Is the quiet life really better? Dislike my hearing aid

eirlys

eirlys

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I just recently started wearing a single RIC hearing aid for Severe reverse slope hearing loss in my right ear. I have moderate hearing loss in my left ear. The audi told me that I'd hate regular hearing aids because they would have to be turned up so much that everything would sound terrible and that I'd need to give my brain time to adjust since it hasn't really processed much on that side for the past 31 years. I'm just not ready and can't afford the BAHA.

I'm just halfway wondering if I should give it more time or go back to struggling to hear in a world that isn't very friendly to those with hearing loss. I've only just begun the fittings. Right now, things are very annoying. Doors slamming, my hair, other sharp noises are almost painful to me. My own voice has a buzz on certain vowel sounds that is distracting. Other people have the same buzz(rasping? crackle?) on their s's, sh's, and t's. My hair brushing against the microphones is driving me crazy.

I do have otosclerosis so it's a conductive hearing loss and since it's atypical slope, maybe I just need to give it more time and more adjustments? Will my brain adjust? Does all of this get better? It's a single Starkey S Series 7 (yes, older model.. but what I could afford paying on my own). I only have the 45 days to trial it so I don't want to be stuck with something not terribly useful but I also do want to give it a fair shot. I've worn it at all times for the past week except for showering and sleeping.
 
Actually, being deaf is not bad at all. It is the audism in the hearing world that makes our lives difficult.
 
If you have only had it a week, tell your audi what problems you are having, see if some.adjustments can be made, and definitely give it more time. A week is nothing compared to all the years you have not had hearing.
 
I agree with Beach Girl, It takes a while to get used to them. When I first got mine even a light switch was loud. After a couple of weeks I was used to it. Same thing applies to adjusting to new glasses or even new shoes.

But as for the question, there is no answer. There are many peopla who are very happy with their HAs and there are many that are very happy without them. The only correct answer is what makes you happiest.

Good luck :wave:
 
I have had problems my whole life yes and I realize that I have to give it time.

I went for my third fitting yesterday. Things are getting slightly better. I seem to have an issue with the earbud (tulip dome) working it's way out when I speak or chew gum, so thats contributing to a lot of the bad sound. We switched to a double dome for the time being and ordered earmolds. We also turned the compression almost all the way down since it was making my head pulsate.

As long as it's in all the way and hasn't wiggled out, theres only a slight raspy buzzy sound now. It's not loud enough though. The more we turn it up, the worse it sounds though. Maybe I'm expecting too much out of this. I was warned that I wouldn't like it at all. Even with that warning.. I'm amazed at how much better I hear. I didn't realize how much that I wasn't hearing since I always seemed to get by ok. I know now that I wasn't getting by ok at all.

Another thing. Even though I can hear now, it's weird how strange everything sounds and I cant actually understand whats being said on that side yet. Talking on the phone over there definitely isn't happening, so I deal with sore hot sweaty left ear still when my mom calls lol.
 
Well eirlys if hearing is on the regular phone "difficult" for you consider a VCO TTY.
There are other methods I Pads/cell phone/lap tops etc.
Good luck in finding a solution.
 
"Another thing. Even though I can hear now, it's weird how strange everything sounds and I cant actually understand whats being said on that side yet"

That's going to take some time from what i've been told. It will be easier if you can read lips the same time they are talking since that's what you know. Try skype or Facetime if you have an Iphone!
 
Honestly, I enjoy the quiet time when my CI's are off. I didn't wear my CI's almost all day today until my friend texted me about hanging out with her :D. But when i first got turned on, I had to get used to the noise, it was different than the HA. I had headaches from the CI for awhile from dealing with the noises that i never heard before, but after wearing it for a couple of weeks, i'm used to it.

When my ears are off for a day however, my ears are completely sensitive to the noise, It kind of rattles my head for a little bit and kind of overwhelming. But after 15 minutes i'm fine!

But yeah, the only hard part about it is the communication between us and the hearing community. But we manage to work through it. It's a part of the job of being deaf :P
 
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