Switching from M receivers to P receivers on the Sphere i90s What changed?

@Bird said:

A note: my hearing loss occurred as the result of inadequate ear protection during a lengthy MRI scan 7 years ago. What doesn’t show in my audiogram is that word recognition in my right ear is 90% or better, but only about 25% in my left ear.

Have you found out why that left ear only has 25% word understanding? Not what caused it. Is there a medical reason? Your audiogram doesn’t reflect that 25% word understanding, that’s why I am adking.

I believe you mentioned not being able to localize things like birds. It takes two ears to have hearing directionality.

If you can figure out that left ear your hearing will improve dramatically. It might not be the aids.

u/Raudrive, my ENT has tried everything, from a diuretic to alter the ionic balance in my inner ear to a brain MRI, while ruled out an acoustic neuroma. His only answer is that the hair cells have been damaged, probably by exposure to loud noise, in that ear. I can hear tones with that ear about as well as with my right ear, but words and music are completely distorted. If I put a phone to my ear, voices sound “electronic” and other-worldly. Yet, I hear better with aids in both ears than only with one. The inability to localize sounds is driving me crazy. I have birds, and occasionally one flies into another room, but I can’t tell where she is when she calls to me. Same thing with unusual sounds (the furnace running, or the washing machine on spin cycle, or water running). I can’t tell what direction they’re coming from. I’m thinking maybe it’s a defective receiver in the left HA, or possibly the last audiologist set the volume on the left HA lower than the one on the right, to minimize the distortion of the blended perceptions.

@Bird said:

I can hear tones with that ear about as well as with my right ear, but words and music are completely distorted.

You want to try an experiment??

Treat that left ear like a CI. Isolate it from the better right ear. Force only the left to hear. Try streaming only to that left ear. Listen to old songs you know by heart. Watch old reruns on TV that you remember well. Use closed captions.

Train the left ear to hear again.

Interesting concept, but I’m not sure how I could isolate it and treat it like a CI so I cannot hear with my right ear. Could you please explain?

The word recognition score is a separate part of the audiologist’s report. The audiogram just shows responses at different frequencies and decibel levels.

@Bird said:

but I’m not sure how I could isolate it and treat it like a CI so I cannot hear with my right ear.

Try streaming the TV to your left ear only with closed captions on. Find a TV show you are very familiar with.

The idea is to only hear sound from that left ear. Force your brain to learn sounds again from that left ear. This process will take time and practice. It’s rehabilitation.