I am in my fourth week wearing a Resound BTE aid. It is helping with my hearing loss but I am having a major problem with discomfort. I would like some advice on whether this is something I am going to get used to or is something I can do something about.
The problem is twofold.
First I find that the pressure that the aid itself is causing behind the ear over the course of the day becomes quite irritating and by about 3 in the afternoon I have to take the aid out to give my earlobes a rest. When I first got the aids the tubes were digging into my earlobes leaving quite a dent, but after I got longer tubes that bit of the rubbing went away. Now it is just behind the ear.
The second part of the problem is that I wear eyeglasses and if I wiggle the aid around to reduce pressure on the earlobe the glasses tend to get in the way and I get really annoying clacking noises when I move my head as the frames rub up against the aid.
Any thoughts from those who have been here before?
Are you sure the tubes still aren’t a bit to short? To me it sounds as if the tubes need to be a little longer because they might still be pulling the aid to tight into your earlobes.
As for your glasses, you are placing the temples of the glasses next to your head with the hearing aids on the outside I hope, I’ve known a couple of people who had the HA’s next to their head with the temples on the outside and it caused a lot of sores and sore spots on their ears. I also wear glasses with my BTE’s and have never had the problems you describe. I get crackling noises but only for a few days after getting my hair cut, but never from my glasses.
I’m new to wearing hearing aids but I will say that the only time they have bothered my on the outside is when the receiver tubes/wires were too short and it put pressure on the HA.
As soon as a Got longer wires the problem was gone.
I’ve been lucky with the glasses thing. Seems like mine work out without worring about what is where. I couldn’t tell you where my glasses are in relation to my HSs without sticking a hand up there and feeling.
Eye glass temples are available in different sizes and styles. A thinner one might be helpful. Also your optician/optometrist might be able to adjust the temple to alleviate the problem. When I purchased glasses just before getting my hearing aids my optometrist said to come back if I needed an adjustment to the temple. However my thin temple caused no issues with the BTE.
I know how you feel. I’m having the same types of problems. My reading glasses make the same noises.
They come on and off so often during the day it gets bad. I’ve found that if I take them off and put them on slower, it helps with some of the noise.
I totally get a headache though when I try to read while I eat. The noise is bad. I’m actually going in to see if I can get some bi-focal contacts. (Yes, they do exist…) I’m hoping they work well so I don’t have to hear that scraping any more…
Scott
Scott,
I’ve known a couple people who tried the bi-focal contacts and ended up going back to glasses with progressive lenses, however, they didn’t wear hearing aids, so their ears weren’t competing for space with hearing aids.
I wear multifocal contacts and I like them. They are pretty amazing. There is an adjustment phase, similar to first time HA wearing but it is pretty cool to be able to see in the distance and up close.
My impression is that the longer you look at something up close, like reading, the better you can see up close, during that reading session. If you are changing distances frequently the sharpness up close is not quite as good. If something is really too small to read I will just focus on it for a minute and usually it will clear up enough to read.
Now, here is the big thing about multifocals, and why many people do not like them. There is a tradeoff between distance and up close. Depending on your distance vision needs (how much help you need for distance) and your up close needs, you may need to split the difference or make a decision on which one you want sharper.
I have chosen to make the distance vision sharper and up close is just adequate to read normal size type, or newspaper. If I need to see something smaller or work on something very detailed, I will put on readers over the contacts. So multifocal contacts do not completely give you the same performance as bifocal glasses but it does give you multifocal vision without having to tilt your head, so 90% of the time, everything is in focus at every length (great for computer work).
I also wear progressive (no-line) glasses and I like those too. I would never go back to bifocal glasses.
Even before hearing aids, reading glasses that I had to put on/take off a million times a day got to be too much of a pain. The cord around the neck thing was ugly and without it I spent too much time trying to find the glasses. Progressive readers which I wear over contacts for distance are wonderful. Not only can I read and see distance, they improve how well I see the computer or the person across the table as well. Definitely recommended.
Thanks Don,
I go in on Monday to talk to the “eye guy” about making the switch from progressive reading/computer glasses, and a type of contact.
I really hope they work. I want to eliminate the on/off glasses noise and the sore ears from having both.
Great insight on how you use them.
Scott
I have been back to see the specialist. The tubes were the right length but the end of my glasses were too thick. We tried a few things but I’m not having much luck. Looks like I am going to be stumping up more $$ for new glasses. I just can’t cope with the pain.
I envy those who can wear contacts. They don’t work that well with my eyes.
So, I’m one week into trying my new “no reading classes needed” phase. I went to a new eye Dr. and was looking at the multi focal, but he talked about using a “mono vision” system. He uses it. My dominant eye is my left, and so I have been wearing a contact in my right eye for reading and close up. I am really liking it!! I am still adjusting to it and have an appointment next week but so far so good.
My eyes seem to be adjusting pretty good. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got an eyelash or something in my eye with the contact, but most of the time I don’t notice it at all.
Best of all, I haven’t had to have the scratching sound coming from my aids rubbing glasses.
Anyway, thought I’d let you know what happened. I would encourage anyone who wanted to, to try them. If your Rx and eyes will handle it, you may have good success too.
Scott