My FIL needs hearing aid. He's always been a very active fellow, restless.
Nearing 80Y0, his stubborness is matching his hearing loss. Something must be done.

He's had his hearing measured and next week we will take him to be fitted with a device, very likely a danish Oticon?

Wife or myself have no clues what to look for, what we need and what to ask for.

A brief tutorial would be most welcomed.

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The test should tell the frequency range where the loss is and to what extent. Those results should be used to pick a correct device and program it appropriately. It will take some getting used and will likely need to be adjusted. It's important to keep in mind that what's gone is gone. The aids won't bring it back. Mine are connected to my phone. I can raise and lower the volume, take phone calls, and choose different settings which are calibrated for different environments. Match the level of technology to his needs and willingness and ability to use and adapt. Manage expectations, ask what can and can't be done.

I'm having now what I perceive to be ringing bells in my ears. Have to consider hearing aids and other methods to combat the tinnitus.

Hearing aids make everything louder, they can't separate voices.
One on one they work well, crowded rooms, not so much. They are better than not having them though, and take some time to get used to.

Going to be monitoring this one. My family says I need to get my hearing checked. I say I live with a family of mumblers. I did have an ear doctor tell me twenty years ago I had significant high frequency hearing loss.

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Originally posted by goose5:
Going to be monitoring this one. My family says I need to get my hearing checked. I say I live with a family of mumblers. I did have an ear doctor tell me twenty years ago I had significant high frequency hearing loss.

As a relatively new wearer of hearing aids, I can speak to a couple of points.

First - yes they can amplify everything (which is what the "As seen on TV" cheapies do), but good ones can be programmed to amplify only those frequencies in which you have loss AND can be programmed to match the graph of your loss. A little loss at X frequency, a bit more at Y frequency and a lot more at Z...that sort of thing.

Second - A "hearing test" is much more involved than the old-fashioned "press the button when you hear the tone" I actually had three distinct tests - the tones, "repeat back to me words" that measure your ability to discriminate between certain sounds and "pick the conversation out of the background".

Third - Spend the money and get the rechargeable models. No more futzing with those itty-bitty batteries. Also get the Bluetooth model. Having your smart phone bluetoothed directly to your hearing aids is a blessing beyond description. Same for TV.

Fourth - Take the time to get acclimated to them. It takes 6-8 weeks or longer for your brain to re-accustom itself to being able to hear again.

If you don't have insurance or VA eligibility, it'll be expensive, but IMHO it's well worth it.

The type of hearing aid required depends on the severity of hearing loss. As I understand it, with lesser levels of loss you are able to utilize a hearing aide that uses an ear canal tube that has a perforated cushion to allow outside sound to also flow into the canal for the frequencies that the ear can still process. Severe hearing loss means you use a aide design that completely blocks the ear canal and the unit’s microphones “hear” and then processes/filters/amplifies all sound conveyed into the ear.

What is amazing to me is how audiologists can determine the precise frequencies where you experience hearing loss and tweak the algorithms to optimize your hearing aide. Plus, you can adjust these parameters with an app as well as utilize your phone as a separate or “live” microphone. Wonderful, beneficial technology.

Can hearing aids work on people with Tinnitis? Or is that a different problem?

I have diagnosed tinnitus (like most pilots/veterans/boat/gearhead/motorcycle and other profession folks). Mine sounds like cicadas turned up to about 4-5, it does vary.

I was told that tinnitus occurs when the ear begins to lose perceived sound wavelengths. Supposedly tinnitus is the brain attempting to fill in the missing sound “info”.

Once they determine the frequencies that each ear is “missing”, they adjust the hearing aid algorithms to use white/brown/pink “noise” to fill in that missing “info” to the brain. As a result, when you are wearing the hearing aids, most people no longer hear the ringing. It also supposedly also helps to diminish tinnitus over time. (Entry level hearing aids are not capable of doing this).

