Author Topic: Hearing aids  (Read 7517 times)

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #20 on: May 02, 2018, 10:17:37 AM »
Oh yes, I am already well aware of that. The behind- the- ear types with the in canal coil tend to break..... a lot, and a maintenance warranty is close to a grand for 4 years on them. Batteries are a consideration. And they absolutely have a lifespan; it is figured into everything as being 5 years but even the most optimistic observers claim it is 7 at most. So absolutely, this is an on- going expense and that MUST be known and compensated for before going into the hearing rabbit- hole.

Brian


<snip>

In your case, I bet it really is just your brain in a feedback loop from the hearing loss of certain frequencies.  So getting aids sounds like a double-win.  Now, if you can just do it affordably.  It isn't just the initial price either.  Expect them to be like a smart phone- wearing out, breaking, needing updates, service, batteries, etc.  Blah.
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Offline just gone

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #21 on: May 02, 2018, 01:37:24 PM »
I don't wear 'em (yet) but a word of advice. Whether at home or in public, if you can, reach around and flush the toilet before you stand up, even if you haven't finished all of the paper work yet. One of the things worse than fishing your accidentally dislodged expensive hearing aid out of the toilet, is fishing it out of a recently used toilet. Words of wisdom (or woe) from a now departed family member.
Might want to wear earmuffs in a port o potty. 

Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #22 on: May 02, 2018, 03:52:32 PM »
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #23 on: May 02, 2018, 05:51:31 PM »
+1
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Offline Conrad

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #24 on: May 03, 2018, 04:15:13 AM »
I don't wear 'em (yet) but a word of advice. Whether at home or in public, if you can, reach around and flush the toilet before you stand up, even if you haven't finished all of the paper work yet. One of the things worse than fishing your accidentally dislodged expensive hearing aid out of the toilet, is fishing it out of a recently used toilet. Words of wisdom (or woe) from a now departed family member.
Might want to wear earmuffs in a port o potty. 

Talk about getting an earful!    :pukeface:
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Offline Bob Young

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #25 on: May 13, 2018, 09:56:02 AM »
I've been wearing hearing aids since 2012. Behind the ear [can't wear them in helmet]; Resound brand. Battery life about seven days. 2012 price $4500.00; no insurance; draw from savings.
I could not believe the difference in my hearing. Without them every thing is muted; like stuffed up ears with a head cold.
Fast forward to 2017. Local "hearing aid specialist" offers free hearing test and "tune up" for your hearing aid. So I go for it. Appointment, test reveals hearing loss [duh!]; technician says my current aids are "old school" and they don't have the "computer program" to adjust. So the sales pitch begins. For only a $300.00 payment today, we can build your new hearing aids and have them fitted in less than a week for $6800.00! [I still have my 2012 hearing aids.]
At a sports event booth [12/2017] I see  SportEar, hearing enhancement and protection device. After listening to the well informed "salesperson", I opt to have an ear mold done for an in the ear type aid. Their price $2600.00. I ask why the difference and I'm told if the "aids" are sold as a sporting aid, the pricing can be lower.
Now $2600.00 is no small investment and may be the answer,maybe not. But to cut the price by two thirds certainly got my attention. I sent this company my 2012 hearing test results and they said they could build aids that would increase my hearing level by eight times. [I haven't ordered them yet, but intend to after the new year (2019)]
Getting an hearing test by an audiologist is the key; not a hearing aid specialist/salesperson.
See www.sportear.com   I was interested in the custom edge in ear model. They are a shooting sport hearing protector/enhancement tool.
Just my .02 cents worth.

Bob Young
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #26 on: May 18, 2018, 01:53:26 PM »
Well, I 'test- heard' a pair of Opticon One aids for a weekend (in fact, Tech. Day in Monson, MA) and liked them a lot. Unfortunately not $6,200 worth :-( Returned them, per prior agreement, on Monday (had them only for the weekend).

Finally decided to try a pair of Audicus hearing aids (~$1,600) but after two missed phone appointments where they (Chloe) were going to call me, on the third appointment, also missed, I get an e-mail from someone else saying Chloe got tied up (again I suppose) and they would call.... if I would send them my telephone number again. Must be the 'Get Smart' organization of the hearing aid industry so I took a pass; I cannot imagine what a return or warranty repair would be like with these folks.

Today I ended up buying a pair of Sonic Cheer 20's, $500 each but also they require a $200 module to connect to them via both Blue tooth as well as to make sound / program changes remotely. So I flipped for that one. Should be here in a week. Hopefully, I will be able to see what you folks type much more clearly.... no, wait, wrong correction device.

Brian
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2018, 05:56:02 PM »
OK, phase 2: I have now purchased a pair of hearing aids from a discount on-line broker that cost $500 each, along with a remote control box for $200. After some study, it is really looking like the remote control <may> not be all that worthwhile but I am still evaluating it.

