Hearing aids and glasses

Hearing Loss
#1

I have what might be a really stupid question or maybe a couple stupid questions but here goes. Right now I wear CIC HAs and also work in an environment where I have to wear safety glasses all the time and also have just found out I need to wear glasses for distance. I am in need of new HAs badly and have considered BTE siemens mainly Siemens because I don’t have many brand options where I am and BTE because I have a lot of occlusion especially in my right ear which is also the worst.
Anyway my first question is how can I wear the BTE aids while wearing glasses and if I decide to get CICs again is there advise anyone would give me to make the feeling of my ear being stopped up better. I have very little trouble with the left one except that they are old and I know my hearing has gotten worse so got to get new ones anyway. I don’t hear so well out of these anymore and have always had trouble with the right one.

I know this may sound vain or even stupid but it is how I feel and I just want to know if there are any others who feel like this. I am a woman and hate the fact that I need the aids to begin with but I really don’t want them to show and that was one of the reasons I got the ones I did to begin with. Also the place I bought them at said they were the best for my hearing loss. Not so sure about that. I think they really just wanted my $6000. I would like to keep the CICs or maybe go with one I read about called Lyric I think but I know absolutely nothing about that one and would love some advice about that too.

I know the most important thing is for me to hear and I have a loving husband and children but I can’t help how I feel and I truly believe that if people knew I wore them they would treat me different. I know people can be cruel and don’t really mean to be but I don’t want to be treated like I am disabled and 90 years old when I am only 48.

Sorry so long but would love some feedback. Thanks

#2

Hi.I’m new to using hearing aids & I’m 51. How old are your hearing aids? I wear BTE hearing aids with glasses & have had not trouble I, do how ever have trouble when I take off a surgical mask. My hearing aids get caught in the straps so I have to be careful. Sorry more info. then you asked for.
Miki

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Hi.I’m new to using hearing aids & I’m 51. How old are your hearing aids? I wear BTE hearing aids with glasses & have had not trouble I, do how ever have trouble when I take off a surgical mask. My hearing aids get caught in the straps so I have to be careful. Sorry more info. then you asked for.
Miki

#3

I wear both glasses and BTE’s and have never had a problem. As for visibility very few people will notice your HA’s if they are BTE’s. HA’s are like glasses, basically nobody cares that you are wearing them, other than you.

#4

Miki,
my HAs are 6 years old. They are Starkey Destiny 1600s. I just wandered if putting on and taking off glasses all the time dislodged them somehow. I have never worn BTEs but it just seems like that would be a problem. If you don’t mind my asking what brand of aids do you wear?

#5

Seb,

You never have a problem with them moving when you take your glasses on and off? Also, I know you are probably right about no one caring. That’ what my husband and kids say and that I shouldn’t care what people think but I can’t help it. I don’t think anything of it when I see someone with HAs but that might be because I wear them. I just don’t want people to treat me any different. Thanks for answering my question so quickly. I have an appt. tomorrow to have another hearing test done since I haven’t had one in about two years and I am going someplace new and the only aids they have are Siemens. I am really worried about my hearing test. I am so afraid my hearing has gotten worse and that scares me because I am only 48 and hope to live to be 100 or so and I really want to be able to hear my grand kids talk when I eventually have them

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Seb,

You never have a problem with them moving when you take your glasses on and off? Also, I know you are probably right about no one caring. That’ what my husband and kids say and that I shouldn’t care what people think but I can’t help it. I don’t think anything of it when I see someone with HAs but that might be because I wear them. I just don’t want people to treat me any different. Thanks for answering my question so quickly. I have an appt. tomorrow to have another hearing test done since I haven’t had one in about two years and I am going someplace new and the only aids they have are Siemens. I am really worried about my hearing test. I am so afraid my hearing has gotten worse and that scares me because I am only 48 and hope to live to be 100 or so and I really want to be able to hear my grand kids talk when I eventually have them

#6

I wear Oticon Nera. I was asking how old your HA were hoping maybe you could just get them tweaked I know they don’t last forever but they’re so $$. I put my HA in first then my glasses . Anyway I understand what you mean when you say you worry about treating you differently . A Famous radio talk show host talks about that a lot . Hang in there & let us know how things go. :).

— Updated —

I wear Oticon Nera. I was asking how old your HA were hoping maybe you could just get them tweaked I know they don’t last forever but they’re so $$. I put my HA in first then my glasses . Anyway I understand what you mean when you say you worry about treating you differently . A Famous radio talk show host talks about that a lot . Hang in there & let us know how things go. :).

#7

The new BTE RIC hearing aids are nearly invisible and are quite powerful. The thin tube can be cosmetically altered to match your skin tone and hair color. Being very small now, new aids shouldn’t be much of a problem with glasses. Your Audi should have dummy models for you to try out before you make up your mind.

