Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

First experience with HA. I Just got my Kirkland K 10.0's a few days ago. I was impressed with their electronic test equipment. I was expecting a watch held to the ear and a whisper from across the room. Anyway, so far no problems. I never would have guessed that my joints made that much noise or that grass made a sound when walking through.

@mazeppabob My daughter got HAs when she was 4. We were amazed at the things she heard that she never had heard before, like the hum of the microwave oven.

Interestingly, her hearing loss and mine are totally opposite and not related.
JK

I love the noise of your joints....When I got tubes in my ears at age 35, I was astonished leaving the medical building at the "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sound the sweep on the bottom of a revolving door makes. I had been going through those specific doors since I was a child and had never heard it.
Sue

Heard there is a better hearing aide then Costco?

How are you doing with those Kirkland hearing aids? I have heard good things about them.

@ julieo4
I have nothing to compare the Kirkland HA to. I still have trouble understanding voice if there is any kind of background noise. We went to a kids BD party Sunday so I figured this would be the ultimate test. I was standing between two adults. They could understand and carry on a conversation however, I had no idea what they were saying. This was the main reason decided to try HA. Are my expectations unreasonable? They are supposed to be somewhat smart HA. They do work great for phones and streaming, but that was never an issue. I go into Costco Wednesday for the 30 day check. I will mention this.
I have five more months to try them or return for a refund.

Any party is one of the most challenging situations for hearing aids! You may need some adjustments to your hearing aids. It can take several sessions to maximize and refine the aids to your needs. This is where the skill and experience of the audiologist or trained technician can be so important -- as well as the features of your hearing aids. Is there an app that allows adjustments on the go via your phone? Some hearing aids have apps with programs for various situations that allow you to adjust volume and programming for various challenging situations. Its great to have such a long trial period to truly explore and experiment to make a decision. Let us know how its going!

@mazeppabob

I don’t think your initial expectations were unreasonable. What you are experiencing is the reality of hearing aids. Depending on your hearing loss, even the most advanced aids sometimes won’t enable you to hear in very difficult listening situations…and that party indeed sounded like the ultimate test. This is the type of situation where assisted listening devices and the use of captioned apps on your phone are invaluable. In that type of situation I can only speak to one person at a time….I need to face the speaker and some lip reading is involved.
I use my speech to text apps very often.

Don’t ever give up on or get disappointed with hearing aids. They involve adjustments and adapting to different environments and these aids are constantly evolving into really smart devices with self adjusting settings….so much better than when I first starting wearing the older analog aids so many years ago.

You will find yourself learning which listening situations are good or bad and adapt accordingly.
Read up on assisted devices, apps and tips on how to make things better for you and how others can accommodate you. A lot of information exists on this forum and on the internet.

Do keep wearing the aids….you need to keep your ear hair cells stimulated….and if you are truly not happy with them even in optimum situations…then try another brand. It’s up to you to persevere. Get an attitude lol……tell the Audi what you want and need and be persistent but not unrealistic. Give them as much information as possible. Then do your homework on the assisted devices and apps and tips and ask a zillion questions if necessary.

FL Mary

@imallears
Thank you for your comments. I have to figure out how to make the HA work in different situations. I'm sure the Kirklands are good aids if used properly. A different brand would probably work the same in a similar situation.

And don't forget that proper fitting by the audiologist of hearing instrument specialist can make a world of difference in how your hearing aids work for you. Proper fitting is one thing. The hearing aids themselves are another. The best hearing aids without the best fitting won't give the results you want. And the best hearing aids with the best fitting won't give you normal hearing.