Guybrush

Hey guys!

Some of you know I have some troubles with my hearing, especially on my right ear after an accident with a rifle which gave me reduced hearing and persistent tinnitus. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy helps me live with tinnitus, but the hearing impairment is becoming slightly troublesome. And at such a young age! I'm not even 30

So anyways, I just sent an email to get a doctor's appointment, hopefully in about a month's time. I filled out this form where it did indeed seem like I'm the sort of person who should get a hearing aid. What I'm wondering is how good are these? Does anyone here have hearing aids and are you happy with yours? Did it improve your life?

I think my right ear is particularly impaired or even non-functioning at some frequencies. I've read hearing aids can somehow compensate for frequencies you have trouble of hearing? Is it true?

So, gimme some rays of hope and some positive posts about hearing aids please.

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RVCA

Stole this from the "Pictures that say a thousand words" thread. The photo was taken at the exact moment the kid's hearing worked for the first time.

Guybrush

There are some videos on youtube I think as well which shows children's reaction to getting cochlear implants and the like and suddenly hearing.



Anyways, I can't be the only one on musicbanter in need of or who has a hearing aid, right? Come out of the woodwork, worms!

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mr dave

well... my father suffered from tinnitus for years before finally getting a hearing aid. he avoided them for a long time based on the stigma they used to have. modern hearing aids are actually quite unobtrusive, i didn't notice his until he pointed it out.

there are still some frequencies that give him a hard time, like the clicking sound a car makes when you have the turn signal activated. on the other hand some become more prominent, he'll notice distortion in radio broadcasts before i do.

so while they're not completely perfect, they're a whole lot better than what they used to be or the alternative of hearing loss.

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Freebase Dali

Man, what kind of rifle was this?
I've been in many situations in the Army during training exercises where I shot my m16 without earplugs (which admittedly aren't that loud), and once I forgot earplugs sitting next to a 50-cal going off at a range. (extremely loud). Not to mention shooting most of my life previous to that, without earplugs.
In the military, you have to take periodic hearing tests and I've always scored at least normal in all frequencies and above average in some.

So, could there be some other underlying issue that's causing the degradation for you? Will you find that out during the doc visit?

Burning Down

My grandma has worn a hearing aid in her left ear for a long time now (she was born almost completely deaf in that ear), and 5 years ago she got one for her right ear. She likes them because they are relatively small, the volume control is easy to reach and it's easy to change the batteries. I think most hearing aids now are fairly small and fit just at the opening of the ear canal. The only issue my grandma has with her hearing aids is when she is in a noisy public place. For example a restaurant or a mall. She has said that when at a restaurant her hearing aids pick up the high pitched sounds of chairs scraping on the floor and when people put their cutlery on the plate, etc. Often she will have to turn them off in restaurants and malls in order to be more comfortable. The downside to that is that it becomes hard to have a proper conversation!

Guybrush

I'm sure there's other degradation as well, I played drums at horribly loud band practice sessions without any kind of protection for years. The rifle episode was a 30 06 caliber (I believe? Something big enough to shoot polar bears) bolt action rifle which was fired and the ones we have here are incredibly loud. I think the sound and the shockwaves coming out of the nozzle are very directed though. I wasn't directly behind the weapon. More like next to it and afterwards, I had a nasty almost crunching sound when listening to certain frequencies. That disappeared, but then I got tinnitus a short while after.

I'm not sure what causes the tinnitus. It's not uncommon with hearing loss I believe. I believe some studies indicate the sound is generated by the sensory cells in the inner ear as they try to compensate for the loss of hearing. Since my right ear has poor hearing compared to my left, I guess if that's true, then those sensory cells in the right ear might be trying to (over)compensate. That's part of why I think hearing aid will be good, at least on my right ear. Then maybe I can get a more balanced hearing and while that is good in itself, it might also help reduce the volume of my tinnitus.

It didn't use to bother me, I had pretty much habituated it (Thanks TRT!) so that I didn't notice it unless I was someplace real quiet and even then it didn't bother me. I went to a couple of concerts a while ago without any hearing protection and since then it's been louder and become more annoying again, so .. I don't know if this is psychological or because of some more damage done, but either way I figured it was time to do something.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy which is what I'm trying to do on my own says you should have balanced hearing and that if one ear is worse than the other, one should get a hearing aid before trying the therapy which is a mix of encriching your environment with sound/avoiding silence and mental excercices to make the tinnitus sound less meaningful in your life. It's a good thing music is my number 1 hobby.

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