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Audiologists and always wear my hearing aids

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@cleimer101 said:

This is what I would have expected, thus my question. Why not just ask adults rather than be all Big Brotherish and go to data logging? And if they really don’t want to wear them, calling them out with data isn’t likely to get them to wear them, is it?

Mostly with adults I just ask them. But the software also PRESENTS the datalogging to you–it comes up as soon as you connect. In cases where a patient is like “I hate this hearing aid it does nothing for me” it can be helpful to say, “Dude, you’ve had me turn the volume down 15 and you only wear them once a month, so of course they aren’t helping you.”

But largely I use datalogging with pediatrics. Wear time is directly associated with speech and language outcomes and it’s my role to advocate for the child regardless of whether the parents want to put the hearing aids in or not.

In reply to @Neville

@Neville said:

the software also PRESENTS the datalogging to you–it comes up as soon as you connect.

I think it could be extremely useful for children, autistics, and seniors - especially those with borderline dementia. I see it as a positive to PROD a person to put the aids in and turn them on if they’ve been prescribed for wear.

WOW. OK. I am bummed for you. I can’t think of a substitute for the enjoyment and relaxation that classical music give me … except maybe a warm bath and my TruMedic shoulder massage wrap.

I’d never put a dedicated music program on either my older Marvel or my newer Lumity Life aids that I wear … until a few months ago. It makes an ENORMOUS difference in my enjoyment of music cuz it removes the noise canceling and lets me hear the dynamic ranges as they’re meant to be heard.

Wish there was some headset, implant or something that could mitigate the condition you have.

I agree with your audiologist. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for more than twenty years and needed them for much longer than that. I put them on first thing in the morning and wear them all day long. You will never get completely used to wearing them if you don’t wear them all the time and the hearing aids will never be able to give you their full range of benefits until you start wearing them regularly.

As you wear hearing aids, especially ones that are new to you, your brain changes the way it processes new sounds.

I have zero trouble hearing the small random noises in the house.
As a retired broadcast & audio engineer, I have spent the last half century making the house quite.
The hearing problem I have is understanding people when they speak in some environments.
I would guesstimate that in my post COVID lockdown world, that there will less than 100 occasions per year when I need hearing help.

Out in my backyard I heard a noise I didn’t know what it was.
Realized it was the rain.
Almost cried.
I love the sound of rain falling.

In reply to @Zebras

There is no causal link between dementia and hearing loss. The two often co-exist but so far studies haven’t concluded why. It’s possibly just that they’re both related to aging. Or the lack of brain stimulation that comes from social isolation that often increases when people withdraw because of difficulty hearing. There’s a large-scale study concluding soon or recently finished whose results when available may help answer this question.

I almost commented on this earlier when it came up in this thread. When an audiologist told me not wearing hearing aids all the time causes dementia (and then insisted I needed new aids while simultaneously failing to give me the hearing test I’d come there for), she scared me enough that I researched this issue and talked with some of the scientists studying it.

BTW, this is really the only negative experience I’ve ever had with an audiologist.

A few years ago I would have agreed with you, and I think the use of dementia as a scare tactic for selling hearing aids is abhorent.

That said, there is some early evidence now that appropriately fit hearing aids improve cognition. For example:

Cortical Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Function in Early-Stage, Mild-Moderate...3

Age-related hearing loss () is associated with cognitive decline as well as structural and functional brain changes. However, the mechanisms underlying neurocognitive deficits in ARHL are poorly understood and it is unclear whether clinical...

Considering hearing loss as a modifiable risk factor for dementia - PubMed2

: Further research is needed to evaluate whether treatment of hearing loss may reduce risk of cognitive decline and improve neural consequences of hearing loss. Studies may investigate the pathologic mechanisms linking these late-life disorders and...

In reply to @tenkan

So most what everyone was saying is true but I also think and I could be wrong if you have a more modern high tech hearing aids they do have some form of or machine learning. So they would adapt ever so slightly over time as you use them as it learns the environment you are in.

Could be for example there might be a light sound that you aren’t hearing in your home and over time the hearing aid could adjust to were you now hear it.

I would see this happening as sometimes when the wife switches on the kettle I never used to notice a change in sound of my hearing aid if someone was speaking to me over it but eventually noticed it the sound would be different as if it’s trying to noise cancel and push the vocals to the fore and I use that term noise cancel loosely.

Hearing loss has been common in my family. My father denied his hearing loss for 20 years and when he finally got hearing aids he had a very hard time adjusting to them, I guess because his brain grew used to the silence. He also avoided wearing them for long periods. His hearing loss was an almost unbearable burden on my mom. They bickered about it for years. Unnecessary misery for my mom and the whole family, plus I believe his many years of unaided hearing fed his social isolation and eventual dementia in his 80s.

So I ran out for hearing aids immediately after realizing I had a loss, I guess about 20 years ago, and I wear them all day every day. It’s very important to me to keep my brain healthy. I’ve seen what can happen when one lets it go: nothing good. But of course everyone gets to choose.

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