Don't wear ultra powered hearing aids too often!!!

Dudes....

I started this thread in jest and get things going in this forum..

Guess interwebz iz srs bizness. :shock:
 
115dB is very, very damaging to a person with normal hearing, but to a person with 100dB of loss, it is barely a whisper. Those statistics are designed for people with average hearing, who hear their first sounds around 1-10dB in pure tone testing. Not taking into account any hearing loss at all. If you don't hear any sounds at all until 90+dB, then really a 115dB noise is really 25dB, which is well below the dB level of human speech, and really not loud enough to be damaging at all.
 
posts from hell said:
I am still failing to see the connection.

Perhaps because I don't think glasses intensify light that are being transmitted through the lenses into your eyes. They simply correct what you are seeing. Perhaps if we're talking about wearing night vision goggles during the day..... But I doubt that's what you're talking about.

If I am mistaken, you are free to correct me.
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They were making an analogy between sight and hearing, using sight loss from wearing glasses to explain their point of view about possible hearing loss from wearing hearing aids.
 
plasticdinosaur said:
115dB is very, very damaging to a person with normal hearing, but to a person with 100dB of loss, it is barely a whisper. Those statistics are designed for people with average hearing, who hear their first sounds around 1-10dB in pure tone testing. Not taking into account any hearing loss at all. If you don't hear any sounds at all until 90+dB, then really a 115dB noise is really 25dB, which is well below the dB level of human speech, and really not loud enough to be damaging at all.
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You sure about that? How are the physical properties of your ear unaffected?
 
special K said:
That is my understanding of what the topic is about. :roll:
You are saying when I get my hearing aids I am going to lose more hearing wearing them.
Same as if I wear glasses I am going to lose more sight.
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Hearing aids amplify. Glasses or contacts don't amplify light.
 
posts from hell said:
As we and our mothers all know - do NOT go to loud rock concerts. Right? Rock concerts are around 115db. This is a couple of hours per now and then of exposure. Research proves that this causes hearing loss. THIS IS SHORT TERM.

The hearing aids you wear on a daily basis, for hours and hours at end are at like 90db. That can't be great at all. I am currently imaging that it actually damages your hearing because of long-term exposure to loud noises.

It's all a conspiracy to get you to lose more hearing, then to make you buy more products I say!
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Haha, you are kidding right, I guess so but judging from the posts .... <whoosh>
 
I've often wondered about this. It doesn't matter for me because I have mixed progressive hearing loss.
 
:lol: I was thinking the same thing since I am mom. i told my kids not too close to the speaker in their ears. I was talking to myself, how strange that I told my kids yet I wore my HA. Ahh, I will let you know the result in 10 years to see if my hearing level goes drop or not.
 
special K said:
That is my understanding of what the topic is about. :roll:
You are saying when I get my hearing aids I am going to lose more hearing wearing them.
Same as if I wear glasses I am going to lose more sight.
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Nope
 
Isn't the goal of wearing a Hearing aid to assist in hearing sound-comfortable? Why set it "louder" than necessary? Surely if one thinks it is too loud-lower the volume.

Implanted A B Harmony activated Aug/07
 
I have been wearing high power aids all my life and I still do. Hearing not being used is not worth preserving. My aids can give a maximum of 120db at certain frequencies in order to get any usefully benefit for my needs. This had worked for me for several decades as long they are properly fitted. I saw no sense in waiting for the never ending story about stem cells either.
 
posts from hell said:
As we and our mothers all know - do NOT go to loud rock concerts. Right? Rock concerts are around 115db. This is a couple of hours per now and then of exposure. Research proves that this causes hearing loss. THIS IS SHORT TERM.

The hearing aids you wear on a daily basis, for hours and hours at end are at like 90db. That can't be great at all. I am currently imaging that it actually damages your hearing because of long-term exposure to loud noises.

