By way of introduction/why am I 'hear'

Hello - I joined to learn from others and share. Along with tinnitus I am likely to lose hearing with age and every time I get tested they try to sell me an aid but I hear the important things in life and so far no person has been able to tell me what I am missing. I tested aids and found the new noises overwhelming on top of tinnitus

[MarkS]

Hi, I resisted hearing aids for some time. I also have tinnitus though relatively mildly. The hearing aids did take some getting used to - on the drive home I wondered what on earth the loud clicking noise was until I realised it was the indicator! I got more used to them after a couple of weeks. They do help with conversation, I was missing critical bits. I think that's they key, how well you can hear conversations and whether you miss any bits. It's easy to stop listening if it's difficult and that's the start of a slippery slope as your brain starts losing the ability to decipher speech if it's not used.

I also find they help to dampen down the tinnitus.

[Hidden in reply to MarkS]

Thank you Mark. I am fortunate to only miss small pieces of conversation. live around people who are older and frequently ask me to repeat things so after reading your reply, I might be socially masking my hearing loss. I have tolerated tinnitus almost three decades and wonder if I would be a different person if I did mask it. I am not easily agitated but who knows, maybe there is something there for me