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How to find the right audiologist / hearing aid

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Hello!

I am new here. I think I have not been able to hear from the right side since I was a child. I had mentioned to my family and had even gone to a doctor but everyone was dismissive. I am 38 now and have finally been diagnosed. I have started seeing an audiologist but she only seems to be interested in selling the most expensive thing in the market. Initially she gave me a mid range hearing aid to try out but that thing was making a terrible noise. Even though I told her so, she insisted I go home and try. It drove me crazy and even impaired my ability to hear as a whole. I complained and she gave a way more expensive hearing aid to try. This one is bareble and amplifies sounds but doesn’t really improve intellegibility. When I went back she said to continue with this and make an earmold. I insisted that it needs adjustment but she doesn’t agree. I do not know what to do now. I was hoping for advice. Should I stay with her? I live in Germany

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This audiologist is not good for you, in my personal opinion. I’d encourage you to try a different audiologist. Do you have any older family members with hearing problems who can recommend someone else?

If you post your , people can help you further. If you have had severe hearing loss on one ear all your life, then the biggest issue might not be how your hearing aid is set up, but the fact that your brain forgot how to process sound from that ear.

Aside from that, did your audiologist do ? If not, find another one. My mom lives in Germany and got her aids from Kind and even they do REM.

In reply to @wtolkien

Hello, thank you for this. I am so new to this, I have no idea how to even read this. That’s why I’m posting a picture instead. I can hear some sounds for sure, like drums when I listen to music, but other sounds are completely gone

In reply to @Maria123

You might want to look up Reverse Slope Hearing Loss to find out some more information.

Usually, I’d fit this monaurally with an or aid (definitely a mould needed) - the whole aid basically needs turning off above 2KHz and the standard fitting formula throwing away.

I remember reading this a while ago and being amazed how different things are for people with reverse slope loss!

The Bizarre World of Extreme Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss (or Low Frequency)...10

Apparently it’s pretty rare and as a result not many hearing aid fitters know how to handle it. I think @Um_bongo is correct when he recommends that you yourself try to become as knowledgeable as possible.

If I were in your shoes I would a) ditch your current audiologist since she doesn’t seem to have relevant experience and b) go to a whole bunch hearing aid places and ask if any of their fitters have experience with reverse slop loss and what their approach is. The more you know about this topic yourself, the more you will be able to evaluate if the answers you get make sense, and if the person you speak to is knowledgeable.

Agreed. The only way to weed out the liars is to become knowledgeable yourself and ask good questions beforehand.

@Maria123, you can probably expect this to be a longer journey than you had anticipated. Be patient, persistent, and don’t be afraid to switch to another audiologist. Your case is rare.

In reply to @Maria123

That hearing loss is tricky.

You’re going to need to look for someone who is willing to work with you to find the right solution. And someone who is naturally curious. Education might be a marker for this, but might not. Asking in German hearing loss support groups for other people with reverse slope loss and where they have found success might help you to find some recommendations.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to me! You have been so much more helpful than both my doctor and definitely my audiologist. It is starting to make more sense now. I will have to spend the weekend researching so that I’m prepared for the next appointment.. Many many thanks again!

In reply to @user490

Acceptance/usage is easier - especially if you wear glasses. Don’t underestimate the cosmetics side in some cultures too, there’s still stigma issues out there.

Aside from that (acoustically) you have better placement and venting options. Just FWIW the loss shown is unlikely to need anything other than a pressure vent, but without a proper seal, and basically ignoring the standard fitting strategies (third gain rule instead) and set all the HF on a flat 10dB gain it’s going to sound duff.

You ‘could’ do this on a , ordering a Canal mould to see if the user likes the kind of set-up above, then subsequently going to a too. It’s a longer process. The small canal aid trade offs are the lack of full comms/adjustment and a VC on the shell.

Edited

Yes, you have to be careful about which audiologist you go to. Many of them are salesmen, and they rely on getting a big commission for each hearing aid. My sister went to several of them and they keep trying to sell her the digital hearing aid for thousands of dollars. None of them works for her and she was very upset and crying because the digital didn’t allow her to hear clearly the way she wanted. She has very low in high pitched hearing. She wanted the analog like her old ones, so I own several top analog reconditioned Phonak brands, and I gave her one of mine that I got from one of my hearing repair guys. I did try digital myself. The problem with digital it cuts off certain sound ranges automatically, especially when the sound increases from the music. It is not good at all for me. I need to hear the pin drop sound when I am playing my music and I make my own adjustments that I can do on analog. I have had moderate to severe hearing loss for 60 years, and I know that it is excellent for me. People say that they could not believe that I can speak so clearly and it is because I can hear my own voice in a calm, not so noisy room and it is a big plus. It is best to go to non-profit hearing center, like at most hearing impaired school or speech center since they are not into business for making commission.

In reply to @Maria123

Something else you might need to understand is having a loss like that for many years will take you time to acclimate to all the new sounds you hear from a properly fit hearing aid.

Um_bongo and Neville are pros that really understand and know hearing loss. What they say can almost always be believed and is the best route for better hearing.

Good luck

You are brave, to cope with all that! I agree with others here - change your clinician. Following more than 20 years of fairly casual fitting within our UK national health service, everything changed when a new young recruit took genuine interest in my hearing needs (narration work and music, as well as normal living) and invited me to bring along my little keyboard so she could address some distortion matters in real time. What a difference, both speech and music! It took no longer than the usual crude single tones, and we were both thrilled.

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