raymac46 Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 I have been wearing a hearing aid in my left ear for 19 years and both ears for the last 7. My current ones are out of warranty and not worth fixing. I had an audio test that confirmed my hearing has gone further downhill so I need a new set of ear helpers. All it takes is money folks. There is corporate concentration going on in the hearing aid clinic space. My former family owned clinic is now part of a large chain owned by a major manufacturer. They only sell their in house brand now but fortunately it is a good one that is often recommended for my particular problem. Right now I am having trouble hearing the TV or computer audio, plus my wife and grandkids. I get a 30 day trial for free with the new hearing aids and I'm hopeful of some improvement. My fitting is scheduled for mid August. I guess we'll see. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 I lost about 75-80% of my hearing in my right ear at a young age (16-17 or so) due to numerous ear infections as a kid... hopping around from pool to pool in the neighborhood back then. My ear actually functions 100%, but my ear drum is nothing but scar tissue. I was told a few years back that an out-patient laser surgery where they take a slice of skin off your ass and make you a new eardrum is "just" $3000-$4000 to have done. Unfortunately, my county-provided indigent healthcare considers this an "elective" surgery and not necessary for my health. It's going to be one of the first things I have done when I hit that lottery jackpot, though. I'd love to hear true stereo again one day without having to turn the right channel up to twice the volume as the left one. Of course, my "partial" hearing loss (mostly on the high freq end) comes in handy when I don't want to listen to women jabbering on. I just make sure they stay on my right side and then nod occasionally and say "uh-huh" or "hmmm...". Works like a champ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 I had my hearing tested when I started working in 1969. At that time I had hearing loss in my left ear - likely born with it. I didn't do anything about it till my late 50s. I had a single hearing aid until 2016 when things got so bad I needed 2. Now I am hopeless without them. Getting old sucks - unless you consider the alternative. Canadian health care helps out but it is still an expensive proposition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookmem Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 3 hours ago, raymac46 said: I had my hearing tested when I started working in 1969. At that time I had hearing loss in my left ear - likely born with it. I didn't do anything about it till my late 50s. I had a single hearing aid until 2016 when things got so bad I needed 2. Now I am hopeless without them. Getting old sucks - unless you consider the alternative. Canadian health care helps out but it is still an expensive proposition. I finally got aids about a year ago. The problem is, I don't like wearing them. Even though I can't watch TV without using earphones, I still find all of the background noise I hear with the aids, makes me very uncomfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 I haven't had mine tested for many years, but I ran a sine wave sweep on my studio monitors and then headphones (both go to ~25kHz) and found I could only hear up to ~12kHz. My local gym/pool had a free hearing test truck one day so I asked the audiologist and she said they only test to 4kHz and 12kHz would be considered good hearing! As I have worked loud concerts for most of my life it's a surprise, although I have moderate tinnitus in both ears which is annoying and drives me crazy. It does make distinguishing speech in loud environment tricky at times though, same as frequency range loss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 3 hours ago, sunrat said: I have moderate tinnitus in both ears which is annoying and drives me crazy. It does make distinguishing speech in loud environment tricky at times though, same as frequency range loss. Me too. Mainly due to using heavy equipment on sites way back in the 70's. that was before Health and Safety appeared in the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 I do not have frequency loss due to loud noise, simply presbycusis (old man's hearing loss.) Of course I also have tinnitus which goes with the territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookmem Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 4 hours ago, sunrat said: I haven't had mine tested for many years, but I ran a sine wave sweep on my studio monitors and then headphones (both go to ~25kHz) and found I could only hear up to ~12kHz. My local gym/pool had a free hearing test truck one day so I asked the audiologist and she said they only test to 4kHz and 12kHz would be considered good hearing! As I have worked loud concerts for most of my life it's a surprise, although I have moderate tinnitus in both ears which is annoying and drives me crazy. It does make distinguishing speech in loud environment tricky at times though, same as frequency range loss. Most men can't hear above 12kHz. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Anything higher than 12Khz is mostly annoying, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 I am rather ambivalent about the concentration going on with independent hearing aid clinics in my area. 3 smaller clinics have just been merged into one - fortunately for me, my clinic is the survivor. I get the same friendly and competent service - for now at least. It's concerning that my clinic is now owned by a big hearing aid company, so the number of brands available has been reduced. My current hearing aids are not sold anymore. However the brands sold are well regarded and one of them is ideal for my particular sort of hearing loss. Hearing aids are a lot like HVAC systems. The brand is less important than the quality of installation and customization. So I'm confident it'll be OK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 (edited) My eyes have both needed cataract surgery/implants. They work OK, nothing like when I was young. Amazingly, I suspect my hearing is probably mostly intact. I avoided all the obvious stressors like too loud music and such. Maybe that's why I turned out to be a fairly capable radio telegrapher for some ~60 years now. Still sharp enough to hear subtle stuff- "...what's that?" I get up to investigate, I have heard the almost silent moaning sound made by my electric water heater that just clicked on. I hear toilets leaking a trickle, need to redo the valves and flappers, etc. Pretty amazing really. Guess that makes up for the muscle loss and slowly encroaching balance issues, etc. Yep, getting old but I do feel lucky when I see how some folks really lose hold of good health. Still trying to take good care of myself, grateful... Clutter Edited July 30, 2023 by Cluttermagnet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) I had cataract surgery too and it vastly improved my sight. Still need glasses for reading and to correct my astigmatism that developed later in life. The optometrist has also noted some scar tissue from the eye surgery so I'll likely have to get that fixed one of these days. Some days I feel like a 1957 Triumph TR3 sportscar. What will go wrong next? Edited July 31, 2023 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 10 minutes ago, raymac46 said: Some days I feel like a 1957 Triumph TR3 sportscar. Guess you must feel like a million dollars every now and again then. https://journal.classiccars.com/2019/02/27/little-english-57-triumph-tr3-sports-car/ Quote from the 2019 article With an asking price of $24,750, this TR3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted August 31, 2023 Author Share Posted August 31, 2023 (edited) Got my new hearing aids fitted today. First impressions: Certainly seems like I can hear better. I can understand my wife when she speaks softly and I don't need to crank up the TV to the point where she's complaining about it. These machines have impressive noise reduction. When I'm not listeming to speech, there is a sort of serenity about my environment. It's hard to describe but it is noticeable. Sound seems more spatial. My older hearing aids focused on what is in front of me. These units seem to be picking up sound from a 360 degree perspective. I just listened to one of my musical test recordings - "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman" from the Doobie Brothers (1973.) It sounds like I remember it from 50 years ago. Also some early America acoustic tracks sound great. You never get back to your 20s but you can recover quite a lot. Now my brain has to get used to this new (old) way of hearing. Edited August 31, 2023 by raymac46 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crp Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 How many people have you taken out of your will today? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.