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Asking myself how I went unaided for this long

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Hi there,

I have been wearing hearing aids for about 1.5 years and wasn’t even aware I needed them much before then, I had a suspicion for some time but always found excuses and postponed getting a hearing test done.

Now that I’ve had the aids for 1.5 years, not a day went by that I didn’t wear them. Generally, I now feel that I hear much worse without aids and don’t remember my hearing being this bad before getting the aids.

Just one morning last week I realised that my aid charger wasn’t plugged in at night so I didn’t have my aids for a day in the office which really stressed me out and the day was very tiring. Also recently on a night out my batteries went dead at some point and I could really see how much more difficult it is without their support. I really wonder how I got by unaided beforehand :laughing:

I am assuming this is just my brain having gotten used to the sounds with hearing aids and that my hearing was this bad before getting the aids just that I didn’t know it any other way.

Do you guys have similar experiences? I’d like to hear them :grinning:

I was unaided for 20 years (by choice). I had no idea how anyone put up with me for so long more than anything lol.

To be honest I am used to coping without them still. They keep on breaking and last time I went without them for 2 ish weeks. I got them back yesterday and I am still not satisfied. I have given up now.

I went 50+ years unaided. I was born with deafness, and my current is very close to what it was when I was a child. My parents could not afford hearing aids for me, and after 9 years of speech therapy and learning how to read lips and put word fragments together, I just learned to cope. As a younger adult, I was tested several times at hearing aid dispensers but could never bring myself to spend thousands of dollars when I was never offered a trial or loaner set to get a taste of hearing.

About 7 years ago, I bought a set of Halo 2400s from a hearing aid dispenser (to appease my wife) and did not notice a life-changing difference, so I often forgot to put them in. I replaced those hearing aids with some Paradise P90s fitted by a very competent and was amazed. With properly fitted hearing aids, I have noticed a huge difference. When I take them out at night, I am shocked by how quiet my unaided world really is.

Hey you guys all have that ski slope kind of - very interesting! I was born with a hearing loss at about 30dB or so? But now it’s flatlined in the PROFOUNDLY cinderblocked region. I don’t think I could ever go as many years as y’all without aids, cuz I lacked the ability to hear across all frequencies.

More power to YOU! :slight_smile:

Interesting.
My loss is due to exposure to loud noise.
I waited a long time to purchase my hearing aids. I didn’t think I needed them much.

Now I can’t get by without them/

DaveL
Toronto

As Bluejay notes, another ski sloper here. Went unaided for decades. I was hard of hearing by high school. A friend told me in grad school to go to the doctor because I couldn’t hear. Got when I was in my 50s. I struggle without them now, it’s tiring and I miss stuff. Even with them I don’t hear jokes or young children. But listening is not as exhausting when I wear them. So my experience is a bit similar. And like you I notice when I take them off how much I don’t hear. I’m very aware of focusing more intently visually when I’m without the aids.

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