Do you use LiveListen on the iPhone to help you hear?
Iâve had that; visited my audiologist and he adjusted volume up . Itâs helped.
(Phonak Audeo Paradise p90Râs)
Nope but I use Oticon connect clip microphone
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Love this ⌠âknackeringâ. A good description of a negative result!
I definitely struggle with hearing fatigue too, yep, and it absolutely sucks and in addition to the other facets of the actual loss, itself, it really affects your quality of life.
Although my latest audiogram isnât updated on here my hearing loss is now in the severe to profound range, and Iâve just been told Iâm now a candidate for a CI to my right ear. So hereâs hoping that once thatâs done and down the track a bit that will improve my hearing overall and in time reduce the hearing fatigue.
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After many years of struggling to hear I got bilateral CI. It took me about a year and then noticed the fatigue and being so tired feeling had almost gone away. Sometimes I wonder if I hear too much now!
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It is a medical term, and it literally means your severely dehydrated⌠not fatiguedâŚ
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@Deaf_piper: Thank you for the clarification. I had no idea.
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I have not read all of the comments, so at risk of being redundant, you might find it helps to take short, frequent, breaks in a quiet place. Maybe once an hour or whatever time frame works for you. Even a trip to the restroom can be enough to help (if you pick a quiet time). If you are sometimes in situations where you donât have to listen, e.g. during a test, perhaps have some noise cancelling headsets such as BOSE to wear. I can wear the BOSE headsets over my hearing aids, but that may not work for you.
Itâs possible itâs a budget + need decision. Iâm not familiar with how the NHS makes recommendations for what make/model or form of aid is optimal.
So mainly, focus on the fatigue-fighting!
I wonder, have you tried turning the HA volume down 1 notch for a day and see if you feel any less (or more) fatigued? It might be an interesting experiment.
I donât think my previous HIS ever had my HAs up to 100% correction, because he knew I preferred them a bit lower. The other day my new audi turned up my new HAs to 100% of recommended correction but didnât say what she was doing; she simply did another something on her computer and once again asked, âHowâs that?â I told her I felt like someone was pushing on my head right in front of each ear. I felt physical pressure. She was totally surprised and said sheâd never had that response from anyone before. She left it at 100% and said I could turn it down whenever I needed to, which I sometimes do. But I have already learned to pretty much ignore the sensation of pressure, unless I think about it like right now (similar to how I ignore the tinnitus but itâs always there).
If all else fails, you might have to change careers and get a job in a public library! Shhhh! 
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Same here - and yes, I get progressively cranky over meetings, conversations, video lectures or any other scenarios where I struggle - or just have to make an effort to understand or comprehend speech.
What I did (or am doing) to manage it:
- Carefully curate and control communication and information consumption. Attempt to communicate or consume information in ways that work better for me. E.g.:
- choose written learning courses over video ones
- no youtube videos if the same information is available in writing
- Slack, texts, emails over video meetings or phone calls (thatâs a hard one - try that at work, and things can quickly go south unless youâre indispensable)
- Remove visual or auditory distractions in general especially anything to do with sound (not just voice). This focuses my brain cycles better on what I want to do vs. reacting to whatâs around me. Such as:
- Phone nearly always on DND. I check it when I want, it doesnât check me when it wants.
- Laptop on mute by default.
- Avoid feeds of any kind - visual or auditory (YouTube, FB, any background radios or TVs). As in, I am choosing the content I consume, not the other way around.
- Watch birds a lot. Hug loved ones a lot. Hang out with the cats. Go on hikes away from human-generated noise (traffic, construction, etc.) Breathe - as in, nothing but breathe, fully focusing on it.
- If things become overwhelming and I get cranky - communicate it if I am in a conversation with someone: âmy apologies, I am not feeling great, would it be OK if we come back to it later? Iâll text / call / email / Slack / DM you.â
- No music, radio, or anything else while driving. (Granted, I have a single track mind so even listening to music while driving is potentially dangerous. Having a conversation while driving when my brain freezes trying to comprehend something? That got me into hairy situations a couple of times - so I am a super boring driver - to my passengers. âSorry, love, let me focus on turning the blinker on, on this empty road, and then pull over, and then you can ask me what I want for dinner.â)
This helps - a lot. I can go a full day without losing energy while working hard and dealing with emergencies at work.
Anyone else doing something similar?
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I turn em down when Iâm fatigued and sensitive to noise but I mostly have them on the default setting. If I turn them down all the time I then have to spend more energy understanding speech, I canât win 
Different brands of ha are available at different hospitals so my mum and sister have phonak and danalogic and they go to the same hospital, I go to a different hospital and have Oticon. Itâs different everywhere
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My hospital now hand out Phonak and Oticon.
My friends hospital hand out Resound and Oticon.
Another friend goes to another and they only hand out Oticon.
