The ten days of hearing aids!

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This is a progress report. It’s my experience and not intended to encourage or discourage anyone from wearing them.

I knew they would not be like my old ears. There would be issues like too much background noise or something fumbly in the ear. However…

They are like a Boing 747 parked in each ear. I can feel them. Maybe this will go away with wear. Maybe I’ll get used to it.

They are itchy. Maybe I’ll get used to that too.

The world is a loud noisy place. Hearing goes gradually and you get accustomed to a lower volume. (I enjoyed it!) Then one day you put a 747 with turbo in there and wham! There are noises you totally forgot about – emptying a dishwasher or the rumble of the washer and whining of the dryer. Creaky floors. Cats demanding dinner. So many things some of which are like nails on a blackboard (are there blackboards?).

I like my world of muffled sounds except when I must interact with people. They talk with mush in their mouth (a phrase often used by my mother). They face away so lip reading (which you unconsciously start to do) doesn’t work. You do the head nodding with a smile.  You don’t know if you’ve agreed to meet for coffee or are going to bankroll their next car. You keep your credit card under lock and key.

Hearing aids are more about making things LOUDER. Everything is louder, especially unloading the silverware in a dishwasher. There is some benefit to adjusting them down but not a lot. I’m still looking for that sweet spot where I can hear people better but not all the ambient noise. (Does this exist?)

My aids are blue tooth (now that is a stupid phrase!) and can be “paired.” I was able to do that with my cell so I can turn them up (good lord no!) or down with the button on the aid itself or from my cell. I can’t seem to “pair” it with another device (like my computer). If I want to listen to a YouTube “how to” I jam ear plugs on top of the 747. My tiny ear canals go into rebellion.

Getting them to sit at the right spot takes practice too. One day early on, I had one jammed up too far. It rubbed a nerve which radiated over my cheekbones. (Hearing aids made me learn far more anatomy than I wanted.) When I finally figured that one out (for a moment I was thinking stroke!) the pain went away.

I will not wear them before my morning coffee. It’s a grumpy time that needs no aggravation. If I’m going to be home all day, I don’t need them either. The beloved husband and I are quiet creatures using body and sign language when necessary (picture early man making hand signals over a fire).

I have my first follow-up appointment in two weeks and we’ll see if there are further adjustments that will help. My “fitter” is not a tech savvy person. He wears hearing aids himself (and has since childhood) but isn’t using the connectivity features. He isn’t much help in that department.

I tried aids four years ago and the result was a return of product because I wasn’t ready. A huge difference now is that I don’t need to fiddle with batteries (and my hearing is worse). The new aids are recharged when I put them in the container overnight. There is still the background noise, but we’ll see if that is better too.

I’m trying to make these work. I have a dinner out with friends coming up and that will be a test of ambient noise in a restaurant.

In conclusion, I want my old ears back.

Since I didn’t find any intriguing clipart for hearing aids, I’m offering this.

57 thoughts on “The ten days of hearing aids!”

  1. I wear ear plugs in my ears all the time during the day due to my neighbor’s howling/whining dog under my kitchen window – I sit in the kitchen. I don’t especially like things jammed in my ears all the time either. But the noise drives me up the wall. When my allergist’s office opened after the COVID pandemic began, they put a Plexiglass partition in the reception area. They have a big sign that reads “use your outside voice when communicating with us”. Too bad they don’t do the same … they don’t want to shout and irritate the other three or four administrative people in that little hub, so I can barely hear them.

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      • Her dog is a Bijon Frise and a shelter rescue. She’s had it about 9-10 years already. I understand that is a breed that is really high strung. I had a co-worker years ago and her boyfriend bought her a Bijon Frise. She resorted to putting it into a cage while she was at work as it would tear up anything it could reach. She couldn’t house train it either and it would “go” wherever it felt like it. She finally got rid of the pup and the boyfriend got rid of her for doing that! It drives me crazy. Yesterday she was gone for about 10 hours, it was raining, so no windows were open – it goes into her room under my kitchen window. I intend to move down the hall to another room when I’m done with work, but I have to move stuff around first. I need to do it before Spring.

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  2. Hearing was much better for me after the first checkup. I’m so hopeful that yours will be adjusted to your needs quickly. I wear mine when home alone, taking them out only to shower, nap, or sleep.