However, when you remove the aids the ringing generally comes back. That’s why most people use either a white/brown/pink noise generator during sleep or fans, soft music, and the like. I’m sure there is a more knowledgeable person regarding this on the forum, but that’s what I was told when I got my hearing aids.

quote:

Originally posted by berto:
The test should tell the frequency range where the loss is and to what extent. Those results should be used to pick a correct device and program it appropriately. It will take some getting used and will likely need to be adjusted. It's important to keep in mind that what's gone is gone. The aids won't bring it back. Mine are connected to my phone. I can raise and lower the volume, take phone calls, and choose different settings which are calibrated for different environments. Match the level of technology to his needs and willingness and ability to use and adapt. Manage expectations, ask what can and can't be done.

^^THIS^^
It takes getting used to AND you WILL have to have them adjusted. What the computer says and what you hear are two different things. (You don’t want to use an audiologist all the way across town)
The wearer is hearing a computer generated “fill in” of missing/diminished frequencies. This can make simple things like peeing an EVENT! They can also make the diminished freqs too “boomy”, “tinny” or “just plain off”.
It takes a Doc that will **listen to you** and keep making changes until you are happy. Once adjusted though, having one of your 5 senses back is REALLY FREAKING GOOD!
I can almost understand what women and little kids are saying...almost.

The technical issues have been well covered, I'll talk money.

There are 4 major manufacturers of hearing aids, period. Others are silly things like you see advertised in Sunday supplements.

Large companies like Bel-Tone buy from the four makers, re-lable, and charge exorbitant fees. A reasonably priced pair of good quality digital instruments should cost no more than 3500 bucks.

Costco supplies very good quality units paired with excellent service, they run about 2k.

Figure out which features best suit your needs. I have real trouble on the phone, so I chose units that pair with my cell phone via Bluetooth. All my call are channeled directly into my ears. My music is broadcast the same way. My phone can also act as a remote mic. I can adjust it, set it by the tv, sir example, and hear the tv play while my wife hears it at a reasonable volume level. I can also give the phone to my wife in a crowd, and hear her speak over the crowd noise.

Hearing aids take some work to learn to use. You brain used to tune out certain sounds, like air rushing thru duct work. It takes time to re-train the brain.

Very good advise here. Thank you very much.

Don't think BT is a viable option here. Too complicated for my FIL who is extremely limited using a smartphone. As deaf and strongheaded as he is, it's not an argument we want to start.

We won't be shown any of the current fancy stuff. It's the 4th world after all.
Quit my job last April after almost 30 years being the sole IT guy for a company because my check reached $200 a month and they were a month and a half behind paying me.
Everything costs at least twice on a 1/4 (at best) or less income. FIL must be making $100 a month if lucky.
We will be paying for his hearing aid.

He will not be near the audiologist. The whole operation takes some logistics to make it happen. It's going to be a struggle. So will be to have him give the device a chance, use it snd have it recalibrated.

Patience will be put to a test.

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There's another alternative, and that's the cheap "sound amplifiers" that Amazon and others sell.

I have them, run around $110.00/ear, have 3 settings:

1. Amplify all sound equally

2. Amplify low frequency sounds (men's voices0

3. Amplify high frequency sounds (women's voices)

Work well if you have low to moderate hearing loss and don't require doctors visits or constant futzing with the frequency response.

Hearing aids don't do a thing for tinnitus, but Maskers do. I have pretty severe tinnitus from my time in the Army and I've learned how to tune it out to where I almost never notice it.

https://www.asha.org/public/he...%20the%20same%20time.

Tinnitus maskers look like hearing aids. They make a sound that masks, or covers up, the tinnitus. The masking sound distracts you from the ringing in your ears. You may be able to use a masker and a hearing aid at the same time.

Get this book: The Little Book of Hearing Aids 2020: The Only Hearing Aid Book You Will Ever Need. It will tell you everything you need to know. Literally everything.