Sounds like they would be great places to hit for Halloween. Instead of handing out candy, they hand out hearing aids! If I show up with a bag, will they drop some Oticons in there for me? I wishâŚ
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Thatâs the best advice anyone can give. Well done!
For me, the biggest enemy of my hearing is the cold or the flu, but also flying. When Iâm very cold or after flying, I donât hear so well.
When Iâm tired, the best medicine is silence and nature. After an exhausting work, in the evening I take off my devices and enjoy the peace.
In contact with nature, you become a different person, a happy person, you have a much clearer mind, you hear better, you breathe easily and much more. If someone is religious, prayer helps a lot.
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Nobody has mentioned hyperacusis: sensitivity to noise. Different hearing aids process noise differently, and it makes a difference, both in sound and fatigue.
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Hi Phoebe,
First off, hearing fatigue is as real as it gets. I describe it to people like working out. At a certain point, it doesnât matter how much you want to lift that weight, you just canât curl another repâ the muscle is fatigued. Similarly, there is a point where you just canât comprehend more speech. You are fatigued. Remember, for hearing impaired, listening is something you actively DO, not something that happens because sound hits your eardrum.
Unfortunately, it doesnât go away, no matter what brand of hearing aids you wear or what setting theyâre on. (That said, of course a proper fit makes a world of difference and is 100% keyâ thatâs the audiologists job!) I commiserateâ Iâve worn bilateral aids since I was 5 and am 41 nowâ so Iâve been through school and corporate life with these. While my hearing has worsened over that time, I have had a âcomparableâ moderately severe to severe loss to yoursâ overall worse in more frequencies but comparable.
For me, the low frequencies were long the bigger issueâ so am a little surprised to see you in an unvented moldâ even mine are ventedâ so that might be worth asking about. That said, molds are more comfy (imo) and provide a much better seal (and more accurate settings) than domes. They bother people who get upset from occlusion effect, but once youâre used to it, honestly itâs fine. A small vent may add some comfort and reduce it and let those high frequencies you need ring more clearly. Modern aids are less sensitive to feedback so theyâre not a big deal to add, generally.
That said, this forum is a bit too focused on aids and settings, IMO so Iâm going to take a different approach here. You canât make fatigue go away, but you can make it better!
Make it Easier!
Hearing is work. Make it less work.
⢠Are you sitting in the front row of class? (You didnât mention if youâre in college or grade school, but either way.) You should. Laws in UK are different from US, but am sure they will/are required to accommodate disability. Also people are generally nice if you just ask.
⢠Always look directly at the person talking. You need to read lips. Do you wear glasses? Wear them all the time! Hear as much as you can with your eyes, and youâll take some strain off.
⢠Use an FM system (or equivalent). Have the teacher wear a microphone and get the audio right in your ears.
⢠Closed captions on TVs? Of course. And always ask others to put it on during co-viewing. If itâs your tv, donât even ask.
Play to your strengths
Opt for environments and people that make it easier.
⢠when possible, opt for professors that are easier to hear. Are male voices or womenâs voices easier to understand? Are certain accents troubling? Do some professors have thick beards? Do some have awesome, clear voices that sound like youâre listening to a BBC broadcast?? It doesnât always work, but if you have a choice, choose easier!
⢠Socially, try to push for settings and activities that are just a little easierâ quieter restaurants/bars, smaller hang sessions, whatever. Doesnât mean you canât hit the scene, just always going to be more exhausting.
⢠Book the smaller conference room. Hold the big meeting on zoom. Take the middle seat at the conference or lunch table. (this might not be relevant yet and when youâre junior you have limited controlâ but choose the environment thatâs best for you!
⢠Sit with your back to a wall at a restaurant. Then you donât have to worry as much about confusing sound behind you. If itâs a corner, even better! Sure hearing aids are better at this than they used to be, but not as good as wall!
Get help!
Reduce the workload where you can so you can focus on hearing!
⢠Got a note taker? Request one from the university. In the US (at least) theyâre legally obligated to provide one (and pay them!) Take whatever notes help you actively listen, but focus on watching the professor and understand the material, not trying to get it all down on paper. If nothing else, find a friend who will pass some good notes.
⢠Get your friends to do some listening for you! I used to ask my best friends to repeat things for me ALL the time. At a certain point, I wouldnât even have to ask. Theyâd just know I didnât hear and repeat it for me in a way I could understand. My coworkers know theyâre going to get Slacks from me asking whatever was just said.
Give yourself a break.
⢠literally. Just take some listening breaks. Go read something. Just let yourself have a 30m or whatever to not have to comprehend.
⢠also, be upfront. Itâs OK! And tell people about it. People might not realize, but if you tell them, theyâll help! (Or be sympathetic.)
Thatâs all thatâs top of mind right now, but the key thing about listening fatigue is to make sure youâre changing your behavior! It wonât make it go away, but it will help!
Best,
Brian
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This is all great advice!
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