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Home > Archive > Hearing loss support > August 2006 > HA's all day every day?
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HA's all day every day?
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| I need some advice. I've received conflicting opinions about use of my
hearing aids, in both cases from people I respect: One person said I should
wear my HA's at all times when I'm awake (except for showering etc.) because
otherwise my brain would lose some ability to interpret the sounds I'm
hearing. Another person said it's not necessary, that it's okay to enjoy
the silence when I want to. Naturally I chose the opinion I prefer, which
means I've been removing the aids as soon as I come home from work and
keeping them off, usually until the next morning. My hearing loss is
considered moderate to severe. I'm able to hear phones, doorbells, smoke
detectors without the HA's, so safety isn't an issue. I really do love the
silence of having the HA's out.
Recently I've experienced increasing difficulty with word recognition with
my HA's in, even though results of my hearing test remain approximately the
same. It's been suggested that this is because I don't wear the aids all
the time. What do folks out there -- both providers and users -- think
about this question? It's really important to me to be able to hear
conversation when I am among people.
Thanks in advance,
helco
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If you can hear smoke alarms without your hearing aids I wonder why you
wear them at all! I can't hear them even with my hearing aids.
I wear my hearing aids except when I am in bed - and even then if I
want to watch/hear tv or cds. I switch them off in noisy situations
(not including when my famiy is nagging me - I'm not saying I'm not
tempted).
My suggestion is that you compromise - never remove your hearing aids
during the day, but switch them off when you want to enjoy silence.
Being deaf is a pain in the neck but one of the minor offsetting
advantages is being able to switch off. But removing them is a bit
drastic.
I suppose the basic point is that your hearing aids partially restore
something which you have lost. You need this reinforcement during your
waking hours - except when you choose silence.
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| Paul Revere 2006-08-25, 4:29 pm |
| I too have moderate loss. It took over two years to
develop the habit but I have never been happier since I
have been wearing them all day. Wife too! Now she does
not have to scream and repeat when she wants to tell me
something or put up with me asking her what the lady on
the TV, that is turned up to ten just said ( for the
third time) .
Wear them all the time and you will enjoy life more.
peace
Paul Revere
"helco" <helco@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:D7OdnRZjevimwHPZnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@insightbb.com...
: I need some advice. I've received conflicting
opinions about use of my
: hearing aids, in both cases from people I respect:
One person said I should
: wear my HA's at all times when I'm awake (except for
showering etc.) because
: otherwise my brain would lose some ability to
interpret the sounds I'm
: hearing. Another person said it's not necessary,
that it's okay to enjoy
: the silence when I want to. Naturally I chose the
opinion I prefer, which
: means I've been removing the aids as soon as I come
home from work and
: keeping them off, usually until the next morning. My
hearing loss is
: considered moderate to severe. I'm able to hear
phones, doorbells, smoke
: detectors without the HA's, so safety isn't an issue.
I really do love the
: silence of having the HA's out.
:
: Recently I've experienced increasing difficulty with
word recognition with
: my HA's in, even though results of my hearing test
remain approximately the
: same. It's been suggested that this is because I
don't wear the aids all
: the time. What do folks out there -- both providers
and users -- think
: about this question? It's really important to me to
be able to hear
: conversation when I am among people.
:
: Thanks in advance,
: helco
:
:
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I take them out when I'm home alone, it's just more comfortable...
--
The test of a first-rate intelligence
is the ability to hold two opposed ideas
in the mind at the same time,
and still retain the ability to function.
....F Scott Fitzgerald
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"Ken" <kkerrison@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:1156476274.614263.255370@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> If you can hear smoke alarms without your hearing aids I wonder why you
> wear them at all! I can't hear them even with my hearing aids.
>
> I wear my hearing aids except when I am in bed - and even then if I
> want to watch/hear tv or cds. I switch them off in noisy situations
> (not including when my famiy is nagging me - I'm not saying I'm not
> tempted).
>
> My suggestion is that you compromise - never remove your hearing aids
> during the day, but switch them off when you want to enjoy silence.
> Being deaf is a pain in the neck but one of the minor offsetting
> advantages is being able to switch off. But removing them is a bit
> drastic.
>
> I suppose the basic point is that your hearing aids partially restore
> something which you have lost. You need this reinforcement during your
> waking hours - except when you choose silence.
