My wife has had some issues with her right ear for several years. She once went to an audiologist and they let her try a hearing aid. She said it sounded horrible (like a robot voice) and they kept making adjustments but it never sounded better and she just gave up. She only tried the one and doesn’t remember which model or brand. But knowing her, she probably asked for the lowest end budget model. A neighbor that has significant hearing loss told her she had used Costco for years but wasn’t happy with those and so she went to a Beltone store and loved hers. So my wife went there and was tested and he let her use one of the Serene models. But the person there seemed to be a bit high pressure and I’m not a fan of how you can only go to a Beltone store for adjustments.
Anyway, this is her audiogram and I had a few questions. I understand the tonal test graph and it appears she has significant roll-off above 1-2 kHz. The SRT shows that she could make out words at 15dB in the left ear and 30dB in the right. I was surprised that she could make out speech that low. Is this just because her 1kHz and below loss isn’t bad? I also wondered what the numbers in the table “PTA (dB HL) / AI (%)” meant? 28, 25, 45, 17 and 78. And lastly, what the is meaning of the 65 in the Bin row under the SDT column?
I think it does appear that she needs a hearing aid, but does she need one in both ears or just the right ear? Also, we plan on going to an independent audiologist and also Costco. But since the Beltone model seemed to work for her, should we try to stick to an audiologist that sells ReSound since they are made by the same company? There are so many brands and options that it is a bit overwhelming. I assume she does need a hearing aid, but it was hard to trust the Beltone person since it felt more like a high pressure sales session than a hearing test. Thanks for any help.
