My OPNs are fairly small so while they sit behind the ear, they sit up high in the upper area right behind the ears and are still well concealed. My audi said that it’s better for it to be in the upper area so that the mics positioned on top of the HAs can pick up sounds better from “higher ground”.
When I wear my sunglasses usually the bent (down) part of my temples sit right on top of the HAs, but they don’t bother me that much or make that much noise due to rubbing around.
Hi
I bought a cheap pair of reading glasses in a supermarket here in the UK and they work fine with my Oticon BTE aids. the reading glasses have a thin metallic frame and are very comfortable with my aids.
Like you I wear reading glasses almost all day at work for the same reason as you and obviously I wear my hearing aids all day too. Couldn’t manage without both.
Mine seem to be mostly on top - maybe a tiny fraction behind. The glasses always slide under HA - and I put them on’off all day long. Wear a BT headset for hours on some days, and the ear hook slides against head on inside of HA and glasses frame.
I don’t have a lot of experience, but, so far, I’ve worn my HI Health Innovations BTE aids for about a month and I definitely get noise interference between my aids and my glasses. It’s as if the glasses are “live” and any movement of the glasses causes a brushing sound with the HA mics. I even occasionally get a sound with movement of my glasses and the HA’s when I’m walking. I figure I would eventually get used to the sound, but I was glad to see when wearing a trial set of the Costco KS7’s, I didn’t have the same problem. I have a pair coming in about 10 days and I’m hoping they won’t interfere with the glasses. I didn’t wear my HI Health aids to the Costco appointment, so I couldn’t compare size, but I think the KS7’s might be just enough smaller to avoid the sound interference. I hope so. I’m not about to lay out $400+ for a new pair of glasses unless my prescription changes.
You’d pay a lot less for a new pair of glasses if you took your prescription to Costco. I just got new frames with progressive lenses at Costco for under $200
That’s true, but the point is I don’t want to change glasses just to prevent interference with the HA’s. I like the optometrist I have, but the next time I really need to change prescriptions, I’ll take his prescriptions and shop around.
How can your glasses be rubbing the mics?
They don’t rub the mics directly, but they touch the HA’s very near where the mics are. It’s as if the body of the HA is itself “live” near where the mic openings are. I can take the HA off my ear (leaving the thin tube that carries the sound to my ear in place) and recreate the sound with the body of the HA nowhere near my glasses or my hair. I’m not talking about touching the mic openings, but just touching the HA near the mic opening. My glasses touch the body of the hearing aid when they’re in place and the touching or moving of the glasses causes a sound in the HA. For whatever reason, when I tried the KS7’s before buying, I didn’t experience this effect. Maybe the KS7’s are smaller or maybe the mics of the KS7’s are better isolated from the bodies of the HA’s.
I’m back. I’ve gotten pretty used to the HA’s now, so they don’t seem to make noise as much when my glasses rub against them. Or I’ve learned to ignore it. But the issue I have now is that the glasses seem to push the HA’s further back behind my ears and make the reciever pop out of my ear canal. My audi thought that I needed shorter wires, so I’ve been trying those for the past week. They do seem to fit better in general, but putting my glasses on still makes them pop out of my ears.
I’m wondering if my ears are too small or something. There doesn’t seem to be enough room for the glasses earpiece and the HA to sit comfortably behind my ear. If the glasses sit between the HA and my head, then the HA is right on the edge of the pinna of my ear, which bugs me so I fiddle with it. I have another appt with the audi in a couple weeks, but in the meantime, any thoughts?
I don’t remember if I’ve already said it, but the Ha’s I have are the Starkey NuEar BTE rechargables.
You might want to consider looking at other eyeglass frames. There’s a lot of variety in how substantial the temple/earpiece section of the frame is. I know it’s a pain, but probably a lot easier to tweak the eyeglass frames than the hearing aids. I’m assuming that if you’re wearing BTEs that you have a pretty signifcant hearing loss and that a smaller RIC hearing aid wouldn’t work? Went back and read the other posts and tried to research your hearing aids. From what I can tell, you have RICs which are smaller than BTEs. So, glasses should be closest to the ear and hearing aids should sit on top of the glasses (and on top of the ear, not behind, assuming you really have RICs) Besides looking for different glasses frames, there’s also the option of different hearing aids, but that’s a lot more hassle. Good luck and do keep us posted.
I can’t imagine glasses causing anyone so much consternation… Put some damn ear gear or sweat bands on the aids.
^^^ Now, now! Y’can’t do that cuz then you’d get feedback! Even wearing a damn hat gives me some squeaking if it presses too tight on my aids.
So jcwoman, if I understand your situation correctly, you have BTE aids, receiver in the ear. When you put on a separate pair of glasses over the aids, it may weigh heavily enough to press down on the aids and thereby pull the receivers out of your ears?
I don’t know your eyeglass Rx, but maybe you could try some thinner, lighter frames? Another poster here had some comfort issues with glasses + aids, and my recommendation is to look into something like Silhouette frames. I’m wearing a pair that sits (as best as I can tell) right on my Oticon aids behind my ears. There is no discomfort, the receivers stay put in my ears, and glasses noise has been “gotten used to”.
Glasses go on first, HA’s go on second. No discomfort, no feedback, no noise from the glasses. Easy peezy!
Your understanding of this very complex problem is amazing… You do understand that feedback is the sound generated by the receivers leaking out of your ear which has nothing to do with the part on your ear.
^^^^ Yes, that is true! But I also get feedback when my entire ear is covered (like wearing a winter hat with ear flaps that cover my ears). Perhaps the hat distorts my ear causing the leakage? Anywho, it’s annoying as HECK until I raise the flaps and freeze my ears off.
Feedback is caused by amplified sound escaping your ear canal and going through the receivers again, so yes if you cover your ears with a winter hat with ear flaps you will get it unless your HA’s have a really good cancellation ability.
Do you have some kind of learning disability?
In the 6 years I have had HA - never paid attention to relationship of various eyeglass frames to HA equipment. Sitting here at computer, it appears frames are against head with HA on top and outside of glass frames. Never had feedback.
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Wearing resound Quatro’s and glasses in a metal frame causes lots of noise when the frame is moving or touched. Thought about insulation, some little pouch around the HA’s.