Hi I’m a new user, this is my story please advise me

Hearing Loss
#1

Hello everyone,
im a new member here. I’ve just found out I have hearing loss on both ears and I’m so lost, confused and have so many questions at the same time. I’m so grateful to be able to run into this forum and understand more about hearing loss from all of you. I would like to share my story with everyone and if possible please educate me more on this. I’m a 28 years old woman. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been having trouble understand television, movies, song lyrics, radio. I can hear the sound coming out but for some reasons I can’t understand them even though I know 90% of the words they’re saying when I look at the subtitles. I didn’t pay much attention at the time because English is my second language and I thought to myself that hmm maybe my listening skill is not good that’s why I can’t understand what the natives are saying. I also experienced difficulties understanding professors as well as group discussions in classroom setting when I was in college. I couldn’t understand up to 90%. Again, I thought to myself my English sucks that’s why, I also thought that voices are harder and more echo to listen to when they’re spoken in a big rooms anyway so I didn’t care much. Now that I think of it, I do have trouble understanding conversations in noisy places, and sometimes i don’t understand certain things when talking to people. for example, we can be talking normally but all of a sudden i cant understand what youre saying and i will have to ask you to repeat. it would sound like you were mumbling. There are also time I cant hear the rain drop outside, running water, doorbell, phone ringing. Life kept on going for me and I really never thought about it. It was til end of December 2022 that I decided to see a doctor for my hearing when I was on vacation out of the country. I don’t really recall why I decided to have it checked but anyway doctor ordered a hearing test ( there was no word recognition test) she told me that my hearing is weak and that I need to use electronic devices less, sleep early or else I’ll end up with hearing aid. She also diagnosed me with tinnitus and gave me some prescription to take. I think my tinnitus is very mild though. It doesn’t bother me at all. I can hear ringing or buzzing sounds if I pay attention to it or when the sorroundings is dead quiet but other than that it’s fine . So I looked up the prescription and they appeared to treat depression. I decided not take them and planned to have my hearing retested when I get back to the states. When she told me I have weak hearing I didn’t think much of it. I thought oh ok it’s just weak it’s not like I’m going to be deaf. I looked at the audiogram and just see some lines going up and down , had no idea how to read them. after I got back to the states, I scheduled my hearing test with an audiologist, and saw her last week. She said I have moderate hearing loss, my low frequency is good but high frequency is not and recommended HA. She said HA will make my life easier, I’m still young and it would benefit me. She wasn’t able to tell me why Im having the loss but we both thought maybe it’s genetic since my sister’s audiogram is very very similar to mine. She refers me to an ENT just to double check that’s everything is fine ( I will see an ENT in 5 weeks) . After I was told that I would need HA, I was shocked and worried. I came home and did more research on HL. The more I research the more scared I become . I have never thought that Hearing loss is so common and can happen so randomly . And it’s actually happening to me. I learn to read the audiogram and it’s starting to make sense . I was in denial and cried for a few days. But it got better as Im browsing this forum. I will share my audiogram here, with questions that I have. Please advise/ educate me so I can have a better understanding. Thank you so much .

  1. By looking at my audiogram , how bad do you think my hearing loss is in percentage? Does it look like I have lost 40-50% of my hearing ability? do you think HA is needed?

  2. Is HA painful / uncomfortable to wear? Will my ears always feel like they’re plugged even after the break in period ? I mean will I ever be able to feel like they’re not even there when I’m use to them?

  3. Will HA worsen my loss? This is what concerns me the most . My aunt told me it will make my hearing worse 🥹

  4. Will my hearing loss plateau or will it get worse with time? How likely is it that it will get so bad that I’ll loose 100% of my hearing? Says when I reach 50-70 years old 🥹🥹

  5. HA on airplane and through airport custom? Will there be any problems that I should be aware of? Do I have to take them off?

  6. my word recognition score is 76% and 72%. I understand that HA won’t restore 100% of my hearing but will it at least bring it my word recognition somewhat maybe up to 90%? I would love to be able to understand better because I’m looking for an office job and I’m so scared I won’t be able to follow instructions or participate in meetings :cry:

  7. Is it possible to have auditory process disorder at the same time as hearing loss . Maybe this applies to me since I don’t understand from time to time ?

  8. Why do people say it’s best to start wearing HA early / as earlier as you’re qualified for it? What are the cons and pros of starting HA early?

  9. For those that have servere and profound loss, will you still be able to have normal conversations without the aids or you will definitely need it ? Will severe and profound loss still be able to hear sounds or is it like Dead Sea with no sound at all?

  10. Is it better to have aids on both sides than one in term of performance? Money is not an issue I just want to get the best quality and treatment.