So far, the aids work pretty well. Not perfect but pretty good. Not as well as the Opticon One set I tried but then again, these are not $6,200 either. So the real question is: are these beneficial and a decent value compared to the top- of- the- line hearing aids? I cannot answer yet. I miss some features of the Opticon hearing aids, especially the ability to control each hearing aid's volume from a remote source (iPhone) quickly and easily. I can control the volume but only for both units at once and cannot adjust one aid independently. So again, the Opticon One were better / nicer but they were also $5 grand more and that is hard to justify, at least to me.

Anyway, I am tinkering around with this set and finding some success. They absolutely work, I just have not yet made a decision on their value to me, personally. I <think> this will be the way I will end up going but want a week or two to 'test- hear' them before making a final decision. I did purchase them and so actually own them but they are reutrnable for either 30 or 45 days so I will be evaluaing them carefully.

BTW: I can read everything you folks wrote MUCH better and clearer with these new hearing aids.  :rotflmao:

Brian
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Offline just gone

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #28 on: May 25, 2018, 08:43:32 PM »
BTW: I can read everything you folks wrote MUCH better and clearer with these new hearing aids.  :rotflmao:

But are the voices in your head still coming through loud and clear or is there now electrical interference?

Offline connie_rider

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #29 on: May 26, 2018, 10:04:48 AM »
BDF: Glad to hear that the aide's are improving your ability to read..  :P 
          If it helps you, there is hope for all of us.. <grin>

Ride safe, Ted

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #30 on: May 26, 2018, 12:42:49 PM »
Voices? Nope, never had any voices..... other than Kirby and Mr. Elkhoof of course, and all of you know they are both 100% real.

 :o

Brian

But are the voices in your head still coming through loud and clear or is there now electrical interference?
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #31 on: May 26, 2018, 12:47:05 PM »
Yep, reading better / faster and have a better sense of smell too, although that is not always a positive thing.  ::)

Went to adjust the left one to a higher volume setting only to find out that they do not do that. The volume of both hearing aids changes together and cannot be separately adjusted by the user; to change that, they must be sent back to Colorado. There is no charge but it will take at least a week. So I looked at some of the other models I had previously looked at and it seems that that feature is one lost on all of the "low cost" (if you consider over a grand 'low cost') aids. In fact, it does not look like two grand will do it either, more like $1300 and up per ear for the nicer features. Oh well, at least those who choose the more expensive types did get something for the increase in cost.

Brian

BDF: Glad to hear that the aide's are improving your ability to read..  :P 
          If it helps you, there is hope for all of us.. <grin>

Ride safe, Ted
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #32 on: May 26, 2018, 07:12:18 PM »
Went to adjust the left one to a higher volume setting only to find out that they do not do that. The volume of both hearing aids changes together and cannot be separately adjusted by the user; to change that, they must be sent back to Colorado. There is no charge but it will take at least a week. So I looked at some of the other models I had previously looked at and it seems that that feature is one lost on all of the "low cost" (if you consider over a grand 'low cost') aids

Did these low-cost ones not apply your custom waveform you got from the audiologist (your hearing test results graph)?   It seems even some of the cheaper ones would do that (you might not be able to do it yourself, but they might).  The custom waveform would already include the volume adjustments per ear, as well as what frequencies need boosting and how much, since each ear has a different graph.
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Offline just gone

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #33 on: May 26, 2018, 08:16:49 PM »
How about putting the new battery in the one that needs to be louder and moving that used battery over to the one that needs to be oem muffler loud? :o

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #34 on: May 26, 2018, 08:27:50 PM »
Yes. These were programmed for me using my audio test results (audio-graph?). Included in the price of the more expensive types, it was $50 for the aids I have.

And yes, they may well have been programmed to conform to my hearing tests but the left ear 'seems' sluggish compared with the right ear, and the increase in hearing perception after putting them in (Easy Boys, picture a hairy, old- man's ear canal before you go off with those thoughts!) is again less with the left ear. I spoke to a tech. at the company and they can and often do adjust the relative volume of each aid (they can do that but the end- user cannot). These hearing aids also have four different programs, which I can scroll through, and when I asked the tech. which one was the custom program, he said they were all custom programmed for my ears.

Brian

Did these low-cost ones not apply your custom waveform you got from the audiologist (your hearing test results graph)?   It seems even some of the cheaper ones would do that (you might not be able to do it yourself, but they might).  The custom waveform would already include the volume adjustments per ear, as well as what frequencies need boosting and how much, since each ear has a different graph.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #35 on: May 26, 2018, 08:29:22 PM »
Well, good thought but these are digital devices (DSP) and so either work or do not work with power input; they do not work 'better' or louder with newer batteries as analog types <may> have in the olden' days.

Besides, both batteries are new as of Thursday night and so still 'good'.

Brian

How about putting the new battery in the one that needs to be louder and moving that used battery over to the one that needs to be oem muffler loud? :o
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #36 on: May 28, 2018, 04:43:32 PM »
I responded to this question already but now I have a better answer.  ;) ;D

The hearing aids do NOT 'cure' my tinnitus. What they actually do is distract me from it because there are actual sounds from outside that I 'hear' (read: perceive) and so simply do not 'hear' (read: pay mental attention to) the hiss that is still there.

