Had hearing loss for many years and was motivated to get aids recently . I bought a pair of MD Neo xs in the canal type. Price was right and they are comfortable. But, without then in, all sounds are muffled. I am worried I will never get my hearing back to what was normal to me before the purchase. With out them in, I can not hear nearly as well as before. I have been wearing the MDs 8-12 hours daily for 3 weeks. At the two week mark I noticed a drastic decline in my hearing in my good ear. I have has 75 % loss in the bad ear for over 20 years .
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I have been wearing aids for 20 years. It is normal to feel like aids cause your hearing to be worse when you are not wearing the aids. It is because you are getting use to sound with the aids. And it does seem like the aids make your hearing worse.
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You could prove it by asking your AuD for booth test to compare after using HAs for a while. However, it is likely just as cvkemp said - you didn’t realize how poorly you heard without them because you had nothing to compare it to. If they help, wear them all day - put them in when you wake and remove when you sleep! Good Luck
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Before getting the MD hearing aids i could hear my hardwood floor creaking when I walked on it. I could hear a golf ball land within 50 feet on me. I could hear many things I can not hear now. My brain possibly caused this adjustment in my hearing. I think I will return these aids before my 45 day trial ends. If my prior hearing returns I will be happy and can live with it. I only got the aids to help understand conversation in noisy environments. If my hearing does not return I will spend the necessary dollars to get a good fitting and quality set of aids.
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Yes you are still in an adjustment period. Your brain is adjusting to now sounds and a new levels of sound. It took me almost 3 months to get use to wearing aids. And yes I swore my aids made my none aided hearing worse. If you have tinnitus as I do along with your hearing loss you will hear your tinnitus louder without your aids
Your brain is learning to hear at a different level of sound.
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Are you wearing hearing aids that were professionally fitted to you, or just a set you bought off the internet and stuck in your ears.
I second going to get a follow-up assessment to see if there has actually been a change.
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That’s not how it works [unless they’re of really poor quality and very over-amplified].
You’ve made mistake with going with the In-the-canal type.
They’re harder to adjust to and need very good fitting.
These MD aids are over the counter. I did a hearing test online. They cost $375.00 and can get a full refund if returned within the 45 day trial period. I have the Neo xs model . It has nine volume levels and four program modes for different environments. Comes with small, medium, and large domes and extra wax guards. I have discussed via phone calls with their licensed audiologist my concerns about hearing loss. Was advised to give myself 4 weeks minimum to allow brain adjustment and then return them if still not satisfied I can get a bte model with an additional 45 day trial period if I choose to… I have had two or three in office sound proof booth hearing tests over the past years. I trust my perception of what I could hear before and after getting the aids more than I do another hearing test in audiologist booth.
Well, in that case, you say your hearing is worse. I’d be worried too in your situation. I wouldn’t continue to wear a device that was possibly damaging my hearing. A professionally fitted device shouldn’t, but this one 
.
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Deleted. I should have read posts a couple of times and thought more before posting.
Your perception of sound will change when you start boosting the sound with devices. The test that the audiologist does with you in the booth is the real measure.
If you post the results here you will get good advice from people with experience.
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I completely understand this comment, and without marginalizing your feelings, want to add that I’m in the same boat in a way, but just rationalizing it differently. I lost hearing suddenly after having the flu and covid back to back, and then was diagnosed with Meniere’s, having lost low tones; I’m also losing the last two high tones on the hearing test, but that’s neither hear nor there. I got hearing aids for both ears and initially everything was too loud, but now my brain has settled in and everything is well and good. When I remove them, everything sounds completely flat, dull, and lifeless. I have difficulty hearing water from the faucet, I don’t hear leaves rustling, nor birds, and I struggle with soft spoken students at work, never mind hearing students in noise. Before I got the aids, I would leave work exhausted from trying to listen, and the fact that I don’t get that anymore tells me that the aids help. I’ve only just turned fifty and want to stay sharp cognitively, and do notice a difference in alacrity of finding synonyms for words, or even words in general. I don’t think hearing aids are making my hearing worse, I think they’re helping and showing me just how bad things were prior to getting them. I hope you get tested by an audiologist, and consult on the aids you’re using, just to make sure they’re not amplifying things that don’t need to be, so that you’re not damaging what you have…best of luck to you!
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Thank you . I have a test with a local audiologist, who books appointments through TrueHearing, with long time good standing in my area. My Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance partners with TrueHearing. TrueHearing says they can get many different hearing aid companies aid at 50 to 60 % off retail price. Anyone know about TrueHearing and is going through them better than Costco. I also have a hearing test set up at Costco in two weeks
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Agree with this, but it could also be wax impaction caused by inserting the hearing aids. Check with your doc.
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I thought the same possibility. I bought a wax removal kit Debrox at Walgreens. Followed the directions for use. It did not help at all.
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My unaided hearing hasn’t changed a bit. I can hear my wife just fine without the HAs, once I say “HUH?” and she knows to yell everything. 
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I went to a local Audiologist/hearing aid retailer who has been in business for over 20 years. He gave me a hearing test after looking in both ears. He showed me his audiogram showing about equal loss in both ears. I told him I was hearing much better in left ear before I started wearing the MD in canals. He did not see any wax blockage in either ear. Two day later I went to Costco for a hearing test. The Audiologist at Costco found wax blocking my ear drum in left ear. Showed me the blockage using his camera and printed out a picture for me. He sent me to my Dr to get the wax removed before testing my hearing. My Dr removed the wax and my normal hearing has returned in left ear, I am returning to Costco next week for test and leaning toward getting Jabra pro 20 aids Picture of wax take at Costco
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Just goes to prove that not all Audiologists are good. It took the people that DR Cliff was complaining about to find the problem.
Nothing wrong with Costco. I would definitely try they before going elsewhere.
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Followup 6/14/24. After going to a local hearing aid office getting a hearing aid test and quotes on hearing aids and to Costco refusing to give me a hearing test before wax removal not found two days earlier by the local audiologist I returned to Costco to get my hearing test. Posted below. Costco audiologist still would not sell me hearing aids until I get a form signed bt a ear nose throat doctor. they provided copy of the test results and a form to get signed by the ENT doctor if the Doctor believes the hearing aids are appropriate for my . Problem is Audiiometric air-bone gap equal to or greater than 15 decibal at 500 hz, 1000 hz, and 2000 hz. and assymetrical loss and mixed loss right ear . I am impressed with Costco and there desire to do the right thing and not just wanting to sell me something
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On eBay you can find very cheap devices that connect to your mobile to check if you’ve got a wax block. They’re pretty convenient.