I've been hearing impaired for much of my life and it is becoming more severe. When several people are talking or the TV is going and someone says something, it is difficult to hear them. Most of the time I can't hear people knocking on the door or the telephone ringing.
Was in denial up until maybe 8-10 years ago when one of my nurse pals actually used an audiometer. No arguing with that.
Got hearing aids, don't use them, part of my deficit can't be corrected with hearing aids.
If you think you have a hearing deficit, get tested.

Baseline test is next Tuesday. I'm ready!

You sound a lot like my mom, but she wears her hearing aids anyhow. The right hearing aid makes almost no difference, scratch that makes NO diference. If I had to pay what she paid for her's, they'd be worn every moment, all the time, and bedazzled. Same price as half a car!

Rob I purchased my hearing aids from America Hears Inc. online with a licensed audiologists prescription at a much more reasonable cost that going to have them fitted at an audiologist's office. Amazing quality, but the audiologist is the one that told me that some of my hearing could not be corrected, and since I am retired I just don't wear them now.
They have amazing software, where one can hook up one's hearing aids to the computer and America Hears can make adjustments. How hi tech is that?

My 96 yr old FIL was told that if he doesn't wear his hearing aids his brain forgets how to process the sound. So in essence, the less you hear, the less you will hear (downward spiral), adding to the loss related to aging, etc.
So the upshot is if you have hearing aids you should wear them even if home alone. But being 96 (& already a bit bull headed his entire life) he does what he wants & doesn't often wear them.

My dad had tinnitus and eventually got hearing aids. It helped him a lot and he sang the praises of those all the time! He got his through a group (I don't recall) and they were cheaper but still pricy.

I need to go for a hearing check. I hear well (very well) and have to selectively tune things out or focus more intently in order to get it. Noisy places drive me nuts. I also have low level tinnitus and ever since I was a kid, I could never tell if I was hearing a tone or if that was just my ear.

Rob, I know what you're saying; sometimes our brains are so busy they forget what was just said. I think it's more focus than hearing. If I'm reading e-mail/meeting notes and not focusing on the conversation, I'll ask someone to repeat what they said.

Soap box time:

Background:
When I was in high school, I was in a play that involved close-distance starter pistol shooting. Rehearsal and performance left me with a bit of ringing. When I was in the service, I worked around some loud machines, without any protection. I just might have been to some music performances and I just might have been real close to the speakers! However, both my father and my older sister had hearing deficits.

Now current:
Tinnitus in both ears, two different kinds. Nerve damage. That is due to the exposure to loud sounds.

Hearing loss has been going on for several years. (If you're good, you learn to read lips and body language a lot. However, if your back is turned - all is lost!) I had my hearing tested about 16 years ago (I am 68) and was told that hearing devices were appropriate. I elected to get CIC (complete in the canal) type and don't regret it. I tried the behind the ear type and it just was not comfortable. The CIC instruments are more expensive, but you gotta consider that this might be a 8 - 10 year investment. You must be comfortable with whatever you chose.

I HATE my hearing aids. More than once I have thrown them against the wall. I often tell the missus that if she were not alive, I would not use them at all. I would become a hermit and rarely leave the house. Phones are another problem. Ya gotta learn to accept the significant change in your life - or not! I have a problem with it oftentimes.

Now - newer ones are pretty good. They are computerized and the audiologist that you work with should be able to program them to adapt to many noise situations (music, large groups, basketball venues, restaurants). If that person cannot do that, then go somewhere else. Most insurance plans will cover the cost of the initial testing (I believe there is a three year thing involved). HOWEVER, the money for the instruments comes out of your pocket.

Buy wisely. I recently purchased upgrades (it had been seven years), but I also was lumping those with a bunch of other medical expenses in one calendar years. Batteries are a deduction.

What should you do? Get the baseline test. Most insurance companies will pay the few hundred dollars, particularly if you have a referral from your PCP.

I hate to bring this up, but look into people's ears. If you see those things, ask them a few questions. See what those neutral people have to say.

I will repeat, I HATE my hearing aids. However, if I did not have them, I would miss at least 75% of what people say, whether I can see their lips move or not. If you get some, your audiologist will want to see how you do in a place other than their sound-proof room. Get into a hallway and turn your back...if you can hear clearly, then you have something that will work for you. Adjustments can be made on those computer things (generally no charge - they need the referrals).