This is hard to articulate but if it were vision: suppose good hearing is like clear weather and you can see (hear) all the individual things out there in the world. Now tinnitus comes along and it is like the fog rolling in- even when there is nothing to see, you see something (hearing something when there is no real sound). What the hearing aids seem to be doing for me is to amplify the real things IN the fog so that they can be seen and used so you are no longer paying attention to the surrounding for. Does that make any sense at all? If I concentrate, I can still perceive the hiss in my left ear as always but when the hearings aids are in, real sounds that they provide take my attention away from the fog and lack of distinct noises and instead concentrate my conscious attention on those sounds.

To say the identical thing in a different way: with real sounds actually reaching my brain via the hearing aids, they are distracting me away from that constant, background hiss; it is still there but it no longer draws my attention toward it.

Brian

P.S. You cannot believe how loud this keyboard it! My wife has said it is irritating for years and I too have noticed this..... in the last few days. :-)

Brian, what do you mean that the Optican Ones seemed to “cure” your tinnitus?

I have mild tinnitus and it sucks.

When I ride, I wear a pair of Bose bluetooth noise cancelling earbuds.  They are incredible. They help to keep the noise down and protect my ears, albeit to a smaller degree than actual earplugs.  Plus, I can actually hear my music as opposed to my Sena, which only has average sound fidelity and does nothing for noise.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #37 on: May 28, 2018, 05:14:59 PM »
The hearing aids do NOT 'cure' my tinnitus. What they actually do is distract me from it because there are actual sounds from outside that I 'hear' (read: perceive) and so simply do not 'hear' (read: pay mental attention to) the hiss that is still there.

Unfortunately for you, me, and millions of people, there is no cure for tinnitus.

The example I like to use to explain what you are saying is imagine trying to sleep in your bedroom and hearing rather loud water dripping in the sink next to your room.  Also imagine there is no way to stop it dripping and you can't do anything about it.  That is tinnitus (in some ways).  If you have some soft music playing or the white noise of fan running, that background noise will help to mask the water dripping so you don't notice it as much, "drowning it out."  But it is still dripping and dripping, forever.

What you describe with the hearing aids makes perfect sense.  You probably have "typical" hearing loss, which is in the higher frequencies.  And that is often where the tinnitus sound is too, in the higher frequencies.  Mine is a constant tone of about 13Khz (although I don't believe I have much, if any, hearing loss).  Although other people have a mix of frequencies which sounds like a hiss.  With hearing loss in the same range, there is no external sounds you hear to help mask it as effectively.  Add hearing aids can help that at lot, because it restores more distracting and masking sounds.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #38 on: May 28, 2018, 08:03:03 PM »
This is what my hearing curve looks like:



Note that the left ear is considerably worse than the right ear; this is due to shooting rifles right- handed, with my left ear toward the muzzle. Back in the olden' days when I was young, stupid and 'bullet proof' (no pun intended but what 20- 30 year old thinks of old age while doing stupid things?). Oh well, I never wore eye protection either so I guess I am lucky the range damage was only done to my ears.....

13 KHz is pretty high; I doubt I can even hear anything in that freq. range anymore. 8 KHz is the highest the hearing test went and it was more than far enough, unfortunately.

Brian

Unfortunately for you, me, and millions of people, there is no cure for tinnitus.

The example I like to use to explain what you are saying is imagine trying to sleep in your bedroom and hearing rather loud water dripping in the sink next to your room.  Also imagine there is no way to stop it dripping and you can't do anything about it.  That is tinnitus (in some ways).  If you have some soft music playing or the white noise of fan running, that background noise will help to mask the water dripping so you don't notice it as much, "drowning it out."  But it is still dripping and dripping, forever.

What you describe with the hearing aids makes perfect sense.  You probably have "typical" hearing loss, which is in the higher frequencies.  And that is often where the tinnitus sound is too, in the higher frequencies.  Mine is a constant tone of about 13Khz (although I don't believe I have much, if any, hearing loss).  Although other people have a mix of frequencies which sounds like a hiss.  With hearing loss in the same range, there is no external sounds you hear to help mask it as effectively.  Add hearing aids can help that at lot, because it restores more distracting and masking sounds.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #39 on: May 28, 2018, 08:45:40 PM »
This is what my hearing curve looks like:[...]13 KHz is pretty high; I doubt I can even hear anything in that freq. range anymore. 8 KHz is the highest the hearing test went and it was more than far enough, unfortunately.

Wow- that was the first thing I noticed, that the chart only goes up to 8Khz.  Seems odd they wouldn't test for a full range, from perhaps 20khz to 15Khz.

You do have a severe hearing loss in quite a wide range of upper frequencies.  I am amazed you could tolerate that for so long, the world would sound like... well, muffled mud.
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