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Do people actually notice your hearing aids?

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I’ve been wearing hearing aids for a little over four years, and I have to say, I don’t recall ever noticing someone else wearing hearing aids until I became more aware myself.

In certain professions (like teaching), if you wear hearing aids, I can guarantee you the trouble makers will see them very quickly and use it to make your life hell. That is why I wear Starkey hearing aids, even though I lose the directional microphones. We have another teacher in the school who wears behind the ear hearing aids, and the trouble makers always make her life miserable.

Im actually quite curious what sorts of issues students give to the teacher wearing hearing aids? I’m going into teaching myself, and Im quite curious what sorts of stuff someone might even have the option to do. Is it just the things they say? Or do they actually find ways to make their life harder somehow?

I had a very bad experience with middle school students when I was still teaching. I taught in a very good public school, with well prepared students and very involved parents.

Here is an account of the very first time it happened.

I had told all of my students that I had a hearing loss, and that there were certain sounds that were hard for me to hear, (sh, p, t, etc.- the fricatives). I wanted to connect with the students and be honest.

A few weeks or days passed. Then at some point, I noticed students glancing at each other and smirking. Some students were deliberately making hissing sounds that I couldn’t hear, so I was unable to figure out what was going on. From my angle all I knew was that the students were all smirking and not paying attention to the lesson. It really derailed the class sessions. It went on for weeks. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until someone finally tattled.

An administrator met with the students and they wrote apology letters. Things seemed mostly okay.

Then! The following year it happened again. Students from the prior year had shared their story. That time I was able to ascertain what was going on sooner. Same solution. Then another class in a different period would try it. And another. Then the next year it would happen again. And again.

I didn’t share anything about having a hearing loss after that, and if kids asked me, I’d say that I could hear just fine, but the problem never ended. As my hearing got worse from around 2020 on, I chose to retire rather than to deal with it. It was awful.

I loved my students, but I think that middle school students can be very cruel.

Ah, yeah I see. I am not a teacher, but I run the after school program in a local middle school. I’m a new hearing aid user but have worn them to work twice now. My students either haven’t noticed or haven’t said anything, and I’m quite curious how it will go once they do start noticing.

That said, its a smaller after school program and our students are pretty tight knit with both each other and my staff, so I suspect it’ll cause me a lot less problems than it did for you, though I suppose time will tell. Hoping it will be an opportunity for them to encounter something new, rather than something for them to be nasty over.

I am planning a career in teaching, but at the college level. I hope dealing with adults proves easier. At the minimum, with adults I’m not quite as obligated to deal with their nonsense.

That sounds hopeful!

Also, can’t imagine that adults would behave like middle schoolers, so you should have a great experience.

I taught for many years before the first “prank” happened….

I prefer hearing aids to trying to guess what people are saying. In fact I would use a huge cone held to my ear if my not-noticeable hearing aids didn’t work. I find people more accommodating when they realize they just have to speak just a little louder and clearer instead of thinking I am not paying attention.

I go back to the bad old days of analog hearing aids, I disliked analog with some venom! Having said that, many people loved them, but I was definitely not one of them, it took many, many months to acclimate, at first it was challenging to wear them for any longer than an hour, you were absolutely worn down by the wall of sound, you gradually built up a sound resistance over several months, and then you might be able to wear them for 8 to 10 hours? For me… Busy Pubs or Restaurants were a complete nightmare, an hour at most was my limit, then I had to get out! So, I tended to avoid any large gatherings… I have often said on here over the years, I would wear hearing aids the size and colour of 2 large bananas, if I thought they would help me hear better! I have never felt embarrassed by my aids, they are the first things I point to, when I meet someone for the first time, I think most folks appreciate that, and they will make an extra effort to annunciate their words, I usually give a few pointers on how to communicate effectively with me, if they don’t listen, I politely refrain from talking to them, in my book, if I have made an effort to explain my hearing difficulties, and that person can’t be bothered, then they aren’t worthy of my attention… Cheers Kev :wink:

Couldn’t analog volume be lowered? Or did that reduce the wall of sound while making conversation not understandable?

Is there some pattern in terms of to who preferred analog?

