Newbie Questions

I didn’t see a place for introductions, so I’m posting this here. Hopefully I’m not violating a rule, and if so, please move this to wherever it’s supposed to be.

I’ve had a hearing loss most likely since birth that was diagnosed when I was a kid in school. I tried hearing aids about 10 years ago, and didn’t have a favorable experience and ended up returning them.

I’m ready to try again - and have ordered Phonak Audio V70 aids that I have an appointment Thursday June 23 to pick them up. I think they are probably the 310, but I don’t know for sure - I just know the audiologist showed me two different sizes in the office and asked which I wanted, saying the battery in the larger one would last 7-8 days, and in the smaller one 4-5 days. I opted for the smaller one and more frequent battery changes for vanity reasons.

I think I’ve set up my signature line correctly, but just in case not - here are the audiogram numbers:
Frequ: L/R
0250: 15/20
0500: 20/25
1000: 40/40
2000: 55/60
3000: 65/70
4000: 65/75
8000: 80/90

Questions are thus:
A: Would my loss be considered moderate/severe/profound? Everything I read gives a range “X” number of decibels indicating the loss level, but my numbers definitely cross boundaries based on Hz.
B: I have numbers under the “speech results” section of my report, but I don’t know what they mean, nor how I reflect them here on the forum. Any advice on how I interpret these results, and how I convey them here?
C: I really want this to work this time - any tips to have a successful experience would be greatly appreciated.
D: This might sound silly, but it’s definitely something I want to be aware of: Will they stay in safely on a roller coaster, or other activities? Or should I plan on taking them out when I’m doing something like that?

I probably will have more questions, but those will come in time. I’m both excited and nervous, like I said, I really want this to work this time.

Hi,

in Germany you take the mean of the values at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz. This would give a “moderate” hearing loss for you. I don´t know the definition that us used in the U.S.

B: Not knowing what numbers are written there I cannot help you. Take a photo, black out your name and upload it here.

C: Be patient.

D: That depends. I have open domes, I´d probably take them out. If you have a custom mold with a tight fit, it´s nearly impossible that they fall out.

As you have delayed getting aids for quite some time it will probably take some time for you to get used to them. In the beginning, you won´t be able to tolerate levels that will really help you, so some kind of learning progress is involved. There are automatic learning hearing aids, but it depends on the aid and the dispenser if you will use that feature or if you will rather make frequent visits to get the aids re-adjusted.

Good luck!

Don’t worry about the vanity issues, very few people will notice your HA’s.

A. Like most you fall into more than one category your hearing would fall in the normal to moderate to severe/profound, but there isn’t much at the 8000 hz level.

B. The speech results tell a lot about how well the HA’s are going to work for you, just copy down what it says on the audiogram and put it on your post using the edit function.

C. The way to get it to work this time is wear the HA’s all the time. You can do this either by going all in and wearing them full time from day one, or you can work up to it by starting off wearing them for a few hours on day one and increasing the time an hour or two each day until your wearing them full time. If you need a break from the HA’s during the day, take them out and give your ears a break and then put them back in. Another thing to do is keep a journal and each time you find something that you don’t like write it down and show it to your audi on the next and each follow up, it will help them make the necessary adjustments. The bottom line to success is just don’t give up.

D. I wear HA’s with a full earmold so they are very secure once they are in my ear. I have had friends with open fit HA’s lose their HA’s doing various things: one has lost several HA’s gardening, so you never know.

Good luck!

A. If you google “hearing thresholds,” you can view a graph of different hearing loss thresholds. You are correct in that you cross some boundaries depending on the frequency level.
B. If you are referring to speech discrimination, this is how many words you can understand given a certain decibel level in a soundproof box. The higher the % the better you can understand speech.
C. Wear them at all waking moments. Be prepared to be let down in the beginning. It will take several adjustments to get them right, but don’t give up. Since you have had a hearing loss for some time, it will take time to adjust to how your brain will now hear. Make sure you have a decent trial period. Costco is 90 days or maybe even 180 days now. Also be sure to communicate with your audiologist. What is your goal with hearing aids? For me hearing at meetings at work and on the phone were important. For phone use I use a Bluetooth streamer which makes a world of difference.
D. I wore mine at an amusement park for my kids, no crazy roller coasters, but some fast spinning rides, etc. Mine are receiver in canal type aids and I didn’t have any issues.
•also I would recommend getting a dehumidifier to keep them working optimally. I wear my aids when I work out so I get some sweat on them. I pop them in the dehumidifier every night. Amazon has a good selection for around $50-$60.

I’m on my fourth or fifth pair. My latest hearing aids actually required no adaptation period. They just worked. They’re my first open-fit hearing aid; my previous aids were CICs. I wonder if open-fit hearing aids require less of an adaptation period since the sound is more natural.

The “speech recognition” is as follows:
Right: SRT: 40 ---- and then there is a label of HL/PB and results of 75/70%
Left: SRT: 35 ---- and then there is a label of HL/PB and results of 75/80%

Other than knowing SRT means speech recognition threshold, I don’t know what any of the numbers mean or how to interpret them.

And thank you very much for the tip of keeping notes to take to my Audiologist. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of observations that may or may not be significant to him.

My audiology report shows two speech scores:
SRT (speech recognition threshold) shows what volume is needed for me to recognize 50% of the words
WRS (Word recognition score) - they increase the volume above my SRT and count the words I recognize at the louder volume.

Some hearing aid fitters program the aid to gradually increase the volume of the aid so you reach the prescribed level after four to six weeks or so. It takes some time to adjust to the sounds you haven’t heard in a long time. My aids started at full volume and I adjusted to them quickly.

Hi,

I have found this article:

http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/understanding-the-difference-between-sound-pressure-level-spl-and-hearing-level-hl-in-measuring-hearing-loss/

HL probably stands for “Hearing Level”, could be hearing loss, too.
PB stands for “Phonetically balanced”.

What I GUESS this means is: You were presented speech at 75 dB (your “most comfortable level”) and understood 70% resp. 80% of the words.

I can´t tell for sure, as those tests are made quite differently in Germany. Ask your audi about the details.

http://www.healthyhearing.com/report/41775-Degrees-of-hearing-loss

C: I really want this to work this time - any tips to have a successful experience would be greatly appreciated.

Search this forum and you should find several threads about the initial experience, such as this one. You will hear sounds you haven’t heard in ages. Some of it will be fascinating, and some of it will be overwhelming. For the overwhelming sounds you just have to have determination and stick with it. After a month or two the annoying sounds kind of magically fade into the background.