What was your first time experience with hearing aids like?

I thought everything sounded ‘wrong’ because they didn’t sound the way I thought they should. I did try a different pair which sounded a bit more ‘natural’ to me, but in the end it just took time for me to get used to them. My brain had to adjust and they no longer sound wrong. In fact if I go without them things sound wrong! This took a few months though, so be patient. It’s worth it!

This, from this thread: New Phonak Lumity hearing issues - #14 by 1Bluejay
sums up my experience.

… I also could not understand anyone talking in just about any setting. It’s like the higher freqs were emphasized and sound was thin and harsh. Almost every word spoken, I’d cringe from the knuckle-wrap explosion in my ear.

Have tried Philips, Resound, Phonak, Oticon, Jabra and now Phonak again; they all sound the same.

Philips, Resound & Jabra from Costco; Oticon and Phonak from Kaiser. Had my hearing retested (similar results) and the current Phonak’s independently reprogrammed and the results are hard to distinguish from all the other perceptions. They all lack fidelity on any level.

My best hearing help is from cheap infrared amplifiers (headphones) that I use while watching TV - without the aids. Good fidelity and rarely a loss of any word.

My hearing is described as moderate to severe with the right ear being slightly better than the left.

At 80, I’ve resisted aids bc it’s just another daily hurdle (or three); never thought it would be this hard though. As bad as my Audiogram looks I have been able to get by, except for my boss’ (aka wife) voice. I would have continued to resist if I wasn’t constantly saying “what”; but that’ another story.

I’ve considered what you suggested about how this all eventually falls together, but I maintain a perception of what sounds should sound like and that’s a problem. The four audis that have had a hand in this don’t appear to be totally interested in a resolution, whether that’s bc it can’t be done or there’s no time for foolishness??? Broken promises and all…

One highly suspect trait in the Phonaks I’m now stuck with for the foreseeable future is the the batteries discharge at a much faster rate than the others I tried. Haven’t correlated that to the idea that later in the day is when the sounds seem more distorted.

Am considering finding a pair of analog amplifiers to see if the fidelity is any better.

Thanks for the response, Nick

Hey Grandpaw, Exactly…

First time was 2007. I got one for the right. it was a Sonic Ion mini open fit. In the classroom, I was a high school Spanish teacher that year. I often could not understand a girl who was soft spoken and seated on the right rear side of the room. Previously, I had to ask her repeat herself multiple times and sometimes other students would repeat what she said for me. I loved my new hearing aid, and the students were so happy for me.
I remember hearing more birds, hearing more sounds more easily. Some sounds would be faint off in the distance, but they were now easier to hear. I remember the first time I flushed the toilet in a public bathroom it was really shockingly loud. The beeps from the cash registers at the supermarket were louder. Music percussion sounded clearer, and there was more of it. These were all sounds that were audible all the time in my normal hearing left ear, but missing in my right, so I guess my brain just chose to ignore some of them. Now, I was really noticing them.

However, when summer came, I didn’t use it. I left that school as it was only a one year job.
That pattern continued for many years. I would start every school year without it, at some point go back to using it, and then ditch it in the summer. When the COVID shut down came, I stopped using aids completely.
Over the years, I have also used an America Hears aid, and an Oticon Nera Pro 2. I have tried the Signia Silk IIC, which was okay but not truly “invisible”, Starkey Picasso, which I used for a while but didn’t stick with it, and Oticon Own, which I don’t think was adjusted right, feels too plugged up, and will be returned soon.

Now, my hearing has dropped a little bit since 2007. I still don’t use an aid full time in many situations, but I am looking for something more. Not sure if the right solution is to aid the left as well, or simply get a better aid for the right, or maybe both. Understanding in noise is more challenging, and understanding in large rooms with bad acoustics is also hard. I can do it, but with a lot of work and strain, and I know it doesn’t have to be that way. I don’t enjoy talking on the phone as much, although I can do it with no apparent problem. It just seems to be taking more work. It’s not “effortless”. I’m hoping the right fit will correct this.

