Is it time to upgrade my hearing aids?

[Escuchamezz]

Hi all, I'm a new member here so please be nice!

I'm a 20 year old student from the UK, and I suffer from severe hearing loss in both of my ears. It's an unfortunate situation, yes, but it's something I've had to live with for the last 17 years. I've worn hearing aids in that period of time, and have been able to maintain what could be regarded as a 'normal' life, if you would excuse the semantics! However, lately I've been becoming disillusioned with the level of hearing afforded to me by my 7 year old Senso C18+. I find myself having to ask people to repeat themselves unless I'm looking at them and I find that the volume is not loud enough for me. It's the only digital hearing aid I've ever worn and I really have no experiences with other brands or technologies. Is it my level of hearing bottlenecking my experience with these hearing aids, or is it time for me to move on to new technology and hopefully experience a better higher fidelity in my hearing.

A hard of hearing friend I know, who is admittedly my only hard of hearing friend, has been telling me about these new hearing aids she has been testing out; the Phonak Naidas'. She says that these hearing aids have improved her hearing insurmountably and pretty much claims them to be all kinds of aces. I was quite taken in by her glowing review and that got me thinking about these new hearing aids and technology! Previously, I had ignored the marketing bull which claims I can experience hearing of that of a normal person which I find to be quite far-fetched! But these days, I'm becoming lured into all this new technology, even though I cannot make head nor tails of the jargon and fancy acronyms! I'm hopeful that there is a speck of light at the end of this tunnel, and by signing up to this forum I can gain the viewpoints of a multitude of forum members who are vastly experienced in this area!

Looks like I've rambled on a bit so I'll go back to the original question I posed:
- Am I likely to experience better hearing with these newer models on the market?
- Am I being over-expectant over the level of hearing I should have, or can I strive for better?

Please ignore any mistakes in my post, I spent 5 minutes typing it up and the other ten watching The Wire!

 

[lovezebras]

I don't think you being over expectant. That's great that your friend loves the phonak naidas as I know many ppl (on this forum) that have had a lot of problems with their naidas. That being said technology is always changing. I have a phonak una and have only used phonak products (fm systems and ha). I have only had my (first) ha for a year but as to the quality I haven't had any problems with them...I know the naidas have a lot of cool features once you get them programmed to your liking. I think you can definitely strive for better. Ask your audi to test out the naidas. I'm sure you could test them out for the trial period to see if you would like them. There is also the phonak exelias and i think oticon came out with a more powerful aid not long ago. I'm not sure what your speech discrimination is or what your dB levels are at the diff frequencies but if you always run out of options you can always try to qualify for a CI. But first try more powerful digi aids to see if you if that would help. Do you know ASL? It's never too late to learn!! I am going to be learning it in school pretty soon and am very excited. It can be very useful. Don't get too frusterate and give up though! Not the thing to do!! Hope that helps a bit

 

[Escuchamezz]

I've never entertained the possibility of getting a cochlear implant, I think that is a step too far for me. I wouldn't be mentally prepared to make such a life-changing decision as that. I am not able to sign language, I have never been in a situation where I would require it. I've been bought up as a regular kid who went to see the audiologist maybe once a year or two to have his hearing aids checked, and that was it. Never had much support except for a hard of hearing teacher would would check up on me every week, which I found to be a bit of a chore!

I agree with you when you say I can strive for better, I really need to get the best I can what with me entering my final year of University and potentially going into the hectic working world within the year! It's a daunting prospect, and that is part of the reason why I have signed up here. To hear about experiences of other people and see how they cope with their hearing loss. I'm not really clued up on this whole 'deaf culture' and it's only now that I'm really looking into it.

I'm not really a special deaf person, I can't sign language, I don't have any deaf friends bar one, and for that reason I've always considered myself to be very different from other deaf people. But now I realise we're all the same and our hearing loss unites us no matter what the situation!

God I can really ramble on!

 

[overthepond]

Hi from Uk too... Like you i don't sign much, brought up oral, mainstreamed primary, oral deaf secondary school which I hate, maintreamed college. Have fleet of hearing friends.

