birth defect, where one ear just never developed internally. Nothing can be done.