Understand speech - yes. Sounds good - no

Thanks @FiPaw - I will, and I am !!

@AttilaDaPun I suspect that divorce is one of the few things in life that is even more expensive than hearing aids.

Perhaps we should agree to say no to divorce and to crap hearing….and say yes to making sure that the hearings aids we end up with do actually should good !

That’s really interesting @Electroniker - I had not considered this possibility.
I suspect that sooner rather than later I may become a bit of a DIY-er, but will take on board your suggestions. Thanks !

You are probably right about Costco Australia @d_Wooluf .

I have made some gross generalisations, such as “ you get what you pay for”….which is not always correct.

If your experience has resulted in better hearing and cheaper prices then I am pleased….and a little bit jealous ….

Ah yes @ellisonvoice - I remember what the whole range of a piano sounds like !
That’s FANTASTIC that you found something that helps your needs and situation.
Maybe I am a bit old school, but I can’t help feeling that the newer fancy and fandangled automated technology that decides what “program” you “need” in any given sound situation is a little too smart for its own good. Your audiologist sounds like a good one !!

Thank you for sharing your experience @Yves . It is very much appreciated.
I have gritted my teeth for courage and I am praying to the hearing gods for a little extra luck.

@lsmith77025 said:

I think your six months of NOT wearing aids has contributed significantly to your problems. Remember that we HEAR with our BRAIN. Ears only collect sound. And I think your brain has forgotten how to process some sounds. It will take TiME to retrain it.

You are probably right @lsmith77025 !!! I had not thought about it that way.

If you have any suggestions for how I can convince my feeble brain to get it together, then I am all ears….

All jokes aside, sharing yours and your husbands experience and advice is VERY much appreciated . Thank you !

“Maybe I am a bit old school, but I can’t help feeling that the newer fancy and fandangled automated technology that decides what “program” you “need” in any given sound situation is a little too smart for its own good.”

This is something I agree with - and the reason the ability to choose what program is being used in a particular situation is a good option to have! I let my HAs stay on “Automatic” most of the time, but I expect I’ll create various tweaks to one of the manually-selected programs and save the adjustments when I get to the point I’m ready to intently listen to music, and perhaps even play my guitar again. The guitar will depend more on the cooperation of my hands than my ears. Carpal tunnel surgery was performed successfully in 2020, but right-sided motor neuropathy varies from day to day. Hopefully, it won’t make the dog complain!

Quite a bit of adaptation goes on in brain and ear I’m sure. My obsolete Phonaks work quite well on music from hi-fi speakers - thanks to a really empathic young audiologist - but I would prefer something more ‘naked ear’ so, like you, I’ve tried studio equipment to emulate the top-lift and volume compression the aids provide.
Promising, but via headphones and on speakers I then hear weird phasing or ‘suckout’ (much as old tape recordings sound if the play head goes off-azimuth) so one wonders how long it might take to re-educate the ears/brain.

@SaxMan said:

the Cannonball Adderley alto sax solo in Miles Davis’ “So What” on the “Kind Of Blue” album (the John Coultrane tenor solo is great too) is my most favourite saxophone music of all time and across all genres. Closely followed by the sax in Pink Floyd’s “Money”

Absolutely, Cannonball was at his peak. His work across Milestones, Kind of Blue, and his own Somethin’ Else are all jems.
My favorite alto is Jackie Mclean!
Dick Perry on Money, yeah! I also dig Mel Collins on King Crimson “One More Red Nightmare”.

I mean, I can absolutely believe that you had a crappy audiogram done. It happens. In that case, I’d suggest you get a new one.

But I can also imagine that everyone around you is compensating for your pretty substantial hearing loss and the reason things seem pretty equal with your hearing aids in or out is because you insisted on an open fit and your gain is drastically lower than it should be because you didn’t listen to your provider and refused to try to allow for adaptation. That happens too. A lot.

You’re just some guy on the internet, so I have no real way of knowing which it is. Statistically speaking, I should probably believe the second. But I’m open to the first.

@Electroniker said:

When I wear my hearing aids the normal sound levels are about the same with and without.

That means that your HAs have gains mainly or only to compensate for the insertion loss (earplug effect) of your earmolds/domes. So, you hear quite similarly with hearing aids and without them. It’s like you’re coming to zero.

However, HAs should also provide additional gain to compensate for your hearing loss, not only insertion loss.

Hearing loss treatment is hard work - there is some patience and openness needed to gain full benefits from HAs or (especially) CI, when auditory rehabilitation and use of brain plasticity is even more important.

I also think many people don’t realize how good they’ve gotten at lip reading.

Neville: Life can be full of interesting surprises. Your “some guy on the internet” may just be one of those. I may just be one of those “statistically speaking” outliers that don’t quite fit your assumptions. So, let’s leave it at that. Time to move on to more productive endeavors.