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    • I use ear plugs frequently with my computer so it’s in and out a lot. I’ve gotten to just taking them out if I’ll spend a lot of time on the computer. I’m hopeful they can adjust the noise level down a bit.

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  3. my mom thought it is the perfect solution, so she can switch it off and on if she wants to hear things or not. the plan worked not like expected… hearing aid is in box now , she was not comfy with it… and it suddenly works without…

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  4. My dear sister finally is used to her hearing aids…..but getting to “used to” was not pretty…..took a lot of adjustments and patience and she ever was happy about that part but she and her aids are now “friends”………..mostly.

    Hugs, Pam

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    • They are not like contact lenses! You can feel them. They make stuff you don’t want to hear louder. I’m not sure I’m getting as much clarity as I had hoped but we are early in the game. There will be adjustments next visit so maybe. Frenemies will be more like it.

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  8. Since loss of hearing runs in my family, I’m guessing I’m gonna get to that point eventually, too. My mom had trouble adjusting to hers for a while, but eventually she did. I wonder if you have to retrain to block out the background noises. I have all kinds of background noises here, and sometimes I don’t even notice them (planes, trains, sirens, automobiles, vacuum cleaner, washing machine. Dryer buzzer is the most annoying.
    Good luck with the adjustment.

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    • My brother has had them for decades. He needs them to hear. I don’t. I need them to hear better and I’m not sure I’m getting the “better” that I’m looking for. I will persevere at least for a while.

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  10. I wore hard contact lenses for too many years to count and switched to glasses after retiring. Glasses and hearing aids are a challenge. I usually put the glasses on first. I have Starkey and they have what they call memories. So, I have normal, restaurant, television, meeting, or mask. I can change them so in a restaurant, it tones down the background noise or it sharpens the tv or talking with someone with a mask. I hope you get yours where you like them. I have a friend who has worn them for several years and during the pandemic decided just not to put them in because she was home alone. When she went to see her audiologist, her hearing had deteriorated considerably, and she was told it was because she had left them out. It is quite interesting what one can hear with them that you didn’t even realize before. Good luck.

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    • I’m still learning how to adjust them aside from louder and quieter. I can do it easier on my cell. They set me up with restaurant, TV, every day and (wait for it!) rock concert (how I wish!). I guess if you don’t use it you loose it!

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  11. That sounds miserable (pun intended). I think I would only wear them for TV or seeing people, too. I’m looking forward to not hearing every little thing–especially idiot sports bike riders racing down a nearby street in the middle of the night (which was last night).

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  12. Hi, Kate – I am still cheering you on and hope that your hearing aids do work out for you. Richard was very reluctant to get his and now he wears them absolutely everywhere (but does turn them down when things are more noisy than he would like — I am jealous of that option)!

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  13. Kate, you may have hit on something. Could it be that they just crank up the volume. Jerry’s Mom mentioned that several times. She always adjusted hers by using her fingers on each aid. I thought it was about clarity. I know nothing about hearing aids except Jerry’s Mom vacillated between thinking they were a true gift to wanting to throw them in the trash.
    I hope you get used to them but mostly I hope they help you in the ways that you want.

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  14. Hang in there, Kate! Thanks for an honest review of hearing aids. I hope you get used to them. I am ok so far but have trouble with accents watching tv even with the volume turned up. I can hear but can’t understand!

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  15. I promise not to let this discourage me, much, when I need them. I do expect to need them someday but I had never considered all the ambient noises that would become loud and that is really something to think about. I can live with earbuds when streaming on my laptop and it’s tempting to get a phone earbud/mic set up again. People are always complaining that they can’t hear me. Surely they could be using noise canceling technology with hearing aids?

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    • 🙂 Aids are not like contact lenses. With those I put them in and went on my way for 35 years until my dry eye got so bad I couldn’t wear them. Didn’t feel them. Weren’t itchy and I didn’t see things that I shouldn’t (maybe I did but I’ll never tell). These are way different. Most places allow you to wear them for some period of time to see if you like them before paying the money (actually you pay the money first but they will refund if you don’t like).

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  16. My Mum didn’t believe she was losing her hearing, but when she couldn’t turn the TV up anymore (it was on full volume and deafening!) she said she’d think about it. As far as I know, she never had them. Hubby and I don’t like noise anyway, and both of us suffer from tinnitus, but different pitches!! Hope you can find the necessary balance Kate.

