Born with severe ear infections/pain, basically lived with earaches until my early teens, doctors never knew what was the cause. I was fitted with HA in second grade ( didnt help, analog back in the early 70's) quit wearing them because of bullying. Didnt get/try new HA until 2004 because my boss encouraged me to get them. Digitals worked great but were pushing their max power and would quickly die out, been through several pairs from 2004 to 2009, then the last pair died after having issues from day one. Now I am in a world of silence, audi says CI is the only thing that will work for me at this point. So late Deafened, HOH since birth, struggled through mainstream schooling.