My Day at the Audiologist's Office

Today I visited an audiologist for the first time since 1995 because my hearing aid had a broken hook (I've had the same analog hearing aid since 1995 - it still works). While we were there I told him I'd like to take a look at a digital hearing aid. He said well there are some good ones for hard of hearing (take note: he said "hard of hearing" when referring to me) people...so we did my hearing test. The look on his face was priceless!!!! He was shocked...and finally after a minute or two he composed himself and then said, "My god. You are really DEAF! Deaf as they come! I thought you had better hearing because of your speech. Look here - you're all the way down the bottom!" I managed to refrain from laughing. Anyway something really weird happened. They used the programming equipment to match the settings of the hearing aid (Oticon Sumo DM) and finally I got to wear it to test it out.

OMG!

I could hear things that I had never heard before in my life! I'm seriously not kidding. It was my turn to look shocked. I'm wearing the loaner for a week before I go back to decide to purchase it or not.

Friends who are using analog hearing aids - take my word for it. Try the digital ones if you can. Tonight for the first time ever I got to hear the voices of my two babies. I cried and cried. This is a person who shrugged things off by saying who needs sounds anyways? I only wore a hearing aid for balance purposes (which by the way I have to go to the specialist because he said I have some serious inner ear issues...go figure). I'm seriously dumbfounded right now.

That's an interesting update and I had to laugh at some of your experiences (the audie's surprise at your hearing loss vs speech and not seeing the audie for years as both use to apply to me).

It's very sweet that you heard your babies' voices for the first time. How old are they?

Along the same lines, I know of a girl who couldn't hear ANYTHING........not even with those body worn hearing aids, but she was getting some speech perception with HAs, with a new digital!

That is so exciting! Great!

I used an analog aid from the time when I was 2 until I was 12. I didn't wear aids for a while and now at 18 I am wearing them again. I got digital aids and had a hard time adjusting so just out of curiosity my audiologist switched them to analog to see if it would help. She said the look on my face was priceless as I got this look of disgust LOL. Digital is certainly the way to go!

R2D2 said:

That's an interesting update and I had to laugh at some of your experiences (the audie's surprise at your hearing loss vs speech and not seeing the audie for years as both use to apply to me).

It's very sweet that you heard your babies' voices for the first time. How old are they?

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6 and almost 2.

JennyB said:

That is so exciting! Great!

I used an analog aid from the time when I was 2 until I was 12. I didn't wear aids for a while and now at 18 I am wearing them again. I got digital aids and had a hard time adjusting so just out of curiosity my audiologist switched them to analog to see if it would help. She said the look on my face was priceless as I got this look of disgust LOL. Digital is certainly the way to go!

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It does take time to get used to it...we had to tone it down because I was receiving too much aural information that it was driving me crazy with trying to locate sounds. My audiogram shows the lines are wayyyyyyyy down at the bottom of the chart, so I'm kinda deaf haha. But with these, the hearing I get is above the speech banana part, which is just...whoa. I hear voices for the first time ever in my life. I heard the shopping cart wheels today...it took me about 10 minutes to figure that one out.

The cool thing about this aide is that if I'm in a noisy environment and people near me are speaking, the aid is programmed to recognize speech and will turn out the background noise and pick up the speech. So I feel like I'm a government spy now, LOL.

If the aids can work so well with people of your kind of hearing loss then why are doctors so quick to say that babies arent benefitting from HAs which in turn that they need implants??? This doesnt make sense.

Anyways, I am glad for u and I would like to get those kinds of aids u have. Smile

shel90 said:

If the aids can work so well with people of your kind of hearing loss then why are doctors so quick to say that babies arent benefitting from HAs which in turn that they need implants??? This doesnt make sense.

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Before I reply to this, I just want to check with the OP if this is a support thread or a debate thread or both. I don't want to cause her thread to go off the track in that direction if that is what she doesn't want.

I think it's great to see so many hearing aid related threads in here lately. I hope people keep them coming.

I've worn analogs Jan. 2001. That was when I got my first digital (Phonak's Claro). I liked it, but then I got the Supero almost 4 years ago, and whoa.. even more power and volume. There have been times that I've had to wear the Claro because the Supero had to be sent in, and I always am shocked at how QUIET the world is with the Claro. Big difference.

Now, I'm looking at Phonak's new Naida, and will be talking to my audiologist next week about getting one. With all the new features on the Naida, I think it'll be the perfect hearing aid for me, until of course, the next newer more technical one comes out.

R2D2 said:

Before I reply to this, I just want to check with the OP if this is a support thread or a debate thread or both. I don't want to cause her thread to go off the track in that direction if that is what she doesn't want.

I think it's great to see so many hearing aid related threads in here lately. I hope people keep them coming.

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it's probably a HA moment thread eh I guess the OP was sharing the HA moment... *shrug*

R2D2 said:

Before I reply to this, I just want to check with the OP if this is a support thread or a debate thread or both. I don't want to cause her thread to go off the track in that direction if that is what she doesn't want.

I think it's great to see so many hearing aid related threads in here lately. I hope people keep them coming.

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True...deafbajagal..my apologies...dont worry about my questions about babies and HAs. This is your support thread.

I am glad that all is going well!!!

Oh, I thought your response was okay - good point. If HAs are so awesome, then why aren't they using them first before automatically implanting? Good point. Somebody has to say it .

