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Newbie seeking advice!

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Hi everyone,

I’m so grateful to find this forum, because I had a hearing test and exam with an yesterday and came away with the recommendation that I look into hearing aids. I’m definitely open to the suggestion (and in fact am leaning toward doing it), but I would love to get some additional advice from knowledgeable people, which you all seem to be!

I believe I have uploaded the relevant parts of my results here: http://imgur.com/tjRO1Yi6 - let me know if you can’t see it or if I should try a different way of loading images. The doctor also told me that my “eardrums were normal,” so I didn’t include that section of my results.

Background: I am 36 years old. I have had tinnitus in my left ear for at least a decade, if not longer. It’s always been manageable and not even that bothersome unless I am in a completely silent room, and I’ve always coped with it by just keeping a TV or radio on low. It hasn’t been a problem until the last year or so.

In the last year, I have started to notice the tinnitus getting noticeably worse and have noticed some corresponding problems with general hearing. My husband has started to comment that I have been turning the TV up higher and higher, and I’ve even had to put on closed captioning for some movies and shows with a lot of background noise or quiet dialogue. I’ve also started to notice a marked increase in trouble with conversation - if I’m in a room with loud background noise, I have trouble hearing people. I also have trouble hearing people clearly unless I’m watching their mouths/faces.

So I went to an ENT yesterday and was told that my results were “not what you want to see in a 36 year old.” The audiologist and ENT doctor I saw both recommended that I seriously consider getting hearing aids, just to prevent against worsening hearing loss and possibly to ease the tinnitus some.

I have no problems with getting hearing aids since I definitely don’t want my hearing loss to get worse. And if it could help my tinnitus at all? That would be fantastic. (I know it’s a big “if.”)

But of course, hearing aids are not cheap and while I have the money, I want to be reasonably sure that the doctors and audiologist advising me are giving me reasonable advice and not just trying to make money, you know?

So I’ve attached my audiogram results. Based on what you all know, do you think that hearing aids would be a good move for me? Like I said, I am having some mild-to-moderate issues with my hearing and tinnitus, and have noticed a significant increase in my hearing disability level in the last year or so. (And no, I don’t spend time in loud environments or spend long amounts of time on the phone or with headphones in my ears.)

And since I know nothing about these test results or what to look for, any further explanation of what the results say or ideas about what kinds of aids (or anything else) might be helpful for me would be great! The doctors I saw were pretty great, but of course most of the questions I have occurred to me only AFTER I had left.

Thanks in advance!

4 people in this conversation5 min readJump to latest

Hi,

I don´t think that your hearing loss will get worse quickly from not using aids. Your hearing is too good for that.

I´ m not sure, but I see bone conduction measures for one ear only, is that right? The reason I ask is that otosclerosis is not uncommon for women of your age, and the question arises where your hearing loss comes from. There is some gap between bone conduction and air conduction, but I´m not a doctor. Did your talk to you about that?

I started like you: Tinnitus for years, then it got worse (and I had other problems like hyperacusis), then I tried aids and they help me a lot. But my hearing is a bit worse than yours, so your mileage might vary.

I´d see if you can try aids without a penalty for not buying. Then you can judge if they help you or not. It´s not so obvious in your case. For me, the aids lessened the tinnitus, too.

Do you have the possibility to try aids without penalty if you return them?

In reply to @Musician_72

@Musician_72 said:

Hi,

I don´t think that your hearing loss will get worse quickly from not using aids. Your hearing is too good for that.

I´ m not sure, but I see bone conduction measures for one ear only, is that right? The reason I ask is that otosclerosis is not uncommon for women of your age, and the question arises where your hearing loss comes from. There is some gap between bone conduction and air conduction, but I´m not a doctor. Did your ENT talk to you about that?

I started like you: Tinnitus for years, then it got worse (and I had other problems like hyperacusis), then I tried aids and they help me a lot. But my hearing is a bit worse than yours, so your mileage might vary.

I´d see if you can try aids without a penalty for not buying. Then you can judge if they help you or not. It´s not so obvious in your case. For me, the aids lessened the tinnitus, too.

Do you have the possibility to try aids without penalty if you return them?

Thanks for your reply!

The audiologist only did the bone conduction study on the left ear, yes. Presumably since that one was worse.

I’m not sure if I could try the aids and then return them, but that is probably a question I should ask! Do you think that would be more likely to happen at my /audiologist’s office, or should I look around somewhere else - Costco, one of the storefront shops like Miracle Ear? My instincts would be to just stick with my doctor’s office since they “seem” more legit and less likely to scam me, but maybe I’m wrong on that?

I mean, if I could try them without penalty that would be great. I assume it would be pretty obvious pretty quickly if they were helping. And wow, now that I hear that you had good luck with them for our tinnitus I am even more interested. Like I said, the tinnitus has not been unbearable yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to get there shortly. I already have days where it’s louder than my TV volume or where I have to use a white noise machine at work (normally I just keep a radio on and it masks the sound fairly well).

In reply to @taylor16

Hi,

I can´t help you with that question, as I´m from Germany and things are quite different here. Here, you normally get an prescription by an and then go to a hearing aid shop. We have no costco here, and it´s quite unusual (but not unheard of) to buy the aids directly at an ENT.

As for the tinnitus, when I started with aids, it even got worse for a week or so, then got better to the state it was some five years ago. So don´t give up hope when the tinnitus gets a bit worse at first.

In reply to @taylor16

@taylor16 said:

Thanks for your reply!

The audiologist only did the bone conduction study on the left ear, yes. Presumably since that one was worse.

I’m not sure if I could try the aids and then return them, but that is probably a question I should ask! Do you think that would be more likely to happen at my ENT/audiologist’s office, or should I look around somewhere else - Costco, one of the storefront shops like Miracle Ear? My instincts would be to just stick with my doctor’s office since they “seem” more legit and less likely to scam me, but maybe I’m wrong on that?

I mean, if I could try them without penalty that would be great. I assume it would be pretty obvious pretty quickly if they were helping. And wow, now that I hear that you had good luck with them for our tinnitus I am even more interested. Like I said, the tinnitus has not been unbearable yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to get there shortly. I already have days where it’s louder than my TV volume or where I have to use a white noise machine at work (normally I just keep a radio on and it masks the sound fairly well).

I would say, if there is not a generous return period I would not buy them there. Many places offer a 90 day return period. Costco now offers 180 days. It is pretty normal in this field to return hearing aids if there is some problem that can’t be adjusted out. It also seems fairly normal for places to charge a restocking fee, but I would never go somewhere that charged that.

Everything about the fit and the performance can be adjusted, though, so I would give them a good long trial. Also, your brain will adjust to the new sounds over time.

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