Pressure in ear canal from hearing aids

Yeah, no question I would look into my surgical options with that loss. Kind of shocking this is the first time you are being given the option. Left ear first probably.

I came back to say that a successful surgery on that loss would be life-changing.

That is, you could potentially hear better WITHOUT hearing aids than you are hearing WITH hearing aids right now. And then even better yet with hearing aids.

And a superpower BAHA is not out of the question and would also probably dramatically improve your sound quality.

Absolutely. ASAP because I’m very curious to know the outcome.

Don’t need a Rinne.

My left ear wasn’t used when l was growing up because l would feel vibration when sounds are coming in so l had exploratory surgery when l was 15 years old. The ENT doctor looked and found all the bones next to eardrum was not damaged.

So I had imaging done. I cannot have a stapedectomy. My inner ear, the snail looking things, they are incomplete, not fully developed. The ends are developed, but the middle part isn’t. So they are full of fluid and any surgical procedure would probably rupture the fluid. Then I’d end up without any nerve conduction. So they want to do a BAHA trial, but I’m not entirely sold on that idea. I wear a hard hat at work all day, every day. I’m gonna try it, but I’m doubtful I’ll go that route only because of how invasive they are. If I wasn’t in the trades I’d be more receptive. Maybe a new career.

@anon54276456 said:

I’m not sure I could even get my hard hat on with the amount of space it takes up

Oh, no, you’d probably have to take it off when you put the hard hat on. But it’s still removable even when implanted. You don’t sleep or shower with it, for example.

Probably the most critical time to be able to hear, though, is when wearing a hard hat at a site.

WH

Yeah I understand that. I’m not gonna own hearing aids and baha’s, it’s one or the other. Hearing aids seem to be the most functional for my situation. There really isn’t any advantage with baha’s for me if I can’t wear them to work in a hard hat. I understand they are removable, but if I can’t use them it defeats the purpose. I don’t shower or go swimming with my hearing aids. I do sleep with my hearing aids. I can’t imagine sleeping with baha’s tho.

Hardhats have an ANSI and OSHA approved ratings. You can’t just cut into them or make one up. They have impact ratings for falling debris and for whacking your head on anything in your path. It’s not even so much the helmet, the helmets aren’t tight to skull. It’s more so the cradle that suspends they helmet that creates a gap between the helmet and skull. Those cradles hold the helmet into place, create a tight fit, and provide the air gap protection that really makes the hardhat useful. Like I said, hearing aids are less invasive and will be the better solution for the time being.

Worked in construction for many years prior to SSNHL, as a General Labourer, right up to Contracts Manager, and all points in between, suffice to say, I know my hard hats …. I am just saying, as a one off, a hard hat cradle could be adjusted to incorporate a BAHA, without compromising the overall integrity of the hat itself, and therefore not infringing on it’s protective element. Thinking about the actual problem, I would imagine the actual cradle could quite easily be adapted to suit the BAHA, perhaps by raising the cradle headband slightly, and anchoring the BAHA as low as practically possible, I have 3 close friends with BAHA’s, although you would never know they wore them, I can’t spot them, because of their hair, and I have looked for them on many occasions. But, you would need to speak to the ENT surgeon, to see what is possible, maybe take the hard hat in at the appointment, the surgeon might be able to site the BAHA, slightly lower than normal? BAHA’s are wonderful hearing instruments for conductive hearing loss, my 3 friends are in the severe or profound threshold unaided, but with the BAHA’s you would never know they had a hearing loss at all, they are excellent aids…. Good luck on whatever route you choose, cheers Kev

@anon54276456 said:

the P70’s are way too loud for me.

did you try turning them down with the app and did that help? also, you said elsewhere the P70s hurt your hearing - does that mean they were so loud they caused further hearing loss? is that possible?

I also expereince fullness with my L-90s and am navigating that. it goes away if I remove the hearing aid and put it back in. Then it comes back. Later in the day it gets worse and the R ear just feels fried, and done, but the next day it’s great again. Also, if i put in a set of earpods pro, there’s no fullness, and even after the R ear feels worn out, the earpods play back nicely at a quiet volume without any L/R discrepancies. I tink it has to do perhaps with my brain and acclimitization? how long have you been wearing your HAs?

Ive been wearing the P50’s for like 6+ months now. The 20+ audis ive seen since wearing these have all suggested giving it time to acclimate, well that hasnt happened. What I’ve found in my research is its called occlusion effect. Its a well documented issue with manufacturers but they wont talk about it. More so with the current generation micro chip prism processors. And a side effect of occlusion effect, is it generates TMJ which makes it even worse. I’ve never had TMJ until i got the P50’s. In fact, i only have 1 Q50 hearing left out of 2 that still works, but when I put that hearing aid in, the occlusion immediately subsides.

Initially all the audis wanted to vent my molds. Well that was actually generating more occlusion effect. For the time being, the best i can do is long occluded earmolds, i put the occlusion effect setting on weak in the target software, which sacrifices significant low end gains that i need.

My quality of life has deteriorated significantly with each generation of digital hearing aids i have owned. This is the third pair now. I have one hearing aid that still works from each generation, its amazing when i put one in how much the quality improves. Idk if its because of my reverse slope or what.

I’m getting abutments put in this week for Oticon Pontos, gonna try those out, maybe they will help. I already tried one cochlear baha 6max, that thing was utter garbage. Wind and feedback were amazing quality, but that was it… they sounded good if you sat perfectly still in a controlled room, but if someone sneezed or farted youd think a hurricane, tornado and cyclone were hitting you simultaneously from 3 different directions. So we shall see with the oticons.i trialed them with the headband, but i did with the cochlears too. Its nothing like having an abutment.