quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

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Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Timely post. I am set to get VA hearing aids next week. The last pair I got from them sucked! I hopeful that the new ones are digital (VA assures me they are) and can be "tuned" to the level that my loss is. If they dont work this time, I will look into non VA hearing aids.

I'll be very surprised if you find the VA aids less than marvelous! Mine are rechargeable and bluetooth connected as well as tuned for my profile.

I'm on my second pair of VA hearing aids. I have Resound One now and they work great. They gave me a TV Streamer for them too. The TV Streamer really helps understanding speech while watching stuff. And you can mute the tv so it bother other people. I control them with my Iphone 11.

I've been wearing hearing aids for about 15 years. My hearing loss is dramatic in the upper frequencies. Like tinkling sounds, phone ring tones, birds chirping, etc. And my hearing aids are specifically programmed to make up for that loss.

I worked for the state when I got mine & I only had to foot the bill for half the cost. And that was over $1000 back then.

It'll be interesting to see how these OTC aids work out.

Like CPAP, I never adjusted to mine, and didn't hassle the doctors sufficiently to get them right. I may have to give them another go, but like glasses I can't imagine buying them without "fitting" by a professional.

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Originally posted by kidcop:
Like CPAP, I never adjusted to mine, and didn't hassle the doctors sufficiently to get them right.

Mine were right, right out of the gate. I went for one follow-up visit, to have the correction boosted from 60% to the next level (75% or 80% or whatever). Normally, there'd have been a third visit to bump them to full prescription level.

But, in the process of that first follow-up visit, she temporarily bumped them to 100%. "Hmmm... I think I can deal with this," I told her.

My hearing aids have three pre-programmable profiles. So what she did was program them to full, intermediate, and initial levels. I set them to "intermediate" after that first visit, then, a week or two later, set them to full prescription level.

In that follow-up visit I noted wind noise was a bit annoying. She made a slight change in the profiles to reduce that a bit, without significantly impacting their performance, otherwise.

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Originally posted by kidcop:
I may have to give them another go, ...

I wouldn't care to live without mine, now. The things I now hear I haven't heard for years has been nothing short of life-changing. (I have moderately severe hearing loss.)

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Originally posted by kidcop:
... but like glasses I can't imagine buying them without "fitting" by a professional.

With modern technology, having to employ professionals to fit and adjust hearing aids may soon go the way of the buggy whip.

You buy hearing aids. Install app on phone. Run app in "hearing test" mode. It presents tones across the hearing spectrum, in a pseudo-random manner, at various levels. You press a button each time you hear the tone. Well-written: It will even "understand" questionable/marginal response patterns and keep testing until it "sees" consistency. Voilà: Hearing test. The app now knows, precisely, your hearing loss characteristics. It then programs the hearing aids to offset it.

Done right: The initial hearing loss offsets will be at some level well below 100%. Say 60% or so. After a couple weeks it'll suggest raising the correction to 75% or so. After a couple weeks it'll suggest raising it to 100%.

(The reason for the gradual correction is that all-of-a-sudden hearing things you haven't heard for years at full level can actually be disorienting.)

TINNITUS - Ringing in the ears - all the time…I have it - BAD - so much so that it sounds like there are CICADA’S in my house, my car, everywhere - 24 Hrs a day…

Anyone know if these OTC units will eliminate this because I know the prescription units can be programmed to “mask” this sound…..

Sure. You will need someone to program it for you.

Don’t hold your breath about the tinnitus.

It’s there for good. Ask me how I know.

Bob

I never knew what fairly normal hearing was until I got $7000 hearing aids. I am on my second pair now. My hearing loss is serious in the mid to hi range. The chart drops off like a cliff in a very narrow range about 1000 cycles. Down to 80db. If you can't make out the words in a lot of songs, you need good aids. But do not expect perfect in all conditions.
Try the song Sound of Silence Simon and Garfarkle. Or You make me "feel" ("sick" is what you will hear) by Carole King. With aids the singing voice is filled in more complete. You will hear things in the voice you didn't know were there. And the drums and cymbals...wow!

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Originally posted by Hamden106:
I never knew what fairly normal hearing was until I got $7000 hearing aids. I am on my second pair now. My hearing loss is serious in the mid to hi range. The chart drops off like a cliff in a very narrow range about 1000 cycles. Down to 80db. If you can't make out the words in a lot of songs, you need good aids. But do not expect perfect in all conditions.
Try the song Sound of Silence Simon and Garfarkle. Or You make me "feel" ("sick" is what you will hear) by Carole King. With aids the singing voice is filled in more complete. You will hear things in the voice you didn't know were there. And the drums and cymbals...wow!

Sounds like me. My hearing graph dropped off steeply at mid-range. When my hearing aids came in the audiologist explained how to adjust them, etc; then told me to put them in & get acquainted with them, while she entered some stuff in the computer. I sat there staring at her, and she asked me what was wrong. I said, "Are all keyboards that damn loud?" She said that I was going to be hearing sounds that I probably haven't heard in 30 years.

