Amitie1;
You’re welcome! I wasn’t sure if what I had written made sense. Glad to know that it did. There are others who are much more experienced than me on this board who could probably explain things better, so hopefully someone else will “speak up”, too.
I’m wearing an Oticon Alta (not the Alta Pro, which is the next step up). It’s a mini-RITE/RIC, so it is very, very small. When I first started this journey of getting a hearing aid last summer, I really wanted an IIC aid because I didn’t want anyone to know I had it. However, none of the four audiologists I saw recommended that. They all essentially said the same thing, which was “If your hearing loss fits a RIC, that will provide the best hearing.” As far as the sound quality goes, it’s maybe a tiny bit tinny. I compare what I’m hearing in my aided ear to my “normal-ish” ear, so of course any hearing aid would sound more tinny than what is heard through an unaided ear. I have very young children, ages 1 and 3, and their voices sound pretty much the same in my aided ear as they do in my unaided ear. (I was worried their voices would sound shrill and harsh. They don’t sound any more harsh than they do in my unaided ear.) My husband’s voice sounds the same in both ears as well. The only real difference I notice is that higher-pitched female voices and cartoon character voices on TV are very difficult to understand with my aided ear. I’m not sure what that’s about, but I’m not going to obsess about it right now, because I hear those voices fine using both ears, which is ultimately what matters.
Honestly, I think my hearing aid could be tuned a bit better, but I’m content for right now and believe I’m hearing what I ought to be. I think the key is finding the right audiologist. I love mine!!! She’s a bilateral hearing aid user herself since she was a toddler, so she gets it. Even when I don’t know how to describe what I’m hearing in technical terms, she usually at least has some idea what I mean, which is helpful.
Anyway, I wish you luck finding a good audiologist! Ask around. Your local hearing association might be able to recommend someone. Or, if you see someone wearing a hearing aid, you can always ask them who they see. As near as I can tell, it’s all about the audiologist! You can have the best hearing aid on the market, but if the audi doesn’t know how to program it to fit your loss, you won’t have a good experience.
Kerry