Hearing aid...

generator12

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 9, 2010
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666
Well, I can no longer avoid it...! My left ear has lost much of its high-frequency capability and my right one can't hear anything much softer than a thermonuclear explosion. I'm straining to hear conversation in any but the most quiet environment, and I'm missing as much as I'm catching.

So I'm here to ask if anyone hear has experience or advice. Brands, stores, prices, watch-out-for's.

Thanks in advance, guys/gals.
 

mla2ofus

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Dec 30, 2008
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I've been wearing Miracle Ear for about 3 yrs. Cost $6k and work well but I'll warn you they don't replace what you had. They can tune them in to whatever you're lacking. I use the rechargeable batteries and get about 14-15 hrs out of them.
Mike
 

gm280

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aspeck did you say something?

I am soon looking for something. I ruined my ears shooting. And I do mean shooting. One hunting trip I was hunting a clear cut area. A buck showed up down the hill side from me. So I used my 44 mag Ruger Super Blackhawk. And as I pulled the trigger, my ears went ringing, like really badly ringing. But the buck didn't go down, so I shot the second round, that time my ears went deaf. I mean I literally couldn't hear anything. And I shot a third and fourth and emptied the pistol like some complete idiot. My hole side of my face was numb. I couldn't even feel my hand on the side of my face.

I got down and was pretty scared because I lost nearly even bit of sound. I couldn't even hear my truck starting up. I had to watch the gauges to tell if I had the truck running. I did get the deer, but at a very serious cost. And I will tell you it certainly wasn't worth it either.

It took two weeks for hearing to come back to something resembling normal. But I lost so much high frequencies that never recovered again. So now I am getting older and can tell I will need something soon because I have to ask people to repeat what they said to me all the time now.

I have looked at different ear aids, but I haven't seriously looked at what is available yet. Knowing how to build things in electronics, I actually thought about making a hearing aid that fits in a shirt pocket and have the ability to adjust individual frequency sections. Because not all my hearing is gone, So I could adjust the areas that are giving me issues. That is how true hearing aids work, but on a much miniaturized scale. And that is where the cost comes in. Making customized hearing aids for each individualized person with adjustment for that person's loses.

So I will watch this thread closely myself.
 

sphelps

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Could you repeat that ?
I also have had a lot of trouble hearing for years ... I know it started when in high school .. I was in the band and the drums were always set up right behind me in the stands ... All the years of listening to loud music sure didn't help either ... Then I went to work in construction .. Everything is loud ...
I can't follow movies very well because I just can't hear the conversations ... But the worst part of hearing loss to me is not understanding my daughter when she talks .. I have to keep asking her what she said over and over until she gives up and says" never mind dad "... That really bothers me ..
At some point I will need to address it ...
 

MRS

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I had to get them my ears have been bad since birth. Plus running printing presses for twenty years duck hunting for twenty some years.
Mine are unitrons seem to work ok just not the same as real hearing I guess but never really had real hearing. But tell you what I hear things I never heard before and wow takes some getting use to. I use them only when I have meetings at work or going to functions that I would never hear what they were saying and have to ask the wife what did they say.
If you have insurance the price was less then half of the price if you did not have it. Mine were 5,000.00 something but I did have insurance so my price was 1,800.00 still a lot of money but I can hear now when I want to. They work but take some getting use to. Good luck I know how you feel..
 

MRS

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For tv at home I have wire less head phones to watch movies. Other wise I cannot hear what is going on. Best thing I got to not upset the family.
 

alldodge

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Don't need them yet but Mom uses them. She uses one which fits behind the ear and has a small wire looking thing that goes in. Have several friends which have tried all kinds and they all say the same thing that mla2ofus mentioned (for the most part), they just increase the volume of everything around you. One guy had the remote control in his pocket so he could raise or lower it without reaching behind his ear. This helped him with big room conversations.
 

aspeck

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IN all seriousness, I have 3 close friends with hearing aids. They are VERY grateful for them. Different brands, but the same results ... they can hear conversations again. The down side is they hear EVERYTHING and they cannot tell which direction the sound is coming from. Background noise can sometimes be overbearing, but the upside is they can hear again. All three are sorry it took them so long to make the decision to get mechanical assistance with their hearing. They are grateful for their hearing aids.
 

gm280

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I think the better hearing aids can control the frequencies you are missing. They can be adjusted for certain frequency losses and can even reduce the others. But it is custom built models that can be adjusted that way. Any hearing aid that simple increase the volume across the board, is not going to work very well. Because it only amplifies everything instead of the areas you have the losses in. Think back in the days with graphic equalizers. The more individual bands the better you could contour the sound. Hearing aids have to be able to do that to really help. And those are the very expensive ones.
 

aspeck

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You are correct, gm ... and that is the type all 3 of my friends have ... they were tested, aids made, and then tested, adjusted, readjusted, and adjusted again. They help to fill in the frequencies you are missing. But they are not perfect and amplify everything to some degree. Your brain can tune out background noise to a certain degree, but the hearing aid cannot. Your ears, in conjunction with your brain can pinpoint the direction/location of sound. Your aids cannot. So there are some draw backs, but they are FAR outweighed by the benefits of once again hearing conversations.
 

MRS

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You are correct, gm ... and that is the type all 3 of my friends have ... they were tested, aids made, and then tested, adjusted, readjusted, and adjusted again. They help to fill in the frequencies you are missing. But they are not perfect and amplify everything to some degree. Your brain can tune out background noise to a certain degree, but the hearing aid cannot. Your ears, in conjunction with your brain can pinpoint the direction/location of sound. Your aids cannot. So there are some draw backs, but they are FAR outweighed by the benefits of once again hearing conversations.

That's not true the new hearing aids are hearing aids they are different from a hearing amplifiers. Mine are digital and are set to drop wind noise out side and you can set different programs with them The guy somebody mentioned with the remote does not just turn up the volume and everything else, but will have preset settings in it. Big difference in amplify and hearing aids. That there is the price difference.
 

MRS

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Mine are unitrons take awhile to get use to but you will hear things you never heard before. I am sure there are better ones but these sure did work for me. Not sure where you are but check on line and see where or who has them.
 

bruceb58

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My mom just got some. If you don't mind waiting, schedule an appt with Costco. They have the cheapest ones. My mom didn't want to wait so she went with a place that would replace the ones they gave her with others if they didn't work out.
 

dozerII

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I have to get another set, I had Siemens and they worked very well but I sweat very bad, the sweat would follow the tube down into my ear causing all kinds of discomfort. If you also sweat make sure to get ones that fit completely in the ear as opposed to behind the ear. I work out side as well and found that wind really bothered the hearing aids making them hiss and whistle.
 

MRS

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If they hiss and whistle you have to turn them down.
 
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