The Labyrinth of Hearing Aids

Hearing Aids
#1

I’m exhausted and broken down. I have been reading and searching about hearing aids for two months now. Each audiologist gave a different opinion. Each company promoted contradictory solutions. I haven’t yet found an inclusive answer.

Trying high-tech hearing aids was a choice so I opted in. A trial lasted only two weeks while in most countries, users have at least a month. I paid what was equivalent to $1760, which was a big amount of my savings, but after a few days of trying them, I was quite disappointed. They just amplified the sounds.

Yes, I could hear some birdsongs that I haven’t heard before. The street noises weren’t as annoying as they used to be but this wasn’t my goal. I wanted to understand people better. I needed to reduce mishearing. The assistant in the hearing aids company told me that my discrimination is quite poor so a hearing aid could hardly help me. On the other hand, a technician said that my discrimination would improve in a few months when my brain got adapted to the new aids. Who should I believe now?

I lost trust in all the hearing aid companies here. I understand that my discrimination scores are poor. My hearing will never be like other people’s. However, many hearing impaired with similar hearing loss to mine could meet their needs with hearing aids.

Why do I have to struggle to get a decent service in my country?
I don’t have many options and this made me extremely furious.
All of this effects me mentally and physically. My period arrived in 16 days which never happened before. I’m falling apart bit by bit.

My next step is to take the hearing aids back to the company. Some check-ups will be done first to ensure they are in good condition. I’m afraid they will find excuses not to accept them. Anyway, I’m going to give it a try.
I will keep wearing my old aids until I make up my mind. If I buy other hearing aids, I will not pay high prices again. I now know that no matter how advanced the hearing aid is, it will not improve my understanding.

Sometimes, I think maybe I have just to stay at home and never go out. Or maybe it would be better off to leave this world. What am I doing here? Why am I fighting? Why do I have to fight on my own?
My father is dead. My mother has dementia. My sister has her own family. My brother is in his own world. My boyfriend broke up with me. My insurance doesn’t cover the option of having selected and fitted hearing aids. And definitely, it doesn’t cover a cochlear implant.
What shall I do now?

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#2

Pls put up a copy of your audiogram and type of hearing aids that was prescribed to you. HA’s have many technologies to suit different levels of hearing loss. Once your hearing loss diagram is up in your icon next to the “pink color” Z, then there will a lot of forum members to help.

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#3

Hearing loss can be very frustrating, I have been wearing aids for 20 years and on the basic level all hearing aids do is amplify sound. Sure modern aids can do more to make hearing aids work for us but it is just in the way they amplify sound. The most important thing for them to do is allow us to hear speech while in noisy environments. To me hearing aid companies put way too much into connectivity and not enough into speech understanding in all environments.

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#4

I wish there was a way to help. I’ve had hearing aids for over 20 years.

It’s been very stressful at times.

One of the breakthroughs was reading a book. It helped me a lot.

Dave

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#5

Your first option - staying home - is the one I’ve chosen. I do go out, but only when it is imperative and even then I minimize interaction with hearing people. Explaining my disability is too draining and demeaning to do over and over, and even if I get the idea across - “Please speak clearly, slowly, and enunciate” - most people will not even attempt to comply, and whatever they are saying is probably not worth hearing or trying to understand.

But this is where my view diverges from yours. Your life matters! There must be things you enjoy to some extent or another… a cup of good coffee or even tea. The feel of a cat purring, or a dog rubbing against you. Smells of hot peppers or whatever spices or aromas you like. You are ‘fighting’ because you are Human, and as such you are ready to fight to the finish because ‘just giving up’ is not an option.

I read a saying once… “I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had not feet.” Look around you - there are people whose situation is worse than yours, and they are not giving up.

I’ve been wearing hearing aids since 1973 or so… analog aids at first, but not ‘body’ aids - think of an old-fashioned transistor radio in your pocket, with a wire/earpiece, and listening to your clothes rustle along with other background noise and crap - that’s what my Grandmother had. Digital now, and they still amplify background noise more than speech, but better than analog (much as I hate to admit it).

I think you are young. Hearing aid technology is advancing at a faster pace than ever before. If I were in any position to try to give you advice, it would be to hang on, enjoy as much of Life as you can, let the negative things go - and find a way forward. Come here and vent when you need to - people here do understand - and then go back to enjoying what you can and ignoring people who choose not to speak intelligibly.

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#6

I attached my audiogram to the post.

#7

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I’m 34. I have a lot of issues in my life and hearing loss is just one more reason that makes me feel bad. I’m trying to look on the bright side. For example, my ex broke up with me because I used to give him irrelevant answers while I just misheard him. If this didn’t happen, I would not have been here trying to educate myself on my hearing loss.

#8

Your left ear is in the profound HL and the right is in the severe HL. I think Phonak Lumity UP or Xceed UP might be suitable. These are expensive. Maybe you try 1 generation down and it is cheaper. Buy online could be cheaper if the local audiologist can help to fine tune the HA’s. Maybe @kevels55 or @Volusiano might be able to provide some comments and assistance.

