Day one

ambrosia said:
I told someone at the specialist office in Boston about that and she said, oh it probably is doing that all the time and you don't notice, but f it gets quite all of a sudden you notice. No! Why do people think they know what's going on in your ears? What you're hearing? I stg none of these audi's ever freaking listen to me. asshats
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This is where I've been fortunate. Almost all of the audis I've worked with repeatedly say they don't know what I hear, so if something sounds off, let them know and they'll try their best to help me. What you describe reminds me of the questions I get at the hospital "So how are we today...." I'm fine, I don't about you.....

Laura
 
Lau2046 said:
This is where I've been fortunate. Almost all of the audis I've worked with repeatedly say they don't know what I hear, so if something sounds off, let them know and they'll try their best to help me. What you describe reminds me of the questions I get at the hospital "So how are we today...." I'm fine, I don't about you.....

Laura
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Haha Laura!! I'm using this! :giggle:
 
Ok so this is all helpful. I am nervous about what comes next. I am nervous about the world getting quieter as time goes on. I was happy this week. I put in the hearing aid went to school and the halls were loud. I could hear my students. I am concerned at how quick my left ear may have deteriorated. I am hoping the hearing aids will help for at least a few years. I don't know. We will see and only time will tell. I am going to have her change them. I spoke to her today. She said no worries. If I bed it in the left and go with the intuis s dir she will work something out where I can keep my current aid till the new ones come in. She said she will figure out what to do with the insurance.
 
theatregrl said:
Ok so this is all helpful. I am nervous about what comes next. I am nervous about the world getting quieter as time goes on. I was happy this week. I put in the hearing aid went to school and the halls were loud. I could hear my students. I am concerned at how quick my left ear may have deteriorated. I am hoping the hearing aids will help for at least a few years. I don't know. We will see and only time will tell. I am going to have her change them. I spoke to her today. She said no worries. If I bed it in the left and go with the intuis s dir she will work something out where I can keep my current aid till the new ones come in. She said she will figure out what to do with the insurance.
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Yes! Make sure you have a set of bte's with room that you won't max out if you say lose 20-30dB. Since my first ha at 19 I'm now 24 and have had 4 different bte's due to maxing then out because my loss is progressive. I started out mild/somewhat mod to now severe/profound. So my advice is get a set of bte's that will last you a bit even if you do have a bit of a drop...definitely worth it. And you have hair if you're that self conscious put it down...but to be honest I wear my hair up and have my hearing aids on purple and zebra bte's with purple Molds and people don't notice/don't really care. Once in a blue moon I get weird looks but *usually* from kids.

Also NaidaUP I don't mind:)
 
I am going to have her change them. You went from where I am to profound in 5 years! That makes me nervous. I am going to give myself room and not jump the gun. I'm going to take it one day at a time and go to the BTE aid/s. if the ents Audi is right I dropped about 20Dbs in my left eat over the past month give or take. So thanks. You have all given me a lot to think about /consider. I thought when they told me I had lost some I my hearing in my right ear and need a hearing aid and the left was borderline I had a test b4 I would need the second aid. I thought I was a long way from severe hearing loss. Now I look at the charts. 50Dbs is right there. I'm kinda scared and nervous about what the next 6months to a year hold for me.
 
theatregrl said:
You went from where I am to profound in 5 years! That makes me nervous.
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Not everyone is you. People have lost their hearing due to very different circumstances, so don't put the cart in front of the horse so to speak and just take it a day at a time. My hearing didn't start edging towards profound until my early 40's...so when you find yourself getting ahead of things and worrying about other people's situations happening to you, take a deep breath. Also, remember to stay involved: with your students, your family, your friends, classes, courses that interest you, so you're not dwelling on what might happen, because it may not for some time yet...
 
Bottesini said:
I don't see where she is being picked on. I only see people explaining things to her.

You are far too sensitive.

Maybe you should just worry about yourself.
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HA, if only you knew me in real life, definitely not sensitive! Just tired of seeing people being ganged up on on here!
 
theatregrl said:
I am going to have her change them. You went from where I am to profound in 5 years! That makes me nervous. I am going to give myself room and not jump the gun. I'm going to take it one day at a time and go to the BTE aid/s. if the ents Audi is right I dropped about 20Dbs in my left eat over the past month give or take. So thanks. You have all given me a lot to think about /consider. I thought when they told me I had lost some I my hearing in my right ear and need a hearing aid and the left was borderline I had a test b4 I would need the second aid. I thought I was a long way from severe hearing loss. Now I look at the charts. 50Dbs is right there. I'm kinda scared and nervous about what the next 6months to a year hold for me.
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I know with Phonak Naida CRT hearing aids, they can go from 10db to 110db on the fitting chart. That because the receiver is in the ear and you just swap over the receivers which are cheap when needed. There are 3 different power receivers.

Maybe you could look into something like that. I'm sure Siemens do something similar.
 
NaidaUP said:
I know with Phonak Naida CRT hearing aids, they can go from 10db to 110db on the fitting chart. That because the receiver is in the ear and you just swap over the receivers which are cheap when needed. There are 3 different power receivers.

Maybe you could look into something like that. I'm sure Siemens do something similar.
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I have not looked back but think that her audi carries both Phonak and Siemens. So . . . she may want to compare brands.
 
NaidaUP said:
I know with Phonak Naida CRT hearing aids, they can go from 10db to 110db on the fitting chart. That because the receiver is in the ear and you just swap over the receivers which are cheap when needed. There are 3 different power receivers.

Maybe you could look into something like that. I'm sure Siemens do something similar.
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That's a great idea RIC's would probably be an awesome options for you!!! they are very very discreet, more so than ITE if you ask me.

