Off Topic - Hearing Aids

[Semi-Sly]

I know that this is really off topic but I am having an issue with a big disappointment attached and know that you guys will have a sympathetic "ear", (pun intended).

I have mild hearing loss in my right ear and moderate hearing loss in my left ear.  This is pretty typical for a man my age.  Then too, I wore my police radio in left ear for 16 years and all of the gun fire and bombs I have had to put up with over the last 30 years sure didn't help.

So, it is not like I have a profound hearing loss - yet - although it has gotten worse over the last four years. The only two things about my hearing loss that really bug me are:

1.  I have severe Tinnitus, which is a constant loud ringing in my ears.
2.  I know that there is a lot that I don't hear.  When I am in a group of people and more than one person is talking at the same time I cannot understand what any of them are saying.  I have to just smile and nod a lot! I cannot participate in conversations in a group.   (But then, I live alone so I am very seldom with other people).

 I am a Federal Employee and our health insurance does not cover hearing loss.  But I am also a retired Naval Officer and when I turned 60 in August I became eligible to purchase hearing aids from the VA at the government contract cost.  (I only have to pay $800 for them!)

So, I have been waiting since August for an opening at the VA.  Mine came up this week and I got my hearing aids on Christmas Eve.  They are tuned to amplify a range of high and mid -frequency tones. They have some neat features;
-  they bluetooth to my I-phone so I hear the telephone right through them instead of through the speaker in the telephone!
- They have a surround feature so that when the source of the sound moves they can shift itfrom one hearing aid to the other.

They come with a two year "bumper to bumper" warranty.   They also come with a four month free trial period so I can return them for a full refund.

When they first turned them on - WOW!!!! It actually startled me!  It was kind of like those videos when they first turn the cochlear implants on for little kids.  I started hearing all kinds of things that sounded "artifical" to me - but they told me that these were all things that I should have been hearing all along and that I am just not used to hearing "normally".  And I will admit that can hear all kinds of stuff now that I did hear before but;

To tell you the truth; I am kind of disappointed. 
-  The hearing aids cannot help with the tinnitus, (unless they activate a feature in them that transmits a "hissing" noise that is louder than the natural tinnitus - who wants that?)
- the sound is not "normal"  the sound in my left ear is like the inside of a tin can, (they warned me that it would be this way but that this is "the way it is with hearing aids".
-  They are UNCOMFORTABLE!  I have VERY sensitive ears, (even the light that the doctor shines in your ears when he is doing an exam hurts me). 
-  Now that I hear more, when I am in crowd where more than one person is talking - it is downright ANNOYING.  and when there is a group of women who have mabye had a glass or two of wine - Oh My God the way they CACKLE!!!!!  I wish that they would SHUT UP already!  Who wants to hear what they have to say anyway?
- I am not sure that the hearing aids are really helping me to hear anything that I need or want to hear and, the worst thing;
- I LOVE Choral music.  To me, Choral and Organ music are the voice of God.  I go to Church in a large 100 year old Gothic cathedral style building in downtown Chicago.  For Christmas Eve we have a traditional service of Lessons and Carols with a very large choir and the Chicago Brass Ensemble from the Chicago Symphony orchestra. The hearing aids really distorted the sound!  (What a bitter disappointment)   When the Sopranos opened up it actually hurt!

If I can't hear "God" anymore, then I would rather not have hearing aids.  I can get by without them.  If I just turn up the volume on the TV I am O.K. 

(Yeah I know, "would you like a bit of cheese to go along with all of that "whine"?)

[Sir Harry]

Well, Randy, I hope they work out for you in the end.....Nice to hear a positive story about the VA, though.

[Mike E. P.]

Could you just turn them off when you want quiet? I know what you mean about having to tolerate the annoying conversations that are everywhere. I wish I had a way of turning them off sometimes!

[mike609]

If the VA did their job correctly you had a hearing test and moulds were made in your ears for the speakers. Your hearing aides were rough calibrated on these factors. Now it's time to go back to the audiologist and have them fine tune the hearing aids. It sounds like you need a lot of the high end taken out particularly the high end gain. This will let the sopranos come in nicely and chop or cut out high pitched screeching.
It's a simple process but worthwhile. Nothing can replace natural hearing but your hearing aids can certainly be made better. Some hearing aides have smartphone apps that let you do the adjustment yourself like a graphic equalizer. In the end it's just a tool that helps sometimes and gets in the way other times.

Good luck.

[TheSlyBear]

I'm in the same boat at an earlier stage -- I have severe tinnitus and moderate to extreme hearing loss in both ears. Particularly difficult are talking on the phone and watching TV. I turn captions on when I can.

My boss is also an Indian woman who is soft-spoken -- I can't hear half of what she says.

I'm saving up to someday get hearing aids, but will keep in mind your cautions.

[Semi-Sly]

Could you just turn them off when you want quiet? I know what you mean about having to tolerate the annoying conversations that are everywhere. I wish I had a way of turning them off sometimes!

If the VA did their job correctly you had a hearing test and moulds were made in your ears for the speakers. Your hearing aides were rough calibrated on these factors. Now it's time to go back to the audiologist and have them fine tune the hearing aids. It sounds like you need a lot of the high end taken out particularly the high end gain. This will let the sopranos come in nicely and chop or cut out high pitched screeching.
It's a simple process but worthwhile. Nothing can replace natural hearing but your hearing aids can certainly be made better. Some hearing aides have smartphone apps that let you do the adjustment yourself like a graphic equalizer. In the end it's just a tool that helps sometimes and gets in the way other times.

Good luck.

Hi Mike:

No, they did not take moulds of my ears.  These are just like badminton "birdies" that you jam into your ears as deeply as you can.

They deactivated the the On/Off button on mine because it also functions as a "menu" button and they don't want me to be able to play with them myself.

There is a smart app for the I-phone that would allow the user to control the settings but they don't want me to have that.  They don't want the user to be able to mess around with them.  They want me to come back at the end of February for any final adjustments.