Hearing aids in a noisy environment.

[FFC1964]

I have expensive Phonak hearing aids. I play pickleball indoors in a gym. I can't hear a thing in that gym.

Anyone have hearing aids that work in loud environments?

Mine say they do.....but they don't.

 

[Murf2]

I wear older Resound units. With the noise filter on they are fairly good. There are tons of adjustments / programs on modern aids. Are you experimenting with them any?

And finally, how long have you been wearing yours? I ask because it took me a long time to adjust to mine.

Good luck!
Murf

 

[GenXguy]

In a noisy environment, I would be just the opposite. No hearing aids and put in some ear plugs to protect my hearing. I don't have hearing aids, but I do have tinnitus, so I try to protect from loud noise.

 

[Murf2]

In a noisy environment, I would be just the opposite. No hearing aids and put in some ear plugs to protect my hearing. I don't have hearing aids, but I do have tinnitus, so I try to protect from loud noise.

I guess it depends on how noisy. I can leave mine on with noise reduction on at basketball games and such.
When using power tools and in very loud environments I turn them off but leave them in. I have custom ear molds so they make fairly effective earplugs.

Everyone and every situation are different.

Murf

 

[FFC1964]

I wear older Resound units. With the noise filter on they are fairly good. There are tons of adjustments / programs on modern aids. Are you experimenting with them any?

And finally, how long have you been wearing yours? I ask because it took me a long time to adjust to mine.

Good luck!
Murf

I have had mine for about two years. I probably have not experimented enough. I am meeting with my audiologist on Thursday. I am going to see what she recommends. Also.....I am a bit worried the noise might be a bad thing for me. I am only 57, have Meniere's Disease and really do not want to lose any more hearing than I already have. I may have to wear plugs in the gym....no way am I giving up pickleball!

 

[Koolau]

Years ago, I tried a hearing aid at Sams. Leaving the sound-proof booth, the environment in the store was very uncomfortable due to back-ground noise level. I've waited this long to reconsider. I plan to try Costco as they have a reasonably good reputation. Just not looking forward to the process and expense. YMMV

 

[REWahoo]

Years ago, I tried a hearing aid at Sams. Leaving the sound-proof booth, the environment in the store was very uncomfortable due to back-ground noise level. I've waited this long to reconsider. I plan to try Costco as they have a reasonably good reputation. Just not looking forward to the process and expense. YMMV

FWIW, when I got my Costco HAs three years ago, they initially set the volume at about 80% of what the test said I needed. After I wore them for a month or two to allow my brain to adjust to them, they increased the volume to where it should be.

The great thing about having your HA's linked to an app on your phone is you can quickly choose a setting that reduces background noise, something I often do when in a restaurant - or in a house full of my relatives.

 

[fosterscik]

DW just bought some rechargeable hearing aids from Costco (house brand). She loves them. They replaced an older Costco pair that used conventional batteries. Before she'd put them in sporadically and didn't really use them regularly. Now these are daily wear and a charge lasts all day. She loves streaming audiobooks through them and they have lots of preset filters for background noise etc. I'd recommend checking them out.

 

[Koolau]

FWIW, when I got my Costco HAs three years ago, they initially set the volume at about 80% of what the test said I needed. After I wore them for a month or two to allow my brain to adjust to them, they increased the volume to where it should be.

The great thing about having your HA's linked to an app on your phone is you can quickly choose a setting that reduces background noise, something I often do when in a restaurant - or in a house full of my relatives.

Heh, heh, I struggle with texting and getting my voice mail. I hope such a HA app is idiot proof.

On an unrelated point, I'm taken back to two good friends who lived in our building. We would visit back and forth and every other time or so we got together, one of their HAs would begin to whistle (what is that??). They seemed to take the noise in stride and simply turned the offending device off (I think.) The sound was irritating to ME and I was simply sitting next to them. I can't imagine that noise directly in my ear.

