any new hearing aid improvements?

Hi Jerry,

I don't know about distortion. Sorry.

My insurance doesn't cover hearing aids. I paid 3 grand for mine.

Do you have Meniere's? Has anything helped it? Meds, surgery, etc?

 

Jerry,

Since I have nerve damage I too deal with distortion. Currently there is no hearing aid that can do much about that. The really still just amplify so clarity is actually more important than your actual decibel hearing loss.

As for any innovation I have not seen much. I feel like most of the venture capitalist money these days going towards hearing restoration rather than aids. There are few companies that are really making some noise in re-growing your hair cells. I imagine that is scaring away investors form the hearing aid industry...however this is just a guess on my part.

 

I went through an extensive trial of hearing aids a year or two ago. At the time I was severely deaf on my left side with just mild loss on the right. Mac is correct that the hearing aids just amplify, but the pricier ones can be programmed to amplify certain frequencies more or less than others. For Meniere's people this often doesn't help because our hearing fluctuates across the various frequencies, so the programming is like the broken clock that is right only two times a day.

If you live in Minnesota, a 45-day trial period is required by law, and you can return the hearing aids within that period no questions asked. I don't know if other areas have that provision, but it's worth lobbying for if you don't. I tried Siemens, Oticon, and I can't remember which others without success because of hearing fluctuation and poor word recognition on my bad side. I felt that what I needed was one I could program myself on the fly to accommodate the frequencies of the day, but no such thing exists.

If you are mostly unilateral in your hearing loss, there is a newer technology that is worth considering for Meniere's people. It's called CROS and is made by Phonak. Maybe other companies are starting to make something similar. There are two devices, one of which is a hearing aid that goes into the good ear, and the other is essentially a microphone only that fits like a hearing aid into the bad ear. The microphone in the bad ear sends the sounds it picks up to the good ear hearing aid via bluetooth where your undamaged nerves can send it to the brain for processing. Sitting at a table or on a sofa, you would be able to converse with the person on your bad ear side without having to turn yourself into a pretzel. It does not help you locate sound however, so if your smoke detector battery needs changing, you have to do the same running around checking every location as you would without any aid.

Any hearing aid must be used frequently for the brain to adjust to it and for it to feel physically comfortable. I have hyperacusis, which is hyper sound sensitivity, even though I'm mostly deaf in that ear -- yes it's weird. The sound of a bathroom fan or a refrigerator running is as grating as fingernails on a blackboard to me, even though I'm profoundly deaf in that ear. This makes me avoid settings like restaurants, bars, or anyplace where multiple noises occur. I have poor word recognition, live alone, and work from home, so generally wouldn't use a hearing aid on a daily basis to interact with people. For me, this threw the cost/benefit of the CROS system more toward the cost side and less to the benefit. That said, if I didn't live alone or needed to engage face-to-face more often, it would have been well worth it.

It does involve buying a device for each ear, and I don't know whether insurance would consider that as one hearing aid or two. The total cost for both devices was under $2,000, where the single programmable aids were slightly more than that.

One other thing I learned about buying hearing aids is that Costco often has the best deals and good techs to fit you.

It can be a daunting process -- good luck.

 

Jerry is a wamb bamb thank you ma'am poster. I feel so used!