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How much should I hope to hear?

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I feel like this is a question asked often on here, although maybe in slightly different guises. So I am new to , began trialling some models earlier this year, and recently changed audiologists (thank you everybody for your advice to ditch Specsavers, I am feeling much more cared-for with my new Audi).

I am currently trialling the Vivia 9s. I am loving re-gaining ambient sound (although cars and the sea/rivers sound like whooshing drones overhead which seems odd), and I am definitely able to hear more speech compared to without HAs. But speech is still very difficult for me to understand. If it’s not 1-to-1 in a quiet environment I will still be struggling. Outside in my workplace I’m maybe catching max 75% of what colleagues say to me.

Of course there are tweaks to do with my Audi, but as a new HA-user it’s difficult to understand what I should be reasonably hoping to re-gain. I haven’t yet found the Vivia’s fancy programmes for speech recognition much of an improvement on the default programmes.

What’s possible, with my loss, with HAs, and what’s not possible and I need to accept my relative deafness? I know there isn’t a strict answer here, but I’d be interested to hear from Audis on here and what they think and what they’d recommend. I know my auditory processing has probably diminished in the last few years, but I only lost my hearing circa 6 years ago in my mid 30s and I’d hope some of that processing capacity can be recuperated.

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I recommend trialing several brands, I trialed the Resounds, Phonak Spheres and Oticon Intents. As soon as I put the Oticons on I knew they were the ones. I still miss words, so some loss is to be expected. I haven’t tried any of the Assisted Listening devices recently, but I have in the past and they can really help- table microphones, TV streamers.

It can be frustrating learning the ins and outs of and what to expect from them. I believe that research indicates it can take 6 or more months for your brain to adapt to how things sound with HAs. There is new and sometimes different input and our brain can get better at processing the input if you wear your HAs all day every day. If you take them out at home, or wear them just for meetings, (as my brother did), you won’t the most benefit. That said, it is a fact that HAs are not the same as “normal hearing”. We grieve our hearing loss while taking steps to help improve our communication as much a we are able. You are taking great steps toward improving your situation by working with an you trust and asking questions!

If you’ve looked around this forum, you’ve probably seen a number of times that the gold standard for programming hearing aids is for a competent and experienced audiologist to use real ear measurement () as part of the initial set up. If your audiologist did that then you’re miles ahead of many other people (70% of audiologists don’t have the expensive REM equipment according to multiple surveys). After that the audiologist can make further adjustments based on your feedback. But at least you know and they know that you’re starting from what’s technically the best possible hearing assistance you can get from the hearing aids you’ve chosen.

I would also add that my hearing loss is far worse than yours, and I’m able to hear speech quite clearly in calm to moderately noisy environments. You should be able to as well. YMMV.

At the very least, you need to consider the situation as a three-legged stool: the hearing aid, the programming of the aid, and the adaptations your brain makes in response to the new input it receives. Finding a hearing aid may be the most straightforward forward element. Programming it requires expertise and often time and patience. Allowing your brain to “rewire” itself and interpret the new sounds to the fullest extent that it is capable of can take months, and is contingent on adequate programming.

Give yourself time, and perhaps that 75% understanding at work will increase.

Have you ever had in quiet test? (Word Recognition Score, results are in percentage for each ear separately and ).

What diameter of vent do you have in your earmolds? Or which domes do you have? Open domes?

Have you ever had verification of your fitting?

Yes, is low, I don’t think I got told a score, maybe I got 20-30%% of the words. But that was WRS with background noise, not in quiet.

I’m using two- vent domes but probably changing to one- vent. They’ve been a temporary fix until my next Audi appt next week because the tulips I was fitted were too large/kept slipping.

I’ve only had a first fit. I have Resound Vivias (9) and the Audi ran the AutoREM programme as part of fitting. I’ve no idea if this as reliable as traditional tests but is presumably aiming to do the same thing. Since I’ve changed domes, and I also have some other issues that need tweaks, the Audi said he’d run this again when I’m in next week.

I feel like there are some frequencies I’m not catching, maybe it’s the lows in speech that are still very muffled, it’s hard to say.

Details on Resound’s AutoREM4

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