#8

Thanks everyone for the replies and knowing that the BTE RICs are nearly invisible does make me feel better. Well, for better or worse I will be getting another hearing test tomorrow and go from there I guess

#9

I’m 52 and feel as you do. 1st HAs and worried about everything. I put my glasses on 1st as the color mark for side is very small and only on one side of the receiver. When changing glasses I press the temples to my head so they end up inside relative to the HAs. They sometimes rub against each other when I’m chewing but I may be sensitive being new to this. As said before the RIC type are small and with most hairstyles may be even more hidden than CIC. Best of luck,

#10

I have never have a problem with either one of them moving. However, I do have earmolds with both pair of HA’s I own and they make the HA’s very secure. The only people that seem to notice HA’s are: children, other HA wearers and those looking to buy HA’s and that is about it. One pair of my HA’s are BTE’s with standard tubes and full earmolds and nobody notices them, I have even had to remove them and show people that I do in fact have HA’s, my other HA’s are BTE’s with RIC with micro molds and they are much less visible. I also wear a Bluetooth Streamer around my neck and hardly anyone notices that, when they do, they ask what it is for and when I tell them what it is and what it does, they want to get HA’s so they can have one too! I have never been treated any differently because I wear HA’s, it just like wearing glasses, it just isn’t a big deal to anyone.

#11

I’m 46 and wear RIC (Rexton Charismo), and wear glasses with progressive lenses (for reading, distance, and everything in between). I never had any problem putting on and taking off my glasses with my aids, which I do quite often. Also no one notices that I wear hearing aids unless I point out. You are lucky that you need glasses just for distance :slight_smile:

#12

One thing I never liked is the noise created when the glasses knock against the hearing aid, or vice versa. I’ve never had occlusion issues, but if you can at all resolve that, my opinion is CIC can’t be beat.

#13

Huh? evidently one Huh? isn’t long enought… Huh?

#14

I’m sorry, I don’t quite get your incoherent reply. Can you expound?

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I’m sorry, I don’t quite get your incoherent reply. Can you expound?

#15

I have the same problem with my BTE hearing aids. I wear reading glasses, and each time I take them off there is a “scratching” sound as my glasses rub my hearing aids. Do that 10 or so times during a meeting where you are looking at things in front of you and then taking off your glasses to see the board or screen and it gets annoying. That scratchy sound all day long.
I’m now looking at finding out if I can use a mono vision contact so I don’t need my reading glasses. I hope they work.

— Updated —

I have the same problem with my BTE hearing aids. I wear reading glasses, and each time I take them off there is a “scratching” sound as my glasses rub my hearing aids. Do that 10 or so times during a meeting where you are looking at things in front of you and then taking off your glasses to see the board or screen and it gets annoying. That scratchy sound all day long.
I’m now looking at finding out if I can use a mono vision contact so I don’t need my reading glasses. I hope they work.

#16

gee, every time you rub your glasses against your hearing aids you can hear it. who would have thought? what a problem to have.

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gee, every time you rub your glasses against your hearing aids you can hear it. who would have thought? what a problem to have.

#17

Always a pleasure reading your kind, thoughtful, and considered replies.

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Always a pleasure reading your kind, thoughtful, and considered replies.

#18

I would love to keep CICs if I could get them where I don’t have all kinds of issues with them. I don’t know why I have so many problems with them unless it is because I have really small ears on the inside and the Starkey destiny CICs that I had had to be remade twice because they had problems getting them small enough to fit inside my ear and even then the right one never fit right.
I had a lot of occlusion with the right one and kind of thought maybe it was because the vent was so small or something. I felt like I always had to keep reinserting the right one because it never felt like it was seated in my ear like it should be. Always felt like my right ear was stopped up and like I was talking with a mouth full of cotton if that makes any sense. I don’t know. I have a hard time understanding everything I should and need to know about aids in general.
Another problem I had is my ears itched all the time and badly.
I had to go back to have them adjusted dozens of times and was told that I just have allergies and that I need to make my ears pop like they do when you are on a plane to clear the Eustachian tube. I don’t have allergies and my ears are clear on the inside and I can’t even remember the last time I had an ear infection and have very little wax.
Any advice you could give me to make CICs a possibility where I can actually hear out of them would be greatly appreciated.
I only have 30 days to decide what I want to do and don’t want to be as unhappy with this $5000 purchase as I was with the $6200 I spent on my last ones.
Thank you

#19

If you have really small ear canals a CIC is not the way to go because you have to have enough room in the HA to fit everything in and then give you a large enough vent to keep occlusion at a minimum. Your probably better off with a BTE or a mini BTE.

#20

Thank you for the reply and yes I do have very small ear canals and I do have a lot of occlusion with the right aid. I am trialing a pair of Siemens pure 5mi BTE RICs. Don’t know much about them but where I live I don’t have a lot of options. Its either Siemens, Audibel or Starkey. I want the best I can get for my money and for my hearing loss. I just want to be able to hear and understand what people are saying and be able to watch tv or eat in a restaurant without it being so awful and depressing. I just want to hear.
Also, what is the best type of hearing test to get done for the most accurate hearing loss
My latest audiogram as best I understand it:
250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000
L 60 60 50 60 55 55 45
R 60 60 65 75 75 65 65