I understand some are as you say trained with AI however there are some that have AI features such as Widex with there sound sense tech or Opticon More. I mean it isn’t the full fledged AI but it does exist and is in hearing aids. The times are changing the one issue that we all have to separating speech from noise and AI would eventually be able to do this much better than it’s been done currently but as I said the self improvement of hearing aids are negligible but they do exist in more modern aids.
I think sometimes, understandably given the emotional component, we put more weight on the word “dementia” than it really deserves? It’s just a reduction in cognition beyond what we would expect as measured by some specific tests. It may well be that the hearing loss was resulting in increased listening difficulty which drew upon cognitive reserves and reduced cognitive bandwidth for other functions, and once the hearing improves and the cognitive load is reduced, thinking improves. So, on one hand you think, “well then that wasn’t really dementia”, but in so far as dementia is just reduced cognition measured on some particular tests, it was. Maybe with time and better understanding, we actually will cut this out of our understanding of what dementia “is”, and maybe there will be other factors that further improve it, finally narrowing down what we call “dementia” to a very specific disease process. So, there’s a bit of semantic witchcraft there.
In terms of permanent damage of untreated hearing loss: We know that in cats when you induce a reversible hearing loss the auditory cortex re-organizes and will also start to be taken over by other brain systems (vision). When you reverse the hearing loss, depending on the length of auditory deprivation, SOME of the original organization returns but not all of it. From an anecdotal clinical perspective, it also appears to be the case that long-term auditory deprivation can result in a loss of speech clarity (as judged by max word recognition scores) that does not fully return after consistent amplification. So there is some reason for concern, and really it is consistent with a lot of other parts of our body that will suffer when left to disuse and return to a variable degree depending on age, etc. (Edit addition: We can probably also draw insight from cochlear implant outcomes after auditory deprivation, which are clearly better the shorter the deprivation. Yet criteria for implantation are still looking at years-long time frames.)
But what we DO NOT KNOW at this point is what length of what type of deprivation we should be concerned about. At the base, you and I agree. It’s one thing to talk about this stuff and quite another to use it as a high-pressure sales tactic.
-ish? I’m actually a music-all-the-time person. I just don’t like parties with too many people because I’m an introvert and find that level of socialization exhausting. But despite a very mild hearing loss, my auditory processing is good and background noise doesn’t bother me from a comprehension perspective the way it does some of my really normal-hearing friends.
No. There is no part of the Oticon More that is still learning. The widex app uses some clever data mining to support the A/B comparisons that it presents, but I wouldn’t call that AI either.
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Wow, my thread has gone some strange places!
But my problem is understanding some voices. But I have no problem hearing most noises (high frequencies excepted). So if I am at home alone, there are no meaningful sounds to hear with or without hearing aids.
So my question remains: What will wearing hearing aids under these conditions accomplish?
Why not find out for yourself, you could then post your findings and this could then be a case study for anyone else.
Getting used to meaningless noises while wearing aids at home would prepare you to deal with those noises in conditions where you anticipate benefits from the aids.
The cessation of otherwise meaningless noises can carry meaning.
You really don’t know what might happen in or around your house in the future that would be signaled by a noise audible only with aids.
The more you know, the better.
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First I need to dispel the idea that I can’t hear noises. I was just walking in the park (between snow storms) I could hear others footsteps at 30 feet and two women talking at about the same distance (couldn’t understand them).
Sitting at my computer, I turned on my SPL meter to the most sensitive range, the only time the needle moved was for key strokes that I can easily hear. Put in my (audiologist molded) hearing protectors and I can still hear the noises that I make and the TV at a normal volume.
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Sorry I misunderstood your quiet “ish” environment. 
Yes, some of the study findings you mention I’ve seen too. “Dementia” does get used in multiple imprecise ways. To me it connotes memory loss, executive function deterioration and perhaps personality or emotional changes, including Alzheimer’s. So yes, this kind of potential loss is enormously threatening. I don’t like to see claims about it over blown.
As always, I appreciate you taking the time to provide information and talk things through.