I've always wore an aide strictly for balance and maybe some environmental awareness - but honestly, who cares about lawn mowers, jets, and trains (unless one of them is coming at you! Then that'd be a good thing to be aware of, ha).

Now I'm hearing stuff that I never knew made sounds. I was walking and then there was this noise...I stopped...it stopped...so I walked again. There it was - the noise. Then I realized I was hearing my own footsteps. Wow! LOL I felt so silly. But I'm like a new baby, learning new sounds and trying to incorporate what's happening. This is my aide in a low setting - not even at where it is supposed to be because I asked the audio' to please tone it down because I was getting too much all at once.

I'm STILL in shock. I went to the mall just to see what I could hear. OMG. I heard the hangers clicking on the racks. Then I took off the aide...complete, utter silence.

hen why are doctors so quick to say that babies arent benefitting from HAs which in turn that they need implants???

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No idea.........I mean yes there are a significent number of kids who DON'T benifit at ALL from HAs......but yeah....I honestly think some doctors are jumping the gun, as well as hearing parents "shopping" around for a clinic to get implanted at.......Maybe it just seems that some people are jumping the gun, and there are still a lot of babies who aren't even being implanted. After all, some people don't even have health insurance. Maybe the current crop of "implant shoppers" simply represents parents who are relatively wealthy.

I'm wearing a digital hearing aid. You're right, I began to hear things that I didn't think I could hear before.

So, what kind is it?

The one I have has 3 modes... regular mode, focuses mode, and MTV mode.

regular mode - like the normal M mode on analog hearing aids, but with anti-feedback
focused mode - it is the same as regular mode, but the background sounds are reduced and the sounds of a person talking in front of you are increased (good for crowded restaurants and bars)
MTV mode (music/television mode) - the same as M mode on analog hearing aids (since regular mode has anti-feedback, sound effects and music are considered feedback and are reduced) and good for listening to music

I was offered telephone mode, but I don't use the telephone. So, I traded that for MTV mode.

I am very excited for you. The new HA are amazing. It is pretty overwhelming to hear sounds you never heard before, your own feet - wow

Back to the comment about trying hearing aids. They did not and could not work me. I received no benefit. I also had tinnutis and migraines so the HA just made it worst.

Good luck with the HA and enjoy the sounds. I love the part of hearing your babies voices. That is just amazing.

Wow, that's pretty awesome for you!

I had analog hearing aids when I was 2 years old until I was 26 (not the same ones of course!), then I got digital ones. Things sounded much better. I was able to hear pretty much everything that you're hearing now throughout my whole life. Then things started to sound muffled, quiet, difficult to understand...hence the reason for the CI. Now with the CI, I'm like you, "Holey Moley! The world is very very loud!"

Things will sound very loud to you right now because your nerves are getting simulation that they never had before, so they're "waking up". Over time, it will sound a little bit quieter and better. The cool thing about digitals is that you can adjust the levels and stuff to your liking.

Best of luck with your new hearing aids, and hearing your babies. :-D

I enjoyed reading your account. It must have been amusing for yourself and the audi. *smiles*.

I had new HA's this year and I really like it! I had three programs on it. One was to hear the music more clearly, but haven't tried that one as I'm not a music lover. And other one was to filter the background noise so I could focus on conversations and other one was for everyday noises.

At my niece's 21st party, music was blaring so I tried the filter and it worked great! I think my parent and siblings were jealous. Hehe!

vallee said:

I am very excited for you. The new HA are amazing. It is pretty overwhelming to hear sounds you never heard before, your own feet - wow

Back to the comment about trying hearing aids. They did not and could not work me. I received no benefit. I also had tinnutis and migraines so the HA just made it worst.

Good luck with the HA and enjoy the sounds. I love the part of hearing your babies voices. That is just amazing.

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Yep, you're right. HAs aren't for everyone. Each one us have our own unique type of hearing loss and all the factors that goes into account when deciding what works for you (I think I remember that you have a CI). I'm glad you found something that works for you and you're happy with it.

Miss-Delectable said:

I enjoyed reading your account. It must have been amusing for yourself and the audi. *smiles*.

I had new HA's this year and I really like it! I had three programs on it. One was to hear the music more clearly, but haven't tried that one as I'm not a music lover. And other one was to filter the background noise so I could focus on conversations and other one was for everyday noises.

At my niece's 21st party, music was blaring so I tried the filter and it worked great! I think my parent and siblings were jealous. Hehe!

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Hahaha funny!

VamPyroX said:

I'm wearing a digital hearing aid. You're right, I began to hear things that I didn't think I could hear before.

So, what kind is it?

The one I have has 3 modes... regular mode, focuses mode, and MTV mode.

regular mode - like the normal M mode on analog hearing aids, but with anti-feedback
focused mode - it is the same as regular mode, but the background sounds are reduced and the sounds of a person talking in front of you are increased (good for crowded restaurants and bars)
MTV mode (music/television mode) - the same as M mode on analog hearing aids (since regular mode has anti-feedback, sound effects and music are considered feedback and are reduced) and good for listening to music

I was offered telephone mode, but I don't use the telephone. So, I traded that for MTV mode.

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Same here. He said he was pretty sure I didn't talk on the telephone (based on the rock bottom lines of my hearing haha) so he mentioned the MTV mode. I'm said, "I'm not a MTV fan but could be CMT fan. They don't have a CMT mode?" He didn't find my joke funny.