Should my hearing aid stick out past the top of my ear?

I know you’re new to hearing aids, and you feel like everyone is going to be staring at you. But the reality is that people seldom pay any attention. In fact, I often have to draw people’s attention to my HAs as a way of asking them to slow down and speak clearly to me, or to face me while talking.

What you do want is to have the HA body laying flat against the back of your ear, and the wire not digging into your ear. Comfort is key, if the fit is wrong, they will cause painful pressure points.

I am very self conscious about hearing aids. Not sure why, but I am. I am also pretty sure that almost everyone notices them, but they are too polite to say anything or ask.
I went to Costco and they switched out my receiver to a longer one. The position of the hearing aid is better, but not perfect. There may be something about my ear and the hearing aid shape that is pushing it higher up on my ear.

From my experience almost nobody notices hearing aids. (I think twice in my 9 years of wearing aids and then only by other hearing aid wearers.) I think people are much more likely to notice one’s hearing loss.

Years ago when i got my first aids, I was so self conscious of them. I was sure everyone was staring at them. Then after a few weeks, my workmate noticed them and asked when I got them. I said 2-3 weeks ago. He said he hadn’t noticed them until he saw me adjusting them (no cell phones or apps back then). I was surprised enough to ask him if he was just being nice or really didnt notice. He claimed he didnt notice until he saw me fiddling with them. Im not bald so my hair probably does camouflage them some but I was more self conscious of the wire than the aids. I also had to start wearing them at a younger age than most so that bothered me also. When it comes down to it, I absolutely NEED them. It takes a while but pretty soon you wont even think about them and guaranteed no one is thinking about then either. When I reflect back, prior to me wearing aids, I never really noticed others wearing them. It was only after I started wearing them that I now notice others wearing them. I used to dye my wires using a product called Vanish, which is a skin toned dye that helps with the wires blending into your natural skin tone.

VANISH Light Dye Kit for hearing aids8

Includes FREE Shipping to U.S. addresses. VANISH is a scientifically formulated dye that works with your existing hearing aid tubes to match the color of your skin. Our innovative DIY dye kit is a breakthrough product in the world of audiology as it...

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Providing Some Direction – Beamformers Explained -Article 262606

Directional microphone technology in hearing aids is a common method for improving hearing in noise in the near-field. This paper describes the various possible behaviors of directional microphone and how these provide benefit to the wearer, as well...

New RITE aid is found to provide consistent directional... : The Hearing Journal6

An abstract is unavailable.

IIRC, +1 dB SNR gives about 10% better word understanding.

I remember trying this theory out many years ago, I tested size 1 to 4 and didn’t make one difference to what I could hear, the thing with these is they work perfectly well in the lab, but in real world experience no noticeable difference at all.

I am only 2 days in, but I have to say, I am switching hearing aids if any of the other costco hearing aids (the body) can hide behind my ear from the front view.

I like the Rextons, but I think I would like all of the hearing aids from costco.

Have you seen significant SNR improvements with the SmartRIC - Widex claims their more horizontal mic placement matures a significant difference.

I remember my audi saying that when the aid sits back farther, directionality might be affected, not sounds, per say, but where the sound is coming from.

I don’t use Widex; though they work with the same physics as everyone else.

Putting the mics on the top has advantages, but as long as the relative horizontal position of the mics is maintained you can build the same directional pattern.

Manufacturers went down this route years ago with the Triano and the like, but higher order directionality wasn’t found to be of sufficient extra benefit.

I had the Phonak Audeo Yes in 2010. I assume it’s distinctive shape was an attempt at keeping the mic’s in a horizontal plane. The fact that this shape was abandoned suggests that it was not needed.

@Um_bongo said:

You’ll only really notice if the aid is actually in a directional program in background npoise.

Fully agree. “Fitting and dispensing hearing aid” book also said that benefits from directionality isn’t noticeable when environment is too easy or too hard to talk.

The degrees have more significance when someone with HA is taller and talks mainly with with shorter people.

I noticed that with shorter wire the ‘s’ sound is a bit more audible, probably because the pinna before RIC dampens that sound when the wire is too long.

This is my 3rd full day in hearing aids. I have only seen 5 people that I know in those 3 days. Every one of them noticed my hearing aids in the first 30 seconds of seeing me, none of them said anything and as far as I know none of them knew I had hearing issues. 3 of the 5 were my kids who almost never miss a chance to give me a hard time about anything.
My wife talked to people after they saw me.

I am 100% convinced almost everyone notices them, they just don’t say anything.

People with hearing aids are not going to be scared to ask other people with hearing aids about theirs, but we wouldn’t ask a guy about his eye patch right?

I would! The trick with hearing ads is to have such a huge ego that you don’t believe anything would make you less attractive…

On the tube length front, I wore 2’s in both ears for years, until I noticed the groove on top of my ears, still there the next morning! Changing to 3’s cured that for my left ear, but they’re a fraction too long for my right. I have feeling I need a 2.5 there, which they don’t make!

Stick with ‘em, it’s early days for you yet.