It’s such a shock to your system to start wearing aids that they usually start you out low. I found at Costco they started me out even lower than I would have expected, such that it was almost pointless to be wearing anything. I don’t know the units, but the initial master gain was set to “2” originally, then increased to “5” after 3 days when I complained that they weren’t doing anything at all and to “10” after another week. Now I know they’re doing something.
Also, try changing your batteries. The size 10’s say they’re good for 3-5 days, but they don’t seem to actually make the aids turn off until several days after that for me. The tester they gave me doesn’t seem to be very accurate – today on the 6th morning of a max 5 day battery they still tested at 100%. The left ear gave out at 6pm this afternoon however. I changed the batteries in both ears and was surprised at how much louder everything was again. I thought I had just let my brain adjust to the new sounds, because I last changed the batteries on the same day as my adjustment. It appears that no, my brain hasn’t adjusted yet, it’s just that the batteries weren’t allowing for as much gain as I was getting on day 1.
Good luck. The Charismo’s are the second brand I’ve tried, and they don’t have nearly the audio clarity for speech that the Oticon Altas did, but they also don’t have the annoying continuous static either. They’re also less than half the price.
–Beth