I have never tried hearing aids before. I had my pair of Lyrics fitted August 26 2011. The battery in my right ear died today, Jan 25 2012. So 5 months of contant wear, and almost constant power-on state. I turned them off only in noisy situations. Though I often wore them in transparent mode (soft-off) in which they try to approximate my actual hearing, with a little boost in the high range since that’s where most of my hearing loss is.
The left aid was sized perfectly and it became physically unnoticeable after the first month. The audiologist’s matching right aid was actually out of batteries straight from the package. So the right aid was a slightly different fit. It too became physically unnoticeable after the first month, but by the third month it had wiggled itself outward, into a somewhat-noticeable position.
[scary warning on]
During the use of the Lyric aids, I noticed that my daily post-shower cotton swab would show normal ear wax colour from my left ear, and rust coloured ear wax from my right. This was not obvious until about 3 months of use. My initial guess was blood. Upon removal of the right aid at 5 months of wear, my guess was confirmed. The outermost yellow foam had been completely saturated with blood. Please note that there was no blood at all on the innermost section near the eardrum, so my biggest concern (that of an injured eardrum) was never validated (yay!). I am not adverse to bleeding, in that my activities cause me abrasions rather more often than I would prefer. But I will say that having bleeding in the ear is rather alarming. I am impressed that despite all the contact to my head/ear/jaw in the past 5 months, that the aids did not injure my hearing. There was no bleeding from the ear itself upon removal, just blood soaked into the aid. Had I know at month 3 that it was causing this amount of bleeding, I would have asked my audiologist to refit the device in my ear canal. I have made an appointment with my audiologist to inspect the ear canal. Will update post-haste.
Picture of removed bloody Lyric aid is available at bottom.
[scary warning off]
Adjusting to having these aids was troublesome for the first two weeks. I had constant pain in both ears, similar to an earache without the intensity. Occasionally certain jaw movements would ramp the pain up to a very high level but it would immediately subside. Sometime during the third week my brain decided to ignore the feeling of the aids, and they became unnoticeable. Really quite amazing the difference after becoming accustomed, but it’s clear that a month trial is necessary.
For the Lyric aids, the audiologist can set the lowest of four volume levels, and it seems that the next 3 are simply the 3 next loudest volumes. My audiologist originally set the lowest volume at level 2, and I had him lower the lowest volume to level 1 before I had left the clinic that day. If you’ve never used aids, the power of new sounds can be quite shocking. Normal events like the click of a door latch were shockingly loud, even offering the cringe response. Within a couple of weeks I worked up to and grew accustomed to level 2 as my normal setting. I believe that my battery lasted for 5 months due to the lowest-possible settings that had been chosen. A person with more profound amplification would go through the battery more quickly.
Showering with the Lyrics is fine, but don’t direct the stream of water into either ear and always cotton swab the water droplets out afterwards. I did not try using silicone plugs, and I did not swim for the 5 months of Lyric use. Depending on your lifestyle, this one restriction (of not swimming) will make or break your decision to use Lyrics. Others on the forum do report success using waterproof ear plugs, I was not willing to risk damaging the aids.
Things I have noticed:
In loud situations (i.e. live music) the transparent mode is actually much louder than any of the “on” settings. My guess is that the aids have active high-volume hearing protection circuits that are inactive in transparent mode.
In troublesome situations (soft speakers using complex dialog in large unquiet rooms i.e. courtroom) having the aids turned up to 4 was just awesome compared to my pre-aid life. They really did seem like futuristic cybergenic implants to improve my hearing beyong what was biologically possible.
The referee’s whistle was piercing, and I would always hear it, whether playing or in the middle of a huge crowd at a stadium.
I could feel the sweat in the foam of the aids after a workout, making the aids feel like they were more liable to slip out (but they did not).
My parting thougts:
The Lyric aids trial has convinced me to maintain hearing aids for my life. The limitation of not being able to remove Lyric aids will steer me away from a subscription to the Lyric aids, and toward a more traditional aid. Experience with traditional aids might steer me back to the Lyric, but that is a discussion for the future.
How they communicate with you:
POWER NOTIFICATION
off-off four beeps
transparent two beeps (also called soft-off)
on vol 1 1st single beep (low volume)
on vol 2 2nd single beep (regular usage)
on vol 3 3rd single beep (powered)
on vol 4 4th single beep (maximum amp)
low batt beeps altered to sound like boops (2-3 days of battery remaining)