  11. What brands of HA are the best ?

  12. What styles are the best in term of performance (any style that you can recommend for my case) ? Is certain styles better than the others?

  13. How often does HA need to be adjusted?

  14. I was doing some research on HA and lots of people mentioned that bringing their HA to the audiologists to have them cleaned . Is it a must? Can’t we clean HA by ourselves? If that’s not an option then how often do they need to be cleaned?

  15. Right now my word recognition is 76 and 72 will they get worse as I get older with and without aids?

  16. I’m learning piano right now . If I get HA can I still learn piano?

  17. Why does HA need to be changed every 5-7 years? Why can’t we keep using the same one

  18. Why do we need to wear HA all the time and not just when we want to?

  19. Can I still use my aidpod with my HA on?

Thank you so so much everyone!! 🥹🥹

4 Likes
#2

Welcome to the forum. Thanks so much for including your audiogram. I’ll try to answer your questions.

  1. It’s really hard to give a meaningful percentage. Look up “Speech Banana” and you’ll get a better feel for what you’re missing.
  2. HA is not uncomfortable. Most of the time I’m unaware that I’ve got them on.
  3. No, it will not make your hearing worse.
  4. No one knows for sure.
  5. No problems.
  6. Properly done word recognition scores (recorded voice and done at a loud enough volume) should represent what you’d score with hearing aids, but there’s a lot of variability. Hearing aids will help.
  7. It’s possible, but you have a significant hearing loss and hearing aids should help.
  8. If you look at the speech banana, you’ll see that your brain is not getting the stimulus it needs to make sense of certain sounds. Given enough time, it can forget how to make sense of them. By getting hearing aid now, you help your brain start making sense of certain sounds again.
  9. I do not have a profound loss. My understanding is without hearing aids (and even with them) need to rely on lip reading and other cues. It’s not pure silence though. Louder sounds still come through. This would vary depending on how bad the loss is. Somebody with a flat 100dB loss doesn’t hear much of anything without hearing aid.
  10. Wear 2 hearing aids.
  11. Ones that are well adjusted. All the major brands are good.
  12. RIC (Receiver in canal) hearing aids have the latest features and are small enough that nobody is going to notice them.
  13. Varies. You’ll likely need several visits initially to get them properly adjusted. Afterwards once a year is a reasonable target, but it’s really as needed.
  14. You can clean and change domes and wax filters yourself.
  15. Yes, without hearing aids your word recognition will get worse.
  16. We have many musicians on the forum. You’ll want to mention to the audiologist that you’re studying music as adjusting hearing aids for music is different than for speech. Often they set up a separate music program.
  17. Things wear out. Technology gets better.
  18. Hearing aids can be challlenging to get used to and your brain needs time to relearn how to make sense of certain sounds again. You don’t need to wear them “All the time,” but it should be a significant part of every day.
  19. Don’t know what and aidpod is but most modern hearing aids allow streaming from smartphones and tablets.
    Phew! Probably best to ask smaller batches of questions. :>) Hope this helps.
13 Likes
#3

Like @MDB posted with a lot of hearing aids now you can stream music and phone calls from your phone directly to your hearing aids.

I wear receiver in canal aids and with the domes in my ear canals can’t wear my Apple AirPods. If I want to listen to music through them I take my aids off.

Apple also supports importing your audiogram into the Health app. The AirPods take advantage of this to adjust their output to compensate for your loss. You will need an app to input your audiogram and import it to the Health app. I used the iHearIt app, available in the Apple App Store, for that.

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#4

Heck of missive that……

Get a set of demos. RIC with a low power (60) receiver and a vented dome.

If they work for you, that’s your answer.

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#5

We have a very very similar loss, You would definitely benefit from hearing aids I’m both ears . You would be surprised with how much you miss.

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#6

  1. It’s difficult for me to have a conversation without hearing aids. Possible though with a clear speaker in a quiet room.

  2. Learning music is good. It is a form of auditory training

  3. Yes, you can surprisingly. I’ve done it a couple of times by mistake and wondered why the airpods were sounding really tinny all of a sudden. I don’t recommend it.

You are catastrophising a bit. That’s understandable. I was about your age when an ent told me I had ssn hearing loss, that I would eventually lose all my hearing and that there was nothing to do except suck it up and learn how to read lips (it was a long time ago). It was hard. There are many more options now and more hope for better solutions in the future.

5 Likes
#7

You ask a lot of questions here that really can’t be answered. For starters you mention genetic loss which means realistically your hearing will continue to worsen which explains why you are noticing it being a problem more now than before. You also have to understand that hearing is a very individual thing. How you hear, or what you hear may be very different from someone with a similar hearing loss . Hearing loss isn’t determined by percentage. But your loss should be helped quite a bit by hearing aids. There is no which hearing aid is best. The best is what you hear best with. Phonak, oticon, resound, Starkey are all good brands. Hopefully you find an audiologist who will let you trial the aids for a couple of weeks each. Remember hearing aids don’t return your hearing to normal. They try to help you get closer than you are without aids. But you may have to make compromises. But everyone is different.