>
Ken, if I had to wait for hearing aids until I was unable to hear smoke
alarms I would have had to stop working 15 years ago. It's conversation
that I need to hear, and for that I've required HA's for nearly 20 years.
Yes, I can still hear some people unaided -- if their voices are right and
acoustic conditions are right, but that's nothing I can count on. Even with
HA's I can't make out much of what's said on the TV, no matter how loud; I
use both wireless headphones (with which I hear about 80%) and closed
captions.
The question isn't whether the actual physical aids are in my ears; it's
whether they're turned on. I have itchy ears, so it's way more comfortable
without them.
I think the issue is how we process sounds, aided vs. unaided. I'm going to
write another letter to the group explaining my concerns more clearly.
Thanks for your reply. It shows how people with supposedly similar problems
can have very dissimilar experiences. And I know what you mean about being
tempted to turn off the aids when you're being nagged! Lucky us! We don't
have to cover our ears and say "La-la-la I can't hear you." We can just
look puzzled and ask "Did you say something?"
helco
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"Paul Revere" <PauuulRrevv@impeeach_the_efffin_chimp.gov> wrote in message
news:j3DHg.1424$bM.251@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>I too have moderate loss. It took over two years to
> develop the habit but I have never been happier since I
> have been wearing them all day. Wife too! Now she does
> not have to scream and repeat when she wants to tell me
> something or put up with me asking her what the lady on
> the TV, that is turned up to ten just said ( for the
> third time) .
>
> Wear them all the time and you will enjoy life more.
>
> peace
> Paul Revere
>
> "helco" <helco@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> news:D7OdnRZjevimwHPZnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@insightbb.com...
> : I need some advice. I've received conflicting
> opinions about use of my
> : hearing aids, in both cases from people I respect:
> One person said I should
> : wear my HA's at all times when I'm awake (except for
> showering etc.) because
> : otherwise my brain would lose some ability to
> interpret the sounds I'm
> : hearing. Another person said it's not necessary,
> that it's okay to enjoy
> : the silence when I want to. Naturally I chose the
> opinion I prefer, which
> : means I've been removing the aids as soon as I come
> home from work and
> : keeping them off, usually until the next morning. My
> hearing loss is
> : considered moderate to severe. I'm able to hear
> phones, doorbells, smoke
> : detectors without the HA's, so safety isn't an issue.
> I really do love the
> : silence of having the HA's out.
> :
> : Recently I've experienced increasing difficulty with
> word recognition with
> : my HA's in, even though results of my hearing test
> remain approximately the
> : same. It's been suggested that this is because I
> don't wear the aids all
> : the time. What do folks out there -- both providers
> and users -- think
> : about this question? It's really important to me to
> be able to hear
> : conversation when I am among people.
> :
> : Thanks in advance,
> : helco
Thanks for your reply. I always do wear my HA's when I'm around other
people; the question is whether I should use them when I'm alone, with
nothing to hear but the refrigerator motor, the water running, the distant
railroad (a pleasant sound, actually), and some bird songs (which I do want
to hear). Etc. etc. For TV and radio I do better with headphones bringing
the sound directly to my ears (though I still need closed caption for TV).
I think I'm really asking about how sounds are processed, and I'm about to
write a separate letter to the NG to clarify my question.
helco
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| tim gorman 2006-08-25, 4:29 pm |
| Paul Revere wrote:
>
>
> I too have moderate loss. It took over two years to
> develop the habit but I have never been happier since I
> have been wearing them all day. Wife too! Now she does
> not have to scream and repeat when she wants to tell me
> something or put up with me asking her what the lady on
> the TV, that is turned up to ten just said ( for the
> third time) .
>
> Wear them all the time and you will enjoy life more.
>
> peace
> Paul Revere
>
It's good to hear this from some one else. I've only had my HA's for two
weeks but I can already tell that the wife is happier when I wear them all
the time!
tim
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| HOHDAVE 2006-08-27, 8:29 am |
| Hi Everyone,
I wear my hearing aids 16 hours a day. I put them on the first thing
in the morning till the time I turn off my light after I go to bed.
(Of course I take them out when I shower or go swimming) (smile)
I have a severe to profound hearing loss all my life; I am 53 years old
now. My audiogram of my hearing has not change much over the years
Our brain is a remarkable machine that can adjust and adapt to just
about anything. It is truly amazing.
