Oh my goodness, I can’t believe there is someone else out there with such a similar hearing loss to mine! I’m so excited!
I too, have profound hearing loss in one ear, and moderate-to-profound loss in the other ear. The former ear is the only one that can tolerate a hearing aid, as there is too much distortion in the other ear. I just learned today that it’s possible to post an audiogram to give people more information about one’s loss, so I’ll try to do that for other people to maybe try to see that there is a type of loss that is best aided exactly as you said: take the sounds around you and amp them up. A lot.
Just like you, I discovered one day that if the volume was high enough, I could hear it, and the sound sounded “real”, “right”, “true”… pick your adjective, right? It sounds like it should. Simple as that. Loud sounds are loud. Quiet sounds are quiet. Music is MUSIC. I cannot even BEGIN to express the agony of trying to listen to music with digital HAs. It is devastating. I’m so glad there’s at least one person here who can understand that from personal experience.
I was working in EMS a few years ago and experienced very little difficulty with auscultation, whether blood pressure or breath sounds. I had more or less the same results as everyone else did - surprisingly, hearing people don’t always have great hearing! Also, a lifetime spent “listening” with my brain and other senses means that I often pick up quite a bit more than some people with average hearing ability.
About two years ago, my youngest was 10 months old and I had just successfully completed training in the next higher level of EMS. I was excited to work, but due to hiring practices in my area, such as being posted to a location rather than being able to work where I already lived, it was not feasible. My husband at the time could not leave his job easily. I decided to raise my children full time, but I have kept up my training and skills in anticipation of being able to work in the field at some point soon.
And then my audiologist told me that analogs weren’t being made anymore. I had already tried digitals several times - they just did not work for me. The delay makes lip reading impossible and the way loud sounds cut out and quiet sounds disappear leaves the whole experience almost the same as having nothing in at all. Except I can hear all the “clutter” noise. It was infuriating to be able to hear the air conditioner but not voices or sirens! Really?
So to be told that the solution to my hearing loss - and really, my whole life - was not available anymore? Devastating. I came here back then to see if maybe other deaf people had the same loss and the same struggle, but ran into several people with mild to moderate loss that seem to basically love making fun of people who need more than the cookie-cutter old folk solutions offered by Sears and Costco. So I didn’t hang around. (But I did keep reading and there were a few REALLY cool people who messaged me so I talked to them for a while).
I only came here today because of the email to claim my account - I had planned to delete the account once it was transferred, but then I saw your post and was so excited I had to reply.
I have zero leads on finding analog hearing aids, but I will share immediately anything that I do find! I hope you stay around. It would be great to talk to someone else with a similar situation to mine and who feels the same way about the HA industry definitely NOT having our best interests in mind.
Edited to add: AND even better, someone who is a musician and therefore totally gets that 1. Yes, I can experience music and I LOVE music - it’s incredibly important to me. and 2. Yes, it’s possible for me to truly enjoy it - I can sing and I played the violin for years.