2 Likes
#8

Thank you so much for taking the time and answering all of my questions :heart:. I will ask smaller Batches of questions in the future​:sweat_smile::sweat_smile::sweat_smile:

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#9

Thank you for pointing that out. I will try that :blush:

#10

We do have very very similar loss :hushed: . I will definitely get both aids . Thank you

#11

Thank you for the advice . I appreciate it

#12

Thank you for answering my questions. I agree I’m being catastrophising. My sister is telling me the same thing but I’m just scared I won’t be able to hear anymore 🥹. How hard is it to read lips? I can never figure out how to read lips. I’m thinking about starting sign language too. I think I have to prepared for the worse 🥹

#13

Thank you so much for your advice. My audiologist said I have 30 days trial. I will definitely try and pick a pair for myself. It was very hard at first but I’m slowly getting better after reading post from everyone here. :heart:

1 Like
#14

Try not to get overwhelmed and get ahead of yourself. Getting used to hearing aids is enough for now.
Lip reading will likely come naturally if you need it. If not, I’m sure there’s plenty of sources. There’s nothing wrong with learning sign language but it doesn’t seem likely to me that you’ll need it.

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#15

Well the 30 day trial period might be state law. Some states require a designated trial period for hearing aids.

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#16

Not sure where you are or if a Costco is anywhere near you but they are a great place to start. They do by the book hearing exams, have great prices and give you a long time to get your money back if you are not happy with the aids.

Don’t be surprised if it takes you a month or two to get used to all the new sounds you will hear from new aids. It can be overwhelming at first. Try to be patient and good luck with your new hearing

5 Likes
#17

As MDB mentioned, you have very many questions. His answers are very good. I can add just a couple more thoughts:

  1. Costco is an excellent source (depending on the staff at the store you patronize). They offer a full 6-month money back guarantee plus offer free replacement if you lose or damage your aids. A few years ago, I lost both aids, which were replaced at no charge.

  2. Costco will replace domes & wax guards at no charge. At my store (Prescott, AZ), the staff recommends doing this about every 3 months. Once the wire to a receiver broke on aids that were over 3 years old (out of warranty) but they replaced it anyway at no charge.

  3. I’m currently using Costco KS-10 aids, which are no longer available. (See Sonova Halts Hearing Aid Sales to Costco; Pulls Products and Brochures) and I’ve not heard whether or when replacements (KS-11?) are available.

  4. Some people report battery degradation on KS-10’s. I’ve not noticed that. (Note, I do not keep my aids charging all night because I’ve read that Li-ion batteries should not be kept at very high or very low charge levels.)

  5. I stream to my aids via Bluetooth a lot for phone calls, Zoom meetings, YouTube videos and music. I hear much better that way. Music sounds much better too. And my hearing is much worse than yours (severe/profound loss).

2 Likes
#18

You may be reading lips without realizing it. Is your understanding worse when someone is wearing a mask? If so, it is likely because you are lipreading to help aid your hearing. Many of us didn’t realize how much we relied on it until COVID and masks. This forum has been helpful for me to deal with my feeling bad that I couldn’t understand others - like it’s my fault. Nope - not so. It just is. If you keep doing what you are doing and explore HAs and work to advocate for yourself despite your loss, it will be easier to ask others to help a little. I have found that coworkers are usually receptive to my being open about having hearing loss and wearing HAs. Some will think HAs “solve” that and they don’t, but the DO HELP a LOT. You are on the right track and it is def something to grieve, but then move forward and do what you can to manage it. You will benefit from the rapid advances in technology - IF your loss progresses, it may help to know that tech is moving in the direction to help you cope and find solutions. You got this.

7 Likes
#19

If you are in the US go to Costco first and try some of their hearing aids.

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#20

You have by now received lots of good advice, all of which I think will be useful for you. My two cents: do not fear hearing aids. They will be your best friends going forward. Yes, it will take a month or two for you to feel comfortable with all the new sounds you hear. Once you are comfortable, they become an invaluable part of your wardrobe! And being able to stream calls and music, and use cell phones with bluetooth, is such a valuable asset.

As for music, I am a musician, and hearing aids are essential for me, especially on stage so I can clearly hear my fellow musicians through the monitors to understand what the mix is sounding like. It helps me gauge how to manipulate my instrument … and pray the guy on the sound board is doing his job!

Good luck. You will not regret getting aids and they will enrich your life.

Eliot

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