I’ve been lurking and trying to learn as much as I can here. Amazingly useful Forum!
Anyway - I have had a documented long standing hearing loss (noted at the age of 25 mid 1980s) - assumedly congenital in some form - no history suggestive of high volume damage) - I’m now 58.
I had a repeat test in 2014 - basically just for fun - that documented high tone loss above 2000HZ maximal down to 60DB (tried to add that audiogram to the profile too but when I do the link in my profile only displays the old audiogram not the latest - see below).
AT that stage I had no real issues and ignored it .
Last week I had a repeat audiogram - the reason is mainly the TV is becoming hard to understand - apart from the news and some Australian shows . Accordingly I live with the subtitles on most of the time. I have typical issues of difficulty hearing someone in a car, but face to face - not a problem even with back ground noise.
The repeat audiogram confirms further deterioration still isolated mainly to the higher frequencies - now with severe to profound loss. Interestingly my Speech score was essentially 100% - even with masking background noise (all uploaded to my profile).
The Audi clinic I use - all university qualified 4 year course etc (called AUDIOLOGISTS here - not Doctors of…) - and a practice that does not have a commission based business model - was so laid back about the results as to almost horizontal! They suggested that I MAY benefit from HA but couldn’t be sure. I guess that’s certainly a safe thing to say.
My wife is also of the opinion that functionally - apart from wanting the TV too loud (which doesn’t always help) - I am not too badly off.
Anyway, I thought I would turn to the community here to ask what peoples’ experience are. With this sort of loss - and function :-
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Would you expect a significant benefit? The lower frequencies are essentially preserved and my speech recognition seems ok.
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I play the piano and MOST of the notes sound below 2000HZ which is reasonably well preserved in me. only the Top 10 keys (88 key piano) are between 2000HZ and 3700HZ and I guess I have adapted to the sound. Any musicians have an opinion? Are my higher frequency losses too extreme to benefit easily from a HA - obviously from a musical point of view frequency shifting (if that’s the correct term)would not be satisfactory.
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I should add that YES - I do have access to a local costco that has KS10’s - around 1/3-1/5 of the price of the Phonak branded Paradise p90RTs here. Also - The Audi I visit seems quite happy for me to buy them at Costco and they will program them (for a charge of course) and do all the follow up. Indeed they’re happy for me to bring in HA of my own however sourced. Of course they sell them as well! For the record - not focusing on Phonak/Costco or any particular brand at all!
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Any general comments? It looks like EVENTUALLY I will need HA given the progressive deterioration - Not sure if I should get in early ?
Appreciate your consideration and your thoughts. Sorry about the wall of text but I wanted to give some context.