New to hearing aids. Having trouble dialing it in

I got tinnitus about 5 months ago and it’s believed to be related to hearing loss. I believe it’s more related to dental/tmj issues but that’s for another discussion. I have profound hearing loss in the high frequency range and I mostly have issues conversing with people, specifically people who speak softly. Besides that, I was fine with day to day life until the tinnitus popped up. So for the sake of seeking any relief from this torture, I went to costco and was fitted with a pair of rexton hearing aids. I tried them for a few weeks and nearly returned them because of how annoying everything sounded and the fact that I kept it off most of the time. The audiologist made adjustments to the volume and told me to utilize the app more so I could adjust them as needed. I’m currently giving them another shot, but I’m having to constantly go into the app to make changes since I cannot seem to find anything that I can get used to. Everything sounds artificial and the sounds I can normally hear without my hearing aids sound worse with them on. For example, typing on a keyboard sounds way too clicky. If I adjust the volume/sharpness/softness to reduce the clickyness, then everything sounds almost identical to as if I wasn’t wearing any hearing aids.

I want to have a more hassle free / natural experience with this. I feel like a DJ when I have to keep pulling my phone out and moving the sliders up and down to fine tune every situation I’m in. I also hate the feeling of the earbuds in my ear. It’s hard to ignore that it’s there and I feel relief taking them off at night. Is this a normal experience for first time users and I simply need to toughen up? Or are there ways to make the experience better? The tinnitus is pushing me closer to insanity with each day and I really want to make this work. Sorry for the blogpost. I’m having a hard time finding a way to explain it all

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Tough for you but persevere. It will get better as your brain adjusts. Make sure you have a competent audiologist who hears what you are going through.

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Common experience that the world sounds sharp and nasty and common sounds are almost intolerable at first. A hundred common activities seemed overwhelming. But you aren’t accustomed to the real sound of things. Bear with it, over about three weeks it should improve tremendously if you wear them most of the time. Your brain will literally rewire itself to the new sounds you can hear again.

WH

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