Hearing aids

[Ernie]

well, after additional testing and a good bit of conversation, we settled on a pair of hearing aids that should be delivered late this week or early next week .... looking forward to putting them to use

Hope you are happy and comfortable with them. Just remember, you won't hear like you did when you were 16 and there is a bit of a learning curve. However they should make it easier to participate in conversations and you will become aware of sounds you did not realize you did not hear anymore. If you hate them you should be able to return them for a refund or something you like better. Ask about that.

[JEBar]

Hope you are happy and comfortable with them. Just remember, you won't hear like you did when you were 16 and there is a bit of a learning curve. However they should make it easier to participate in conversations and you will become aware of sounds you did not realize you did not hear anymore. If you hate them you should be able to return them for a refund or something you like better. Ask about that.

good advice that is most certainly well appreciated .... I wore a demo set in the office for about 30 minutes .... they will most certainly take some getting used to .... with them my hearing was much more balanced which is very different .... quickly locating the source of a sound is going to take some getting used to .... my ability to hear clearly in a noisy setting was much better .... I was told to expect my voice to sound different and it certainly did .... my wife will be able to adjust them with her Iphone

[Ernie]

It did not take me long to get the directional hearing figured out....it kind of surprised me. Hearing in a noisy environment is still a bit of a challenge but you should have preset programs to compensate for background noise and it can also control which microphone (front of back) for dominance. I can use my phone to turn up the volume or select programs., The volume controls on the aidsI can also change the program using those controls by holding one down longer. They also "talk" together so the change is done on both aids. The manual I got was HUGE but I was able to scan areas related to basic needs to understand the controls without having to use the phone and to use the phone for fine tuning and creating new programs easily. Don't get overwhelmed, but enjoy being able to understand children's and higher ranged voices better.

[JEBar]

Hearing in a noisy environment is still a bit of a challenge but you should have preset programs to compensate for background noise and it can also control which microphone (front of back) for dominance.

its been many years since I've been able to enjoy going into a noisy restaurant or any other noisy setting .... usually I just try to get through it and out ASAP .... there is no doubt that it will take time to learn how to adjust to different settings

[JEBar]

received a call late yesterday and now have an appointment for day after tomorrow (Monday) 2:30PM to pick up my hearing aids ....based on info learned here I'm making a list of questions.... advice and comments appreciated

[JEBar]

well, I've had the hearing aids in for about 5 hours .... they definitely work but they also need some fine tuning .... the biggest issue is they are tooooo loud .... once I lowered the volume using the button on the hearing aids two times they are doing much better .... its my understanding that when I put them in the charger tonight they will reset so I'll have to lower the volume on each of them again .... plan to call in the morning and see if the default setting can be done by the app on Maureen's phone .... they are going to take some getting used to but so far nothing major has surfaced

[RetiredSeabee]

My current set of ears are by far the best I have had. The technology in them now is far better than previous models. They connect to my phone by Bluetooth. My audiologist is the one I first saw in 94 when I got my first set. So she knows me and my ears well. I had a hard time with my first set because of the big change from what I could hear when they were set where the magic ear machine said to set them. Had to have her turn them way down. Then gradually adjust up over the course of a year.
The set prior to my current one was much better and digital. They had three presets and a sensitivity adjustment that I could tweak them in loud environments. But I found that most of the time I only wore them to watch tv with my wife. Left them home most of the time when I was working. Press rooms are just way too loud for hearing aids.
Now I put my ears in first thing in the morning and take them out at night.
It did take a couple of adjustments the first couple of months. They do take up to a minute to adjust to changing noise environments. That took awhile to get used to. And sudden sharp noise would make them ring. So getting that adjusted was a software tweak at the office. I expect that the technology in yours is very similar to mine. Mine are now about three years old. So yours may be a bit better. These have two built in presets one for all around and one for restaurants. Just by pressing a button on either changes it on both. I had to have some adjustments on restaurants to tone all background noise down.
The app on my phone allows me to further adjust both presets. Noise filter/ speech clarity/ focus. It does take 10 to 15 seconds for them to adjust to the new environment. It gets really loud in a restaurant at first. Then they adjust pretty well. I have found that I have to open the app and select noise filter and turn the volume down a few steps in most restaurants. Same thing in all around mode if in a room with a lot of people. Family get togethers and such. Just open the app and turn down the noise.
I can listen to anything on my phone through them. Works great for phone calls I don’t have to put the phone down or on speaker to write.
The only complaint I have is that sometimes they won’t connect with the phone and I have to shut them off and back on. But that is rare now it was more often a while back. But I think a software update helped that.
Just be patient with the process of getting used to them but don’t hesitate to tell your audiologist what bothers you. They really can tweak these things to make them work better for you. One other thing if the ear piece doesn’t fit right everything will sound weird.

[BigAl52]

Im guessing you don’t have a cell phone Jim to run them yourself

[JEBar]

Im guessing you don’t have a cell phone Jim to run them yourself

I'm still happy with my flip phone

[JEBar]

the adjustment continues .... yesterday I found that to be comfortable in our Trailblazer I had to lower the volume two clicks on each hearing aid .... otherwise there was a heavy sound of static coming from road noise coupled with the air conditioner fan .... that worked pretty well but my new hearing revealed some rattles in our 2005 Trailblazer that I didn't know were there .. .. this morning I lowered the volume another click which seems to be working but is too soon to tell for sure