One thing though, I only wore a hearing aid which was in my left ear
from the time I started grade school until I was 20... Then I started
to wear two hearing aids. Both ears on the audiogram is very similar
and the same in some area. I can hear and understand a person talking
with my left ear but I have a very difficult time understanding people
in my right ear. I believed that is because I didn't wear hearing
aid in my right ear when I was growing up, my brain adjust to my left
ear as it primary intake of noise and process the sound to make sense
what people are saying.
I wear two hearing aids as to balance the sound to my ears. If I only
wear one hearing aid, all the sounds go to that ear and it make it very
difficult to process sound and to understand people with all the other
noise coming into my one ear. I hate it!
It doesn't matter how long a person wears their aids. I believed that
enough time to rest your ears when you rest your body is when you are
sleeping.
David Pearson
Marysville, WA
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| Mike Burke 2006-08-27, 8:29 am |
| On 27 Aug 2006 05:21:09 -0700, "HOHDAVE" <dkl.pearson@gmail.com>
wrote:
>It doesn't matter how long a person wears their aids. I believed that
>enough time to rest your ears when you rest your body is when you are
>sleeping.
Couldn't agree more.
Mike
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| Mason C 2006-08-27, 4:30 pm |
| On 27 Aug 2006 05:21:09 -0700, "HOHDAVE" <dkl.pearson@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I wear my hearing aids 16 hours a day. I put them on the first thing
>in the morning till the time I turn off my light after I go to bed.
>(Of course I take them out when I shower or go swimming) (smile)
>
>I have a severe to profound hearing loss all my life; I am 53 years old
>now. My audiogram of my hearing has not change much over the years
>
>Our brain is a remarkable machine that can adjust and adapt to just
>about anything. It is truly amazing.
>
>One thing though, I only wore a hearing aid which was in my left ear
>from the time I started grade school until I was 20... Then I started
>to wear two hearing aids. Both ears on the audiogram is very similar
>and the same in some area. I can hear and understand a person talking
>with my left ear but I have a very difficult time understanding people
>in my right ear. I believed that is because I didn't wear hearing
>aid in my right ear when I was growing up, my brain adjust to my left
>ear as it primary intake of noise and process the sound to make sense
>what people are saying.
>
>I wear two hearing aids as to balance the sound to my ears. If I only
>wear one hearing aid, all the sounds go to that ear and it make it very
>difficult to process sound and to understand people with all the other
>noise coming into my one ear. I hate it!
>
>It doesn't matter how long a person wears their aids. I believed that
>enough time to rest your ears when you rest your body is when you are
>sleeping.
>
>David Pearson
>Marysville, WA
I have repeatedly noticed a strange phenomena. I have a habit of
listening to a radio, using earbuds, when in bed at night. With the
particular situation the volume must be turned set at its highest.
When I awake in the night I must turn down the volume. It seems
certain that my hearing audiogram taken at 4:30 A.M. would show
less loss than at 4:30 P.M.
??????????????????????
Mason C
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"HOHDAVE" <dkl.pearson@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1156681269.589885.227650@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I wear my hearing aids 16 hours a day. I put them on the first thing
> in the morning till the time I turn off my light after I go to bed.
> (Of course I take them out when I shower or go swimming) (smile)
>
> I have a severe to profound hearing loss all my life; I am 53 years old
> now. My audiogram of my hearing has not change much over the years
>
> Our brain is a remarkable machine that can adjust and adapt to just
> about anything. It is truly amazing.
>
> One thing though, I only wore a hearing aid which was in my left ear
> from the time I started grade school until I was 20... Then I started
> to wear two hearing aids. Both ears on the audiogram is very similar
> and the same in some area. I can hear and understand a person talking
> with my left ear but I have a very difficult time understanding people
> in my right ear. I believed that is because I didn't wear hearing
> aid in my right ear when I was growing up, my brain adjust to my left
> ear as it primary intake of noise and process the sound to make sense
> what people are saying.
>
> I wear two hearing aids as to balance the sound to my ears. If I only
> wear one hearing aid, all the sounds go to that ear and it make it very
> difficult to process sound and to understand people with all the other
> noise coming into my one ear. I hate it!
>
> It doesn't matter how long a person wears their aids. I believed that
> enough time to rest your ears when you rest your body is when you are
> sleeping.
