Hearing issues cause your word recognition to suffer

[No1wthayla]

Hi, all. I'm new to the group but I have seen a lot of posts here that mention having a hearing aid but still can't hear in conversations whether they are private one-to-one meetings, in a lecture, or in a noisy restaurant.

Hearing loss, as told to my by my audiologist, damages the nerves. When you lose certain tones or frequencies, the can experience pain from the sound and/or lose the ability to distinguish consonants and vowels. I have both problems. The pain issues: I record the tones that hurt the most and then my audiologist can help tune my hearing aid so it would be less painful. And damage to certain frequencies causes you to not decide if someone said cat or that, sat or hat or cheese versus please. I have a big problem with word recognition and that makes me work harder to decipher what was said. I just can't hear in noisy places because the background noise adds more confusion to my brain.

Hearing aids can be adapted to help you hear in groups, private meetings, work environments, phone calls, dinner, movies and lectures in large rooms. You just have to be diligent in going back for tweaks on your hearing aids to make them work for you, not make you feel frustrated that they didn't work as expected. Lots of programming goes into the newer ones.

And some of the new aids don't require molds of the ear. They just have a little "sideways umbrella" tip that goes in the canal. There can be a tube to the aid or a wire depending on what you get. And cheap hearing aids, gadgets on infomercials are not worth what you pay for them. They don't have programming that can adapt to your everyday problems. My first hearing aid cost me $1,600 USD but there are some older models you can still get for less.

Keep bugging your ENT or audiologist until you are happy. It made me happy to hear the rain again, the sound a car makes driving on wet pavement, and music in stereo because I could hear on my right side again. It made me feel better about myself.

Good luck to all of you.

[Bobbie915]

Thanks for that. I bought ReSound Linx 3D 9. I know I’m not getting the best from them and fiddling around with settings is too difficult. How can you know if an audiologist is up to date with latest technology before you have tried them?

[GRboyRiches in reply to Bobbie915]

Hi, it’s me, connect them to a iPhone and control them from a App you can create you own sound, the manual controls are only Vol..up, down and preset programs

[Bobbie915 in reply to GRboyRiches]

Hi GR, hope all is well with you. I have tried playing around with the app but never seem to make any difference. Perhaps I should spend more time with it instead of playing Sudoku!

[GRboyRiches in reply to Bobbie915]

What I am going to do is video controlling by the app step by step, so you can control all your 4 programs and create your own, ill post it on my Facebook page, I’ll let you know when I’ve done it.

[Bobbie915 in reply to GRboyRiches]

You are a star GR. thanks. Xx

[alpacagirl]

The audiologist explained to me that the range of my hearing aids is about 8 feet - so of course I will have difficulty hearing people sitting/standing further away. This really helped me to know this. I have a streamer which really helps me to understand speech on the TV and phone and I am contemplating buying a microphone for it - it’s all very expensive for what it is though!

[GRboyRiches in reply to alpacagirl]

What aids do you have, and what model.

[alpacagirl in reply to GRboyRiches]

I have the standard NHS Oticon spirit zest c but now am waiting for new aids so not sure what they will be, but the audiologist said he would supply a newer model. I now need ear moulds as the open domes are no longer suitable for my hearing loss.

[GRboyRiches in reply to alpacagirl]

Standard NHS aid, I suspect you will have same aids but a bit stronger with a full ear mould and thicker tube, which will keep the streamer compatible...most NHS trusts will supply the same make, unless they have changed manufacturer, but the technology will be very similar, you must remember they are supplied to you Free so the technology level will be far away from what is available

[alpacagirl in reply to GRboyRiches]

Yes I wouldn’t expect them to be so advanced or sophisticated but I suspect the difference is not that far away for a mid priced private hearing aid? To get a really top of the range aid you could pay up to £5000 for two and what would be the life of such aids before they need replacing - the technology would be advancing all the time...

[GRboyRiches in reply to alpacagirl]

NHS aids are in the lower end of private aids, you can't get them in the private sector, because the technology levels are now not high enough.. today you can get a Pair of Top End Resound Quattro 9 rechargeables at a cost of £2800, yes you can pay more for those aids, but it's shopping around.

[alpacagirl in reply to GRboyRiches]

I was quoting Specsavers re NHS aids being comparable to a mid priced private aid. No you can’t buy them as those models are produced especially for the NHS. Good that you can get a better price by shopping around but still can’t afford £2,800 🙁 and maybe would need replacing in 3-5 years? If I had unlimited funds I would probably go privately but I feel fortunate to be able to have digital aids for free😀which suits my limited budget.

[No1wthayla]

I think it's the type of programming and features that increases the cost. My original hearing aid, a Starkey 600, has three settings on it for different social settings. The main one is for one on one conversation but I have used it in small meetings. The second setting is for medium size meetings and presentations. And the third is set to work better at restaurants where you need to filter out the background noise. I almost always used the first setting and paid $1,600 USD for it (no insurance coverage).

The Starkey 400 had fewer features and was designed for some one with less of a hearing loss than I had. Many brands list what features they offer when you research them online.

But back to inexpensive aids. Some only amplify the sound and don't filter background noise. I've seen some on television and online that do this. And, to be honest, I have purchased a couple of them only to be disappointed with the feedback and how it wouldn't adjust for larger groups of people. If they could be programmed for your hearing needs, that would make them worth buying.

I'm in the US so this might not apply to all of you. If you need to get a hearing aid, get a free audiology test done. Most of our hearing aid centers offer a free test. You can then take those results and find a hearing aid seller. You might also need an audiologist or doctor to approve the purchase. Why they asked for this from me when my health insurance wouldn't pay any portion of the cost. I have no idea.