I’ve only skimmed this. I don’t see your audiogram. If you’ve got a mild loss and seldom hear speech, hearing aids probably aren’t going to help you much. I’m confused though in that I thought you could listen to TV “at normal volume” and do ok. My understanding is that for hearing aids to help you understand speech, you have to be exposed to speech. Wearing them at other times lets you be accustomed to the louder noises that accompany the wearing of hearing aids.
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Okay, this is probably sort of a useless quibble, and I cannot see your hearing loss so I grabbed a random one. But say your hearing loss looks like this:
In that case, you cannot hear any sounds that occur in the yellow highlighted range, which are sounds that normal hearing people can hear. There are lots of speech sounds in that area, as well as lots of other sounds.
At a particular frequency, a speech sound and a “noise” sound activate exactly the same nerve fibres. I think this is going to end up being a crappy analogy but. . . say you sometimes have to lift heavy things and all the rest of the time you keep your arm in a cast. Someone might say, “You know, if you take your arm out of that cast then when it comes time to lift heavy things it will be easier because your incidental arm use will help to keep it stronger and more mobile.” And you say, “But lifting heavy things is the only important thing I do with this arm, and I get along perfectly fine without it the rest of the time. Though, when I do lift heavy things I notice that it’s still hard. I never lift heavy things at home. What would having the arm out of the cast accomplish?”
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I wear my hearing aids all the time.
For a while I found I was really really tired by end of the work day. I was straining to hear. I increased volume each day until I could get in to see my audiologist. After changing settings including volume I’m much better off.
Wonderful explanation!
Thanks Neville!
Here’s a Reddit thread that may or may not help. The top post is from someone who did a paper on word recognition loss when a hearing impaired person doesn’t wear his/her hearing aids. I asked him/her a further question (scroll down for Joe_T) related to your question and he has responded.
I have said this before, comfort over efficiency as they are totally inefficient if you don’t wear them. If they are comfortable, and you put them on when you get up, you can have them in all day and not notice you have them in.
Where I get niggles is face masks etc where the aid gets dislodged.
Even so, the HA are not magic bullets and my wife will complain about household noises that I cannot here, the underfloor heating pump for instance.
There will be other noises that you will never hear without aids though, a dripping tap for instance.
You won’t see my Audiogram, it doesn’t represent what I hear at realistic volumes.
The issue is:
Bilateral Dehiscence of the Superior Semicircular Canals
Presbycusis - hearing loss is only item #5 (of 7) on my ear problem list.
So a reciprocal of the Audiogram is painful.
Yes, SSCD is a real challenge, and in your situation I may not wear my hearing aids at home either. It’s surely still good for your auditory system to hear sounds, but. . . sometimes you’ve got to manage what you’ve got to manage. If there’s any room for balance (e.g. lower volume is tolerable) I might try for that, but if it’s really hard on your other symptoms to wear your hearing aids, then what can you do. One only has so many reserves.
That no music enjoyment strikes me as rather sad that something that was often the backdrop to our lives “EVERYBODYS working for the weekend”
“HOT TOWN summer in the city… go out and find a girl”
Both of those i enjoyed the undertone/message - combine the 2 songs makes me remember when i was younger and Working for the Weekend which was wat everything else revolved around. WEEKEND and Hot Summers made weekends idyllic or the expectation of idyllic working on my tan by the pool. Youth is wasted on the young and foolish, it was on me anyway.
And i no longer listen either, it has lost its magic, its GLOW. Getting old while also losing hearing sucks.
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I had the same atittude. Very stubborn and refused to wear them for 20 years. At school I used to be called into the head mistress office and told to put them in but I didn’t. Audiologist also came in and talked to me… nope, not wearing them, soz! Now sounds are is distorted… presumably because I have not had my auditory nerve stimulated for so long, my speech impediment is very bad (cannot pronounce high frequency words because I have not been able to hear them until now), I get hearing fatigue on a regular basis TRYING to understand all the sounds around me. All of that could have avoided had I worn them. Listen to your audiologist.
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Good lesson!
I think that fatigue comes from understanding sound, and I’ve fixed it by turning up the volume using the buttons on my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90 hearing aids.
For me, listening is like watching wheel of fortune. I’m guessing the words. Except every letter is blank! And that’s why listening is such hard work.
I’ve made progress getting them set up. However, it’s taken a long time.
DaveL
Toronto