Hey everyone, I was recently diagnosed with a binaural moderate high frequency hearing loss. Hearing aids were recommended. I am a very active late 20’s guy. Anyone know what I should do next? I feel like I cope well, but will I have a lot of benefits? Just looking for guidance I guess. Thanks.
I think you’ll find because of the expense and the “stigma” (or at least self-consciousness of the prospective user) that the average person, especially for age-related hearing loss, puts off getting HA’s for a number of years (on the order of a half dozen) and then later kicks themselves for putting it off when they find out what a difference it can make. You can trial a hearing aid at Costco for something like 180 days and see if it makes a difference. Some HCP have demo models by which you can also trial an HA for a period of time but otherwise some upfront money is usually required with an almost complete refund later if the trial doesn’t work out, varies amongst providers. Do you have any idea on the origin of your hearing loss? I know a lot of us when we were younger didn’t think too much about noise exposure so another piece of gratuitous advice is that if your loss at such a young age could be noise-related and is not genetic or congenital to worry more about noise exposure to protect your remaining hearing. I wish I had gotten more hearing protection “religion” when I was younger!
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Hey man, so I had a lot of ear infections as a kid, so my audiologist and ENT think that is part of it. I also have constant tinnitus so they think it’s also partially noise induced. Needless to say, it’s complicated, but aren’t we all?
For mild loss you could look at IIC/CIC options. They sit right in your ear. I find they are a bit more suited to active lifestyle. You’ll be sacrificing form over function though as the smaller HAs have less bells and whistles. I use CICs and I’m happy with them. They help if you want to be less obvious as well. I use a Rexton MyCore Inox CIC 8C (rebranded in Australia). Also sold at Costco as the Adore iX.
I was looking more toward ric devices. I like that they have the most features and the most flexible fitting range (idk if my hearing is gonna decline quickly). I’m not even sure if I’m gonna get hearing aids yet.
Some good comments here on getting HAs or not on potential benefits when you can sort of still hear reasonably well.
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These are inherently unsuitable for a mild HF loss. Seems like the OP is going the right way looking at RIC devices. I’d suggest trying a few RICs which suit his phone usage. Personally if size is a major issue, I’d consider non-rechargeable options too. You can have a peep at the apps beforehand as well.
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Here is what your loss looks like compared to the sounds of speech. As you can see, the higher frequency speech sounds are being lost to you. Over an extended time of not hearing these sounds your brain can start to lose the ability to translate them to words, and speech recognition especially in noise can deteriorate. I would agree that you should use hearing aids.
If you are paying, it is hard to beat Costco. Their current Kirkland Signature RIC aids are $1500 a pair. They are a premium level Phonak aid that will stream to both iPhones or Androids.
You loss is such that you are likely to get away with open off the shelf fittings. I would ask about trying a DSL v5 correction. It is used for younger people and attempts to restore the higher frequencies more than some of the other formulas like NAL-NL2. Here is an example of what the gains would look like.
Hope that helps some
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The speech banana that Sierra pictured with your hearing loss is an excellent visual to understand why you are having a tuff time understanding people.
It is also important that you do something about this sooner than later. I can vouch for waiting is a bad thing. I have a tuff time with speech recognition all because I waited too long to wear hearing aids.
You have come to a great place to learn about your hearing and aids.
I will second trying Costco, great service and warranty.
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Yeah, I wear RICs as well. I prefer not having my ear canals all blocked up and I like the bluetooth connectivity. I also have a pretty active lifestyle and haven’t had any problems with my hearing aids yet.
Yes. Definitely.
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Wow! I appreciate all the responses and information. I have a follow up appointment soon to go over possibilities and such. I’m just having a little trouble accepting this at 29. I just keep thinking that it could be worse. Cheers.
I recently came across this article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/amp/324995 Sounds like the guy in the article was pretty exactly your age when he got his first hearing aids as well. Seems like there are quite a lot of younger people on this forum as well. Hearing loss in young(er) adults is actually not a rare as it might appear …
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Hey everyone! First off, I appreciate all the replies, it makes me feel very supported. Also, I am “trialing” a pair of oticon opn ric hearing aids. Got them today and WOW! I have a bit of a headache, and I got a bit stressed on the way home trying to identify what I was hearing while I drove! I was missing so much, I’m hoping to learn how to operate the Bluetooth and such soon. For now I’m trying to figure out what I am hearing.
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P.S. I am using standard dome tips right now. They feel weird, like they’re tickling my ear (making it feel very itchy)! Anyone else have this issue, any possible suggestions? Might ask for custom ear molds if it continues.
Thanks
Eth
Curious what you’re basing the recommendation of DSLv5 on? Most people new to hearing aids have a hard enough time adjusting to high frequencies again and complain of “tinniness.”
Dslv5? I don’t understand what this is. I have noticed things seem a bit “tinny”. I figured it was just how things sound.
To be honest, these things are a blessing, I heard the lady at Starbucks yell my name, I heard a bunch of birds singing in a tree (I broke down in tears, it was something I forgot was so beautiful)! I now have a headache from trying to figure out what I was hearing. I’m a bit upset with myself for waiting this long.
Now, once I figure out what I’m hearing, I can familiarize myself with all the technology these things have!
I never thought at 29 I’d be super excited about my hearing aids, but I am!!!’
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There are different fitting formulas that determine how much gain the hearing aids add at different frequencies. Most manufacturers have their own and there are two main standard ones: DSL v5 and NAL-NL2. This is not something you need to worry about unless you want really make hearing aids a hobby. If you’re able to understand people and don’t have any situations that are real problems, all is good.
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Seems like every time I get new domes or earmolds I get the itchy ear. A little rubbing alcohol on a Qtip used to clean the ear out usually stops the itch. Also clean the dome with alcohol.
When I first started using aids I got the itchy ear all the time, drove me crazy. I ended up buying a hearing aid dryer that had the UV light in it for sanitizing and the dryer also had a desiccant brix with warm circulated air. The dryer pretty much stopped all itchy ear issues.
My suggestion is to try it and see if you like it. It can restore the very high frequencies (6-10 kHz) which I suspect are not what people hear as tinny. I suspect the midrange is what makes the tinny sound, and it is often boosted to improve speech recognition. But the proof of the pudding is always in the eating.
Edit: My other reason for suggesting DSL v5 is that it often uses much less compression. Some will like that, and some will not. The only way to know is to try it. This said it is not for everyone, and not for myself. I have way too much high frequency loss for it to be reasonable. It is more suitable for those that have only moderate high frequency loss or minimal. I think it could have advantages for those that suffer from “cookie bite” losses.
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