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Why do modern day hearing aids sound so loud?

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First let me clarify my question.
At the end of 2024 and now in 2025 I’ve been trying out these hearing aids:
Widex Smart 440
Oticon Intent 1
Widex Allure 440
Signia Pure Charge&Go BCT IX 7

When I’m at home in a quiet environment they all sound a lot louder than my old Signia Pure 7 from 2017.

The sounds of my desktop PC, airco, water pipes, refrigarator, my foot steps of my indoor shoes, crackling shoes, neighbours to name a few are confronting me much more than before.
So I tend to turn down the amplification level. However, this is against the advice of the hearing aids manual which is that my brain will gradually get used to these background noises and will filter them out. So far this hasn’t happened.

Why is this? Has something changed with hearing aids between 2017 and 2024? Is my brain getting too old (73) to adapt to his new reality.
I’m wearing hearing aids for 30 years and every new set of ’s got me only a few days to get used to all these background sounds in a quiet environment and forget about it.

I will ask my hearing aid advisor as well next week.

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My guess is that your 2017 aids were under fit, most likely for comfort. Your current aids sound like they’re more appropriately fit but you’ve gotten used to a lot less gain so they’re uncomfortable. You might ask your advisor if they could use a setting to gradually turn them up to give you more time to adjust.

I am almost 78, and been wearing aids for 20 years. I had to go through therapy to be able to understand speech. Meaning I had the a custom my brain to accept louder sounds. But for me everything sounds normal. Yes I hear the , the celling fans. The refrigerator but they are background noise that is acceptable levels. My experience says your aids aren’t fitting correctly for your needs. There should be away to make the background noise less of an issue but at a level that you know they are there. To me it is important to hear my surroundings just as well as the conversations of individuals that are talking to me. That is what my modern hearing aids give me.

I wear Oticon INTENT1 aids that are 2 years old now. I don’t have to touch them or even think about them from the time I put them on in the morning and take them off at bedtime. But I have an awesome audiologist that has spend years was my audiologist and has fine tuned them for my hearing loss.

Edited

It’s not about the , it’s about how they were programmed by your audiologist . Besides being loud, are you understanding speech better with the new programming? As you said, “t my brain will gradually get used to these background noises”.

If this continues to be a problem, as someone else said, your audiologist may add a transition program to your aids

@MDB It could be.
However, my experience with new hearing aids in 2017, 2012, 2007, 2001 and 1996 was more or less like: each new one was a significant improvement and I hardly remember any problem to get used to it’s louder sound. Only when I was coming out of the shop with the new ones I noticed a lot more sounds on the streets. That effect was gone within a few days.

@cvkemp
I’ll ask my hearing advisor for fitting alternatives. It’s also a psychological issue, sometimes I get tired of my computer sound. It’s 23dB when my computer is on, and 20dB when it’s off. It’s tempting to put my ’s off when I’m alone. Recently I’ve heard about misophonia (people can’t stand particular sounds, like smacking or the clicking of a pen). I’m living near an airport, some people suffer from the noise pollution, others says they don’t hear them anymore.

@OcramSagev
Yes, my current trial is with the Signia and that’s the one I like best. Improvement of hearing of speech and music are large enough to make them worthwhile.

Do you know if these aids were fit with (Real Ear Measurement) and if previous hearing aids were?

Yes, the aids since 2012 are. In my 2025 summer trial, besides the , my ear canal was also tested beforehand. I don’t remember about the earlier ones.

Interesting. I have no clue then. Work with your audiologist. Be aware of return period and if unable to get them satisfactory, return them.

My hearing aid advisor has turned the volume down at some frequencies. I still hear the formerly annoying noise but it is at a lower level and doesn’t bother me anymore. Maybe it’s at the cost of a little bit less understanding of speech, I didn’t notice so far.

So now I’m pretty satisfied with my Signia Pure Charge IX. As I understand this same device is sold in the USA with different brand names at a much lower price, that makes it even more an interesting option.

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