Earmold difficulty

No medical professional has brought that up. Isn’t that a bit overkill? I don’t know anything.

ENTs have only brought up surgery (which sounds more exploratory) and “try hearing aid.” They did not know if hearing aids would work/help me but the audiologists all seem confident - ‘it’s been adjusted to your prescription’ but then confused…

Likely to be mic noise. The OP has great HF results; well below the threshold for noise.

That said, an IIC with a flattish fitting could be perfectly acceptable.

Would you consider that a solution for a flat asym 30dB loss? It wouldn’t make the grade here.

It’s also possible to have this type of loss with a weird dead-spot area on the basilar membrane.
Does it say it’s conductive elsewhere in the thread?

@PianoJoy said:

Also, my issue is middle ear bones so once sound makes it past the middle ear, I actually have excellent hearing. Don’t know if that changes anything.

I suggested conductive loss based on OP stating this.

Well I’m weeks late to the game here … but you probably got contusions from those molds fitting TOO TIGHT and pressing like thumb held down at maximum strength to that area of the ear canal.

Molds that are too small will result in squeaky-leakage feedback; molds made too big will not only give contusions but also extrude out every time you talk, yawn, eat, laugh or do anything with your mouth.

She said it was middle ear earlier. Though, if it were me and the surgeon thought they could resolve it with a stapedectomy I’d pursue that first. I’ve seen some really impressive outcomes from one of our nearby ENTs.

But yes, I’d send for a baha consult. It would bypass some of the problems a hearing aid would have for that loss. I’m not sure whether they’d consider it too mild. But especially if high frequency thresholds are normal out to 16khz it would seem a shame to block that out.

IIC #1 literally fell out of my ear. I was afraid to lean too far to flush the toilet for fear of it going swimming. This had feedback like whistling, warbles, etc and a rate of approx. 5x/1hr of TV.

IIC #2 If I turn my head slightly, I hear it move, like when unwrapping saran wrap. This does not seem to happen more when I eat. I can decrease occurrence if I pull it out slightly after I insert it. This one also has same feedback but at a lower rate of approx 2x/1hr of TV. Audi said it was the settings being low and I do believe the new higher levels has helped a little but due to pain (other thread), I haven’t tested much.

Yes and no. Technically ’floor noise’ is the combination of all the components which includes the noise generated by Brownian motion in the mic.

In either case with a HL at 0dB you’ll hear it. It’s usually white-noise, so there’s a significant amount of energy in the higher octaves.

Asymmetrical losses can give that effect; especially in noise. The brain is expecting a similar level of sound on both sides, your asymmetry gives the poorer ear somewhere between 64 and 128 times less sensitivity. In background noise the presence of equal bilateral signals are critical; even a 3dB disparity will lose your stereo advantage.

Also, I’d like to mention auditory deprivation: as you’ll have acclimated to the loss on the worst ear, it’s probable that you’ll take a fair amount of time (months) before the you ‘hear’ via both ears rather than regarding the two signals as discrete. One client described it to me (over the course of a year) as having one speaker in front and one at 90 degrees; and then slowly the ‘bad’ side moves around you until both sources merge ahead of you. The only caveat being they had to wear the aid pretty much 100% of the time to maintain the ‘learning process’.

Thank you for your explanation. It seems to me It’d make more sense if I had that type of experience unaided, whereas that was never a problem. Unaided I only have speech issues in corner cases (deep voices usually with accents or poor enunciation). And now, with aid, I was very lost.

Contrast this with my Audi’s small office where she has air filter, AC, lots of machines, aided I did not have issues speaking to her. Worst case using the auto settings, I could still understand her even though the other noises were overwhelming to deathly loud.

If it matters, my ears have been this way likely since birth, and flagged in kindergarten. In the last 10yrs, when I got tested as an adult, not because I experienced issues, they have been stable. Other than the things mentioned, I have loved my experience aided because it gives me a 3D world/immersive experience which was only possible previously when I cranked up the volume quite a bit. My cello sounds much more beautiful. I don’t want to go back to unaided world.