I don't trust hearing tests.

[beatitude]

My 2nd post: I don't get on with hearing aids and feel one reason is that hearing tests are unreliable. Does anyone else here feel the same? I've had several this year alone. Specsavers only tested me on 6 frequencies, whereas the other tests were on 8. Some audiologists are very begrudging about giving me an audiogram. The ones I got in the end all say I'm at the lower end of moderate hearing loss and some dipped into severe. Yet the individual readings are wildly different from each other.

They all agreed my hearing was slightly worse in the right ear. Despite this, when I can feel from the vibrations that my cat is purring, when I put my right ear, without hearing aids, right against the body, I can just faintly hear it, yet with my left ear I hear nothing. Maybe it's just that particular frequency that bucks the trend, but I think it's incompatible with what I've been told.

It's also been suggested to me that testing 8 frequencies is not enough. I could have 0% hearing at frequencies that are never tested, and no hearing aid in the world can make something out of nothing. Or I could have very poor hearing at those frequencies, which never gets picked up. I can't help wondering if this is why everything sounds so distorted through hearing aids that many sounds are unintelligible to me, as if there's something entirely missing, and this is only exacerbated when the tested frequencies are tweaked up, leaving the untested ones "behind". Interested to know if others have this problem.

I'm on my third pair of NHS aids, but have also had temporary trials with 3 pairs of private ones, and hated all of them. Gone back for adjustments repeatedly, no improvement. Examples: one time I couldn't tell if I was hearing an ambulance siren at street level or a seagull on a roof and was looking all over the place for the source of the sound. Another time, I think from the way someone in front of me looked at me, that they must have spoken and were waiting for a reply, but what I thought I heard was knives being sharpened right behind me, which was so frightening I froze to the spot. I'd rather go without than have this happen. Thanks for reading.

[MarkS]

I also have moderate hearing loss. I have private aids and had the audiology test. I lose higher frequencies. I get on OK with them, they are a bit strange to start off with but I settled into them in a week or so. It was the usual indicators on the car when I was driving back, I was startled by the ticking noise I hadn't heard before. My hearing is definitely better with them. I agree, they don't necessarily pick up all frequencies. Mine seem to exaggerate very high frequencies too much so it's unpleasant to hear babies crying, etc. But I now can differentiate where sound is coming from. All I can suggest is to stick with them and hopefully you'll get used to them.

[alpacagirl]

hi beatitude, I have NHS aids and it is true that aids wont restore normal hearing, yes it’s sometimes difficult to locate where a sound is coming from and noisy environments will always be problematic. That said, it is worth persevering with them - I struggle even more without mine. I do miss sounds I used to hear - familiar songs now sound completely different, as even with my HAs I obviously don’t hear some frequencies at all. I can’t hear bees buzzing anymore…. I don’t always realise that someone has spoken to me and I often struggle to hear a question clearly even when repeated.

Sounds as if you too are mourning what you have lost. Perhaps pick the aids that are the best of a bad job and stick with them.

I haven’t had your experience with multiple testing, since I’ve only had one test every few years so can’t comment on accuracy.

All the best!