Anyone need a hearing aid?

Dabutcher

Doctor says I do. I will check with my insurance tomorrow to see if they are covered?
Will I be able to enjoy music on the daily like I do now? Peace. D

PSOVLSK

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A KARMA.

muncybob

In with 11

My insurance has a very generous plan including hear aids, so a few years ago I had an exam and was fitted with a pair on a 30 day trial. While my general hearing is not as good as it was, it's still decent for conversations, etc. I tried the aids exclusively for listening to music. I have to listen a bit off axis for the sweet spot for me which made me try the aids hoping they would correct that, they did not. While I felt they didn;t work for me I can;t say they degraded the sound any.

Milito

I wear hearing aids I got at Costco. The Jabra brand, they have a music setting which has a Bass boost and Treble boast which I don't use. You can adjust the Bass, Middle and Treble in a separate menu. You can also create custom settings like music 1 and music 2 if you wish. I have one that has a little more Bass in it.

I asked the lady who has been helping me for 4-5 years which brand do people like the best for music and she said the Jabra brand. This is my second pair of hearing aids, I like these better than the Costco brand I had before.

I can hear the highs better with my hearing aids than I can without as I've lost part of that of my hearing which all men do as they age. You can tune them some as I said above and she also tuned them some for me as I adjusted to them. they have a program there that allows her to adjust the hearing aid more than you can with the app. Your brain has to adjust to hearing aids so if you get some give your brain a while to adjust.

They will never make your ears as good as they were earlier in your life, but it's better than not having them IMO.

mhardy6647

Mrs. H has just been examined and fitted for a pair of very modern, high tech (by our standards) hearing aids. She was psyched to learn that they are Bluetooth enabled and will also work as earbuds.
I am just hoping they work.

PS I am not far behind her. In fact, I am supposed to get a referral to get my hearing tested, but it keeps slipping through the cracks. I haven't been very aggressive in pressing the matter - although my HF hearing loss is pretty pronounced from my perspective.

tonyb

The deal with hearing aids....a handful of companies, maybe less now, make all the brands of them so don't think the most expensive are the best.

As far as music goes, no hearing aid is going to replace the tone your natural hearing had so expect some changes to tastes. I brought this up before because we audio nuts like chasing nuances in the music that now we will no longer perceive as we age. Some like the bells and whistles, having the TV able to transmit right to them, controling them with your phone, etc. I can't tell you how many times I forgot to take them out before jumping in the shower, being in the rain, or dropping them in a toilet.

Also, mine are now sitting in a drawer collecting dust. Why ? At first, they are great, you can hear a bird chirp a block away. Over time however, they slowly become less and less useful . What happens is, they block the natural process of ear wax moving to the outside of your ear so it builds up in the inner ear every time you chew or talk. Doctor says well now you just go get your ears cleaned out every month or 2 by yet another doctor who will pound a warm solution into your ear with some force to bust up the wax. Great....but how many times will he do that before damaging your ear drums ?Only took 3 times for me to walk away with my ear drums sore as heck taking weeks to feel better. Doesn't take long to see the path they put you on. So I just lightly clean out the wax myself and try and up the nutrition to help a bit, and it has, but it won't ever be the same as your 30 year old self. Pick your poison, age related hearing loss is going to happen to many of us. Me....I'll use it to my advantage when I don't want to do something. "HUH...I didn't hear ya say that". Aggravates my wife dearly but hey...you know what they say about paybacks.

muncybob

Yea, ear cleaning hurts me too...only did it once and didn't perceive much of a benefit. Why can't they put a solution in the ear and let it sit for several minutes and then flush a little gentler? I mean, soaking pots/pans always makes it easier to clean them with less aggression. I guess that would take up too much time in the doctor's office which is resembling an assembly line more & more these days.

seeclear

A little hydrogen peroxide in the canal first can make it easier. I do my own monthly with moderately hot water in a bulb syringe. No need to pay for an office visit/procedure at the doc's office. I've never felt like I was damaging anything in there.

treitz3

Fresh Debroxit. Works wonders to me and has for decades. FWIW. Let it soak in one ear with your head tilted, then drain.

A day or so later? Wipe what comes out along with the residual. Done. Listen and enjoy.

Do not let it sit for a long time or get exposed to heat and you are golden. IME.

Tom

ken brydson

Say what?

VR3

treitz3 wrote: »

Fresh Debroxit. Works wonders to me and has for decades. FWIW. Let it soak in one ear with your head tilted, then drain.

A day or so later? Wipe what comes out along with the residual. Done. Listen and enjoy.

Do not let it sit for a long time or get exposed to heat and you are golden. IME.

Tom

gosh for a second I thought you were putting CAIG deoxit in your ears and Im thinking damn Tom is hardcore...

muncybob

Me toooooo!

BlueBirdMusic

Yesterday, I went to my ENT as I do now every six months for allergy, sinus, and hearing issues plus wax removal.

My left ear is the biggest problem. The Eustachian tube and sinus cavities on the left side of my head are narrower than the ones on the right side of my head. Sinus congestion is more likely on the left side. The left ear accumulates a lot of soft wax that cannot be removed by using solutions, bulbs, peroxide, etc.

He said yesterday at first look into the left ear, "I can still see the eardrum". The doctor has to use forceps to grab the numerous globs of wax. I know I have wax accumulation when the ear itches, hurts, and my tinnitus is worse.

I have hearing loss in the higher frequencies but do not require a hearing aid as of yet. I can pinpoint some of the hearing loss and the start of tinnitus to a John Fogerty concert several years ago when our seats were to the left of the stage and the drums were so powerful.

Dabutcher

Thanks for all the input.
As Rush Limbaugh once said “Hearing loss is the only disability that people make fun of”. I told that to the audiologist and she said that’s not true. I said my family makes fun of me !
I go get fitted this week.
My insurance pays $1K per hearing aid per three years. They said it doesn’t cover replacement of expensive batteries?
If I don’t like the options at the doctors office I will try Costco.
Love yours. D

Jaybeez

I got hearing aids from Costco a few years ago after learning of the link between hearing loss and dementia (really ... look it up). I've never regretted the decision. My hearing is way better and I have settings for restaurant, outdoors, etc. which adjust for background and wind noise respectively. Mine are so comfortable I barely know I have them in. I play drums at Church, with my wedge monitor to my right, so custom programmed settings to optimize my ability to hear my monitor mix, and tone down the lead guitarist's monitor. The only waking activities where they can't be used is when I use closed back headphones to listen to microphone input (due to feedback). For me, this means I can't use them for my voice over work, nor for practice on my fully mic'd drumkit.

tophatjohnny

PSOVLSK wrote: »

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A KARMA.

It just might be 😉

xschop

tonyb wrote: »

The deal with hearing aids....a handful of companies, maybe less now, make all the brands of them so don't think the most expensive are the best.

Klipsch must have made those company acquisitions. Would be a brilliant move.