Hearing aid a help?

[Stompin at the Savoy]

I had wax removal done at a doctors office (by nurses) once but they did not get it all out.  I ended up buying one of those squeegee-like bottles - same equipment they used - and used it several times on myself in the shower.  If you do this make sure to get the water/peroxide mixture to body temperature.  You feel pretty sick if you don't.

Edited February 10 by Stompin at the Savoy

[JSngry]

Earwax can clog up your devices too, not just your ears. So clean them regularly and go to your provider equally regularly to have them do the detailed work. Where I went/go, it's free and as often as you like. 

[mikeweil]

Ear wax check and removal once a year is covered by health care, as well as controlling the hearing aids. 

I'm skeptical about cleaning my ear tubes in the shower, as contact of the ear drum with water is not recommended, ear wax does not dissolve in water, and the same goes for cleaning agents of any kind. Mineral oil cannot be absorbed by the human body and I will let none of this contact any part of my body. (Vaseline would be the exception only if protecting the skin from anything after any damage would be advised.) 

Cleaning the hearing aids is another question. I try to do it, but is tricky and requires much care or you damage the intricate tiny  electronic parts. 

Nothing like the real thing .....

Thanks for posting the links about dementia. As I understand it, it is the restricted stimulation by reduced social contact and aural information, kind of a deprivation, that enhances demtial processes. Whether hearing aids can remedy that, is another question. But they are helpful, I would be the last to deny that. I use mine based on the situation. 

Edited October 22 by mikeweil

[JSngry]

For those with the option, check before buying to see if the seller offers free and/unlimited service after the sale. My Phonaks dealer (an audiologist who sells other brands) offers three-years coverage, no questions asked, and can get you in and out tout-suite (an hour or less) for standard servicing.

That's the duration of the Phonak warranty, but she's just down the street and around the corner, so hey, easy-peasy. Quality of life right there! 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

 

I'm skeptical about cleaning my ear tubes in the shower, as contact of the ear drum with water is not recommended, ear way does not dissolve in water, and the same goes for cleaning agents of any kind.

 

 

The wax does not dissolve; it softens and is driven out by the stream of water.  Many years back a doctor removed ear wax for me by reaching in and pulling it out with specialized hand-held metal instruments.  Nowadays doctors here generally use the squeegee bottle method with water and a small amount of hydrogen peroxide.  This is what I had done to me at a hospital - exact same equipment.  In the hospital they had a chair set up with a basin next to you, etc.  At home I just do it in the shower.  You squeeze the handle and a stream of water goes into your ear and comes out again.  If you let it build up for many years it can take a number of sessions to get it all out.  My advice is to get this done by medical professionals and only afterward, once you understand the procedure, try at home if you want.

By the way, the consistency of ear wax is genetically determined and there are two main types.  Treatment of the two types is somewhat different.

Edited February 11 by Stompin at the Savoy

[jazzcorner]

8 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Once / year for wax removal has worked for me. I think it varies for each person.

Yes it does.

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

For those with the option, check before buying to see if the seller offers free and/unlimited service after the sale. My Phonaks dealer (an audiologist who sells other brands) offers three-years coverage, no questions asked, and can get you in and out tout-suite (an hour or less) for standard servicing.

That's the duration of the Phonak warranty, but she's just down the street and around the corner, so hey, easy-peasy. Quality of life right there! 

Yes have the same service here in Germany for my Signia but unlimited.

[Gheorghe]

16 hours ago, mikeweil said:

My problem is, I can't afford 6.000 for a pait of hearing aids, and, even though they are tiny with sophisticated electronics, I think the price is somewhat high, if you consider what excellent hifi you can get for that money. I tried them and thought they didn't sound that much better than the health care covered basic models that still cost 1.500. Only inconvenience is the need for frequent battery change and oustide filters (my production of ear wax is quite high and triggered by the othoplasts in the ears.

Maybe I could afford it but I don´t want. Better go for two weeks to carribean islands to warm up my bones and have that feeling, just to escape the cold weather, and come back and be strong and relaxed for the next string of gigs. 

About wax removal. Good thing you told me about this. I think I am overdue. But in the years before , speaking about health asigurare I went to a medic of state who doesn´t cost since ensurance pays, I was not so pleased. He handles it quite rough and he also seems to think that he is not only ORL medic, but specialist ortoped too, since he always as soon as you come in, he tolds you that all you suffer from is from the cervical and prepares an injection. 

I didn´t feel too good after that injection. 

Now I better go to medic privat and have to pay and sometimes get some money back from ensurance. 

Edited February 11 by Gheorghe

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Day one with my new Oticon hearings aids. My right ear has an almost constant whoosh/hiss because they had to boost the high frequencies so much. I have to turn that ear down a lot so that it isn't the only thing I hear. They come with a pre-programmed "Music Mode" that actually makes the music sound worse.

Let's see how this goes. I have a 30 day trial period now.

