Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

Perhaps your audiologist or hearing health provider can tell you how to adjust your cochlear implant and your hearing aid when in a noisy room or speaking to people whose voices you cannot understand. Lowering the background noise can help too.
Hermine Willey

I struggle on a daily basis with my hearing. It is very frustrating. It’s not that I can’t hear with them, people do not need to speak louder, the problem is — inaudible! I have a problem with clarity! If I am with two or more people conversing I listen in amazement that they know what is being relayed to each other as mostly all I hear is jarbled conversation with only a word ever so often coming through clearly. I am completely lost other than to be in a one on one conversations and if they mutter or speak rapidly, or have a heavy dialect, well—forget me understanding. It is a terrible way for a ‘I love to socialize and converse’ ’ kind of woman to have to be in groups of people anymore. I avoid these situations as much as possible. I under stand so well each entry I have read as I think I’ve experienced most of their frustrations. I’m not giving up however, as I am in the process of trying some new hearing aids. Wish me luck. Ha!

I encounter the same situations - very frustrating. Would you let me know which hearing aids you try. I have tried Octicon and Phonak but the clarity is not there if you are talking with more than one person.

I hope these new hearing aids help you . It is so frustrating to feel like you have to avoid all but one on one conversations.
The hearing aid companies are trying and the first one to make that breakthrough is going to lead all the others.
What kind are you getting? Please share your results with the group.

As I said before the Signia AX are not there yet either.
Because of this group my next Signia IX hearing aids will have the telecoil feature. I don’t think she would have included that feature if I didn’t bring it up.
Thanks to everyone in the group for sharing their experiences.

I only hope this group continues to grow because as new people come onboard who knows what they have discovered.
I told a friend about this site yesterday. He recently bought a pair of top of the line Oticon hearing aids and he still struggles like we all do. Hopefully he will also join the group.
There is strength in numbers and if someone find the perfect Hearing aid that works for them I can’t wait to hear about it.

I am glad you liked my comment. I hope everyone in the group brings someone new to the group.
The more people the more we can learn about the latest advances being made in the hearing aid industry.
I am trying acupuncture this week because my audiologist said some of her clients reported some improvement in their hearing. I am not expecting much but even a slight improvement would be greatly appreciated.
I will share what I find out with the group.
There is strength in numbers and we need to reach as many people as we possibly can.

I am in the process of choosing new hearing aids after five years with Widex Evoke. Of course, I have the same issue so many of you have mentioned of participating in conversations with more than one or two people. I rely on reading lips to a great extent. Clarity and isolating voices in ambient noise are my biggest hearing hurdles in everyday life, but I have also lost the ability to hear music, which was an important part of my life. Harmonies are now distorted, and the rhythmic aspects of music predominate over the musical tones in my hearing. I am pretty sure that no hearing aid is capable of restoring much of that loss.

Over the past couple of months I have tried several new hearing aids for a week or two at a time. Some of them I can eliminate as possibilities almost immediately, because the underlying “sound” of the aid is simply not comfortable for me. (Widex and Oticon were in that category for me.) The two best ones for me have been a new Resound, which I’m currently demoing, and Phonak, which I think I will ultimately choose, because it provides the most natural sound for me. The downside of the Phonak is the complexity of the connection to my I-phone. It relies on Bluetooth, and I have found that can occasionally be problematic, but I think I can eventually learn to handle that part of it with assistance from my audiologist’s office.

This trial period has been instructive. I have learned a lot. I encourage others of you to do this if you’re in the market for new hearing aids or if you’re getting them for the first time. Find an audiologist who will work with you to find the best match for your needs.

Jabra trial hearings are my new try and if no success, Phillips. Only trials as of now. Fingers are crossed and prayers.

I am trying the Jabra. Like you, I tried the Octicons and was ready to purchase but quickly changed my mind as same issues as Rextons so I I went back to Costco. I like their availability and pricing. They are so there for you. I have used their Rextons for 4 or 5 years now and I struggled as I said with the same with the Oticons, clarity missing in more than three people or service people out in public and on the phone. My first IRC’s were Oticon and I did well with them until they wore out and from there on my hearing has been a (left out in left field) experience ever since.