It's all a conspiracy to get you to lose more hearing, then to make you buy more products I say!
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Actually, that could explain a lot of "progressive losses" that seem to progress after being aided.:hmm:
 
RoseRodent said:
For continuous exposure (hours at a time) the danger level kicks in at 85dB for someone with normal hearing. That's not even restricted to UP hearing aids, most of your mild to moderate aids are going to output at that kind of volume cos otherwise you don't get any useful gain. The first bits of hearing that go are the frequencies above the speech area, so for me it's better to completely lose my 12kHz frequencies faster for a few more years of being able to make out what is happening at 1kHz since 1kHz is a whole lot more use.

For me, not so much an issue because I have a mixed loss, I've got 40dB of internal earplugs going on to protect my cochlears from loud sound, hence we can put on more gain than with a 100% SN loss.

I don't know what the specifics are with plan SN loss but it does seem to be that the danger area is hearing aids with a maximum output above 130dB, those with under 130dB MPOs provided they are fit correctly to someone who needs them they don't really cause any additional loss, no idea why and I can't find the research at this time of night. When you get to 130+ there are in-pack warnings that they might cause additional loss even when correctly fitted, but by that point is everyone interested in hanging onto an extra 5dB residual hearing or do they just crank up the gain? Is it worth preserving something for the future or more worth hearing now? Will the bit you lose be a bit you use anyway? Will it actually happen to you personally or will it always remain a mathematical and statistical risk that doesn't actually happen anyway?
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The only few correlations that seems plausible to lose further hearing while wearing HA's is purchasing or having hearing aids programmed from people who aren't professionals or licensed in audiology. The person who programs your hearing aid should have extensive knowledge of what they are doing before they turn your receiver to amplifier to full blast.

If it is set to the highest beyond normal thresholds, you have to be constantly involved in hearing sounds that are too loud for the normal human, while being uncomfortable to be constantly in 100+dB amplification. I think of it as being at a rock concert with earplugs on. Even if you can't hear it, you can definitely sense it and feel your ears pressurizing with that DB blast.
 
So under this term, a person who has normal hearing wants to try hearing aids simply because they're just curious will actually have their hearing damaged if they tried, right?
 
dereksbicycles said:
So under this term, a person who has normal hearing wants to try hearing aids simply because they're just curious will actually have their hearing damaged if they tried, right?
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my thinking is only if they leave them on for too long. I've let people listen to my hearing aids but didn't not put in ear obviously. I think that is okay since ears are designed to soften loud sounds for a short bursts ( as I understand it).
 
dereksbicycles said:
So under this term, a person who has normal hearing wants to try hearing aids simply because they're just curious will actually have their hearing damaged if they tried, right?
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In the clinical world there is rarely such a thing as "will happen" and "won't happen". It could happen. It's all a question of timing, if someone with normal hearing put on mild-moderate aids for 12 weeks they might do damage. If they put on a pair of UP aids for even 30 seconds in a loud environment they could sustain immediate damage. The Maximum Power Output of a Naida UP is 144 - that's gunshot volume and could actually make your eardrum pop and bleed if applied to normal hearing ears. If you're in the habit of listening to anyone's hearing aids with normal hearing it needs to be done with an attenuated listening set, so people like parents of kids who wear high powered aids.

I've not really understood the mechanics of it, but above 130dB you can sustain damage to your hair cells even if you cannot hear the sound or if you hear it as barely audible. If someone with 100dB loss stands next to 130dB of input they are thinking this is a bit of a whisper of a sound, but it still has the potential to do further hearing damage. By this point most folks are into thinking "Ah well, who cares?" cos the difference between 100dB loss and 101dB loss is not worth writing home about. So yes, even a correctly programmed SP or UP hearing aid could potentially damage hearing further over a period of many years of wear, but usually it's a price worth paying.

jpc said:
Ultra power goto what; the DB max is what?
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These are the figures from Phonak aids just cos I happen to have that lying on my table here:
Petite: 120
MicroM:128
MicroP:131
SP:135-141
UP:144

That is the absolute top maximum assuming that there is a really loud input sound at the frequency where the instruments can make their most impressive gain.

Worth bearing in mind that in mild to moderate that's not the maximum possible exposure because although the hearing aid itself will not go above 120/128, if the fitting is open then very loud environmental sound will still enter the ear, so standing in a shooting range wearing only hearing aids for ear protection doesn't cut it, it's still important to be aware of environmental noise levels.
 
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