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Hearing Aids

fastdogs2

New member
After much nagging from the wife and frustration in asking people to repeat what they just said to me, I made the trip to the audiologist for the hearing test. It seems that my high frequency capability is just about gone. I can't hear watch alarms, birds or high pitched female voices, especially those fast talking teenagers who work in fast food restaurants.

I was wondering how many others on the forum are wearing hearing aids. Obviously, I will not wear these while riding, since I must insert the foam plugs.

Bill
 
I have been wearing BTE (Behind the ear) aids for several years now. My new ones even come with a remote for volume and different modes. I dont wear then riding,( I use ear plugs). Took me a while to get used to the aids but now am happy with them.
Martin.
 
I've been wearing HA's for about 20 yrs now. I wish I didn't have to but I can't hear much without them. I wear Phonak Nadia BTEs. Pretty pricey but they're the best I've ever had (and the most expensive by far). They're all a lot more expensive than they should be. Be patient when you get them. You'll hear stuff you haven't heard for a long time and it can be a little unnerving for a while. The world is a noisier place than you remember. :)

There's a thread somewhere on here about hearing aids and helmets that might be useful to peruse. I wear mine when I ride because I probably wouldn't be able to hear horns, sirens, etc without them but it seems that most don't. Mine do a pretty good job of noise reduction so wind noise hasn't been an issue for me yet. Maybe when I do some longer higher speed rides I'll change my mind.

There's a couple good hearing aid forums that you might find useful...PM me for more info.
 
I been wearing them since 1959, I hate them but with out them I would not hear a bomb. I do not wear them when riding, the removal of my helmet will extract them when I take it off and they fall to the ground, a bad thing.
 
I am a month short of being 62 and have been wearing hearing aids from the age of 5.
I wear a modular helmet and have not had a problem getting it on and off with the aid still on. It is turned down very low when on the bike.

I might feel different if I had lost my hearing at a later age, but since I have never had
good hearing and now have about 10% of normal, it actually has it's advantages and given the choice of staying the way I am or having normal hearing, I would stay the way
I am.

I find the world to be very noisy and it is a pleasure to sometimes be able to turn it off.

I have always been grateful that it is the hearing and not the sight that is a problem.
 
Don't wear when riding

I keep a case for the hear aids, and switch to plugs when riding. BUT on time I lost a aid because it was a rain ride all week, and I put them in to go eat late on night.
I guess I was tired, and lost a $2k aid. Luckily I had insurance that came with them, and it only cost me $250 to replace (only).

I am much more aware of safely storing the aids in a nice case now.
 
Pricy little devils, aren't they? And Medicare and most insurance plans don't cover them. Tax deductible, tho.

After a career as a "shop" teacher, and a lifetime on motorcycles (before discovering ear plugs), hearing aids are inevitable. Now I wear the plugs all the time when riding, mowing, leaf blowing, power sawing and even hammering. Too little - too late, I'm afraid, but got to keep what's left.

pete:groovy
 
I've been wearing aids for about 10 years. I have tried in canal and behind the ear models and would upgrade almost every year in an effort to get the latest and greatest. About a year ago I was fitted with the new Lyric in-ear devices and absolutely love them. Totally invisible, no need to take them out and put them in every day, shower in them, sleep in them, ride in them, etc. Only things you are not supposed to do in them is scuba and skydive. For riding you can turn them off or down with a magnetic wand.
 
Lyric HAs

I am a month short of being 62 and have been wearing hearing aids from the age of 5.
I wear a modular helmet and have not had a problem getting it on and off with the aid still on. It is turned down very low when on the bike.

I might feel different if I had lost my hearing at a later age, but since I have never had
good hearing and now have about 10% of normal, it actually has it's advantages and given the choice of staying the way I am or having normal hearing, I would stay the way
I am.

I find the world to be very noisy and it is a pleasure to sometimes be able to turn it off.

I have always been grateful that it is the hearing and not the sight that is a problem.

I've been wearing aids for about 10 years. I have tried in canal and behind the ear models and would upgrade almost every year in an effort to get the latest and greatest. About a year ago I was fitted with the new Lyric in-ear devices and absolutely love them. Totally invisible, no need to take them out and put them in every day, shower in them, sleep in them, ride in them, etc. Only things you are not supposed to do in them is scuba and skydive. For riding you can turn them off or down with a magnetic wand.

Any idea what the cost comparison is between the Lyric and, say, top shelf BTE HAs? I am about to walk down this road of getting HAs after nearly a lifetime of being hearing impaired (left ear is severly impaired while the right ear is only slightly impaired). One of the options presented to me were the Lyric devices but they weren't pushed real hard mostly because of the adjustment that I'm going to have to deal with being exposed to far more noise than I am accustomed to. I've been assured that the brain does learn what to pay attention to and what to ignore but have been strongly warned that the adjustment period can be difficult. I am getting Phonak devices that "talk" to each other but have yet to decide on which size - the really tiny ones which appeals to my vanity in being less noticeable or the next size larger which appeals to my not wanting to use a gazillion batteries and has the telecoil and is more adaptable to multiple situations. I'm scared to death of this change in my life because of horrendous childhood experience trying the HA thing. But... when one's offspring says "Mom, your hearing is getting worse" after their lifetime (24 years) of dealing with the impairment it's time to get the HAs.

One of the more interesting things to come out of all this so far is the audiologist saying to me that I must have had near normal hearing during the ages (0 to 5 years old or so) when human beings learn speech and talking. She says she is of that opinion because my speech itself does not bear the speech patterns of someone who can't hear very well.

The other interesting thing was that after the hearing test I dissolved into a puddle of tears much to my embarrassment. Hearing tests are the most stressful things I know of.

Louise
 
I have Phonak Nadia's via ebay-great way to save a bunch of money-just know where your going before you buy & have a place lined up to program them when you get them. Worked great for me as the price matters & I got the latest thing for thousands less & I'm a tightwad. VA does them too. I talked to a guy other day that had to wait 2 months while they fixed his.
www.hearingaidforums.com is a good website to get in the know on HA's.
I've had mine since spring & they help but don't expect a miracle for noise induced loss. I wear mine very selectively and don't wear them much overall as an empty nester plus I hear in most situations other than some birds. On the road in a car I wear the rt one only to hear the wife/radio and left one stays in case as just increases road noise. In one restaurant they may help, in another maybe obnoxious.
Go to the website I listed & spend some time-I used a pro that posts there from GT,KY to program mine/fit the ear tubes,etc..
 
You do not purchase the Lyrics but pay an annual fee for which you receive new devices every 100 days or so in order to have fresh batteries. My cost was (I think) $3,200.00. I now forget I have them in most of the time.

I also have a friend that got the Lyrics as his first devices and he adapted quite well and quickly.

If you buy almost any other brand and keep it several years, the Lyrics will be more costly. However, if you do like I did and every time an advance hit the market you go for a new set of hearing aids to get the latest and greatest, the Lyrics wind up less costly since each time they have an advance, the doc calls you in and places the new and improved upgrade.

Good luck.
 
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