Do people actually notice your hearing aids?

I wish people would stop saying that. Any hearing aids coming out of the ear ARE NOT INVISIBLE…and just becuase people keep saying it doesn’t make it true. Most people do see them…even if they don’t admit it becuase they are embarrassed or feel sory for you.

Sorry to burst your bubble @bbsearchlight in all honesty, unfortunately nobody really cares about whether you wear hearing aids or not, they have far too many other problems to deal with, I wouldn’t imagine that they feel anything if they spot them, perhaps indifference? Look around any busy “High Street” hundreds of folks wear Ear Buds, does anyone bat an eyelid, could those ear buds be hearing aids, possibly? I must admit, I am a hearing aid watcher, I try to observe or spot folks with aids on, I have loads of friends with hearing aids, some are extremely difficult to spot! For instance my wife’s RIC’s, I persuaded Elspeth 6 months ago to get aids, after many years of cajoling (Chemo got some of her hearing!) now she absolutely loves them, she hears better, streams her music directly into her ears, cell phone calls direct, and the TV isn’t blaring anymore! Her hair isn’t long, but try as I might, and I am looking hard to spot that RIC wire, unless I am 6 inches away, then that wire is very difficult to spot! But, apart from those with a vested interest, like us HOH, the rest of society don’t give a toss, it isn’t their problem… Cheers Kev

Heck, at my age people notice if you DON’T wear hearing aids, because they assume all older seniors do wear aids. Also they assume you can’t see well, can’t walk well, and a host of other things.

But on the greenways, they assume all bikers are young and strong. I am blessed to still ride on the greenways once of twice a week for about 4 or 5 miles, and when they find I’m this age, it blows their mind. I hope I can keep doing it, for I love to ride and stream my music with my aids.

My dear friend…I’m 43, wearing aids for about a year now. In the first period i was scared about people looking at my ears (just my fear no one look into my/your ears) but please, we are in 2026, people are full covered of tattoo, some have piercing in every part of their face/body, others split their tongue in two, woman loves woman and man loves man, everyone wears buds and smart glasses, purple\gree\blue hair…Do you really think someone cares about your Hearing aids? I don’t think so…

Cheers!

I guess that means I not only have a hearing disability, I also have a vision disability.

My hearing on my left side is partially corrected with my Osia Bone Conduction Hearing Aid, but not 100%. We haven’t measured the percentage of correction, but I wool estimate it to be at 80%.

My vision is primarily defined by a disease called Keratoconus. I have it in both eyes, but to a greater extent in the left eye. It is barely measurable in my right eye. It’s odd that the left ear has an idiopathic loss of hearing, and the left eye is affected by the Keratoconus. It almost makes me think something happened to me somewhere along the way that primarily affected the left side of my head.

At any rate, the Keratoconus, which I will from here on refer to as KC, is characterizecd by the cornea of the eye developing a thin surface allowing the internal pressures of the eye to push outward in irregular patterns causing the surface of the cornea to take on the appearance of one or more cone shaped protrusions. This causes the cornea to refract light so that multiple images of the same thing show up in the subject’s.

KC cannot be corrected by glasses, nor can it be corrected by conventional contact lenses. KC can only be corrected by wearing large Rigid Gas Permeable lenses that are large enough to cover the entire cornea without resting on the cornea. No part of the lens can touch the cone formed by the KC because it will cause it would result in intense pain. These lenses are referred to as scleral contacts because the skirt of these lenses rest on the sclera of the eye, which is the white part of the eye. The sclera has very little feeling, which allows this lens to work.

Scleral lenses are not 100% effective in correcting KC in all patients. In my case they correct my vision to 20/25, which in effect is close enough to be considered perfect. However, I can’t wear them every day. My eyes are prone to dryness, which causes the lenses to become very uncomfortable. On those days my vision without corrective lenses is 20/100. It’s good enough to get around, I even drive in families areas during daylight, but not at night.

So with my hearing, and my vision, I guess I have two disabilities. It’s interesting that until I read this thread, I didn’t consider myself disabled.

@jsrustad said:

When my physician got out his otoscope and was going to insert it in my ear, I quickly removed my hearing aids. He was startled

This got a chuckle out of me. Years ago I had a similar thing happen but my doctor went right through the exam without noticing I had aids on with molds. I didn’t say anything. He was pretty old and he seemed to be the one that was disabled.

TexOkie, Thanks for that comment about KC. I had not heard of it. I had standard cataract surgery at a somewhat younger age than normal. I was 52 and 53. Now have been wearing hearing aids for three years. I often think that I was born at the right time. If I had been born a hundred years earlier I would be basically blind and deaf - if alive at all.

I’ve often thought i would not have survived had I been born in the 1800’s or before. I wouldn’t have been able to see what I was doing, nor who I was talking to. I also would not have heard anyone coming up on my left side. I would have probably been mugged and killed at a young age.

I’m 20 now, have had hearing aids since I was 4 months old and I have not had people notice, even if I wore my hair up. I have bright pink and purple molds as well. People only notice if I take out hearing aids and they realize that its a hearing aid. Depending on your speech, most people wont even consider hearing loss a possibility for you-- “You speak so well for a deaf person!” is one I get constantly when I do tell people, and a majority are very shocked. Also, since hearing aids are mostly an “old person” thing, if youre young people also aren’t going to say much.

TLDR: No. And even if they did, they most likely will keep it to themselves. If they don’t, that’s their issue.

I think it’s ironic how I’m always thinking someone has hearing aids and then 90% of the time I realize they’re just wearing fancy OTE headphones

To add another perspective on the earbuds thing:

I’ll spare you the drawn-out saga with several audiologists, but I eventually gave up and just used Apple Airpods Pro 2 (the newest model at the time). They worked pretty well for my needs, and if didn’t have a professional job, I probably would have left it there. But I do have a professional job, and there are often networking-type professional settings that are an acoustic nightmare, and where it’s considered rude to wear earbuds. I needed something that would do the same thing but either be invisible or look like a hearing aid rather than earbuds. So I started down the OTC road, and eventually discovered DIY and bought a pair of used Phonaks on eBay. They’re better than the Airpods for most things, but if money was tight and I didn’t have to care about the form factor, I’m not sure I’d have considered the improvement worth the extra cost. (Of course that will be different for those with more severe losses or other issues different from mine.)

I suppose norms vary between industries, but I’m always a bit surprised when someone says that using earbuds as hearing aids (and presumably keeping them in when having conversations with clients and/or their boss) is considered more acceptable than wearing actual hearing aids.

Funny you mention, I counted at least 20 people wear hearing aids during my last trip to EU

I’m wearing Starkey Omega AI 16 R ITC, which can be seen from the front. I’ve not had a single person say “oh, hearing aids I see”, or “when did you start wearing Hearing aids?” Oh, when did you start wearing glasses? When did you start asking so many questions? When did you stop dragging your knuckles on the ground?

It makes not a bit of difference to me. I’ll be happy to answer their silly questions.

Since you are young and a bit vain, get a set of bolt-on breasts, go large, and people won’t be looking at your ears.