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  17. Hopefully the joy of meeting up with friends will outweigh the negatives of the aids. The people I know that have them complain about the same things as you noted. As I age, I have discovered my own hearing seems to be affected (too loud rock n’roll I suspect on radios) and it bugs me when I listen to the BBC as I can’t understand a lot of what they’re saying and you can’t use lip reading over the radio. I’m contemplating an amplifier to see if that helps. Good luck over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully with more time you’ll get more used to them and the adjustments will rate them with a rousing thumbs up!

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    • I don’t know about radio but my husband got headphones for the TV and it helps mute out the background. We both have trouble with accents. TV/movies is the other reason (besides conversation) that motivated me to give it another go.

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  18. I have a friend who lost the hearing in one ear quite a few years ago. The hearing in the other ear took about 3 years to decline to complete loss of hearing. She is one of the reasons I want to learn ASL, although she had gotten good at reading lips and I remember to really enunciate, so we do pretty well together.

    I would not want to be in your position. I already hate unwanted (you call it background) noise. Only once in the past 10 years have I fallen asleep with people talking near me – and it was New Year’s Eve so the alcohol that was imbibed probably helped. I can’t sleep with the TV on – even when the sound is muted, the shifting of light from the screen bothers me under my eyelids.

    You never have to wear your hearing aids around me. If I have something important to say, chances are that I’ll put it in writing instead of speaking it. We’d get along fine!

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    • I’m lucky that my hearing, while not great, is good enough to get by in most cases. I forgot to put them in yesterday and did just fine while shopping. I’m looking for clarity rather than loudness. I can sleep through a war (at least that’s what my mom said). Nothing wakes me up.

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  19. My mom had the same complaints with her hearing aids. But she didn’t have the high tech kind when she was alive. So far my hearing is still intact although I don’t deserve this thanks to all the loud music and concerts in my past. Hearing aids are probably in my future. Good stuff to know.

    Deb

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  20. I’ve had hearing aides for several years due to a congenital hearing loss in one ear. I hardly ever wear them for the reasons you listed (also due to laziness and when I was wearing a mask and my glasses, it was pretty impossible to add the aides to the mix). I do wear them when I’m going to be interacting with a group of people or if I’m attending a lecture or a play. Hearing aides have come a long way since my mother used to wear them but they have a long way to go.

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    • They have come a long way in 4 years. Now if only they could clarify rather than amplify! I think I will be one of those that wear for specific reasons and not all the time.

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  21. I’m not looking forward to the day when it may be my turn to get hearing aids. My mother had them, and she also left them out when home alone. However, that meant that she didn’t hear her cell phone ring or other alerts. She didn’t seem to care if she heard those or missed them!

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  22. I either will most definitely not show this post to my husband. or I will most definitely share it with him. He has needed hearing aids for about five years and refused. But a little over a year ago he did get some from Costco. He tried them for maybe a week and then returned them. For all the reasons that you list. Recently, we went to another ENT, who did another hearing test and confirmed. My guy really needs hearing aids. But the doctor ended up lecturing me of how I shouldn’t try to talk in the other room and that I should talk right in front of my guy and that he reads lips more than anything else. So it is now my job to help my husband hear. 🤓

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    • We went through that here too. My husband’s hearing isn’t great either but he’s not interested yet. I had them to try 4 years ago and they’ve changed quite a bit. No battery changing is huge for me. I think there is more clarity although not as much as I’d like. I’m hopeful some day they will be able to separate voice from noise.

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  23. Oh, Kate! You have me laughing but also nodding in agreement
    I hope you can find the perfect volume, if it exists! If the restaurant is too noisy that I am in it can still be difficult for me to hear. I hope you have a good experience eating out with your friends.
    As far as the comfort and feel of the hearing aid, my one ear bothered me a lot more than the other one did. But the itchiness did go away!
    I don’t have the Bluetooth kind. I put batteries in about once a week. Recharging would be nicer.
    The Boeing 747 did quiet down for me and I hope it does for you. 🙂

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    • I have a friend with bluetooth and he takes all his phone calls through his aids. I don’t need to do that but I’d like to be able to hear video from my computer through them. Jamming in ear plugs or taking them out is annoying.

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