Hearing aid advice for a newbie

Hearing Aids
#1

Hi,

Just over 5 weeks ago I suffered a Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss in my left ear. Had steroids within 6 days. Injections also, and now moving onto HBOT.

My hearing loss appears to be consistent and has settled at 25db for low, 65db for mid and 20 for high. I am 31 years old, male with 4 month old twin girls.

I have got over the initial shock and am trying to move on with my life. As such I am now exploring options for hearing aids. So far I have done a good amount of internet research but am feeling overwhelmed by the choices on offer. From what I have read I like the look of Oticon, either the S or ITC. I have also read good things about Phonak.

My main aims for my hearing aid are as follows;

  • allow me to go back to the gym and to go running again.
  • allow me to use headphones. I commute 2 hours per day and watching tv etc on the go is really important to me.
  • have as close to my original hearing as possible. I appreciate this is will never be exactly as it was before.
  • infringe on my life as little as possible

My main dilemma with choosing a hearing aid is RIC vs IIC/CIC, as I have pros and cons for each.

RIC;

Pros:

  • Potentially better overall for sound?
  • Better technology - bluetooth etc
  • Battery life

Cons:

  • It is quite visible. I am not sure I am ready for this.
  • More exposure to elements, e.g. rain?

IIC/CIC

Pros

  • Very discreet
  • Protected from elements, e.g. rain?

Cons

  • Potentially worse performance
  • No wireless technology
  • Am I just looking at this to avoid the stigma of a hearing aid? Am I being overly vain?

Would anyone be able to give me any advice on which hearing to choose, especially in the context of my requirements for my hearing aid?

Thanks,
Billy

#2

I don’t see why hearing aids (HA’s) would interfere with the gym. Most are waterproof, nowadays, so sweating isn’t an issue. Don’t shower with them, though.
You can loose the headphones. The HA’s connect directly to your mobile. You have a special streaming program that can be tuned to your sound preferences.
The other two points are what everyone aims for. I hope you achieve them to satisfaction, but that will probably mean that you tune your aims closer to reality.

RIC vs CIC.

  • As your mid’s are the worst, you have a cookie-bite hearling loss. Just like me. :slight_smile:
    That means that you hear the worst at the frequencies at which people speak. Now I am all for vanity, but I am also for clarity. It’s better for people to know that the communication is odd, because you have trouble hearing them. If they think you have trouble understanding them, it is surprising how few people think of hearing loss. They do think that you’re impaired, but usually assume that you’re rather dim.)
    Unfortunately, the hearing aids are rather small and most people don’t see them. (I’ve got long hair and nobody sees them, so I’ve gotten used to wearing a device around the neck (a streaming device and remote control), so people notice and register it. Especially, at chance meetings I’ve had less trouble communicating.)
  • As said above: Rain isn’t an issue.
  • If you’re vain, just let your hair hang loose. Doesn’t have to be long, just over the ears.
    So I would choose RIC over CIC any day!

Both Phonak and Oticon are nice. ReSound and Widex are also nice. All are expensive. All hearing aids have close to identical hardware. The difference is in the way it is used. To get the most out of it, you might consider programming them yourself. That will have a huge impact.

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#3

Wow…

sorry to hear you dealing with that type of loss at such an early age.

You stated most of the pros and cons of both accurately, so I won’t re-hash those. But everyone I counsel who is younger and needs hearing aids is this: Do your best to get past the stigma, and try to put your vanity in a drawer somewhere and leave it.

I have watched so many people over the years allow themselves to struggle because they didn’t want anyone to see that they had a hearing aid. The truth of it is that your hearing loss will show much more than any hearing aid ever will. It shows when you have to have someone repeat what the speaker said after the conversation is over. It shows when you answer a question with an answer that had nothing to do with the question because you mis-heard what was said. It shows when you try to act like you heard what was said but you didn’t.

As to the comfort and performance, hands down a RIC is superior. You do have to be cautious if you are outdoors sweating a lot, but otherwise RIC aids are typically much more dependable than IIC, or CIC type aids.

Whatever you decide, do it quick, get your hearing aid, and wear it all day every day. If you do, within a month you won’t even realize it’s there besides the fact that you hear better with it on than off.

Good luck!

3 Likes
#4

Billy,
Sorry you are joining us at such an early age. I can only offer comments related to visibility. I am a short haired girl with no hair hiding my ears. For three years I wore RIC aids that were fire engine red with Chinese Dragons on them. There Is a thread here with various pictures of people’s aids and you can see them there. No one noticed. I would point them out because I thought the were so cool and was met with “duh, you wear hearing aids”. So go with what helps your hearing the most. Most of the folks that notice your aids are wearing them as wall.

And go for some that stream as well. I listen to audio books when I’m at the gym and having the dialogue right in my ear is great.

Good Luck in your search and with the twins.

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#5

Yes. It’s not a hearing aid. It is a wireless ear-bud because “watching tv etc on the go is really important”. All the hep kids your age wear earbuds all the time.

I’d lean toward over-ear style because there is more space for BlueTooth and battery. BT seems to eat battery as much as basic aid functionality. Get a stylish color and you’re in with the in crowd.

Nobody will laugh. And if they do, fie on them. But most folks don’t notice. Except that, un-aided, your “what?” calls attention to your notched hearing.

Those girls are going to be talking to you for 17 of the next 18 years. You want to be there for them.