I'm still bothered by loud noise - so I can "hear." I just can't hear vowels very well. YMMV

 

[Time2]

Heh, heh, I struggle with texting and getting my voice mail. I hope such a HA app is idiot proof.

On an unrelated point, I'm taken back to two good friends who lived in our building. We would visit back and forth and every other time or so we got together, one of their HAs would begin to whistle (what is that??). They seemed to take the noise in stride and simply turned the offending device off (I think.) The sound was irritating to ME and I was simply sitting next to them. I can't imagine that noise directly in my ear.

I'm still bothered by loud noise - so I can "hear." I just can't hear vowels very well. YMMV

>(what is that??).< It's feedback, the gain is high enough that the sound coming out gets to the mic and starts a feedback that sounds like a high pitch whistle.
Years ago, I worked with video cameras, I played with video feedback, hook a camera to a monitor, then point the camera at a monitor and watch the colors move about.

 

[Amethyst]

I hate to say it, but hearing-aid feedback whistles used to be a standard gag for making fun of old folks

This was back in the days of those large, obvious, pinky-tan-colored aids that, I suppose, mostly just amplified all sounds, instead of being digitally tuned to a person's specific hearing loss.

On an unrelated point, I'm taken back to two good friends who lived in our building. We would visit back and forth and every other time or so we got together, one of their HAs would begin to whistle (what is that??). They seemed to take the noise in stride and simply turned the offending device off (I think.) The sound was irritating to ME and I was simply sitting next to them. I can't imagine that noise directly in my ear.

I'm still bothered by loud noise - so I can "hear." I just can't hear vowels very well. YMMV

 

[Pluperfect]

one of their HAs would begin to whistle (what is that??). They seemed to take the noise in stride and simply turned the offending device off (I think.) The sound was irritating to ME and I was simply sitting next to them. I can't imagine that noise directly in my ear.

As noted, it's feedback. But it's not necessarily as annoying as you might think. I have one hearing aid that can feed back, but that's because the gain on it is really high, which is because the hearing loss in that ear is really bad. So the feedback sounds loud to other people, but it's nowhere near as loud when it's in MY deaf ear.

It's still annoying, but not actually that loud--to that ear. When I remove that hearing aid, it always feeds back, and my better ear tells me, "Good god that's loud."

Fancy hearing aids can help manage feedback, but with certain amounts of gain, they might not be able to eliminate it entirely.

I'm still bothered by loud noise - so I can "hear." I just can't hear vowels very well. YMMV

That's interesting. It's usually the consonants that people can't hear, so they can't tell the difference between "tick" and "click." Or "tick" and "fit," for that matter. Most people who can hear but have difficulty with speech can tell the difference between "tick" and "tock."

To the OP: Are you wanting to be able to hear what people are saying when you're playing pickleball in the gym? Personally, I think hearing aids do some over-promising in challenging conditions like that. I've tried "restaurant" settings, and "block-noise-from-behind" settings, and I've never been able to discern that much improvement. What did your audiologist say?

 

[FFC1964]

OP here.

When I went in to talk about my hearing problems my ENT ordered a hearing test and basically I am now deaf in my left ear due to Meniere's DX so I am on my second week of steroids to see if they can preserve some of the hearing in that ear. They were basically no help about the noisy environment. My ENT...who I really like.....said no one hears well in a noisy gym.

 

[Koolau]

As noted, it's feedback. But it's not necessarily as annoying as you might think. I have one hearing aid that can feed back, but that's because the gain on it is really high, which is because the hearing loss in that ear is really bad. So the feedback sounds loud to other people, but it's nowhere near as loud when it's in MY deaf ear.

It's still annoying, but not actually that loud--to that ear. When I remove that hearing aid, it always feeds back, and my better ear tells me, "Good god that's loud."

Fancy hearing aids can help manage feedback, but with certain amounts of gain, they might not be able to eliminate it entirely.