Then I scared myself going out of the parking lot, because my keys were jingling in the ignition & I slammed on the brakes, because I thought something was wrong with my truck. Radios blaring. The dog's nails clicking when he walked across the floor. The racket the birds were making when we went for our walks. It was pretty darn interesting for a couple days.

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Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
TINNITUS - Ringing in the ears - all the time…I have it - BAD - so much so that it sounds like there are CICADA’S in my house, my car, everywhere - 24 Hrs a day…

Anyone know if these OTC units will eliminate this because I know the prescription units can be programmed to “mask” this sound…..

I've been listening to the cicadas and a tone since 73. I used a sound machine at night to sleep.

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Originally posted by ensigmatic:
With modern technology, having to employ professionals to fit and adjust hearing aids may soon go the way of the buggy whip.

You buy hearing aids. Install app on phone. Run app in "hearing test" mode. It presents tones across the hearing spectrum, in a pseudo-random manner, at various levels. You press a button each time you hear the tone. Well-written: It will even "understand" questionable/marginal response patterns and keep testing until it "sees" consistency. Voilà: Hearing test. The app now knows, precisely, your hearing loss characteristics. It then programs the hearing aids to offset it.

It already has gone the way of the buggy whip to a degree, but a lot of people, probably most, are resistant to change unless it runs over them.

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Originally posted by charlie12:

I've been listening to the cicadas and a tone since 73. I used a sound machine at night to sleep.

I've been listening to them since I was in the Army in 1968. My mind has learned how to tune it out so I never hear it anymore unless I think about it, like right now.

If they help with music that much I think I'm going to have to get a pair. I hear the crash cymbals fine. Its the ride and high hat work I can't hear anymore.

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Originally posted by PHPaul:


I AM thinking about contacting the VA about a physical tho. The Medicare "Wellness Check" is a joke. I haven't had an actual physical since I turned 65.

You may want to rethink that PHPaul. They told me I had to have a physical before I could get a hearing check and they dinged my personal insurance for the physical. I have great insurance outside of the VA. I didn’t know about the bill until a year later. And trying to deal with the VA will make you murderous.

Talk to your regular doc and tell him you want a real physical, not a well check. Most insurance companies actually don’t charge you for a physical.

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I AM thinking about contacting the VA about a physical tho. The Medicare "Wellness Check" is a joke. I haven't had an actual physical since I turned 65.

^^^^^^^^^^^
The most important thing is regular lab work and a physician who can interpret the results. It is not just a matter of looking at numbers, it is looking at trends. Find a younger doc who can follow you over time. Good luck

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

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I AM thinking about contacting the VA about a physical tho. The Medicare "Wellness Check" is a joke. I haven't had an actual physical since I turned 65.

^^^^^^^^^^^
The most important thing is regular lab work and a physician who can interpret the results. It is not just a matter of looking at numbers, it is looking at trends. Find a younger doc who can follow you over time. Good luck

I get the regular lab work with the wellness check and assumed every one else did also.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
It already has gone the way of the buggy whip to a degree, but a lot of people, probably most, are resistant to change unless it runs over them.

In my case it wasn't resistance to change so much as having "moderately severe" hearing loss, coupled with far too many people we've known going the "economy" route and ending-up hating their hearing aids.

It may have cost us a pretty penny, but my hearing aids have worked nearly flawlessly for me. So well, in fact, I tend to forget they're even there--until I take 'em out at night. Then it becomes real clear what they're doing for me.

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I get the regular lab work with the wellness check and assumed every one else did also.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Depends. Not everyone does a comprehensive metabolic panel with a good clinical interview. Listening to the patient is the most important thing a physician does. More extensive workups or referrals to specialists are more common as we age.

This thread has gotten me to finally get off my butt and see the VA about aids.

I have been wearing some from Costco for about 5 years and find them to be lacking compared to the Miracle Ear ones I used to have, but the price difference was too much to pass up.

I went to my local VA Clinic (there is one just down the road from me) and started the initial paperwork yesterday. We'll see how it goes.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I AM thinking about contacting the VA about a physical tho. The Medicare "Wellness Check" is a joke. I haven't had an actual physical since I turned 65.

^^^^^^^^^^^
The most important thing is regular lab work and a physician who can interpret the results. It is not just a matter of looking at numbers, it is looking at trends. Find a younger doc who can follow you over time. Good luck

I get the regular lab work with the wellness check and assumed every one else did also.

My PCP, who is a relatively young guy, said the bloodwork that accompanies a wellness check is pretty minimal. I'm monitored for cholesterol levels, looking for statin side effects and watching the A1C but that's about it. He actually recommended going to the VA for a full panel and an actual physical.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good to hear Paul.