@user490 said:

Couldn’t analog volume be lowered? Or did that reduce the wall of sound while making conversation not understandable?

Yep, it was exactly as above @user490, if you lowered the overall sound, you couldn’t understand speech, but analog amplified everything, so you mostly heard what you didn’t want to hear, trying to filter out speech was extremely tiring, in a crowded room, it was almost impossible to distinguish, especially so, if like me, you were in the severe/profound thresholds… Mild/moderate losses, probably loved analog, because of the overall better sound quality, especially music lovers, but most severe/profound would struggle badly in a crowded environment… Cheers Kev :wink:

Don’t worry about others noticing or not that you are wearing hearing aids. From looking at your , I can imagine that you might have difficulties understanding every word said during a conversation in a noisy place, like a full restaurant with a sports bar and speakers all around with background music. You might be making those who didn’t notice your hearing aids aware you are wearing them so they speak clearer and in your direction.

After wearing hearing aids for about 20 years, I am already far beyond that stage. I have a cochlear implant on one side, and I am waiting to get a an implant for my other ear within a few months. Just like in the past while wearing hearing aids, if I have trouble understanding a conversation around the table in a noisy place, I ask to repeat it. Never did anyone object. To the contrary, they repeat themselves and some even ask if they were understood. I had even some much younger than me complaining it was too noisy for them, too, and adding that “I sometimes feel like I might have some hearing loss - may be I should get a hearing test”!

Wearing them for 20+ years. Wish people would notice them and accommodate a bit on seeing that I wear them. Many more people wear them than in the past and it’s really helpful if today’s fast talkers would just slow down a bit. When people do notice them the most frequent comment is a compliment related to asking if they ned to change their voice/loudness etc.

Most hearing aids these days are nearly invisible–the wires connecting to your ear canal being SO thin they virtually disappear. As someone mentioned, the only ppl who will notice are other hearing aid wearers who are more interested than average . . . Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your new aids, and have many years of good hearing!

In reply to @stl-user

I remember telling one of my coworkers that had earbuds in at least 15 years ago that those things were going to make hearing aids unnoticeable because people would be so used to seeing them.

In reply to @kevels55

@kevels55 said:

Mild/moderate losses, probably loved analog, because of the overall better sound quality, especially music lovers, but most severe/profound would struggle badly in a crowded environment…

Yep- that was me from the age of 11-12 to….now? I don’t know or remember if the Sumo or Chili had programmable programs - I think they both do just not as advanced as the more recent ones.

More recently people do notice once I say something- like today for example. Went to eye doctor (still missing the left hearing aid sigh). I mentioned to the woman at the front desk that I only had one hearing aid while I was setting up my caption app lol. Most staff there are ok with it all. The amusing part was when I left- I was given the billing sheet I guess? Didn’t get a good look before I handed it over to front desk but did see written across the top “Deaf, wearing striped shirt, bald head” geesh… I was more perturbed with the bald head than Deaf :rofl: :rofl: .

In reply to @birdcountry99

@birdcountry99 said:

I loved my students, but I think that middle school students can be very cruel.

People can be very cruel. If they perceive a weakness, they exploit it.

Children have not lived long enough to learn that “what goes around comes around” so their hostility is not muted by expectation of consequences.

My hat is off to you for putting up with it as long as you did.

I tend to cut my losses early. Life is too short and too precious to waste a moment on hostile people, be they children or adults.

In reply to @Rob1952

Interesting that you would refer to as a disability, I had never thought of it that way. Just like my nearsightedness, I just thought of it as one of those things we learn to live with.

To me, a disability is missing an arm or leg, or more. Being totally deaf or blind would be a disability.

But, I guess your right, Hoh is a disability, I just never thought of myself as disabled.

In reply to @Raudrive

I hear little kids asking their mothers “Why does that man have a thing on the side of his head and why is it chained to his ear?

The mothers of course are horrified at the prospect that I might have heard and I might be offended. If we have time and it’s not too busy, I offer to explain if she would like. Most times they are as curios s their child.

For those that don’t know me, I wear a Cochlear America Osia Bone Conduction Hearing Aid. The chain is the safety chain that catches the processor when it gets knocked off.

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