[Dan Gould]

10 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Day one with my new Oticon hearings aids. My right ear has an almost constant whoosh/hiss because they had to boost the high frequencies so much. I have to turn that ear down a lot so that it isn't the only thing I hear. They come with a pre-programmed "Music Mode" that actually makes the music sound worse.

Let's see how this goes. I have a 30 day trial period now.

Can't say how the music mode will work over time (or over the next 29 days) but believe me, my hearing was so far gone on my first hearing aids 15 years ago, I was amazed at how loud everything sounded. You'll get used to the treble end boost soon enough.

For those in a similar position, you also find yourself speaking differently, again because of how you are hearing with the help of the aids.

Could not live without them that I know.

[Ken Dryden]

I've worn hearing aids for a number of years and I am considering an upgrade, as the current ones are useless in certain situations where they don't lower the background noise enough, like in a busy restaurant. I finally realized that my hearing was really slipping when I had trouble hearing women's voices consistently in certain situations.

[Brad]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:47 AM, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Day one with my new Oticon hearings aids. My right ear has an almost constant whoosh/hiss because they had to boost the high frequencies so much. I have to turn that ear down a lot so that it isn't the only thing I hear. They come with a pre-programmed "Music Mode" that actually makes the music sound worse.

Let's see how this goes. I have a 30 day trial period now.

My old ones had a music mode which I didn’t use. My new Oticon ones are great. No complaints. 

Edited October 20 by Brad

[BFrank]

My Widex App has several different settings which were based on my chart. I can also create my own custom settings with a very basic equalizer in the App. None of them are perfect, for sure, but I really notice the difference when I don't have them in. Sound is MUCH duller.

[JSngry]

Also have your audiologist clean out the earwax of the insides of your devices.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

6 hours ago, JSngry said:

Also have your audiologist clean out the earwax of the insides of your devices.

These Oticon haring aids have a customer replaceable domes and tips, which they call "wax guards". Swapping them seems pretty easy to do. They gave me a bunch of replacement domes & tips when I got the aids.

So far, I am not at all pleased with Oticon's software. First off, these hearing aids are mine, not my audiologists, so why can't I 1) see my own hearing equalization, 2) have access to a finer adjustment for that equalization for each ear & 3) allow me to change the default/power on settings and save them to these hearing aids. Instead, All I can do is power them on and constantly change the settings to where I'm comfortable, which is a major pain in the ass. The worst thing about the EQ being applied across both aids is that my right ear has wickedly boosted high frequencies while my left is pretty good. When I lower the EQ of "High" (only 3 EQ levers Low, Mid & High), it lowers both ears when I really just want to lower the right one. Weirdly, they do allow volume changes for each ear. What's up with that?

[Brad]

2 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

These Oticon haring aids have a customer replaceable domes and tips, which they call "wax guards". Swapping them seems pretty easy to do. They gave me a bunch of replacement domes & tips when I got the aids.

So far, I am not at all pleased with Oticon's software. First off, these hearing aids are mine, not my audiologists, so why can't I 1) see my own hearing equalization, 2) have access to a finer adjustment for that equalization for each ear & 3) allow me to change the default/power on settings and save them to these hearing aids. Instead, All I can do is power them on and constantly change the settings to where I'm comfortable, which is a major pain in the ass. The worst thing about the EQ being applied across both aids is that my right ear has wickedly boosted high frequencies while my left is pretty good. When I lower the EQ of "High" (only 3 EQ levers Low, Mid & High), it lowers both ears when I really just want to lower the right one. Weirdly, they do allow volume changes for each ear. What's up with that?

Do you have the Oticon app on your devices. It allows you to make changes on several of the settings although my audiologist advised against doing that.  

[Kevin Bresnahan]

21 minutes ago, Brad said:

Do you have the Oticon app on your devices. It allows you to make changes on several of the settings although my audiologist advised against doing that.  

I have the Oticon Companion app on my iPhone. It has a minimum ability to change my settings. Why would your audiologist advise against tweaking those settings? The audiologist merely facilitated me getting hearing aids and setting them up for the initial use. It's up to me to make them work in a way that is right for me.

I am really not happy that I cannot tweak the EQ myself. As I said, my right ear has the highs boosted up too much to the point where I hear too much hash noise in that one ear. But I cannot permanently change that EQ setting to what is comfortable and what I can do, lowering the High setting, affects both ears.

I imagine that part of the reason this bugs me so much is that I am an engineer & engineers in general want to tweak things to make them work right. I don't like the fact that there isn't even a way to switch to a mode in the app to allow that. This app is like "Hearing aids for dummies". I am not a dummy.

[JSngry]

The cones are useful, but ear wax can still work it's way past them and get into the device proper. The audiology people will know how to get it out of there.

[BFrank]

17 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

These Oticon haring aids have a customer replaceable domes and tips, which they call "wax guards". Swapping them seems pretty easy to do. They gave me a bunch of replacement domes & tips when I got the aids.

