Hi all,
I’m totally new to hearing aids, having suffered since a kid with perforated ear drums (worse in the left ear) audiology pic provided for reference I finally booked in at my local Specsavers and have been supplied, via the agreement they have with the NHS some Phonak Bolero M70-M’s
It’s all happened very fast, less than a week from my first screening to fitting and I have a few questions / observations. I’ve done a fair bit of reading on this forum and found some really useful info, so apologies if some of this is a repeat of what’s here but just writing it all down in one place as it’s all a little overwhelming.
The experience with Specsavers was a little hit and miss, started off great but on the actual fitting they had a new Audiologist and she wasn’t very helpful at all, just popped them in, pressed a few things on the laptop and sent me on my way. (interestingly she also said I don’t need to wear them every day, despite the original audiologist saying I need to)
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The Bolero’s seem decent from what I’ve read, but I was a little disappointed I didn’t get the rechargeable version as that’s what my local NHS hospital issue. The audiologist advised not to bother enabling Bluetooth or any connectivity (she didn’t even tell me about the app) as I’ll just drain the battery’s. This was really disappointing as I work in IT, so spend most of my days on teams calls or on the phone and would usually wear air pods on the train to work most mornings. I have connected them all up (finding the occasional music listening a little ‘tinny’ sounding) but longer term, for regular Bluetooth use, would anyone really recommend rechargeable over battery if I’m a regular Bluetooth wearer?
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My left ear is worse than my right, there’s a pretty constant hissing sound coming from the left, as well as the occasional feedback. I’ve turned the volume down a couple of times but it keeps defaulting back, so I’ll mention this on my first check in with them. I have nothing to compare to so not sure if this is normal, but it’s as if the volume is too loud
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I was out and about yesterday, walking down a busy street having a conversation with someone, and I found the ability to pick up speech a little disappointing. Everything around me was loud and clear, but it was almost overpowering, like I could hear the noise from the busy street, the sound of my clothes rustling, yet I was struggling to hear the person next to me talking! Is this normal? Something you get used to? Or something I need to feed back? I’ve found this a couple of times in the office, it’s like the sounds of the environment around me are overpowering people talking to me if that makes sense, I expected voices to be picked out and made louder.
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Finally, the itching… Wow… the constant itching… How do people cope?! I’m finding the domes really uncomfortable in my ears, This seems to settle for most people so hoping it will, but I keep having to pull them out and give my ears a proper itch!
I’m only a few days in, and having absolutely nothing to compare to, so all of the above my be totally normal for all I know. I’m loving the extra sounds (I never realised how many birds were singing, and the noise of grass crunching under my feet is new).
As I work in IT, I’m pretty up on the latest tech. I use multiple devices every day (and note you can only connect the Bolero’s to a single device) is the technology in the later devices really that much of a step up? As I may look medium term to purchase some privately if that’s the case
. Honestly. It’s driving me crazy. I’ve tried most things suggested on here including ordering some eargene but nothings worked. And it’s completely random. Sometimes the second I put them it I can’t bear how uncomfortable they are. Others days I can wear them for hours then have this sudden urge to rip them out!