With hearing aids, you can’t wear ear plugs to protect your ears at loud concerts, church, etc.
I would feeel self conscious wearing over the ear protection. Do you have suggestions?
If it is that loud, take your aids out and put in good plugs.
WH
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Then I wouldn’t be able to understand what is being said. Are there plugs that will also make speech clear? Thanks.
Plugs with good filters on them reduce sound levels without distorting the sound. Etymotic High-Fidelity Earplugs, ER20XS (~$20us) are one brand I’ve bought. I was given a pair of custom Westone plugs with changeable filters for different attenuation levels. Both provide excellent protection.
WH
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Ruthie, the choice is yours. Your audiogram is WAY better than my cinderblocks. I don’t know how old you are, but I’ll never forget how my ears were destroyed by ONE Elton John concert in my 20s. I was STOOPID to attend it with no ear protection. I was already born with a genetic hearing loss.
I don’t care if I look like a fashion statement now or a space alien. MY. EARS. COME. FIRST.
You’ll have one night to either be deaf to the speaking world and “enjoy” a deafening concert. Or the rest of your life to contemplate BIGGER and BULKIER hearing aids thanks to that indulgence in fun.
Church? Just wear your aids and turn the volume down (or use a dedicated Comfort in Echo or Speech in Loud Noise program). Concerts? Read the above and go from there.
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Well that’s a choice I hadn’t considered; and bit and bulky headphones but big and bulky hearing aids. Thanks. I do need to upload a new audiogram. I’ll do that tomorrow. I have suffered a drastic loss in hearing since then because of exposure to loud noise. The loss is irreversible.
Ruthie: don’t worry about being self conscious. If you wear noise-cancelling headphones you are looking out for yourself. I wore some to a NASCAR race about three weeks ago and even with them and my aids dropped to the lowest settings, it was brutally loud. The guy who wanted me to go to the race because he’d never seen one, failed to heed my warning and did not bring headphones. We left at the halfway point because it was painful for him … and even for me with all the protection.
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That’s Reality talkin’ to ya! My audiogram in my 20s was about like your first one posted here - except that I had better higher freqs.
Now? Well lookee there. It’s in the tank. I used to shoot trap and skeet but gave that up, too, cuz I truly have NO margin to play with. I wore headphones with volume knobs. My ears had earplugs in them, headphone volume was set to ZERO, and I still heard (and felt) the gunblasts in my ear. Even worse with handguns in indoor shooting range.
Some things I simply can’t do now! Swimming with my NON-waterproof Phonak Lumity Life aids would be another thing I can’t do, having killed a pair trying them out in a pool.
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Without knowing which HAs you have, I can’t be certain, but in addition to the great suggestions offered, just about every make & model have a “Mute” function, which depending on the fit of your domes/molds, will noticibly attenuate the ambient noise.
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Eliotb- You and others are giving me the confidence boost and resource information that I need. Thank you.
Flashb1020, I wear the Kirkland Resounds. Yea, I can mute them. I am kicking myself. I was so distressed in the moment, and told embarrassed to Step over people and leave, that it did not occur to me to mute them.
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I totally relate!
When in a loud concert environment, it’s hard to think, let alone react to invoke preventive measures.
Hopefully no damage was done, and you’ll be prepared next time.
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This is what I use if I just want to quiet things down. Actually, I wear it a lot when I am in a noise place waiting for someone or something. I sit and watch a video on my cell phone or listen to music. It blocks most of the ambient noise. Like I said it works when streaming or in a normal mode. They are low cost and mold to your inside ear over the top of your HA. Just one ball splits in half and fit into both ears.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G15GHRV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Get musician earplugs. The ones I’ve used had insertable 10 or 20 dB attenuators.
Hi. Bumping this thread as I have a (somewhat) related question. I’m new to hearing aids - been using my Lumities for about 8 months now, for a mild to moderate loss. I’m wondering if loud sounds (such as from a concert or movie hall speaker/sound system) could potentially damage my HA’s.
Recently, I attended a gathering where there was a lot of music being played over the loudspeakers. Unfortunately, I was seated 2 or 3 rows from the nearest loudspeaker and had to mute my HA’s due to the loud music. But even with the HA’s muted, it was quite loud. So far my HA’s appear to be unaffected, but I am just wondering if such scenarios could damage the HA’s themselves (mics/circuitry ?) & if it would be better to turn them off completely & use some other form of ear protection (ear plugs, may be). TIA.
I take my HAs out and use custom plugs my audiologist had made for very loud concerts, noisy engine situations (string trimmer, leaf blower, motorcycle, etc) and don’t worry about hearing that the time. My son has professional ($450) headset that really protects from noise and still lets him talk on the phone.
I don’t think the very loud will damage HAs. But they aren’t designed to protect your hearing either.
WH
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I used to wear something like this in noisy environments, before I even got my first pair of HAs. Cotton-covered wax plugs are extremely comfortable and re-usable. Never tried them WITH HAs, but if you say that works, why not? Ear plugs are great for flying!
Ruthie:
check out a pair of shooting ear muffs. the ones i have fit comfortably over hearing aid and still block most sound. when I was working in a noisy place. hearing aid went into protective box then into clothes locker. no one can hear each other with good ear plugs. just another joy of hearing aids.
the olde sailor
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I play in a brass band and I’ve just (well, about 6 weeks ago) suffered hearing loss in my left ear.
One of the audiologists I saw recommended these
Senner music ear plugs for concerts and practices.
Thank you for all of your helpful comments. I appreciate this.