HA's

faire_jour said:
You know what I don't get, why you think that 120 db is untouchable with hearing aids, but 110, and 105 (which you have) is extremely aidable and should never get a CI.....:roll:
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I'm not an audi so I don't know if that's true. But I do know there is a BIG difference between 105 dB and 120 dB. The decibel system is logarithmic, so the power needed to achieve 120 dB is twelve orders of magnitude (1,000,000,000,000) greater than the power needed for 105 dB.

The measurements on a ruler are linear, meaning all the numbers are evenly spaced apart. On the decibel scale, as the dB number increases, the spaces between the numbers increase. The difference between 0 dB and 10 dB is like driving from Washington, DC to Miami, FL. But the difference between 110 dB and 120 dB (still 10 dB) is like going from Earth to Pluto and back 300 times.

So it's very possible that modern hearing aids just aren't capable of producing the power needed to amplify speech sounds to 120+ dB. Either that or the distortion would be too high.
 
rcarz said:
I'm not an audi so I don't know if that's true. But I do know there is a BIG difference between 105 dB and 120 dB. The decibel system is logarithmic, so the power needed to achieve 120 dB is twelve orders of magnitude (1,000,000,000,000) greater than the power needed for 105 dB.

The measurements on a ruler are linear, meaning all the numbers are evenly spaced apart. On the decibel scale, as the dB number increases, the spaces between the numbers increase. The difference between 0 dB and 10 dB is like driving from Washington, DC to Miami, FL. But the difference between 110 dB and 120 dB (still 10 dB) is like going from Earth to Pluto and back 300 times.

So it's very possible that modern hearing aids just aren't capable of producing the power needed to amplify speech sounds to 120+ dB. Either that or the distortion would be too high.
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Whoo!! Yay! One for our side!!:P
 
rcarz said:
I'm not an audi so I don't know if that's true. But I do know there is a BIG difference between 105 dB and 120 dB. The decibel system is logarithmic, so the power needed to achieve 120 dB is twelve orders of magnitude (1,000,000,000,000) greater than the power needed for 105 dB.

The measurements on a ruler are linear, meaning all the numbers are evenly spaced apart. On the decibel scale, as the dB number increases, the spaces between the numbers increase. The difference between 0 dB and 10 dB is like driving from Washington, DC to Miami, FL. But the difference between 110 dB and 120 dB (still 10 dB) is like going from Earth to Pluto and back 300 times.

So it's very possible that modern hearing aids just aren't capable of producing the power needed to amplify speech sounds to 120+ dB. Either that or the distortion would be too high.
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From what I read, each 10db represents a 10-fold increase in sound energy/absolute loudness. One speaker at 100db, ten speakers each at 100db would be producing 110db SPL. Youd need 100 speakers each blasting at 100db to produce 120db!

So it does make sense that the best HAs quickly drop off beyond 110db HL. I can hear sounds nice and loud up to 110db HL(1000Hz) but very quickly the apparant loudness drops off into total silence. At 115db HL(1500Hz) I can barely hear this frequency. I can't hear 120db HL(2000Hz) and even if you could somehow create a large, powerful HA for that it's a moot point since the pain threshold happens to be 120db. As ive said before, my audiologist stands correct that a 120db loss can't be touched/aided by any HA.
 
i am absolutely overwhelmed reading all of everyone's posts. everyone sounds like a scientist! i have no idea of decibles and Hz's and all the other stuff. i am 33 and i just had my first real evaluation and official diagnosis. i have no clue how to translate the findings and how to take in all of this new info. i see words like high frequencies, low frequencies, decibles....will i ever understand all of this? and can someone, anyone, please tell me how i am supposed to afford two hearing aids on a social worker's salary?? i thought having an official actual diagnosis on paper would make me feel better. like i would finally know it isn't just in my head or just me "not paying attention to the world around me.",<--parents. but now, i actually feel worse.
 
photogirl said:
i am absolutely overwhelmed reading all of everyone's posts. everyone sounds like a scientist! i have no idea of decibles and Hz's and all the other stuff. i am 33 and i just had my first real evaluation and official diagnosis. i have no clue how to translate the findings and how to take in all of this new info. i see words like high frequencies, low frequencies, decibles....will i ever understand all of this? and can someone, anyone, please tell me how i am supposed to afford two hearing aids on a social worker's salary?? i thought having an official actual diagnosis on paper would make me feel better. like i would finally know it isn't just in my head or just me "not paying attention to the world around me.",<--parents. but now, i actually feel worse.
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Don't worry it's quite unnecessary to know all that technical stuff, a basic understanding of what constitutes a mild, moderate, severe or profound hearing loss, and what is meant by a high or low frequency loss, is useful if you're interested, and you can easily find that out by putting 'hearing loss' into an internet search engine, like yahoo or google. If you want to know what sort of hearing loss you have just ask your audiologist.

I've been wearing hearing aids for over thirty years, and the first time I was shown a copy of my audiogram was last year, in order to claim Disabled Students Allowance.
 
photogirl said:
i am absolutely overwhelmed reading all of everyone's posts. everyone sounds like a scientist! i have no idea of decibles and Hz's and all the other stuff. i am 33 and i just had my first real evaluation and official diagnosis. i have no clue how to translate the findings and how to take in all of this new info. i see words like high frequencies, low frequencies, decibles....will i ever understand all of this? and can someone, anyone, please tell me how i am supposed to afford two hearing aids on a social worker's salary?? i thought having an official actual diagnosis on paper would make me feel better. like i would finally know it isn't just in my head or just me "not paying attention to the world around me.",<--parents. but now, i actually feel worse.
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To afford, maybe you can get a payment plan from the audiologist, or a credit card.

I am still paying for my last set of hearing aids and I have had them over a year. Probably when they are paid for, I will need new. :dunno:
 
About 6 months ago I was totally clueless about all the technical stuff, decibels and everything but now I know quite a lot by visitng AD and asking questions
 
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