Are you under NHS?, I had my widex senso from private hosp (PCWerth in london) on sponsorship scheme to see if i am profoundly deaf enough to receive digital HA, boy that hearing aid was amazing! I had it for 8 years and it did change my life for better. Sadly as my sponsorship ran out after 4 years, the Aid were repaired and checked 2 times a year then it becomes more frequent as it got older and became more expensive. When I went back on NHS, they refused to repair it because it's not theirs!! So I had to put up with it for another 4 years until i moved to another area. The Hosptial said that the Widex was on it's way out! I was of course very disappointed, it was the best years i had in my life (i am 30 now) i tried 3 other hearing aids (siemens, otcion, and phonak, i am told widex are not on NHS anymore!!) they were all digital and weren't "powerful enough" I was refered for Cochlear Implant. At the Cochlear implant center they have aids that i could try out was Uniton (canadian) and it's analogue..... it's much better than the 3 i have tried but not good as faithful old widex.

It seems to me that you need upgrade, Go and have a chat with your audiologist, have your ears checked out and tested. Unfortunately in Uk on NHS scheme... some audiology have up to 18 months waiting list for upgrading Hearing aids! I was lucky with mine as i got my new ones (the first one i tried) on the day i registered with the Hospital. So the sooner the better. Especially if you are going into big noisy world!! Make them to give you different Aids to try out, you are likely to try them in sound proof booth and don't forget to check the hearing aids OUTSIDE of the sound booth..
If you are a Private patient... I can't see why they can't replace your aids with other widex, also there's alot of widexs online.

I have no experince for Phonak Nadias.

Good Luck

 

[R2D2]

Hi there,

Nice to see more UK people on this board! I'm UK born and bred but live in Australia now.

I think that before you check out hearing aids, you should get a new hearing test done to see if there has been any change in your hearing level over time. A good audiologist will of course do this. That will help narrow out a range of suitable aids for you to trial as you get a different range for different losses. Most dispensers will loan aids to you on trial before you commit to buying them. I hope you don't have to wait 18 months to see an audie though!

There is a thread here somewhere about the Phonak Nadias by two posters who were trying them out.

There is a mixture of deaf people on this forum, hence "ALL deaf" not just primary signers and deaf culturalists.

 

[overthepond]

I hope you don't have to wait 18 months to see an audie though!

FOR Hearing aids. The appt to see an audiology is about few weeks, thats all. It's the Hearing aids that is on the waiting list. Bugger, i know (I am glad that I don't need to go through this anymore!)

 

[VamPyroX]

Welcome to AllDeaf!

It would depend on your hearing loss.

For my left ear, I have a kind of hearing loss where amplified sounds would help. For my right ear, I can hear... but my nerves cannot translate the sounds. It can only sense it. In other words, all I hear are bass-related sounds. (Slamming a door and dropping a book... both sound the same.) With this, most hearing aids work on my left ear... but not my right ear.

I have friends who have different kinds of hearing loss. Some have a kind of loss where hearing aids will not help... period. So, there's no point wearing them. Some wear it only so they can hear sounds, but not understand it. It helps them be alert if anyone is yelling or there was a loud sound.

Try seeing an audiologist and find out if there are any hearing aids that will help you.

 

[Escuchamezz]

I'm experiencing information overload right now! I never realised my hearing problem could be so complex, I just assumed my hearing wasn't very good so I needed a hearing aid to amplify the sounds I would otherwise not hear! I guess I will have to make an appointment with my audiologist and set out my objectives to her. Hopefully, that way I can make some headway in terms of improving my hearing (which is not too shabby, for a deaf person) and improve my prospects of hearing better on the telephone and many various every day situations!

 

[VamPyroX]

I'm experiencing information overload right now! I never realised my hearing problem could be so complex, I just assumed my hearing wasn't very good so I needed a hearing aid to amplify the sounds I would otherwise not hear! I guess I will have to make an appointment with my audiologist and set out my objectives to her. Hopefully, that way I can make some headway in terms of improving my hearing (which is not too shabby, for a deaf person) and improve my prospects of hearing better on the telephone and many various every day situations!

That's a good idea.

If possible, ask whatever you can to help yourself understand how your deafness works.

I already understand how my deafness works. I understood how my left ear worked, but I didn't understand how my right ear worked. (I did have a theory, but wasn't sure.) When I met with an audiologist years ago, she explained how my right ear worked. That's when I realized why I cannot wear a hearing aid in my right ear.