Just wondering what the percentage of people are having success using a aid. I am 62 and have had a severe - profound loss in my left ear my entire life. I have tried a Signia NX7 and a Phonak Audeio 90 for about 5 weeks each. I just don’t seem to be getting any decent hearing from my left side. Noise I hear but speech is another issue. Could I possibly be better served by an aid only in my better ear and forgo the CROS? I’m very new to this.
I’m not sure about the percentage but Ill give my experience.
I have used biCROS before, I have a severe loss in my bad ear (75-80db up to 6khz) and very high frequency loss in my better ear (15-25db <4khz, 75-80db >4khz) since as long as I can remember. My mom thought I responded better and my grades improved. But unfortunately it’s been long since I wore them and they were broken now so I don’t remember how it felt. But what I remember is I didn’t really like them so I went back to a regular hearing aid just because i liked the feeling of hearing in my bad ear. I also didn’t like how I had to wear two of them, made me feel disabled, I was in school at that time. I have never tried wearing just in my better ear since the loss is just outside of speaking range… they never suggested it. I hope somebody else can chime in.
But, all of the hearing aids I’ve tried, none of them gave me the same ability as my hearing friends and family. Gathering and group conversations were always hard to follow and there was still a lot of bluffing. I also still annoyed my less accommodating friends and family… I guess I must say I like wearing HA in my bad ear better since music, classroom, mic sounds and meeting is greatly improved. I don’t have to turn my head to listen to an audience speaking, I also can hear lecturers/speakers better and miss less words. But yeah, noisy, gathering, and group conversations are still not as perfect I would like… but I think it’s better than without. But since I have a quite solitary lifestyle, I might have a different priority.
From what I’ve read, solutions seem to work better if you have conductive hearing loss or if the loss was acquired in adulthood/post-lingual… and since we know how natural sounds sound like and can compare it in real time, our expectation maybe is kinda too high… just my opinion. I’m also still looking for a better option but right now I’m wearing a regular HA in my bad ear.
I have Phonak . The biggest benefit i feel is safety. Driving the car or in a crowd i would not hear on that side. Also in a car i would have to turn my head to speaker on the deaf side.
I had regular hearing aids before i had sudden profound loss on the one side. Wearing the one hearing aid didn’t cut it for me. Turning my head all the time like the kid in the Exorcist
I’m still divided in my thoughts. I feel that I am hearing things louder but I just don’t feel i’m getting the improved speech from my bad side to my good side. Still not sure of the audiologist either. I asked before I started this adventure if they did real ear measures. I was told yes then after the fitting I was told they don’t do them with the size of the loss in my good ear? I’m just still confused and a little frustrated.
Phoenix
