Do people notice your hearing aids?

Hearing Aids
#21

I’ve got Lumity Life 90s, too, and while my hair is long enough that it covers the aids, I DO have some shining moments!

Today, my phone rang in the middle of a chiropractic treatment. Ringtone is “Mission Impossible” theme song that gets some attention, but even FUNNIER, I was flat on my stomach on the table and tapped my ear to answer the phone - which was buried in my purse! The gal treating me looked from ME to the PURSE, saw me talking into thin air and GAPED! I had a good belly laugh when I told her I wear aids and can answer my phone when it’s ANYWHERE. She was absolutely WOWED.

Similar: the other day my phone rang, I answered it. It was a plumber who’d just been to my house to fix a shower fixture. The connection was kind of spotty, but he was amazed to learn that I’d answered my phone that I’d forgotten in the CAR, parked OUTSIDE while standing in the dining room INSIDE telling him of the wonders of hearing aids. He was also gobsmacked.

Or, flash back to the past. Again, on the table, this time getting acupuncture. All needled up and ready to get zapped, my phone rang buried in my purse. I tapped my ear to answer it and calmly told my acupuncture guy it was my dentist confirming an app’t, LOL. He was super impressed. I love all the designer accessories that are jazzing up aids now. I say flaunt 'em and always share the positives! Not everyone can stream calls hands-free, or catch EVERY word said in a movie or TV show what with how fast the actors talk. You’ll end up telling THEM what’s been said.

ENJOY the POWER! :star_struck:

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#22

I had those identical EarGears … till my hair stylist slapped ‘em up with BROWN hair dye. Augh. I LOVE that pattern - it ROCKS. And a perfect fashion statement with the screamin’ red molds!

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#23

I was very self conscious about mine at first because it felt like they were huge and obvious in my ears. But when I told someone about them after a few weeks, they were totally surprised. Even my husband forgets about them, he says he cannot see them at all. Only one time someone asked me about them, after exercising one had slid out of my ear a bit so it was visible. Since I’ve had mine I will notice other people’s and afterwards I’ll mention to my family that the person we were talking to had aids and not one of them will have noticed. I started with Lumity and now have Signias but they are both very discreet.

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#24

Unfortunately this product is prohibitively expensive for people outside the USA. I wish we could access it.

#25

I sadly admit that I probably no longer remember exactly what it feels like to be a teenager. As an adult, hearing aids are completely neutral in terms of their impact on attractiveness or how I consider someone.

Casting around for some corrollary, I remember being very self conscious about getting braces as an adolescent. Now I think people wearing braces look pretty cute, especially adults. Is that because the general opinion about braces has changed, or have I just changed? Glasses look very neutral or sometimes very fashionable. I think when I was young and worried about my braces, I was never bothered by other people’s braces, I was just self conscious about my own.

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#26

I have that model, and most people don’t seem to notice. Sometimes I have to let them know I’m Hearing Impaired to get them to slow down their speech.

#27

Welcome! Sure, people might notice. Some might comment, some might not. Might also depend on how you wear your hair. My proud, 90 year old father said something very helpful to me: “Once you get over your own ego about these hearing aids, you’ll make more progress.” Getting over my own ego is tough. Still working on it. Being 16 - 30 is hard work in and of itself. Hang tight!

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#28

No one notices my Signias Stylettos AX at first, they peak on top of my ear like half centimetre. Behind they look like I’m wearing chunky eyeglasses.
One of my friends noticed them months after I’ve started wearing them. I have short hair and they’re dark graphite, so they’re perfectly visible if you’re looking at them from the back.
Suprisingly, the completely in the canal or ‘invisible’ HAs are more noticeable because it looks like there’s something off/wrong with your ear.

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#29

In what way does it look off?

#30

For clarity, I’m not talking about something like Lyric which goes completely into your inner ear and has to be inserted by professional.
I have worn CICs most of my life and I regret it now, for multiple reasons…
Most of them, especially if you pick beige/skin color look like you have stuck something in your ear.
Our brains are fine tuned for face recognition on subconscious level and when there are holes missing in your head (meaning ear canals) you immediately feel that there’s something off.
It’s also easier to notice something on the side of your head than behind your ear.
I think that black CICs mitigate it slightly, and these titanium ones made by Phonak can almost disappear into your ear.

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#31

Do you mean that grippy wire poking out so folks can pull the aids out at day’s end?

I guess if younger folks really wanted “invisible” aids the ideal design would be stark white AirPods dangling outta the ear. EVERYONE under 35 seems to have them in their ears. I can’t help but wonder if they muffle ambient noise at all, or why anyone would want these dangling out where they can just be extruded from the ear canal (like my aids) and end up falling on the ground someplace.

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#32

Not at all, that wire is hardly noticeable from a distance. What’s noticeable, with skin colored ones, is that it looks like you’re missing ear canals, or have skin grown over. And with colors like black it looks like something is stuck, because they’re made from materials that reflect light.

AirPods are different, because they’re made to be recognizable. Everyone knows what they are. And actually some HA manufactures started banking on that by making in-the-canals look like earbuds. [Signia Active is one example, Resound makes similar ones too]

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#33

LOL! Now I get it. Yep. That’s a cosmetic prob alright. I’d also say that the shiny, plastic, flesh-toned ITEs were similarly NOTICEABLE for all the wrong reasons.

It’s like the goal of making aids invisible ironically makes them scream, “I’m OLD, DEAF, HAVE NO SENSE OF TASTE AND NEED TO ADVERTISE IT.” :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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#34

With my custom full skeleton ear molds , I haven’t had any issues with dropping my hearing aids, and i am continually changing glasses from indoors to outdoors, and i also wear hats, and hike in the forest where i have tree branches hanging onto my glasses and sometimes my aids. My ear molds are very comfortable go in easily but i do have to work at removing them.

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#35

That is a good thing! My mom has similar custom molds with skeleton to keep her aids IN. I am sadly allergic to the materials those are made from, so I use the soft, silicone double domes that I push in my ears 100s of times a day as they slide out. I tried the “leash” attached to my receivers, but that would end up like a dagger poking my ear cup some place.

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#36

Yep, exactly. In my own opinion, with recent RICs; ITE, IIC, CIC and so, should be prescribed to no one. They’re too weak for profound losses, have significantly limited feature range, and for moderate or lower losses you have to deal with horrendous occlusion effects which could be avoided with RICs.

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#37

I wore ITE aids for years, and still prefer them, but with my earing loss and the fact that normal ITE aids are older technology I am finding that RITE aids are best for me, they are comfortable and full featured but the likelyof them being yanked out of mynears are much greater when you are active, most specially hiking the woods, have small children and pets that can be as inquisitive at small children.

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#38

All valid arguments.
As a counter to one I’ll add that my CICs slipped out multiple times, from jaw movement (eating mostly).

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#39

That is why i wore full shell ITE aids they stayed in place like full skeleton cutom ear molds.

#40

You are in a time when lots of folks wear devices in their ears. They are black, white and some other colors. If you pick a trendy color, folks may notice your devices, but most folks won’t give them a second thought if they even notice them.

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