I agree.
I have the same issues. Yesterday I completely misunderstood 3 people standing 12 feet away outside. And it was quiet
I went home and changed my waxguards. And domes. Was it better? I don’t know. Wearing hearing aids is hard.
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I think it’s a matter of approach. Yes, strive for better. Advocate for oneself, but don’t whine about it and create conspiracy theories.
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Hi Dave, you are going to struggle badly a 12 feet away, especially outside, you have to be at least within 4 or 5 feet to hear anyone outside… Unfortunately, you are severely hearing impaired, and 12 feet away, forget it, it isn’t going to happen! I wouldn’t even attempt to speak to anyone at 12 feet away outside (unless, I could see their lips clearly) I would just ignore them, and tell them to move closer, and say I can’t hear you, if they didn’t, I would turn my back on them, and walk away… Cheers Kev 
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I am 77 years old, I grew up as a farm boy. I went to school in a small farming community school. I joined the Navy and did literally saw the world, to beautiful and the ugly. I was raised by my extended family, great grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins, I was raised to be positive, open minded. My ancestors are Native Americans, and European, a mix that spans the whole world. My hearing loss is due to my military service.
I wake every morning thanking my God and my Native American Spirits that I am still able to get out of bed and do whatever I want to do. I put my aids on when I get up as I also but on my glasses and clothes and I go about my day as any normal person would. Once my aids are on and my glasses are on I don’t think about the fact they are not naturally part of me because in fact they are a part of who I am.
I don’t have extra programs to worry about are even think about. I don’t want to have to concentrate on anything but the projects that I am working on.
My day starts with listening to my daily devotionals. Then I intune myself with mother earth. I do my art and listen to audiobooks and take calls from family and friends. I just don’t take time out of my day to think about or worry about the fact I wear hearing aids or glasses. Life is short stop worrying about what you can’t control, and stop taking time out of your day control your aids as they are meant to aid your day not control it.
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Thanks Kev. I’m doing much better since I changed to my hearing instrument specialist. That was over a year ago He set my hearing aids up better. And he got me new hearing aids and charger at end of warranty.
my last hearing test with my dispensing Audi was better than he had reported in a year
Since I became a heart patient my Audiogram has changed a lot. 10-20 dB. Worse.
I don’t want to play with programs either. I want them to work. I’d love to try some Oticons.
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I’m actually okay with some whining, but draw the line at conspiracy theories!
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Hi Dave, 10 to 20db is a very considerable drop in a year, I would be wanting to know why, so perhaps an appointment with ENT, might be on the cards? I would certainly try Oticon, if the opportunity arises, it is probably 8 years since I used Oticon, they were excellent aids, but given the choice, I always preferred Phonak, it’s just personal preference… And yes we all want our aids to work, unfortunately what we want, and what we get, might be completely different…There is hope but, the new Phonak Infinio Spheres seem to be very promising for speech in noise, once they perfect those initial algorithms, with perhaps better AI, we HOH, might be hearing better in noise, than most of those folks, with pitch perfect hearing, that would certainly be an amazing turnaround… Cheers Kev
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I’ve started writing a few times…and stopped. I got into a rant. I didn’t want to pass that on.
I just found an audiogram dated September 30 22
It was done by my dispensing Audi who supplied my hearing aids I have now.
At 8 kHzmy right ear was at 70 dB. My left was at 80 dB
The day I left his care my hearing was “better” according to him.
So I should compare values between his last day of care and this date.
The guy cooked my last hearing test. I have no idea why.
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When I was a kid, way back last century :), my oldest brother was a sales rep for Winchester. That was the late 50’s an the 60’s. So I was exposed to shooting and noise on a level most kids and adults never experience. I remember on one occasion I was with my brothers up at the Westchester AC, we were at a Trap meet, I think that was the day I made my first 100 straight. and the owner of the company that made Lee Sonic ear valves was there. As he was talking with my brothers he looked at me and said, follow me. We went to his car and he got out 2 pairs of the valves and gave them to me. Told me to take care of my hearing so i didn’t end up completely deaf. Very nice man. I used those valves for decades. I would see and be given lots of ear protection over the years, different types of plugs and muffs, but they were my favorites.
I remember one day my brothers said, come on you have to see this. We all went over to an old fort on Staten Island. It was a big event. The fort had a couple of what were called Disappearing Guns. The Army had decided to get rid of them. the event was they would be fired for the last time before they were removed. I had my ear valves with me!! They worked great. What a noise those guns made and you could really feel the pressure from them. They were amazing. They were inside the fort but would lift up and out and then fire and then they were pulled back and down inside again. The guys firing the guns had heavy muffs on and everyone had muffs but I said I got my valves. I remember some officer looking at me and giving me smile. I think those valves gave me better protection than anyone else because they all flinched like mad when the guns went of. I didn’t. I think those valves worked great or my hearing would have been so much worse than it is. My brothers are much worse than me now. They often didn’t use anything. So I think it shows. Today people would call those valves primitive tech but I would argue against that.
But then maybe anything is better than nothing I suppose.
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Thank you for this perspective, and feel free to rant! I agree with you regarding the fact that hearing aids cater to high frequency loss, as I’ve also had a difficult time trying to make gains in my low frequency loss. Listening to my students whisper to me at work, hearing speech in noise, hearing my office telephone ring, and talking to low voices males on the phone is not great. I’m hoping that we get to experience some improvement in this area in the future.
It was probably an error. Sloppy, not malicious.
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Thanks Neville!
I taught at Fanshawe College for two summers. Enjoyed it. Told my students that as they became more skilled they would get reproducible results. They did.
Well some did.
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Has anyone ever recommended an evaluation for a cochlear implant since you are struggling with your HAs? It’s made a tremendous improvement for me. Just something to consider.
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Glucas, put a “rear-view” mirror like this on your sunglasses frame. I relied on this for YEARS when on the road with my bike.
In fact, I kid you not, I wore this same mirror when HIKING on mountain trails populated by YAHOOS who would carom out of nowhere on a narrow path, nearly sending me over the trail and tumbling down hundreds of feet.
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I had a consultation with a cochlear implant specialist about 10 years ago. He did not recommend getting one at the time, but maybe I should seek another opinion.
That would be worth it if you have interest. A lot has changed in the last 10 years- specifically the threshold for approving a CI. Research is showing that implanting sooner yields better results.
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Thanks Neville. He is a gentleman.
Familiarity breeds contempt… 
Wow - never seen this before! Thanks for the tip.
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