So far, I am not at all pleased with Oticon's software. First off, these hearing aids are mine, not my audiologists, so why can't I 1) see my own hearing equalization, 2) have access to a finer adjustment for that equalization for each ear & 3) allow me to change the default/power on settings and save them to these hearing aids. Instead, All I can do is power them on and constantly change the settings to where I'm comfortable, which is a major pain in the ass. The worst thing about the EQ being applied across both aids is that my right ear has wickedly boosted high frequencies while my left is pretty good. When I lower the EQ of "High" (only 3 EQ levers Low, Mid & High), it lowers both ears when I really just want to lower the right one. Weirdly, they do allow volume changes for each ear. What's up with that?

Sounds like the Oticon setup is very similar to Widex as far as replaceable domes, wax guards and ability to make minimal adjustments through the App.

[Brad]

When I first got my new hearing aids she set them up for me and when I had a problem I returned and she adjusted them.  No problems since then. 

[JSngry]

And live with them for a while, because unfamiliar is not necessarily worse.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

3 hours ago, Brad said:

When I first got my new hearing aids she set them up for me and when I had a problem I returned and she adjusted them.  No problems since then. 

My return visit after my trial period is in December. She had no openings before then. She doesn't do walk-ins either so I'm stuck playing with the settings on my own for now.

But here's the thing. When you go to your optometrist, you get your eyeglass prescription, allowing you to go to any eyeglass maker for a pair of glasses. Why aren't hearing aids the same? Why is my audiologist able to hold onto my "prescription" for my ears? I'd really like to see what the corrected EQ is for my ears - if only so I know what I have been missing all these years and so that i know what to listen for with the hearing aids. Instead, I'm left guessing.

[Brad]

18 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

My return visit after my trial period is in December. She had no openings before then. She doesn't do walk-ins either so I'm stuck playing with the settings on my own for now.

But here's the thing. When you go to your optometrist, you get your eyeglass prescription, allowing you to go to any eyeglass maker for a pair of glasses. Why aren't hearing aids the same? Why is my audiologist able to hold onto my "prescription" for my ears? I'd really like to see what the corrected EQ is for my ears - if only so I know what I have been missing all these years and so that i know what to listen for with the hearing aids. Instead, I'm left guessing.

Different models I believe. If you go to an ophthalmologist he/she makes the prescription but doesn’t fill it. An audiologist does both. My guess is that they do both because it’s a profession that has less people than the eye business. More specialized perhaps?

[JSngry]

I had my evaluation done at a clinic that did not accept my insurance for the device itself. So they gave me a copy to take to any place that did.

You should check to see who owns the actual device provider, There might be some kind of proprietary agreements going on.

[Gheorghe]

wow, had forgotten about that thread I had opened, (when ? Years ago!). 

I still don´t have a hearing aid though I might be among the first persons here in the forum, who would need it, if you ask a medic. They might highly recommand it to me.

Still don´t have it. And as a complete dummy if it´s about electronics, apps, and stuff, I even hate cell phones that are not the old retro with buttons (old Nokia or in my case Emporia), I can´t consider it.

But I hear music well enough, I mean very good if it´s played the way jazz is played, and I even asked Dusan to play Round Midnight with Sticks instead of brushes. By the way, if you play that tune a bit more bombastic, like the Dizzy Big Band, or that one trio record of Bud in Paris "Life at Café de Paris" or how it is titled, with Kenny playing sticks only, that sounds good. 
But I also like brush solos, if they really loud, I remember Philly J.J. or Max Roach could do that almost as loud as sticks...

[mikeweil]

8 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

wow, had forgotten about that thread I had opened, (when ? Years ago!). 

I still don´t have a hearing aid though I might be among the first persons here in the forum, who would need it, if you ask a medic. They might highly recommand it to me.

Still don´t have it. And as a complete dummy if it´s about electronics, apps, and stuff, I even hate cell phones that are not the old retro with buttons (old Nokia or in my case Emporia), I can´t consider it.

But I hear music well enough, I mean very good if it´s played the way jazz is played, and I even asked Dusan to play Round Midnight with Sticks instead of brushes. By the way, if you play that tune a bit more bombastic, like the Dizzy Big Band, or that one trio record of Bud in Paris "Life at Café de Paris" or how it is titled, with Kenny playing sticks only, that sounds good. 
But I also like brush solos, if they really loud, I remember Philly J.J. or Max Roach could do that almost as loud as sticks...

You should seriously consider trying a hearing aid. Mine mostly just boost up the high frequencies because that is where my hearing is impaired. I have a gig coming up (my first in many years) accompanying a pianist/singer/songwriter, just playing a snare drum with brushes in half of the pieces, which I simply would not hear properly without hearing aids. Your remarks about how you perceive the drum sounds tells of a serious bias in that respect.