>
So you feel that wearing only one HA when you were younger damaged your
ability to process sound in the other ear and that the damage has been
irreversible. Very discouraging. I hope some more people will contribute
their experiences in this regard -- and that the professionals who
contribute to this NG will share their opinions.
helco
> David Pearson
> Marysville, WA
>
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| Mike Burke 2006-08-27, 9:24 pm |
| On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 20:35:00 -0500, "helco" <helco@insightbb.com>
wrote:
>So you feel that wearing only one HA when you were younger damaged your
>ability to process sound in the other ear and that the damage has been
>irreversible. Very discouraging. I hope some more people will contribute
>their experiences in this regard -- and that the professionals who
>contribute to this NG will share their opinions.
Back when I first started to wear aids, in the mid-70s, I was in the
Australian military, and I was provided with one hearing aid for the
first several years. This was all the government would pay for, and I
couldn't afford to buy as second one even if I had thought it
necessary or advisable. After a few years, however, the audiologists
persuaded the government that bilateral aids were essential because
the brain needed the stimulus of received sound or the ability to
process speech in the non-aided ear would deteriorate.
I believe that the phenomenon is something like the 'lazy eye'
syndrome. Use it or lose it.
As you say, hopefully the experts can explain it.
Mike
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| On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 20:35:00 -0500, "helco" <helco@insightbb.com>
wrote:
[vbcol=seagreen]
>
>"HOHDAVE" <dkl.pearson@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1156681269.589885.227650@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
>
>So you feel that wearing only one HA when you were younger damaged your
>ability to process sound in the other ear and that the damage has been
>irreversible. Very discouraging. I hope some more people will contribute
>their experiences in this regard -- and that the professionals who
>contribute to this NG will share their opinions.
>
>helco
Unfortunately, it is *extremely* difficult to match a pure-tone
audiogram to speech discrimination scores, with or without aids,
except in a very general way. Dave did not say if the speech
discrimination scores for left and right started the same then
changed. (Granted, probably most people do not keep their SD scores
memorized.) I have similar experiences, but I think the differences
are more likely due to differences in my left and right ears that the
audiograms do not show.
Other threads in this NG have discussed the (frustrating) differences
in speech discrimination between two people with similar pure-tone
audiograms.
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> Other threads in this NG have discussed the (frustrating) differences
> in speech discrimination between two people with similar pure-tone
> audiograms.
One thing we tend to forget is the role of the brain in processing
whatever data it receives from the pysical part of the hearing system.
The mental capacity obviously varies just as much between people as
does the physical capability.
But it is also evident from hundreds of posts to this group on various
aspects of hearing that the mental part of the system, unlike the
physical part, can improve if you work on it. The brain seems to reach
out for information to help interpret the environment and quickly
learns to make use of it in conjunction with all the other clues
available.
For instance I have a theory that the ability of the ears to identify
the direction of sounds may, in part, be by identifying phase
differences. And even if this is not the case, many of the things our
hearing system DOES do are way beyond the ability of our best software
engineers to process and interpret data. And probably will always be.
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"Ken" <kkerrison@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:1156807181.525983.284110@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> One thing we tend to forget is the role of the brain in processing
> whatever data it receives from the pysical part of the hearing system.
> The mental capacity obviously varies just as much between people as
> does the physical capability.
>
> But it is also evident from hundreds of posts to this group on various
> aspects of hearing that the mental part of the system, unlike the
> physical part, can improve if you work on it. The brain seems to reach
> out for information to help interpret the environment and quickly
> learns to make use of it in conjunction with all the other clues
> available.
>
> For instance I have a theory that the ability of the ears to identify
> the direction of sounds may, in part, be by identifying phase
> differences. And even if this is not the case, many of the things our
> hearing system DOES do are way beyond the ability of our best software
> engineers to process and interpret data. And probably will always be.
I'd like to thank everyone who responded, even if no one is willing to state
categorically that, yes, I must wear my hearing aids every waking hour or
risk losing some of my ability to understand speech, or, no, it doesn't
matter a bit, enjoy the silence (as long as conjugal harmony is not at
risk). Obviously the question of speech discrimination is very complex.
Having chosen to go with comfort in the past, and being told that I've lost
some ability to process as a result, I guess from now on I'll choose caution
and wear them as much as possible. (Wow! Listen to that cicada!)
I'll google past threads on this topic.
helco
>
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