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Advice on how to decide if I should use aids

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Hi all. Been lurking for a while now, lots of interesting stuff here.

I’m now looking for advice. My hearing loss is not severe. I manage well in most situations but my wife has a quiet voice and I often struggle to hear what she’s saying.

I’m currently a week into a month’s trial from a local independent (I’m in the UK). These are a pair of Phonak Aureo L50s and I’m not noticing a major difference apart from rustling noises have a lot of extra scratchy sound.

I’m wondering if I should bite the bullet and get some aids, my hearing will only get worse over time - I’m 78 (although I found an from 2017 and it hasn’t got much worse since then). Then there’s the worrying link with hearing loss and dementia.

If so, are these a good option? They seem to have been around for a while.

I’m in a bit of a quandary..

19 people in this conversation14 min readJump to latest

It’s definitely time to get hearing aids now. Many people leave it until its too late and they don’t perform as well as they would have if they’d acted when they were younger.

The Phonak aids are fine, but see if you can find a provider who fits Widex Allure . For someone with your loss configuration you’ll probably find them to have a more natural sound quality due to their lower latency and higher sampling rate of processing. They have higher quality and acceptance ratings than every other brand for your degree of loss.

The performance of your aids is only as good as the skills and equipment of the professional you’re seeing. See hearingup.com9 for a list of best practices you should expect from a good audiologist.

Can you hear your wife’s voice clearer with these trial aids? If yes, then you most likely need hearing aids. Experiment with the aids in different situations over the trial period. If, at the end of the period you don’t notice much difference then try out another brand. It is worth remembering that your brain (quite apart from your ears…we actually hear with our brain) needs time to adjust to hearing aids, especially as a first time user.

Bear in mind though, as @Hearing_Potential says….”The performance of your aids is only as good as the skills and equipment of the professional you’re seeing”….so the issue might not be with the aids themselves, but with how they are programmed. Don’t be afraid to shop around until you find what suits you.

My loss is almost identical to yours and I’m going on 69. I have the Sennheiser Sonite Rise, got them 2 months ago, and have the same experience as you. What I notice most is when I take them out and everything sounds so dull.

I’m keeping mine as I am also concerned about cognitive decline as I age. The cost was reasonable, the effort to maintain them is minimal, and I do like hearing those high frequencies. So I look at them like a vaccine, maybe they will help prevent cognitive decline, and maybe not. But I hear better and they are easy to use.

If you THINK you need hearing aids, you probably DO! I’ve worn them for 25 years. Until my early 60s, I had great hearing. Then, my inheritance (grandmother, father) began to kick in. I’ve worn a variety of increasingly sophisticated ones since then. . . always better. Today’s instruments are really marvels compared to what our forebears wore!!

It sounds like you might benefit from the Phonak Speech enhancer6 feature. This amplifies soft speech in calm situations. They are available only in higher end Lumity and Infinio models. My mother has specifically bought higher end models (relabeld Phonaks) and loves the feature when visited by female friends with very soft voices.

It sounds like your audi just cranked up the G50 gain for low level sound. That does not discern between rustling noises and your wife speaking.

Regarding the link to dementia, the jury is still out on if the hearing loss (which type?) and dementia have the same cause or if the hearing loss causes dementia. E.g. Through limiting social life or through increased stress (and possibly reassigning more cognitive capacity to hearing?). There are only some preliminary studies suggesting that also slow the dementia.

My hearing loss is similar to yours ( genetic probably, I was 53 when I got my firs HAs), and found it such a relief I did not have to fully concentrate the whole day on what everyone was saying at work. So to me the reduced cognitive load theory sounds plausible. Getting a good audi to get you the right HAs programmed the way you like it seems the first step.

Hard to imagine you will get any benefit with respect to dementia from HAs that do not help you hear better.

Your hearing loss is similar to mine when I first got hearing aids. Did they help me - only in specific situations. At home with a soft spoken wife, in meetings when multiple conversations were taking place, in cafes where I could turn on the directional program and turn the volume up, in shops talking with salespeople. Otherwise I could continue OK without them, but at times needing to ask “What?” more often. I could afford them so am happy with getting them.

In reply to @Hearing_Potential

Thanks everyone. A lot of helpful responses there. My audiologist does sell Widex (and Opticon) and is happy to let me borrow a couple of pairs to try. I suspect the ones with will be a lot more expensive than the L50 I’m trying ATM - and possibly more bulky. I’m sticking with the initial trial ones for another week so my brain hopefully gets used wearing aids before I start trying others.

In reply to @Dogday

I like my Oticon. They have an app. Via Bluetooth I can adjust the levels up or down. Seems to work for my in my low 70’s. My occupation was involved in very loud sounds back in the day. I sometimes forget to take them out when I head to bed, they are so ubiquitous.

Just change the dome and bush away any collected ear wax.

Many cleaning kits out there to choose from.

Google:

“Google Search1

@Filbert said:

I’m wondering if I should bite the bullet and get some aids

Hi, look at my , when I take my Phonaks P70 off, total silence, you see it on this forum all the time… Programing, Programing, if done right it doesn’t mater what in your ears, and one in there keep them on all the time dawn to dusk. I feel very fortunate that my Audiologist (certified) does a great job a listening to my suggestions and makes the correct adjustments, may users here complain about Ha’s not working properly, so again it’s 90% programing and 10% hardware. Have a great new adventure in sound listening.

Edited

If you’re asking, the answer is very probably a “Yes.”

My metric is “*”What”*s per hour.” ≥3wph somethings up, ≥5 wph is go in and get checked already. I was at 10wph and people were getting impatient, as well as vocal about it too… “Why are you shouting?” and” Turn the telly down! “… so that’s far to late.

