How to make hearing aids less noticable (a vanity thread)

Another woman here – while I agree that’s there’s no reason to hide a hearing aid, I also agree that there’s no reason not to. A little vanity isn’t a bad thing. That said, I keep my hair a little longer now that I’m wearing a mini-rite. The thin wire never shows. It actually doesn’t take a lot of hair to hide it – just slightly longer in front of the ear. For me, slightly longer hair and vastly better hearing was the best option.

Another woman here, who find her steel-grey BTEs rather stylish actually :slight_smile: But that said, it’s surprising how completely oblivious most people are to hearing aids. When I first got mine I was working from the assumption that people did notice them and said things such as “I prefer not to have meetings in our noisy lunch room because of my hearing” and they would just stare at me blankly. When I then explained that I had hearing aids I would have to pull them out to convince people. I keep my hair buzzed around my ears and currently wear Oticon Agil BTEs with a thin tube, discrete yes, but by no means invisible - I think we just give people to much credit for noticing things… But, thinking back, the first time I realised that RITE-type hearing aids even existed was just before I got my hearing aids, and had started thinking about my own hearing, and they were worn by someone with a shaved head. RITEs had no doubt been around for a few years then and I had most certainly met a few people wearing them, but I just didn’t know what to look for I guess.

I’m bald and I shave my head. I have RIC and I suggest you get a color that you like. If you get flesh color and they are seen, which is seldom, there is no doubt they are hearing aids.

If you get red, blue, black etc, then most will think it’s an iPod or phone that you are wearing. I just finished going to a meeting, days in airports, hotels, restaurants, bars, and one person asked if I had a dual phone device. LOL. The world is crowded with technology now. Devices are hanging off ears, eyes, belts, wrists. No one notices now. I wanted to get red but my mfgr didn’t make red. I got black.

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This can depend on your skin complexion and what type of hair you have. I’m black-American but I have a brown complexion and my hair is cut low. A brown colored aid would blend better in my case because of my brown complexion and even though my hair is black I don’t have long,straight or bushy black hair for a black aid to blend with my hair.

Beyond just vanity one reason I’d think many would want their aids to be less noticeable is because of people’s reactions to them. I wouldn’t want people over-reacting to me because they see I have an hearing impairment. I’ve seen situations where when people noticed someone is wearing an aid they start to talk loud to them.

Motion,
You are right, if your hair is really short and you want to hide the fact that you wear hearing aids you would need them to be closer to the color of your skin. However, if your hair is short and you don’t care if someone knows or you want to show them off than a bold color is in order: one person on this forum shaves his head and wears orange colored HA’s.

I am a way over 65 white male with grey white hair cut very short. Resound Forzas (BTE with receiver in the ear) come in a number of colors and the two colors that I chose from were dappled light grey with a black selector switch and a something yellowish brown ivory that I guess was their idea of white person’s skin color. I was tempted to get the latter because I thought the HA would blend in with the skin around my ears. But I found the color unsettling (almost nauseating) and I just liked looking at the dappled light grey color. After all, when I wore the HAs, only others would be looking at them. But in the box every morning and evening I would have to look at them. So I chose the grey. Even with a mirror I have no idea how well they blend in (the salesperson thought it was a good choice) but I am happy.

I read somewhere that the number one color for hearing aids was pewter/silver.

The most frequent hair color for people who wear HA’s.

MCB,

That is what I was alluding to when I said pewter/silver.

Some people don’t get allusions. :smiley: My next ones are going to be transparent. :cool: I refuse to let my age define me.

I know someone with clear cases and they look pretty cool. I would consider getting them also. I don’t care if anyone sees or knows I have HA’s anyway. I would however draw the line at getting orange ones though.

I wouldn’t get orange ones even if I were fifteen. But I am not worried about hiding them.

I got a muted dark stone / granite type color. My hair is down past my shoulders so can’t see it anyway. But I’d rather ppl be able to see them than not - I’m tired of ppl assuming I’m ignoring them/being rude or am just spacing out… if they see them then they understand if I’m not spinning around at their first utterance

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I am worried if I go for an interview and they notice it or if I get the job and the coworkers look at me funny :frowning:

Interesting topic
I don’t know much of anything about the tube type, or the ear molds, but I can see where that’s taking it up to the next level beyond my RIC type.

I’ve taken a break from my re-bending the wire question for less obvious fit…but haven’t given up on that project yet. I think that’ll help some, but it’s not horrible as-is
I’m a man with short hair, and so the actual behind the ear part is very noticeable. The wire as it is now is noticeable I think , but not so bad…

I get a kick out of all the folks that say folks don’t notice it. Must be hanging around with blind people it seems. No way not to notice it…although I do think that a lot of people (maybe a majority) aren’t very observant and won’t notice right away. I think more likely people who are around a lot and do have ample time to notice just don’t comment…either out of politeness or just being not interested. I recon most folks just don’t care enough to mention. I suspect that like others have posted earlier, that many folks just think they are some sort of earbud or something, when they see it from behind

Anyway, in the relatively short time I’ve been wearing them (approx 5 months), I’ve had 0 people actually mention or ask about them
at the suggestion of my audiologist I didn’t tell anyone for a while just to see (except for one coworker who is a hearing aid wearer that I’d been discussing the whole thing with prior)
My young kids didn’t notice for several days into my trial, and it was only after they overheard me talking with my wife about the app on my phone that they asked “what are you talking about?”

regardless. I totally get it (vanity)…but I also totally respect people that “own it” (own who they are I mean). That’s why I like the kid’s models that they make…all sorts of bright colors…pink and the rest…not meant to blend in. I often think about a professor I had in college. he must have been about 30 years old and severely balding. He owned it. No trying to grow out the hair he had, flaps, or any of it. He just kept the little bit in back clipped nice and short…looked fine.

Short haired (currently with a purple section) middle aged (if I live to be 140 that is) female here. I WANTED to be open about HAs. Audio said the only fun color Oticon would let her order was blue, so we did. When I picked them up she said they sent grey instead. She said she called the company and complained with no satisfaction. I looked online and saw they have lots of colors for kids and vowed to fight. I soon realized, like someone above stated, that even the two people who knew I was getting them didn’t realize that I was wearing them, so fighting for color was a waste of time.

Tube size difference: I have behind the ear aids because that’s what my audiologist recommended for my loss. The tubes are wide. I went to a different audiologist affiliated with my neurotologist. She adjusted my hearing aids and randomly said “I don’t know why you need those tubes. I replaced with thinner ones.” Well, I couldn’t hear much. Went back to original audiologist, who said she wanted me to get the most sound possible, so put thick tubes back. Think of a flute versus a tuba. Which makes more sound, gets more vibration? Tube thickness makes a huge difference. I am beyond the point of fashion vs hearing. I happen to have longer hair that covers, but even if I were bald, I would still use my hearing aids.

I suspect tube size is a limiting factor in some situations. If you need more correction than what a thin tube can provide your correction will be impacted. If your gain is within the capability of the thin tube then they should work fine.

There’s a cool and funny YouTube video I recently came across made by a young man who wears hearing aids entitled: “If We Treated Glasses Like Hearing Aids.”


Although the video promotes a certain hearing aid brand at the end, perhaps it could help someone struggling with the perceived “stigma” of wearing hearing aids.