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Ms. Ears Questions and AnswersQuestions about Hearing Aids from real people and answered by real audiologists.
QUESTION: I wear CIC hearing aids. I am outdoors frequently and worry about rain-water or sweat damaging my hearing aids. Is there a way to waterproof hearing aids or is there a type of cover available to protect them? ANSWER: There have been efforts for years to make hearing aids more resistant to water and sweat (and ear wax). One company, Rion, makes a BTE that is water and sweat proof. Many fire-fighters wear this type of aid. On a custom hearing aid such as yours, the size restrictions don't allow for complete water proofing, though most manufacturers put a protective coating on the circuit to help prevent moisture damage. I have found that people very seldom get their ears soaked in the rain and so CIC's are a great choice. The other thing you can do to help preserve the life of your hearing aids is to get a "dry aid" kit to help remove moisture from them. I hope this helps. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: I'm interested in getting headphones with an attached mike and adjustable frequency (sliders as found in stereo setups). I think this would be ideal for concerts and watching movies at home and at the cinema. I have a 7-frequency equalizer in my car stereo. I turn the high frequency up to max. It's great except that other members of my family can't stand it for long. I spent over $3000 CND$ in 1996 on 2 internal AudioZoom with WDRC remote but found them too fiddly to use and they blocked the good hearing I have below 1500Hz. The good news is I got a full refund. I'm down over 70 dB above 3500 Hz. and have been since I was a teenager in the 50's due to model rocket fuel blowing up within 2 feet of me. A year or so later a shotgun blast inside a car added to the damage. ANSWER: I don't know of any headphones that have "sliders" built into them. For watching TV, run the sound of your TV into your stereo and use the sliders on your stereo to adjust the sound just as you would in your car. You might want to try some of the new digital hearing aids that I think will better respond to your hearing loss. The Phonak Claro digital BTE hearing aid can be worn without blocking the good hearing you have in low frequencies. Thank you for your question. I hope this information helps. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: I have worn hearing aids for many years and am trying to find a pair that will give me better hearing. My hearing loss is not as common as most. I do not have a tolerance for high tones and I have trouble hearing low tones. My hearing aid dispenser wants me to try a behind the ear type. I have looked at a ReSound aid, which might be helpful. Can you tell me anything about this instrument? Do you recommend any certain aids or have a suggestion on what might help me? ANSWER: When you mention "high tones" and "low tones" I think you are referring to the volume of sounds, i.e. loud sounds and soft sounds. If this is the case, then I understand the problems you are having. We need to first look at what a hearing aid is. First, there is the style or size of the instrument, ITE (in-the-ear), Canal (in-the-canal), CIC (completely-in-the-canal), and BTE (behind-the-ear). The second part of a hearing aid is the circuit. The circuit controls how the hearing aid processes sound. From your description, I would recommend a hearing aid that has a compression circuit, which keeps the loud sounds from becoming too loud. The ReSound hearing aid is a flexible compression circuit that I have had great success fitting on people. The ReSound hearing aid comes in a BTE or ITE model. Give it a try. Good Luck. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: I wear programmable CIC hearing aids from NU-EAR. When the audiologist programs them it is impossible to tell if the new settings are correct. I have been looking for a digital hearing test program that would allow me to test pure tones with my computer. Do you know of any "hearing test" programs that are available? ANSWER: It is hard to know if the new programs on a hearing aid are set exactly correctly. Your audiologist will set the programs at first fitting and then adjust them according to your feedback. There are two types of tests that the audiologist can use to verify the hearing aid settings. One is to test pure tones in a sound booth using speakers (headphones can cause your hearing aid to whistle or feedback). The second test is called Real Ear Measurement testing where a probe tube is placed in the ear canal and sound is presented without and with the hearing aid in your ear. A computer will plot the results, indicating to the audiologist how well the hearing aid is adjusted to your hearing loss. It is difficult to test your hearing at home on your computer for two reasons. First, I have yet to find a program that will work to do the job accurately(calibration of sound levels is a big problem). Second, using headphones can cause your hearing aids to feed back, making the test invalid. Go back to your audiologist and ask him to perform either sound field testing or real ear testing. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: My dad, who lives in South Africa, is hard of hearing. I often have to repeat what I have said with a raised voice just short of shouting. I want to buy my dad a pair of hearing aids. I'm wondering if it's possible to just buy them off the shelf, and how much one is looking at cost wise. ANSWER: Most hearing aids are custom built for an individual. They are customized physically (to the shape of the ear) and for that individual's type of hearing loss. Behind-the-ear hearing aids must also have a custom ear mould, fit to the individual. I would suggest your dad find an audiologist in South Africa and be properly fit. This would allow for local follow up and support which will help as he learns to use the hearing aids. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: Why is it that when you wear a hearing aid, you have to take it out every now and then to itch your ear? I always seem to be doing that with my hearing aid. ANSWER: Each person's skin and ears are different. When a person wears a hearing aid, the skin is not able to breathe as well as it can without. Many people who wear hearing aids have the same problem that you are describing. You might try massaging a little bit of skin lotion into the bowl of your ear at night after taking your hearing aid out. This will help with the dry skin that might be causing the itching. Be sure before you put your hearing aids back in that your ears are dry - so that you don't get lotion in your aids. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: My son perspires heavily when active and his hearing aids do not function properly for several hours. His hearing loss is mild. Is there anything that can be done about this? ANSWER: Depending on the type of hearing aid he has, the manufacturer can put a seal coat on the circuit to help keep it from shorting out. If the moisture is getting into the mic or rec, then we have a bigger problem. A "dry aid kit" would help at night to dry the hearing aid out, but will not help in the middle of the day if the aid quits. Rion hearing aid manufacturer makes a waterproof hearing aid. It is used by many firefighters and the like. I have seen this hearing aid sitting at the bottom of a fish bowl of water still working! This would be the best solution, but would require a new hearing aid. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Ms Ears. QUESTION: I am 15 years old and I wear hearing aids. They are In-the-Ear, but are still extremely visible. I am very conscious of how they look and how people treat me when they find out I am hearing impaired. I am not deaf, but can hear moderately loud noises. I need help. I feel trapped, and sometimes feel like I shouldn't have to live through this life. I am very desperate for a hearing aid that cannot be seen (completely submerged in the ear canal). Please help. ANSWER: Having a hearing impairment is a challenge at any age, but when you are young, many people feel trapped like you do. Know that there are people, family and friends that love you for who you are, hearing impaired or not. Long ago I heard a definition, of what a true friend is, that I really like, "a true friend is someone that knows all about us and still likes us". Hearing aids continue to get stronger and smaller. By the time a person is 15, the ears have almost stopped growing. Do you use FM in your school? How much is your hearing loss? If you are not using FM and your ear canals are big enough, you might want to try CIC hearing aids. They go completely in the ear canal and so can hardly be seen and they will fit mild to moderate hearing losses very well. Talk to your audiologist and see what she says. Write back to me if you have any questions. Good luck. I'll look forward to hearing from you again. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: I currently wear two very powerful behind-the-ear (BTE) aids but I am considering getting body worn aids. I'm not vain, so the sight of them doesn't bother me. I feel I will hear so much better with the body-worn aids. ANSWER: Try the body hearing aid. If you hear better, great. If not, you can go back to the BTE's. The point I like about the BTE's is that you have ear level microphones. With the body hearing aid you have a chest level microphone. You will have to see which is better for you. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: I have a hearing impairment from nerve damage and I wear hearing aids. Although I cannot hear high-pitched sounds, I have a lot of trouble dealing with the sound of paper crunching, crinkling, and popping. Even without my hearing aids I am easily irritated from this type of noise. In fact, this sound causes me to cringe! Is this common among hearing impaired persons? Who can I contact and how can I fix this problem? ANSWER: There could be a couple of reasons why high pitched sounds such as paper crunching, crinkling, and popping, could cause you discomfort while wearing your hearing aids. First, the hearing aids may not be tuned correctly. If there is too much high frequency amplification in the hearing aid these sounds will come out very loud. Secondly, these sounds may be causing distortion in the hearing aids, which will cause the aids to sound terrible. You also say that these sounds "cause you to cringe" when not wearing your hearing aids. Even with a hearing impairment, you may be more sensitive to loud sounds than someone with normal hearing. This is called Recruitment. An audiologist can measure your hearing for this problem and make recommendations as to how to cope with this issue. Some people that I know with severe recruitment wear earplugs anytime they are around loud noise. Thank you for your question, and I hope these ideas help. Sincerely, Ms. Ears Select Another Category Here are some other great questions that real people have asked Ms. Ears.
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