Do not worry too much. Be patience and visit this forum frequently and learnt more about hearing loss. Egypt is not like USA or UK. Once you get the right HA’s, you will be very happy!

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#9

Be strong.
If you have enough time, you can learn to program the hearing aids by yourself. The equipment is not expensive.
You can buy online some cheap hearing aids (Belong generation is very good and cheap) and step by step program them. In few months you will be surprised about the progress and you will be independent.
You can find a lot of help here. Good luck and let us know if we can help you.

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#10

34 is young, relatively speaking; I’m 75 and have been hard of hearing since I was 20. I am also worse on one side (left ear is flat deaf, failed surgery) and have had a couple of BICROS rigs over the years; one of the was just super, the others nowhere near as good.

You are better off without that particular ex because, even if he was a wonderful fellow in many ways, he was not willing to accept you as you are and work with you. There are better ones out there, you can keep looking but don’t rush or try too hard… that leads to frustration. And if his leaving motivated you to learn more about coping with hearing loss, he did you a favor. All how you look at it.

Hearing aid technology is rapidly changing. I doubt it will ever be enough to make us ‘like everyone else’ but if it gets good enough to enable us to communicate with them, that’s good enough.

Hang in there!

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#11

Each company promoted contradictory solutions. I haven’t yet found an inclusive answer.

All is marketing. All 1st tier products will provide about the same benefit if programmed correctly. Differentiation is usually about how they fit your lifestyle (rechargeable vs batteries, bluetooth functionality, peripherals such as external microphones, etc). The key to obtain the most benefit from your HA is finding a good provider who applies best practices (REM is absolutely necessary) and takes the time necessary to do a good fitting.

Yes, I could hear some birdsongs that I haven’t heard before. The street noises weren’t as annoying as they used to be but this wasn’t my goal. I wanted to understand people better. I needed to reduce mishearing. The assistant in the hearing aids company told me that my discrimination is quite poor so a hearing aid could hardly help me. On the other hand, a technician said that my discrimination would improve in a few months when my brain got adapted to the new aids. Who should I believe now?

Both are right. Poor discrimination is the hardest to improve and can never be completely fixed. On the other hand, it seems you expected an immediate life-changing benefit; well, it doesn’t work that way, your brain hasn’t received the right sound input for many years and therefore has lost some of the capacity to process sound. Your brain needs time to regain that capacity. Since you are quite young, it will come back faster, perhaps in a few months, but I would consider a full year for complete adaptation. Discrimination can also be improved with training (https://www.asha.org/Articles/Adult-Audiologic-Rehabilitation) and this is something you can do yourself. This peer reviewed article will give you some options: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910545/

Form the tympanogram. your left middle ear shows little conductivity, probably due to otosclerosis. Have you consulted an ENT doctor?
Given this conductive hearing loss, bone conducting hearing aids might be an option to consider.

Why do I have to struggle to get a decent service in my country?

That happens to all of us, no matter the country… unfortunately finding good providers is more difficult than it should be.

I don’t have many options and this made me extremely furious.
All of this effects me mentally and physically. My period arrived in 16 days which never happened before. I’m falling apart bit by bit.

Don’t get stressed by this, two months is nothing. Many people here, me included, have spent much longer finding the right thing for them. You just need patience and perseverance. Don’t give up.

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#12

If that is the reason he left… You dodged a bullet.

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#13

The takeaway points I got was that all providers focus on “selling”, instead of “providing” hearing impaired with the best options for them.
Another issue is that technicians, especially in the South of Egypt, are not professional. There is a big gap between the level of professionalism here and there.

I totally understand this but there was no guarantee that I could feel/ hear some improvement in a few months or a year. I didn’t want to miss the two-week trial and then found that I paid a big amount of money for just amplifying.

I had surgery in my left ear in 2013 to seal a hole in my eardrum.

I’m trying my utmost not to give up but I’m tired. Hearing loss is just one reason among others!

Thank you so much for your detailed reply!
I will look further into the links you provided after Iftar.

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#14

It was one more reason for him to run away!

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#15

@Zeeza In looking at your audio there is one thing I would like to see and sadly many don’t do it. You should have speech testing using both ears with the settings for each side at your comfort setting. With your poor understanding in the left it can be bringing your right scores down. This being the case I would opt for a BiCROS. Yes there is some expense but some make some very good ones now. My preference is Oticon.
As a side note I am an audiologist who wears hearing aids and try many different ones before I settle on one. And yes they are expensive but not as much as a pair of hearing aids as the CROS is really just a mic and transmitter to send to the opposite side with a delay very close to how you’d hear between ears. I wish you thebest but very important is to find an audiologist you can trust

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#16

@maac
What else could be in the differential diagnoses in this 34y old if you see these audio- and tympano- graphic signs together in the first post?

#17

I’ve learned a lot from your post. Thank you!
Dave

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#18

A BiCROS was the second option after a CI recommended by the latest audiologist I have been to.
I read that BiCROS will not keep the left ear/ nerve active which is not good in case I manage to get a cochlear implant one day so I opted out!