Improvement or Not

@icegray said:

What should I expect from the hearing aid?

Hearing aids do not replace hearing.

You also don’t get 60 dB of gain for a 60 dB loss. You only get a 1/3 of the gain needed for each audiogram. For example, only get 20 dB of gain for a 60 dB loss.

The above is an example of numbers but either way, you’ll only be getting a 1/3 of gain.

Also domes may come in to play depending on what you’re using.

Thanks for the reply. I use semi-open domes.

Right ear 250 and 500Hz hearing level 25db, after the hearing aid, again hearing level 25db. This makes me think, no improvement here. According to your explanation, I should see around 10db improvement.

If hearing level improvement is expected to be limited (1/3), what makes me understand the speech better?

Let’s say you need a certain frequency to be 45 dB before you can even detect it (500 Hz in your left ear)
and likely 50dB or more before it’s really solid. Let’s assume a certain speech sound reaches your ear at 40dB. You won’t be aware of it, but if we add 15 dB to it, it will be 55 dB and you should hear it pretty well.
I’m guessing any improvements with your hearing loss are going to be subtle, but wearing hearing aids now should make them easier to get used rather than the shock that comes if one waits until one drastically needs them.

@icegray

I had to learn a lot using my hearing aids for 2 years. The setup was terrible.

Along the way I learned that two things need maitenance.

• waxguards
• domes

My audi had fitted open domes. One day I put an index finger in each ear, and the volume from the hearing aids was twice as loud.
Remedy for me was closed domes. That issue was solved. And I don’t have feedback.

Waxguards. Oh my. Phonak has the tiniest of waxguards now in the Paradise P90’s And I have sport locks. When I took the domes off, 1/3 of the time the waxguard was in crooked. I think this blocked sound from the receiver to my ear. The sport locks make it very hard to change the wax guards.

I’m better at changing the little beasts now. I change them frequently. Every time I do that I hear better.

So consider that your waxguards may need changing. Consider that the simple little domes may affect how well your hearing aids work.

And…when I changed audiologists the new fitter told me that the audiologist had forgotten to change the programming from Open to Closed, and this was a mistake.

Hope this helps.
DaveL