That's interesting. It's usually the consonants that people can't hear, so they can't tell the difference between "tick" and "click." Or "tick" and "fit," for that matter. Most people who can hear but have difficulty with speech can tell the difference between "tick" and "tock."

To the OP: Are you wanting to be able to hear what people are saying when you're playing pickleball in the gym? Personally, I think hearing aids do some over-promising in challenging conditions like that. I've tried "restaurant" settings, and "block-noise-from-behind" settings, and I've never been able to discern that much improvement. What did your audiologist say?

Thanks! And I actually meant consonants. Not sure what I was thinking!

 

[Graybeard]

I have expensive Phonak hearing aids. I play pickleball indoors in a gym. I can't hear a thing in that gym.

Anyone have hearing aids that work in loud environments?

Mine say they do.....but they don't.

This caught my attention cuz I went in for a hearing test Friday to get the free gift card, my hearing is fine. I have lost some high frequency hearing but as you age that is normal.

Now the hearing aid they showed me and had me try on was Phonak so that is why I was curious about what would be said here. They touted how good it is when dealing with background noise which apparently the OP indicates is not the case.

They actually told me that I have to protect my hearing cuz when you lose the ability to hear various frequencies that never comes back, that may be true. What they also said was that not hearing those frequencies in the part of the brain that would normally hear them will cause that part of the brain to die... I kid you not. And as if that wasn't enough, loss of hearing can cause dementia. I think the last 2 statements are BS but...

And here's another timely article from this weekend about Costco hearing aids https://humbledollar.com/2022/09/hear-hear/

I TURNED 70 THIS YEAR, and decided to finally do something about the hearing loss I’ve experienced over the past few years. In other words, get hearing aids.

I asked my older sister for advice. She told me she ended up spending $4,000 to $5,000 for her hearing aids a few years ago. She also said she wishes she’d asked her friends for advice first.

My sister doesn’t consider herself wealthy but has a few friends who are. She told me that, when she later asked these well-appointed ladies where they’d gotten their hearing aids, they replied—to a woman— “Oh, my dear, Costco is the only way to go.”

 

[Pluperfect]

What they also said was that not hearing those frequencies in the part of the brain that would normally hear them will cause that part of the brain to die... I kid you not. And as if that wasn't enough, loss of hearing can cause dementia. I think the last 2 statements are BS but...

The "hearing" part of the brain doesn't die. The theory is that if that part of the brain isn't appropriately stimulated because of hearing loss, it gets taken over by other brain functions (neuroplasticity).

On the dementia front, the theory is that struggling to understand speech causes your brain to work harder, and it's possible that you're having to use parts of your brain that would otherwise be used for memory or other functions, especially if the "hearing" part of your brain has been taken over by other functions, but possibly even if it hasn't and just doesn't have enough oomph to get the job done by itself. That results in an added burden on an already aging brain, possibly robbing function of the parts that deal with memory.

Also, there's evidence that social isolation can contribute to dementia, and social isolation is a common consequence of hearing loss.

They were basically no help about the noisy environment. My ENT...who I really like.....said no one hears well in a noisy gym.

No one, or no one with hearing aids?

As I said, I haven't had any luck with the various settings for addressing specific issues, especially if it has to do with favoring one sort of sound over another. And if you think about it, it's a very tall order for a processor to identify all the various sounds in a noisy environment and favor some over others AND do it in real time.

But that's not how hearing aids are advertised. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if people with hearing aids expect their hearing to actually be better than people without hearing aids, and that's completely unrealistic. And I think it's a disservice to over-promise hearing aids, because people will still struggle in a restaurant and be convinced they don't work, when they probably do work very well in a quiet environment.

 

[Koolau]

^^^^^^
^^^^^^

Apparently, it's complicated.

Not looking forward to getting HA but I don't think I can put it off much longer. Just thinking that dementia MIGHT be caused by hearing loss is enough to get me off the dime, so to speak. YMMV