Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

I wish you the best! I'm surprised they didn't want you to come in immediately.

Please keep us posted.

There have been several people who have talked about their personal experience with SSHL. I encourage them to chime into this conversation.

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I've been having trouble hearing conversations in a noisy environment.

I can hear pretty well. When I take the free online hearing tests, they always come back as moderate hearing loss. But I cannot follow a conversation, and if I try to concentrate on the conversation, I become overwhelmed with all the other "chaotic" sounds around me. I can't tune that stuff out in order to "hear" the person directly in front of me.

I can sit at a table in a busy restaurant, and cannot make out what the person sitting across from me is saying, but I can hear perfectly some lady 2 tables over, as she cackles with laughter, telling her friend a story.

It's quite debilitating, in that if I try to concentrate on a conversation, I end up getting a claustrophobic feeling, and often have to remove myself from the situation just to keep from flipping out.

Some people have suggested that it sounds like spatial hearing loss. I don't think so. I can hear a mouse pass gas across the room if it's quiet... But with a lot of chaotic sounds around me, I cannot make out what people are saying. I can barely even hear them, but other sounds, like clinking of glasses, or silver wear clanking on dishes... are crystal clear, and overpowering.

Is there a certain type of audiologist I should be looking for? Or should any hearing specialist be able to diagnose and treat?

I don't even know where to start.

@jethrob. Welcome to the hearing loss support group at Mayo Clinic Connect. I suspect you'll get quite a bit of support from others in this group. FYI, Iwas diagnosed with progressive hearing loss decades ago, and have managed quite well after learning strategies that work and using appropriate technology. So, I will start with my thoughts for you:

It sounds like you have typical sensorineural hearing loss, which is common. One of the first signs of SNHL is having trouble understanding conversation when background noise is present. Most social settings include a lot of that unwelcome noise. Even moderate hearing loss is affected by this reality. You 'hear', but don't understand. The exhaustion you feel relates to the fact that you are working extra hard to try to hear. It's called auditory fatigue. The brain gets tired of working so hard.

It makes sense to see an ENT specialist when one is first experiencing hearing loss. You want to rule out causes that can be corrected or need special treatment. The next step is to see an audiologist who will test your hearing in a variety of ways. Some ENT medical doctors have audiologists on staff. Others will recommend someone in private practice. You want to be tested in a sound proof room by a professional who can evaluate your hearing. Online testing can give us hints, but they are limited.

Have you mentioned your hearing issues to a medical professional?

Thanks for the wonderful welcome!

Honestly, I've suffered from this "can't follow a conversation" for decades now.

Sounds like I need to find an ENT and go from there. Do I just pick an ENT, or do some ENTs not even bother with hearing loss while other specialize in it?

My father was a family practitioner. He had me do hearing tests when I was in my 30s, but nothing ever came of it. I'm approaching 60 now, and it has gotten to the point where I avoid loud places and large crowds.

Go to a reputable clinic that has an Ear, Nose, Throat specialist on staff. It's OK to start with an audiologist, but always good to rule out issues that are medically fixable or of concern. If an audiologist suspects a medical problem s/he most likely will refer you to an ENT specialist. Hearing loss is misunderstood by many physicians in primary care practices. A reason for that is because most of the technical support came along after they received their training. When I was diagnosed with hearing loss I was told there was nothing that could be done to help me, and probably never would be. It was a pretty dire diagnoses that left me without hope.

Then along came an organization that is now called The Hearing Loss Assn. of America (HLAA). that was founded by people with hearing loss who believed it was important to push for research in medicine and technology in this area. Other organizations jumped on board and today there is ongoing research and development. that has changed lives dramatically. http://www.hearingloss.org

Hearing aids, which once were mere amplifiers, can do far more now than they could even a couple decades ago. Medical advances have led to cochlear implants that are miracles for nearly everyone who has gone that route. It's been pretty amazing to be a part of it through involvement in HLAA since 1983.

Until 1988, the National Institutes of Health didn't even have an institute within that was promoting research in the area of communication disorders. HLAA pushed for that institute to be formed. Since that time, the attitudes have changed about potential solutions. Unfortunately, there remains way too much misinformation out there due to misleading advertising and age-old stigmas people have held on to about hearing loss and deafness.

I cannot say enough good things about the technology I use today. I use both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant. In testing my understanding scores went from 30% to 96% with the technology I use. Do I still have some trouble in noisy environments? Yes, but not nearly as much.

I enjoy people. I like to go to social events. I enjoy the performing arts. There were decades of my life when I withdrew from all those things due to poor hearing. Today I enjoy them.

There are many choices people with hearing loss have to make. Some choose to be reclusive and pull back from things they once enjoyed. Some never enjoyed social things and don't miss them. Others learn about solutions and options they may never have considered before asking questions and learning more.

Who are you among those different personalities?

Thank you so much for taking the time to put all that to words. It is very encouraging!

Has anyone recently had a hybrid Coclear ear implant done? Would love to know your experiences in recovery and the learning process you went through.

Hi! I'm Bob. Longtime hearing loss severe to-profound and wearing a variety of hearing aids. Service-connected for hearing loss with the VA but I also carry an insurance benefit of $2,500 to ensure I get state of the art and science hearing devices. Hearing loss also runs in my family mother, brother, and oldest daughter so far but none of them are dealing with it yet. And yes, I have done chemo treatments in 2006 and 2008 but cancer clear since then. I am at the stage of getting new hearing aids and it feels overwhelming in the options and pricing. Yes, I have always used an audiologist and have the exams, but I am a bit more invested now because at 68 I now know the research on hearing aid risks and consequences of being under treated. I say that because my current aids are not helping me, maybe because I was not out and about in social situations during the pandemic or maybe because I switch back and forth with my two pairs for leisure and the others for teaching, so my brain is having trouble learning from two different sets of aids. What have you found to be helpful in selecting hearing aids that the audiologist recommends (sometimes I wonder if they may be shoehorning into the models they carry or get incentives on, maybe this is an unfounded concern?) and actually work for you?

I have the same concern you have, Bob. I have been using Widex Evoke hearing aids for nearly four years. They were recommended by two different audiologists, who both seemed to have some sort of business agreement with Widex. I still see the audiologist from whom I purchased the hearing aids, and she still insists that Widex will be the best choice for me in the future when newer models are released. My hearing has deteriorated in the past four years since I’ve been wearing the hearing aids, and I find myself frustrated in many situations, particularly noisy backgrounds, as I simply cannot function as I used to. I no longer attend concerts and other live performances or go to many large gatherings because of my inability to hear and the fatigue that results from trying to listen. I have almost completely lost the ability to enjoy music, something that was always very important in my life, both as a listener and a singer/player.

Like so many other things in our hypercapitalist era, the dedicated, effective treatment of hearing loss is, I’m afraid, being sacrificed on the altar of greater and greater profits. It is difficult to know how to find providers and practitioners who are genuinely interested in doing the best thing for their patients rather than seeing to their own profitability first. Audiologists, I’m afraid, are no exception.