Suck it up - get the test.

Off my soap box. Thanks for bringing...

My mom was telling the audiologist, not this time, time before, that she was hearing something that sounded like a car salesman on the radio, not completely tuned right. The audiologist told her it was a phantom sound. Much like phantom limbs when you've had an amputation. Exactly waht you've described. When your ear doesn't hear things correctly, your brain will fill in the blank with what it "thinks" should be there. Most of the time it's something you'd never pick, like someone selling you cars constantly! The doctor described one patient who would hear her long since dead parents in the hallway conversing as they had when she was younger, very unnerving!

My mom wants the cochlear implants, but her hearing isn't "profoundly" bad enough. Whatever that means. She can't hear in her right ear at all. I think she has to have less than 40% hearing in her hearing ear to get them and it's better than that, but not by much. I can't tell you how much she doesn't hear. I hear it, so I'll tell people in the most apologetic way possible, she just didn't hear you. If I am there. They seem to understand.

Yes, she has the hi-tech fitting done. And she has hearing aids that "talk" to each other. That is, her better hearing ear hearing aid, helps out the lesser hearing ear. She also has an extra special device in addition to her aids that transmit sounds directly into her hearing aids for both her television and her phone. Streamer Pro something or other. They seem to make it so that she's the same level as everyone else.

I dread getting to the point she is. But if I can nip it in the bud like I have with allergies and asthma, I think I'll be doing ok. She and I both have asthma and allergies, but I found out as a early as possible and take all my medications so that I am clear and free all the time. I think that may have contributed to her hearing loss, too much drainage always around her ears. She also has Meniere's disease (more than a mild tinnitus). So early capturing and treating is my goal. She coughs all the time with her asthma and I never have. Mine is well controlled, hers is not. So hopefully, Tuesday will position me well.

I have only 30% hearing in one ear and 10% in the other. I have an ear disease called otosclerosis where the stapes becomes hard and it won't vibrate the sound to travel. That's the layman's description. Each year I LOVE my hearing aids more and more. Mine are highly computized and cost six grand each, essentially I have 3 different computerized programs and one for the t.v. I press a button and can switch from talking to one person to talking in a crowd. I can watch t.v. with the sound turned to barely on and only I can hear it in my hearing aids. I'm thrilled I live in a day and age where technology can take me from not hearing to being able to communicate freely with and hear the responses. When Helen Keller was asked which of her sense she would choose if she could get either her sight or her hearing, she said hearing. The reason being that without sight she could imagine but without sound, she was always alone and quiet except with people who could sign to her.

It's a handicap situation and not fun to deal with. The comments here about different causes and different aids is good. They are all in the business of selling something, but will that something help YOUR problem? People better smack me side the head to get my attention before starting a conversation.

Absolutely, there are those whose hearing loss is uncorrectable. I'd spend all day "talking" to anyone like that with a pen and paper if need be.

There are also those who have correctable hearing loss and choose for whatever reason (sometimes vanity, sometimes stubbornness) not to get devices or who choose to not use hearing aids they have. For them - including one person in my family - I say "Sorry". It's their choice to not hear conversations. I'll let them have what they want.

I get my hearing aids through my medical clinic, not from an independent dealer of hearing devices. This clinic is large enough that they have three full-time audiologists on staff, each with a doctorate in audiology. The clinic has an arrangement with the local state university to have some of their students spend time in the clinic as people are assessed and advised about their individual circumstances. That shows that they are willing to teach, while providing good care.

If you are fortunate enough to be involved with such a place, then you would not be getting a sales pitch, as the employees are not sales people, but audiologists who care. I was recently offered (as I needed new ones) 5 separate companies with several prices from each one. She told me the advantages and disadvantages of each, based on my hearing problems.

Robin, ask more questions, make some phone calls. Only you can determine the right course of action.

Jim

This is so interesting to me. My dad had hearing aids for probably the last few years of his life. He was 92 when he died. He needed them before that, I am sure. But he did get them. He didn't always wear them and didn't understand that the batteries had to be changed every few days. This was a major problem for him. Then, if he didn't put them in a drawer when he wasn't wearing them, the cat would have a field day knocking them on the floor and batting them all over the place. One he never did find.

