Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

I'm mainly after getting hearing aid users' assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of the hearing aids they have experience with.

Specifically, I'd like to find the best hearing aids for men with normal old age hearing loss, reaching 75 db loss in the 2000-4000 frequency range.

Hello-srwalker here. I’m a cochlear implant recipient after SNHL occurred progressively in both ears. Living life as a deaf adult is extremely hard, but I’ve no choice! Learning as I go! I’ve connected to other groups and have found some useful info. Hoping to continue to learn how others cope and deal with this world of ours.

The expertise of the person who fits you with hearing aids will have a great deal to do with how well they work with your particular hearing loss. We are all different. There are many brands of hearing aids that are high quality. Be sure to ask the provider to do 'real ear measurement' when fitting you. Keep us posted on how it goes.

Dear Julie,

Thank you for responding.

You certainly are right in everything you day.

Fortunately for me, my hearing loss (so far!) appears to be a straightforward sort, and
the people at Costco for 25 years have been up to fitting me adequately.

Thanks again for your thoughts. I will let you know how it goes.

-- Walter

Thankyou Walter. I know several people who are very pleased with hearing aids from Costco. The lengthy trial period they allow is a huge plus. Some Costco stores have degreed audiologists. Some don’t. The training they get is good regardless. It’s a whole different business model. Costco hearing aids used to be ‘locked’ so only Costco could reset or adjust them. I don’t think that’s true anymore. It’s an interesting business.

How are you doing with the cochlear implant? Are you bilateral or do you use a hearing aid in the other ear?

I'm deaf without my CI and HA, and struggle sometimes in noisy environments unless I'm using a streamer or other device that brings desired sound direct to my CI and HA. My social life continues, thanks to the technology available.

Do you use Zoom? There are several groups of people with CIs, hearing loss, etc. that meet on zoom with automatic captioning. Hearing other people's experiences helps a ton.

I would love to hear more from those who have recently received the hybrid Coclear implants, as I will be going in this month to see if I qualify.

Hello. I recently decided to take my hearing loss seriously and, after having my hearing test completed and having gotten recommendations made by my audiologist about which Signia model to order, I am trying to decide exactly what to do next in order to decide on which hearing aid to get.

Has anyone been diagnosed with cochlear hydrops? It is progressive to deafness and could be sudden. So far I am at the moderate/severe hearing loss stage. One night I completely lost hearing in both ears then my hearing came back (with using Prednisone) the next day. So deafness is coming.
One ENT told me cochlear implants would not work for this condition. Another ENT told me he would “try them”.
I will be seeing a third ENT as I have recently moved to AZ. He will be the tie breaker.
Has anyone with this condition had cochlear implants? Was it successful?

The best advice I can give you is to try what the audiologist suggests but be honest with both that provider and yourself. If you are not getting enough help with those aids, ask to try a different model.

Providers generally allow only a 30-day trial period for returning the product. A few allow 60 days. That is in the fine print of whatever you are asked to sign. Be sure to read it...and ask questions. It takes time to get used to using hearing aids. Be sure to try them in all the places you usually want and need to go. Too many people get frustrated and take them off rather than continuing to experiment. The brain needs time to adjust to hearing sound that way.

IMPORTANT: You are entitled to a copy of the test results from your provider. Ask for it. If you don't feel comfortable with what you are being fit with, you will have the audiogram to take elsewhere.

Does the audiologist you are seeing sell only one brand?