My daily is a Widex, but I’ve trialed Phonak Lumity and recently had a week with Audeo and I’d say they’re top shelf for processing. Oticon also, but I haven’t used them since Mores and they’ve improved/changed a lot since then.

If your midrange and/or low frequency hearing is still half decent you’d be suceptible to sounding unnatural or robot-like, often described as tinny or echoey. That’s when simplicty, clarity, accuracy, and speed (low lag) are your best friend. Widex has that market cornered.

If you’re beginnning to notice hearing problems from only age-related high frequency loss and both ears still work, then a simple HA (without features you don’t need) can save money, simplify the fitting, and match your good hearing.

Other musings…

Have a clear idea up-front how much a pair will cost. Sticker shock is real and many audiologist hold off on breaking that bad news until after a trial.

Check what your health insurance will cover and any hoops they may have, like prescribe-before-buy, brands, audi qualifications, purchase locations, terms between new pairs, etc.

Consider what’s available where you are, so your audiologist is convenient to go in for fine-tuning and checkups.

Wear them every waking hour.

Good luck!

Edited

In reply to @Filbert

The Widex Allure are the same size as the regular Allure devices so no there’s no downside there. Widex is using a more efficient AI model designed specifically for sound processing so the AI chip is a lot smaller. Some other manufacturers use models originally designed for image processing and need larger chips to accommodate the more intensive processing.

Hi there, first time on this so dare with me please. Definitely get hearing aids. I put of for ages and your hearing is a bit better than mine. I wished I done sooner.

:slight_smile:orry if someone has said already, but first port of call if NHS free ones. Either direct or via Specsavers like me or Boots. I did both. Resound are Specsavers, NHS are Oticon. Both good. Not sure what Boots do. All free but don’t loose else it costs to replace. Then thats normal really. After hearing test they match your to aids. Still not perfect at first but they will tweak if needed.much before since. You and others don’t really know you have. Forget sometimes when starting a shower :grinning_face:

I have tinnitus which is horrible but again it helps. Best of luck. Mik

I also have mild hearing loss and my main symptom was that although I knew my wife was speaking, I had not understood the words. I bought Oticon Intent1 aids through an online provider and given the limitations of the format, the audiologist was excellent.

I discovered that with open bass domes, the sound was natural and the rustling soon became something I no longer noticed. My wife’s voice did not seem louder but I found I did not have to ask her to repeat herself, which was just great. The TV is more understandable too.

I was surprised how easy they were to wear (9 months now) and it’s been a great success. I think you should consider getting aids and perhaps try the other makes, like Oticon or Widex.

If you are asking, you probably know the answer is ‘yes’.

You say “I often struggle to hear what she’s saying” which is consistent with your hearing loss & properly fitted hearing aids can only improve your situation.

The technology in the hearing aids is important but so is the skill of the person fitting (programming) them for you. A good hearing aid can be ruined with poor programming.

Only a week into a trial is probably not long enough for your brain to adjust to the aids, give it a bit longer. However, I would expect you might have seen more of an improvement than you are suggesting.

The L50’s are capable but now an older technology generation. The latest Phonak technology is the Infinio Ultra which comes in a number of capability levels - the highest performance being the Ultra Sphere i90 but the (non-sphere) i90R is also very capable but without the Deepsonic .

I have found the Phonak ‘Autosense’ which automatically selects the most appropriate hearing program for the listening environment you are in to be really effective & mostly avoids the need for manual intervention.

Why were you offered the L50? Was it to match your available budget? If you have a Costco close enough to you it might be worthwhile looking at their hearing aids where a Sennheiser Sonite Rise pair (equivalent to the Phonak Infinio Ultra i90R) is about £1300.

In reply to @user715

“{Sticker shock is real and many audiologist hold off on breaking that bad news until after a trial.” Generalized claim. I think instead, most audiologists aren’t completely stupid, so they immediately ask your price range because they don’t want to waste their time selling a model, then find out you don’t have the money for it.

In reply to @Filbert

You don’t want to deal with a bad audiologist, but the programming is done at the factory, so the audiologist has nothing to do with that. My audiologist says his job has morphed into electronic issue solver, and any serious problems are sent to HQ factory people (such as when my aids needed repair because they stopped picking up my voice clearly and no one could understand me. As long as your provider is reasonably intelligent you sb ok.

@Steve12 said:

You don’t want to deal with a bad audiologist, but the programming is done at the factory, so the audiologist has nothing to do with that.

I’m not sure what your definition of “programming” is in this case, but it would be good to clarify as it differs to the common parlance in audiology which refers to programming as making adjustments to the hearing aid settings using the manufacturers software.

In reply to @Steve12

@Steve12 said:

“{Sticker shock is real and many audiologist hold off on breaking that bad news until after a trial.” Generalized claim. I think instead, most audiologists aren’t completely stupid, so they immediately ask your price range because they don’t want to waste their time selling a model, then find out you don’t have the money for it.

That’d make sense, and in some situation, say like Costco or high street chain, prices are out there up front. My practice wasn’t, nor the two other practices family and friends have used. :man_shrugging:

Get a hearing test. They’re usually free with places wanting you to buy their , but you aren’t obligated and can just say thanks and walk away.

Hearing loss comes on gradually and your mind adjusts so you don’t really notice it and often pass it off as bad acoustics or whatever. So, since you’re asking, then your hearing is probably worse than you realize. It’s actually quite hard to accurately judge sound levels (and light levels, too) without a reference since your brain adjusts to them and without an A/B comparison or a test that uses defined standards of sounds and levels, you won’t know.

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