That was 15-20 years ago. Just in the past month, my sister (she's 79) decided to go get tested and she did, indeed, need hearing aids. She is happy to have them and she will wear them all the time. But the kind she has, she says just go on a little stand at night that recharges them everyday!! How great is that??? No batteries. More like an iPhone!! I wish that had been possible for my dad. I'm sad about all the things he missed because he could not hear.

I know what I meant to say and didn't... the whole not understanding people is relatively new. I am actually less distracted than ever before, and, it is different. I don't like that it's changed. I think one of us (they or I) turn around and then I hear. phooey.

That is the point, I don't wanna miss a thing! They had an episode of Brain Games and they showed how hearing loss happens over time anyhow. They had a game where you were supposed to hear different ranges and the kids were hearing things no one else was hearing. But I ended up in the group who was 10 years older than I am. I must be missing some things. The funny part is, some kids have found this nugget out and have their phones programmed to ring at the frequency adults can't hear.

Here is a link that might be useful: something past 14,000 Hz

I saw that episode of Brain Games and talked to my audiologist about it. She nodded before I was done. Hearing aids, she said, won't fix that kind of thing. Face it, we old folks just cannot do certain things, like hearing those frequencies.

Jim

It's the 10 years older than me part that bothers me. I'm already that far behind? :( I don't want to hear like a 15 year old, just a 47 year old hears.

Sucks when I haven't done, nor am I doing, anything to make it worse. I've never listened to loud music. I don't hear headphones. I am not subjected to loud noises, like jets or engines. So what gives that I hear like someone who is 55-60 year age range? That can't be right. I've actually gotten back results on online tests that suggest I have mild-moderate hearing loss. I imagine this is that genetic thing at work.

We'll see what the pro says next week.

If you are needing a hearing aid I have a bit of advice learned from years of dealing with hearing aids as my two oldest daughters have been hearing impaired since birth.

First go to a MEDICAL place for a comprehensive evaluation. Thry will no doubt have access to many different kinds of aids and they will let you try several. You will have to pay only for the ear mold. They will then evaluate your reaction to these aids and you can choose (or not) one of them. There should be no high pressure at all in these circumstances,

I have worn an aid since I was about 80 and following these practices I have been very satisfied.

My grandmother lived with my mother and me from the time I was three or four. By combining households my mother was able to go out to work to support us after my father left.

Gram began to lose her hearing in her 60's. Best option for her then was a pair of heavy, ugly glasses with receptors and batteries in the stems that fed into earpiece speakers. These were only helpful to a small degree. There was a lot of exasperated shouting in our homeeven when Gram wore her 'hearing glasses'.

One of my ears hears less well that the other, so I've lost my 'radar' -- ability to determine the origin of a sound. Both DH and I have some hearing loss, but mine is increasingly worse. I have more annoying tinnitus; he has none. I'd like to avoid further 'shouting'. (The physical effort of it looks and feels just like anger.)

Yayagal, please tell me the details about your hearing aids! Maybe the same maker would have a choice for me.

there are different types of hearing losses and problems...you won't know how much help you can get until you are tested...I have a terrible high frequency loss and my problem doesn't get a lot of help and it gets worse with every test but every little bit of help is appreciated...

Do get tested and do go to a good audiologist and while they are costly..they are worth the dollars.

And...let us know how things go!

Ya know...we care!

Jim

I *didn't catch* who did this study, but I heard about it on WGN radio yesterday. Salient points:

A person's mind operates at least twice as fast as anyone can talk; it tends to 'wander' when in the 'listening' mode.

When a conversation is interrupted by a distraction, the parties can only remember about ten percent of what was said.

Try to clear your mind of distractions, and actively listen. Don't presume you know what a person is going to say.

I've re-read them all. Great answers and stories. I appreciate it! I got my order from my PCP sent over today. All that's left is doing the test. Crossing my fingers for "not ready" for hearing aids.

Rob I'm crossing my fingers as well. But if it should be the case, I can promise that I (and many others) will give you info to consider and if you need it, sympathy and support.

Even with the best attitude in the world, a loss or handicap of one of your senses means that at times, the way you interface with the world and the way the world interfaces with you will change.
But all of us are different in some ways, and all of us have advantages and disadvantages.
We will help, if you need it.