Hi again. The frustration is that my issues have nothing to do with some kind of novice perception on ‘the new world’ that’s been opened up to me by having the aids - people like SS510 are getting what I’m saying, others aren’t.
I think I’ve gone into some detail to try and explain that, for the most part, the issues I’m having are abnormal and outside the normal realm of hearing, hearing aids or not. If this is the new normal than why is there such a distinct and perceptible difference between the two aids? Since when is it normal to hair strands of hair constantly brushing up against the right hearing aid to a point where I feel like I’m taking a walk through the forest on a windy day every time I move about - or are hearing aid users distinct from others by the fact they all get crew cuts to avoid the problem altogether - but just on the right side of course, because the left side is somehow fine? This is an added and annoying noise outside the realm of normal hearing, not some issue with me getting used to a ‘normal’ world again. I’m sure if any HA users reading this brushed their fingers across their aids while wearing them they’d hear the contact loud and clear - that’s what I’m getting to a lesser degree from my hair coming in contact with the right HA - constantly. So you want to tell me again that this is normal - on just one side? Same again with the static I’m picking up from the right HA - as I recall, back in the dark ages when my hearing was normal I don’t recall hearing static like that - or is that just the new normal in the real world? As for the reference to my daughter, again people are missing the point. As the audiologist briefly explained to me, the HA are supposed to raise the bar for my hearing in the range where it’s tapered off, evening it out more or less across the spectrum. Well in normal ambient sounds of both the outside world and in my home everything sounds fine (other than the aforementioned extraneous noises creeping in on the right side) and at a reasonable level decibel-wise, until my daughter walks into the room. On a scale of one to ten everything’s swimming along smoothly at around 5 - 6 while listening to other people talk, my wife, the dogs barking, the TV playing in the background, listening to music, etc. Then my 16-year old daughter enters the equation and suddenly the sound of her voice crashes through the 10 mark on the scale to a point that’s painful and I feel like ripping out the aids - this isn’t some ‘oh, you’ll get used to it’ scenario, they’re excruciatingly loud - but only when my daughter talks. That can’t be right, it’s so out of kilter with all the other sounds around that seem at a normal level. The only thing I can think of is that there’s too much gain in the hearing aids at the pitch she speaks at. I can’t tell if it’s the right side or both, as it’s too painful trying to listen to her while she’s talking normally - I have to cover my ears.
So as mentioned, I went back to Costco rather crestfallen, hoping to get some quick fix or a next-day appointment, as I think it’s on them to resolve what seems to be a problem from their end, and all I managed to blurt out was “I’m having a problem with the hearing aids…” before getting the rude brush off from the audiologist. As I also pointed out, there’s ways and means of dealing with customers, and the manner the audiologist chose to use was not it, especially given his basic demeanor throughout. He also excused himself on a previous occasion when I was there to disappear to the toilet for five minutes, so my sighting him again on the next occasion coming from the same direction led me to believe he was simply taking another brief break to relieve himself.
As for reducing the gain, I can certainly do that, but as the default is to go back to the settings locked in by the audiologist I figured that he - or Costco - had to make the permanent changes.
