Hi all, I’m looking for some validation. Please look at my audiogram and let me know, do you think this should be aided, or is it not significant enough? In busy situations I am having trouble, but at home on the weekend I’m not.
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I would say definitely you need hearing aids. The longer you put it off the more your brain will have issues from missing sounds. I have been wearing aids for about 19 years and should have had aids decades before that. I suffer from word recognition issues and miss pronounce words that i should not miss pronounce. I am betting that once you get aids you will be shocked at what you have been missing.
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Thank you very much cvkemp!! I think I need them too, but then sometimes I tell myself I’m just being overindulgent. I am really looking forward to when they arrive. I think I have to wait about 2-3 more weeks.
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I agree with Chuck. What are you getting?
WH
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A pair of Oticon Own IICs. There’s no volume control or program switch, but the size will definitely make it more likely that I’ll use them full time every day. I currently have an Oticon Nera Pro RITE for the right side, but I only use it for work, and even then take days off.
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I wear my aids from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed. I seldom ever remove them during the day. Only if i am getting a haircut. The other day I got a temporary crown and never even had to adjust the volume.
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I’m a little wondering about having no volume or programs. My loss is fluctuating in the low tones. Sometimes there is a full feeling and sometimes there’s not. On the good days, maybe I’ll go unaided on the left.
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You would be better off with the Own aids that are larger and have the capacity of connectivity, and or volume and program controls. And even better served with the Real or INTENT aids.
I wore ITE aids for a number of years, I got by without any controls or extra programs but didn’t get full use of my aids until i got aids with connectivity and controls for volume and extra programs. I could get away without extra programs but not without volume control.
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It makes sense to get the most power and the most features. But I’m not ready for it. I know that nothing will work if I don’t wear them, and the tiny ones hopefully will get me into full time nonstop use. I’m actually wondering how my parents will react. They are in their 70s and have good hearing. How will they feel to see their 51 year old daughter a full time hearing aid user? My grandpa was almost deaf when he passed away, but that gene seems to have skipped a generation.
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I am 76 years old been wearing aids 19 years, no one i repeat no one except others that wear hearing aids ever notice my aids. And i wear aids that stand out. My Real1 aids are jet black, my More1 aids are metal gray, and my INTENT aids are going to be sliver. Believe me the fact you have hearing loss is more noticeable than hearing aids to the average person. The only reason the ones of us that wear hearing aids notice others wearing aids is because we want to encourage others with our disability. Yes hearing loss is a disability. And i take advantage of it.
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Yes, I was at an event a few weeks ago, and I had no hearing aid, and I was really limited in my ability to talk with people at my round table of 8. I only attempted to talk with those directly next to me. And with no hearing aid, there was no explanation why that anyone else could see.
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I have never been ashamed admit i have hearing loss and wear hearing aids. Now I did go years without them and if i had known how bad my hearing really was i would have gotten aids sooner. It took a change of careers and the need to be on the phone all the time for me to realize I needed aids. I am lucky to have my veterans benefits, and the fact that my hearing loss is military service related. The VA not only provides my aids but i am also classified as 50% disabled due to my hearing loss.
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I had the severe loss on one side probably all my life, and I didn’t think of it as a disability, nor did I receive any accommodations for it. I did have some speech therapy for a lisp, but that ended in 3rd grade. Looking back, I’m sure it affected me socially and academically, just in terms of listening fatigue. I guess I’m still learning to understand what hearing loss is and how it affects anyone. There’s a normal hearing level that most have, if it we don’t have it, that’s putting us at a disadvantage, even those of us who have some normal hearing. It’s like having some normal vision or some normal mobility. It’s already not the same as complete normal. We can do a lot to overcome this, by recognizing our needs, often by using hearing aids and disclosing our loss. But trying to pretend there is no difference, it seems that it’s a losing proposition.
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I am 76 i retired a little over 10 years ago. After retirement i turned my research and troubleshooting experience and skills to learning new things and relearning things i got away from. I have researched my hearing loss, and my health and i have researched hearing aids. I have also researched my blood pressure issues because doctors only wanted to prescribe drugs which mess up something else in my health. So i started to researching how to control my blood without prescription drugs. In the process I have lost a lot of weight, and stopped the need for medication. I have gone back to eating nothing but real food, no fast food, no highly processed food, no artificial sweeteners and no soft drinks, no fruit drinks only 100% fruit juice. In the process i have lowerd my tinnitus as well as my blood pressure.
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Everyone I spend time with is well aware that I don’t hear well. I could no more go without my hearing aids than I could go without my glasses…
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Just before I got my first pair of hearing aids in my early 50s, I worried how others would judge me for needing them. I wanted the smallest, least obvious hearing aids so people wouldn’t realize I had them.
I got over that in a hurry after I started wearing aids. I grew to realize that people judge me when I don’t hear them well, and I need hearing aids so I can hear them better. For my latest pair I chose bright cherry red hearing aids and hope people see I have them, so they’ll face me, speak clearly, and slow down a bit /heh they don’t/. Even with the bright red cases, very few people notice I have them and modify the way they speak. Ah well.
I agree that your audiogram says you should be wearing them, and all the time when awake and not in the shower. At first they may seem too bright, harsh, loud, etc. Give your brain time to adjust to the dramatic change in sound and give your audiologist several chances to adjust the settings, if needed, and eventually they will sound very natural, and sounds will seem very muffled without them. Hearing aids are not plug ‘n’ play like eyeglasses. They need tweaking, and your brain needs time and practice to remap sound.
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Right now I have my Oticon Nera Pro RITE for the right side, and when I don’t wear it I feel that something is missing. I feel like my hearing is smaller, and more limited. My brain craves the aid. It took many years to get to this point but I am finally aware that I should be wearing an aid in that side, at least, at all times. I am really looking forward to getting my new aids, the pair of them, and wearing them always.
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Your post is wonderful.
And so are the responses from posters here.
I waited a long time to get hearing aids. I’ve used them now for over 20 years. I’m 77. I wish that I had bought them sooner.
Quietly admit that I get in trouble every time I hold a hand upside my ear and say, “What!” or whatever is more polite. I have 2 Phonaks now. L&R. I started with a single widex over 20 years ago. I had balance issues and broke my leg badly. I still feel it today. I think that it makes a lot of sense to treat each ear the same. I should have bought 2 Widex hearing aids back then about 2002.
I’ve learned so much from other posters here. @cvkemp ! Chuck your posts mean so much to me.
@snorkelfan
I wish I had listened back then. I’ve learned the hard way that it takes a while for the brain to learn. And I learned that me being stubborn back then makes it harder for me now.
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Oh my, that is exactly what I thought–that getting hearing aids was somehow discretionary or self indulgent. Well, it’s not. It is critical to overall health and performance. Hearing deficit is exhausting, you probably don’t realize how much you are straining to hear, and that includes at home. It is socially isolating if it goes uncorrected and is detrimental to your overall cognitive health IMHO. It is important to ensure that the aids you select are right for you and are fit to your individual needs by a competent technician. Definitely take advantage of all the resources on this forum and read up. The better informed you are the better your audiologist can serve you, and the greater the likelihood of success.
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I’m at your level with the low tones, but they sometimes dip to 40 and 50db, and I’m at 30 for those last two high tones. I’ve also got raging tinnitus that doesn’t ever stop, and my audiologist recommended aids for all of the above. I was getting exhausted at work trying to hear my students, I was missing calls at work because I couldn’t hear my office phone ringing, and all that turned around when I started using hearing aids. I truly hope you have a similar great experience, best of luck to you!
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