This morning I tried to work with no hearing aid but I didn’t last more than 30 minutes like that. I have gotten used to hearing out of two ears, so using one in a busy noisy environment doesn’t work well anymore. My bad ear sounds like it has cotton or glue in it and just doesn’t work well. This is in noisy environments. In quiet, I’m fine without it.

It was miserable. Everything was loud and scary. The aid I was given, while good and probably the “right one,” just didn’t work well for me. And I was warned my ski slope loss would be very hard to fit.

But when you fast forward, I now have aids I use! They benefit me and I’m glad I persevered.

Yeah @cohen… Totally underwhelmed, after being extremely hopeful, might be deemed as the correct term? Hit by an all encompassing wall of sound, and yes I could hear, but it was everything else I didn’t want to hear! Analogue aids, gave you sound, and lots of it…Trying to decipher words from the bewilderment of everyday noise was extremely challenging, and very tiring, it probably took me 4 to 6 months, before I had built up enough listening stamina to last the whole day with my aids in, I recall being told as much by the NHS Audiologist, on my initial first fit, and me ignorantly dismissing this under my breath, he said an hour or 2 at most, then build up gradually every day… It was initially fine in his office, till I hit the street, then Wham, Aberdeen in winter suddenly became very, very loud, snow underfoot, was crunch, crunch, crunch… Seagulls screeching overhead, buses and traffic noise where overwhelming, I don’t think I lasted 30 minutes, before overload kicked in, and I had to remove my aids… Living in Shetland at the time, I had no one to confide in, no internet whatsoever back then, to seek advice or reassurance, I was on my lonesome, and boy was it a steep learning curve… Be thankful folks, that you all have this forum, to help guide you, and also help you seek a better listening experience, it is a wonderful resource of information… Cheers Kev

Fortunately I was on this forum ahead of time and had some idea of what to expect. I was excited to hear more sounds and delighted when they came flooding in. I was warned that it could take a month or more before things calmed down and I did not need to wear them all day at first. I ended up wearing them from the time I got up till going to sleep, except for showering. I felt accustomed to them in a week, maybe two. I went back to my HCP after four weeks to get my REM and initial adjustments. I asked him to turn my HAs up to 100% and he showed me on the screen that it was already at max. He preferred to let people have the full experience up front and let them turn the volume down. I never lowered them, I just settled into them well. I wanted to hear better so bad that I laped up the new sounds!

I heard a wall of sounds across the spectrum except for bass. I teared up when I first streamed music and heard all those missing highs. It was thrilling to hear my feet on the carpet, doors open or shut, water running, peoples voices more clearly and, not the dog barking or my grandson screeching! Ouch. Overload, hearing aids shutting down for a moment fortunately. I can still hear these sounds now, fortunately, but they are not so pronounced. They are still a reminder of my initial excitement and delight. I love my hearing aids!

When I first went back for the initial adjustment I came with a list, from what I read on this forum, with things I could do to get my music program and my streaming function adjusted including getting closed domes. It all greatly improved my music streaming, along with the Poweramp Equalizer (10 bands tunable for each ear), In a direct comparison the HAs sounded better then my earbuds because there were so many more highs. That and the bass response had been much improved on the HAs. I would not mind more bass below 150hz or above 10khz from the HAs but I now stream music more then I ever did with my earbuds. What a delight! Music sounds so much crisper!

The conundrum that streaming presents is that it always sounds “right”, like what I think it’s supposed to sound like and they are unlike the sounds that are manipulated, for the lack of a better word.

The question is, why is that? I’m sure it’s a technological issue, but that answer is confounding when you consider the following:

In one of my most recent communications/last visit with my audi, I asked if she could provide me with a mode option that was only amplification and without modification. She said in no uncertain terms that the Music mode was just that. It turns out that even that mode produces sounds (a lot less modified) unlike the streaming of phone calls/notifications, which seem real to me.

So what’s going on here?

TIA, Nick