And Lau is right, everybody's different, me and Lovezebra's hearing nosedived pretty quickly, but other people like LoveBlue and Laura it progressed more slowly. It's possible they might be able to get an idea of whether your loss will progress slowly or quickly once they find out why you're losing it.

But either way as long a stronger hearing aid, and seriously you should check out RICs, can be fitted to your loss I think you would be much better off. Hearing aids can last for a long time!! Why keep having to buy new ones when you don't have to be? I'm on my 3rd set since I started wearing them in 2001, 12 years ago, and none of them have died, they just couldn't cover my loss anymore.
 
Lau2046 said:
Not everyone is you. People have lost their hearing due to very different circumstances, so don't put the cart in front of the horse so to speak and just take it a day at a time. My hearing didn't start edging towards profound until my early 40's...so when you find yourself getting ahead of things and worrying about other people's situations happening to you, take a deep breath. Also, remember to stay involved: with your students, your family, your friends, classes, courses that interest you, so you're not dwelling on what might happen, because it may not for some time yet...
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You make a very good point. When we asked how long I had before I would loose my hearing the doctor said that I would probably notice it in waves. But I may not. He said there is no way to tell. He said you could have this drop today and then not see a change for 3 years or ever. You may have this drop today another in 2 years and then another a few years after that and then after that. Then I asked the worse case scenario. He said he doesn't like to talk in worse cases and I told him I needed to be realistic. He didnt want to tell me but i pushed. He said worse case I lose what I have now then a little more every few weeks the way I have and i am in the profound range within a year. He said that I am far from the profound range and that is definitely just the worst case scenario and that I shouldn't even think about that. Then he said that all we can look at it what is already happened. He told me to deal with what is in front of me because we don't know what the future holds. There are really no answers. He is going to be doing a cat scan in a few weeks but really doesn't think he will get any more answers than what we have because it is probably genetic from my dads side.
 
I'm torn on the power overhead suggestion. I wonder if that much power would be good for your ears. Can you actually use a profound loss hearing aid with moderate loss?

In the past, I've had aids give so much power they whistle really bad. Today, I'm not sure that is as big a deal. In fact, I can wear a winter hat with the newer aid which I could never do before due to feedback so the control is much better today.

Has anyone done this? I can see going slightly higher(within the same range), but you're talking major DB increase from moderate to profound.
 
VacationGuy234 said:
I'm torn on the power overhead suggestion. I wonder if that much power would be good for your ears. Can you actually use a profound loss hearing aid with moderate loss?

In the past, I've had aids give so much power they whistle really bad. Today, I'm not sure that is as big a deal. In fact, I can wear a winter hat with the newer aid which I could never do before due to feedback so the control is much better today.

Has anyone done this? I can see going slightly higher(within the same range), but you're talking major DB increase from moderate to profound.
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They're digitally programmed, even if an aid is capable of 80db gains, it doesn't have to be set to 80 dbs. That's why I mentioned if her lower loss could be fitted to a more powerful aid. You don't start getting hearing loss from noise until it's 90 dbs. At least that's what I've heard, and an audi wouldn't be setting her aids to that kind of gain.
 
That's very true. HAs can last a very long time. I'm 27 years old and have only had 3 pairs of HAs.
Only upgraded due to technology as my first pair were bodyworn so upgraded to analog BTE aids which were on the go for 16 years and then I decided I wanted digitals aids.

RIC aids will be good as they can cope with a large fitting range so you won't have to buy new HAs if your loss got worse.
 
I think I'm going to go with the ones my Audi first recommended. When I called her yesterday she said that they will be good for my current loss and for a long time after that. They are the siemens intuis s dir. That's for now. She also said the aquis might be good bcuz I work at a camp in the summer. We are going to talk a week from Tuesday and figure out what's best. Ill keep u all posted
 
theatregrl said:
I think I'm going to go with the ones my Audi first recommended. When I called her yesterday she said that they will be good for my current loss and for a long time after that. They are the siemens intuis s dir. That's for now. She also said the aquis might be good bcuz I work at a camp in the summer. We are going to talk a week from Tuesday and figure out what's best. Ill keep u all posted
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That's cool. I've always like the sound of the Siemens Aquires myself, as I love spending time at the beach and being dust and waterproof sounds really awesome :)
 
The price tag on it is up there. That's the only problem. It will probably cost me a bit out of pocket. Again we will see.
 
theatregrl said:
The price tag on it is up there. That's the only problem. It will probably cost me a bit out of pocket. Again we will see.
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That's fair enough. Maybe you need to weigh up the pros and cons between the two HAs. I know the most common repair of HAs is moisture problems so may allow you to save money in the future?
 
I know. That's why I asked her about it. If a kid splashes me outside the pool I could have a problem. If I don't wear them I can't properly supervise the pool. I hadn't told her about the camp job. I only thought of it yesterday when I got the need from the doctor. My original idea was to take it out and let the left do the work. Well looks like that may not be an option. Sooo she said she thinks I am looking at around $400 from my flex spending account for the pair. Not terrible. Not ideal but not terrible.
 
So I think I am set on the aquaris. Obviously her and I will have a talk about what is best. . . she is going to show me different ones on tues after she sees exactly where my left ear falls. From what I have read online they seem to have the most room and are the most functional for me. Looking at my insurance I think I am going to keep the one that I have for my right ear because I have a $1000 deductible before the insurance kicks in. This one was just about $1000 and if she puts in through the insurance I pay the $1000 the deductible goes away and I have a backup for my right ear. Then the insurance will cover most of the aquaris for both ears and I will be good to go. Either way I was going to have to pay the $1000 so this way I end up with a back up. Thank you all for your input. I have a feeling this is going to be a long journey and it's nice to have somewhere to go to get help and answers. :) I wish I didn't have to wait a week to go to her but that's when my appointment is and she is booked up till then.
 
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