Noise in cars

I wear Phonak Spheres and we have a VW GTI and when the car is moving I only hear road/wind noise even when the window are up. Along the same lines, my wife feeds birds and this is Starling breeding season which is shear torment to me. Also, crinkling paper/plastic/wrap. I wear closed domes. My audi/tech set a program that doesn’t help. Is it time to change audis? How do you know which one is going to help. I know people in the forum swear by the Phonak Spheres, but I’m not one of them.

@anon22361496 said:

this is Starling breeding season which is shear torment to me. Also, crinkling paper/plastic/wrap. I wear closed domes.

How long have worn hearing aids? Are these Sphere’s your first hearing aids?

I ask because it takes time to acclimate to hearing aids. All the new sounds can be crazy loud for a while until acclimated. Turning the volume down a little should help during this acclimation time. Do you know what percentage of prescription your aids are programmed at?

If you have years with aids it could be a programming issue. Was REM done during the fitting?

Everybody’s different. I grew up in the same era as cvkemp. I never even rode in an air conditioned car until in my 20s, but I hardly ever put a window down in my car. It’s got nothing to do with the noise. I don’t like the wind coming at me.

When it comes to all the background noise hearing aids bring back to us, I have to say if I never heard a damn bird again it would be quite all right with me, and the same for a lot of other background noises. Putting up with that stuff is to me the price I have to pay for things I do want to hear.

And for me I live out on a forest. I love all the sounds that God created. We have all types of birds. They sound like classical music to me. We have bull frogs and tree frogs, coyotes, mountain lions, and bear. I love the sounds of nature. We have a pair parakeets that keep me entertained. I walk the forest trails and love to hear the win blowing in the tree tops. I love the sounds of water flowing in the creeks. So yes we are all different. I wear the Phonak Spheres and created a program that I call trail. It is basically the music program with full surroundings allowed and a noise filters disabled. I can even hear a mosquito. But I still have issues with speech understanding at times.
The sounds I can stand are the sounds of a noisy city street.

I’ve liked hearing birds in general, but a house wren nested about 15 ft from the windows to our bedroom / My home office (back when I was working) and had only worn aids maybe 8 months, and I was about out of my mind at her songs! 4:30, maybe 5AM, and it was too much, just too much. She’d sit on the rail around the deck under our window and sing away.

WH

My thought.

I’ve had tinnitus as long as I remember. I’m 79 now.

Most of the time I ignore it.

Sometimes it’s overwhelming.

It sounds like two beginner high school bands tuning up. One in each ear. Completely different. Fighting to be heard.

I call tinnitus my stress meter now. Stressed it’s all I hear. And I’m exhausted.

WH were you stressed when the bird bothered you?

DaveL

Toronto.

Unfortunately, with car noise, you get the whole gamut of hearing obstacles. Be it bad tires, bad road, or lack of sound insulation. Then if you’re in the front seat or diving you’re not facing people behind you that are talking. Add the radio turned on, and it’s a noisy adventure. I recently bought the new Camry with a soundproof windshield, along with side door windows. Wife claims the car cabin is quiet, but I really don’t notice the difference. Unfortunately, my aids pull in all the noise, and of course, that level picks up when you’re driving on the freeway or on course roads. Open the sunroof and all hell breaks loose - noise-wise.

My tinnitus was changing due to certain prescription medication, and over the counter sinus and cold medication. I no longer take prescription medication and I am very careful about over the counter medication. And I have found that even certain food ingredients can cause changes in my tinnitus. Also changes in weather conditions can change my tinnitus. It sounds crazy but it happens. And yes stress levels can cause tinnitus changes.

@cvkemp

Hi chuck

My hearing became dramatically worse after I had a heart procedure. I was taking numerous prescribed medicines.

Some made me dizzy. Some messed up my hearing.

My tinnitus became worse.

DaveL

@DaveL
I have heard and read so much about how prescription and over the counter medication can affect our hearing, tinnitus, and eyes. I am so fortunate that I am finally off all prescription medication. I am learning about how diet and all natural ingredients, herbs and plants can heal and keep use healthy. Beets and oranges combined are great for vision. Beets and beetroot supplements are great to lower blood pressure.

@cvkemp said:

Also changes in weather conditions can change my tinnitus.

Chuck Barometer Kemp. Kind of rolls off the tongue.

Stress and blood pressure sure mess with my tinnitus.