Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

reply to barbb about Well Spouses: Thanks! I'm bummed that my other half simply is too lazy to do the work to feel better and participate in life. If something had happened to him that was "fixable" it would be different, but this is his choice.

When I take a hearing test in order to get new hearing aids, I find a few frequencies cause intense pain, especially in my left ear. The audiologist tells me the frequencies are related to speech, and if they are toned down in my hearing aid, I will have problems hearing speech clearly. Is this a common problem? My hearing aids hurt my ears after a few hours.

Do you experience that same kind of pain from certain sounds when you are NOT wearing hearing aids? Did your provider mention anything about a form of loudness sensitivity called hyperacusis? It does take time to get used to hearing amplified sound when you are new to hearing aids.

Yes, what JulieO said. And hearing aids should not hurt your ears. Whether they are "in the ear" or "behind the ear"
they can be adjusted a little to eliminate a sore spot. Talk to your audiologist.

My left ear hears very little.. my right ear has significant loss.. I usually wear 2 hearing aids .. Left just transmits to the right...but yes, loud noises hurt.. so I take out my hearing aids... when home alone the microwave even makes too much noise.. It is more comfortable in a not so noisy world.. So much of the noise in the everyday world really does not hold any meaningful information.. so why subject yourself to it... The treatments of hyperacusis ... getting used to loud noise seems counter intuitive... do ear plugs help cut down the volume of the noise reaching the ear drum... I am retired, but in professional life my clear thinking was what I was paid for... so when the extra noise volume confused clear thinking... I took out the hearing aids and even put in ear plugs to preserve the hearing that I had left.. Ken

I should have stated my problem better. Here it is.
I have had 2 sets of hearing aids during the past 7 years. At first the aids seemed ok, then they became uncomfortable,and then increasingly painful. Now I am testing a third set, hoping there is a way to suppress some frequencies, but there is not. . This set becomes painful after wearing for about 6 hours. I am not bothered by normal sound when I am not wearing hearing aids. I recently had hearing tests from 2 audiologists, and each test was extremely painful in a few high frequencies. Incidentally, one audiologist tested my comprehension of spoken words using normal volume and again with lower volume. My comprehension of the words was better at a lower volume. Both audiologists were concerned that my ability to hear speech would be worsened if they suppressed the higher frequencies. I don't think either mentioned hyperacusis, and I started to read about it yesterday. If that is my problem, have you more suggestions? I am hoping to understand my situation better.
Fortunately I can return this hearing aid with no charge, returns are very expensive for most aids.

I have had hearing loss for 30years but am now at the point where even with hearing aids I cannot understand people and a terrified of the phone. I don’t know how to be independent at this point I. Me life (72 yrs)£

There is help available. Do you know about captioned phones? It depends on where you live, but in most states they are FREE. Check out http://www.captioncall.com and http://www.captel.com You are definitely too young to give up! There are several apps that can be downnloaded to your smartphone that transcribe speech to text so you can read what people are saying as they say it.

If hearing aids no longer help you, have you considered the possibility of a cochlear implant? Mine has been a miracle for me.

The Hearing Loss Assn. of America (HLAA) has chapters throughout the United States. The HLAA website is: http://www.hearingloss.org The mission of HLAA, which is a consumer organization, is to help people with hearing loss remain in the hearing mainstream through information sharing, education, peer support and advocacy. Chapters are listed on the website, along with a large amount of information. If you will share your location, we might be able to provide more information.

Technology that goes beyond hearing aids is extremely helpful, but so many people with hearing loss have no idea that it exists.

Before giving up on the hearing aids, I would ask the audiologists to lower those high frequencies so YOU can tell if it helps.

@smbritt Tell us a little more. Have you been to a real hearing /audiology clinic? What do you or your ENT doctor think caused your hearing loss, i.e. loud noises like in the military? Do you have Ear Drum damage, Middle Ear calcification (Otosclerosis), or Inner ear damage..? My loss of hearing started in the Military with big guns creating a shock wave that could nearly knock you over, that damaged the inner ear ...those tiny hair like members that receive the vibrations have been laid flat...no longer able to send any signal to the brain... Perhaps you were in a rock band where you sat near the speaker for hours.. ?
I have Starkey smart Hearing Aids the Veterans Administration gave me, they work with my smart phone and send the phone signal directly to my fairly good ear hearing aid... It really helps.. Certainly the Closed Captioning on the TV is a must... but that helps on the phone. Tell your friends who call you to leave a message ... and hopefully those voice messages will be translated to text ... I text with certain people who do not enunciate very well.. Don't give up .. I am 83 , the quiet is kind of nice sometimes, but life is for living to the maximum.. Ken