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#6

I’ll try to share some of my experience and hopefully you’ll find that helpful. I think I’m in a good place to provide a full, but subjective picture, because I have two pairs of HAs, Oticon Opn1 IIC and Oticon Opn S1 RIC (312 battery).

IICs:
I started out with the IICs a year ago and they are amazing, mostly. I got them because it was difficult to understand my youngest daughter and soft spoken colleagues in the office. I no longer have any issues with soft spoken people, meetings or conference calls. The number of participants does not affect my ability to understand people. With the IICs, I hear great in relatively silent surroundings. After many visits to my audi and several months, they now feel like part of my ears. For quiet surroundings, my IICs are the go-to HA. I don’t care for streaming because I put my Bose qc35 earphones over the hearing aids. I can take phone calls and listen to audio through them.
My biggest difficulty with the IICs, was that you can’t have more than a single program on them. In other words, you can’t get a few programs in the HA, go home and compare them in different situations and then report your findings to your audi.

RIC: (I’m only on my second week with the S1)
Noisy situations - my typical noisy situation is a restaurant with background music and people and tables on all sides. I would take out my IICs and hear better without them (that doesn’t mean I could understand everything people said).
After reading an oticon research paper on the difference between IIC and RIC and the open paradigm (single mic vs multi-mic and binaural communication between the aids) that concluded that RIC would perform better in noise, I got the RICs in an attempt to improve speech understanding in noisy situations.
The RICs also perform great in quiet situations, but the sound (from external mics ??) is just a little different and I prefer the sound of the IIC (possibly because I’ve had them longer). For understanding speech in relative silence, they are both great. In noisy situations the RICs are superior to the IICs. With the “speech in noise” program it’s really good although I feel that the directionality is very artificial. I don’t care though, because I can understand what people say, but it’s not natural speech.

As a side note, here are my latest notes on my best settings for speech clarity:
IIC: NAL/NL1 (To me, NL1 in the IICs sounds much better than NL1 in the RICs)
RIC: VAC+ (with REM). VAC+ was significantly under amplified in the highs and although I lost some comfort (hopefully short term) after the REM adjustments, the speech clarity is definitely better.

#7

That sounds like a tough loss. What’s your clarity like on that side?

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#8

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far, I really appreciate it.

#9

This has resonated really heavily, thank you :slight_smile:

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#10

Thank you so much for this response. This is super helpful.

It’s made me think that maybe an IIC could be an option for me. I am so thinking i would prefer using NC headphones rather than using my HA for streaming.

I’ve been told to wait until 3 months after the hearing loss so mid/end of April before approaching hearing aids so that my hearing has fully settled. I’m just quite impatient and like to have things in my control/ feel like i am doing something towards the situation.

I’ll definitely discuss both possibilities with my audi but this has given me some great insight, as I think work is the main place I am slightly struggling. At home is generally not a problem at all. Not really going to busy bars and restaurants due to the little ones having just arrived!

#11

Did you ever look at Signia IICs? Signia Insio Nx custom hearing aids - Signia Hearing Aids

They seem to offer an app to change the program.

#12

I am approaching middle age with 2 almost grown up children one of whom has the same loss as me. I wear Widex as they sound so natural, I hear so well and music streaming is awesome for me. I am a lifelong hearing aid user and have worn Widex for over 20 years now. My son has F2 ric with custom tip, aids in black but barely ever noticed. He can stream direct. I wear Evoke 440 IP ITE which streams using com-dex so you could still wear headphones over the top. With Widex I found I get an incredibly natural sound and I heard my children no problem as they grew up. Children’s parties, cinemas, parents evenings, running etc are all great so from personal experience I highly recommend them.

2 Likes
#14

Thanks for this v useful.

Are you UK based? How did you go about getting your HAs? Independent audi or high street shop?

Are HAs ever discounted if going private? Is it worth shopping around?

#15

Hi, yes I am in the UK. I buy my hearing aids privately and when looking at a specific brand ie Widex look for an independent ie Bloom Hearing who will have lots of experience in getting them set up best for you. You may be able to negotiate on price. Usually the newest release will command the top price. After a year or two prices can then reduce accordingly. Some private dispensers offer interest free monthly payments. Being young(ish!) and wanting lots from my hearing it’s all about finding a great and experienced fitter and if they only fit that brand or a couple, the expertise is greater. I’ve also never found another brand that sounds as natural with such great hearing (for me) as Widex.

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#16

Is there a reason for this? I would say don’t knock it until you try it. I don’t really like wearing hearing aids, but having always-on built-in headphones is a cool feature to have.

#17

Mainly because i only need to wear one HA. Right ear is good, at the moment at least!

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#18

If you have some what normal hearing in your other ear, I’d just leave HA out when you run and workout in gym. There is always the risk of a HA falling out when you’re running. Also the constant pounding on pavement might (might) over a long term have some effect on the HA circuitry. Furthermore and more importantly HA do not do well with sweat and humidity. If you live in a humid area in the summer, you definitely don’t want to a wear HA while running outside. Even if you dry HA’s at night.

#19

Seriously? There might always be a risk, but when running? When excessively shaking your head because you are a lion and are playing with your daughters, maybe, but running? How is your condition, by the way?

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#20

Usually the advise is to wear two HA even when only one side is bad at hearing.

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#21

Why? My right side is perfect. What would it do?