Help with my Audiogram results

I have had issues with my hearing for about 10 years now I had hearing aids through the NHS but decided to give them back months later as I struggled to get used to them, I had managed to get by with lip reading in the majority of social events up until covid started and masks knocked me of quite a bit .

I am now at a stage where my hearing is failing me more and more so I recently went for another Audiogram these are my results .

Will hearing aids make a massive difference for me ?

Any help or advice would be great

You’ve been… Completely unaided prior to this? You say just ten years–that’s a very rapid drop. Did you have a normal test ten years ago or did you just have decent function back then?

1 Like

Yeah……sorta what I was thinking too.

It’s going to be a straight ‘occlusion vs. Usable gain’ trade off; isn’t it.

I’ve got a wild idea that might be worth a punt: ‘Really’ deep fit IIC tuned with negligible gain above 1KHz. Circumvent the occlusion issue at source, provide perhaps half of the speech spectrum and bin the top end.

What do you think as to the source of the dead-spot, ossified basilar membrane at the front end?

Has your hearing loss been the same for 10 years or has it got worse? What was it like when you got tested 10 years ago? My audiogram is a bit similar to yours. I also went unaided for 20 years and have started wearing my hearing aids permanantely. It has been about a month and a half now and they are making a big difference. Speech clarity is still not 100% clear and I still have to lipread, but they are enhancing many other sounds that I would not be able to hear if I was not wearing hearing aids. They are helping, though. My voice has lowered to a normal volume (previously spoke very loud), can hear microwave pinging, machine beeping, birds singing… sooo many things and many more to come. I have NHS ones as well.

I will admit that I have had problems along the way with my hearing aids and getting them fine tuned all the time but I am perservering and not giving up. Technology etc., has come a very long way in 10 years so I would highly encourage that you start wearing hearing aids. It will take a long time to get used to them again, and getting used to sounds/voices will probably sound distorted because our brain has not had access to those sounds for so many years. I am training my brain with different sounds just by playing a YouTube video, especially sounds where clarity is required (for us who has high frequency hearing loss). This forum has been a huge, huge support for me as well. You will be fine :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

You have good low frequencies still, high frequencies virtually non existent. My hearing loss is very similar to yours. Hearing aids didn’t help me at all in the end. It was a waste of $7500 AU buying them. In the end I got a Cochlear implant, N7 it was the best thing I ever did. I can now hear speech clearly, even with masks on I don’t have any trouble at all communicating with people. Good luck to you with your hearing journey.

2 Likes

I’ve been completely unaided more or less since my first test,this was done through the nhs so I would need to get in contact with them to get the results and compare .

I only really noticed I was struggling when I turned 18 as it started to require a lot more loud and busy settings with friends ,it was about 2 years after when I finally got checked and was advised hearing aids.

I tried for a few months but was so overwhelmed with some of the things I could hear so I just kind of accepted what I had and tried to get by.

I’ve recently just got a new job which is the main reason I’ve been re-tested as it requires more face to face with people more than likely with masks on as it’s NHS based.

I am in the process of being fitted with new aids in hope it can help me a bit .

1 Like

Go for a cochlear implant candidacy assessment. You may not be a candidate at this point, but it’s worth knowing. It’s also the only way you would ever have access to sound above 1kHz.

Not sure. They’re young. Connexin 26? Non syndromic genetic loss, anyway.

I think IIC would be fine. RIC and custom tip if Bluetooth is useful. I suspect pushing much higher than 750 would just run into cochlear distortion issues, but who knows. Try-and-see loss.

3 Likes

We users really appreciate you experts helping and discussing issues here.

3 Likes