Sorry if I missed this.
How long has she had this hearing loss?
Is this her first time with a hearing aid?
I can also see an open fit with that loss.
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In the hearing test, they would have done a word recognition test for each ear, and a result would be a percent correct, something like āleft WRS 55%ā (or whatever).
You can ask your professional to do an āaided word recognition testā on the bad ear, with the hearing aid in. Then compare with the original hearing test. You should see better word recognition in the aided ear.
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Hi, I donāt know how old the kids are, but even very young ones can be taught that mum needs their help and will often take a pride in being helpful. Teach them to come to her, get her attention by touch if necessary and make sure that she is looking at them before speaking. Make sure that they understand that she wonāt hear them well if they are in a different room (even my husband still struggles with that!). Even if she doesnāt need all that it will reduce listener fatigue if she doesnāt always have to try so hard.
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Thank you @Neville , that information is so helpful! Weāll definitely try an open dome.
And I think the audiologist is very understanding so thats a big plus
@Raudrive sheās had this hearing loss since the beginning of December and weāve been slowly trying hearing aids but none seem to be doing anything noticeable for her so we were wondering what we should be expecting
@Don yes she did a speech recognition test with the last audiologist and she scored 66% at 65db if that makes sense (the good ear was at 50db where she got 100%)
Weāll definitely ask for an aided word recognition test next time thank you!
Thanks @Tealover the kids are still small but theyāre getting the hang of it. I think its more hard for her psychologically to not be able to hear the kidsā¦
Weāll push through for longer with the widex to see if it can help. Sheās hoping to be able to hear the quieter sounds with the aid as she can make things out without the aid once theyāre above 60 odd db. Not sure if thats realistic or not. Will read up on the Roger On too!
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As an update, we took the advice given here and it has really helped. She is now using an open dome and the fit/comfort is much better!
Still getting to grips with it all and weāll raise these questions with the audiologist but thought weād ask advice here as its been so helpful for us.
- Does going from a small closed dome to a extra small sized open dome change the sound? Would it make things less clear? It sounds less loud - not sure it this was because of the occlusion in the closed dome that it sounded louder.
- The audiologist thought she might just get away with an open dome based on the feedback check he did. Itās feedbacking when she rubs her hair or hug someone. Is there a way to reduce the feedback without having to change the dome?
Again, thanks for all the help. Id get a couple of rounds in if I could!
Iām a bit late to this discussion and only have my own experience to offer so Iām not sure how useful this is, but I thought Iād share it anyway. I am new to the world of hearing aids despite having had bilateral high frequency hearing loss for probably almost 10 years. My audiogram is not that dissimilar to your wifeās bad ear, but in my case itās the same in both ears and because it happened relatively slowly it wasnāt a shock to the system like your wifeās clearly was for her.
I finally got hearing aids in December (Philips 9040 with open domes) and although the first few hours were extremely intense as my audiologist put me at 100% from the start (Why is everybody shouting? Why does my breathing sound like Darth Vader? Why does my coat rustling sound like someone using a circular saw?) I found the improvement in understanding speech was immediate. So I feel that in theory your wife should be getting something more from her aid(s) and if she isnāt then there is something extra interfering.
A few thoughts as someone with similar loss and also a hearing aid newbie:
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When I put my first hearing aid in each morning, it does still sound tinny and scratchy to me - my interpretation is that Iām suddenly picking up a bunch of ambient noises that are inaudible without the aids and for the first 10 seconds all those extra sounds really DO sound tinny, especially when Iāve only got one aid in. As soon as I put the second aid in, I feel balanced again, and my brain adjusts and decides that the aided sound is the way things should be - itās hard to describe but itās honestly as if my brain stops fighting to recognise the sound as coming through the aids and just decides it sounds ārightā (and then when I take them out again itās like people are talking through a pillow). In my case that experience of adjusting from ātinnyā to ājust rightā is clearly a brain thing and not an ear thing or an aid thing. I wonder if the fact that your wifeās loss is unilateral makes it more difficult for her brain to make that switch, because her good ear is still hearing the way good ears do, which is obviously not the same as aided ears, and that could be making it more difficult for her brain to adjust to the aided sound than it is for me with my bilateral loss and equal amplification on both sides. Iām not sure what you could do about that, but itās something I mention in case it resonates as being part of the explanation.
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If Iāve learnt one thing from this forum itās that fitting makes an enormous difference to the experience you have with a hearing aid - probably more difference than which aid you choose. So itās worth spending significant time getting the audiologist to get the fit right (by which I of course mean the way the software is set to correct the loss and not the different domes etc., though those too may make a difference).
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On top of my high frequency loss, which has been relatively stable for years, I also have fluctuating SSNHL that takes out the low frequencies in one ear until itās corrected by a course of steroids. When I have a relapse, I get horrible distortion and fullness in that ear and find it really hard to understand anything at all from that ear. During those relapses my 250-1000 range goes down from 20 to 60 dB, and while that is still not profound, the way I experience it is like I canāt understand anything - itās as if the pure tone score doesnāt fully reflect how bad it is in my perception. I wonder if your wife is also struggling partly because this is so very sudden and her brain hasnāt had time to learn how to use the ear to its full capacity. My unaided speech recognition score when my audiogram looks like your wifeās (i.e. when Iām not having one of my relapses) is around 90% and having seen your wifeās is lower, I wonder if it is partly because my loss happened over a period of years while hers was instant. I have no idea if this is something that other people with sudden loss experience, but itās just a thought, as it seems to me her speech recognition should not be worse than mine just looking at PTA alone.
So to summariseā¦ is the good ear actually making it more difficult for the bad ear to get used to things, is the suddenness of the loss part of why she is still struggling because she hasnāt adjusted yet, or is the fit the audiologist has done not right? Just some things to consider, and none of them may resonate! Good luck!
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Both of your questions are about a proper fit.
There is a tolerance of give and take fitting aids but itās not as big as most people think. Some aids are a little better at dealing with feedback.
When it comes down to it getting the right acoustics without feedback and the correct gain is the trick. Itās a bit of an art.
From your post I would say your fitter is getting very close.
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Yes, moving to a from an open to a closed dome changes the sound. With a fully open fit, the low frequencies (that tend to carry volume) leak out of your ear. It wonāt necessarily sound less clear if low frequency hearing is goodāit might make things more clear.
Managing feedback is either closing the ear or reducing the gain, so you have to balance whatās important to you.
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I think you could be right on these pointsā¦ Sheās powered through for the last couple of weeks but no matter the dome or the aid adjustment sheās saying sheās not getting much benefit from wearing them. She says she thinks thereās a difference, then takes the aids out and says that no, itās basically the same with or without themā¦
Itās really heartbreakingā¦
Weāll continue on to see if we can get anything out of the aids and we were wondering if there are non-widex tips/domes that people would recommend for small ear canals? This is what she says about her testing on fit so far:
Xs Open dome - nice fit but not enough volume
S closed dome - really occluded and too big, was popping out. No xs
Medium tulip - fits but got stuck in my ear first time.moves a lot when I smile etc.no smaller tulip. Feels quite big in my ear, struggle to forget about itā¦seems to give more volume. Struggle with clarity on
Thanks again all
A hearing aid would need to be refit to account for open versus closed domes. If the open dome is a nice fit but not loud enough compared to the closed, but the hearing aid was set up for a closed fit. . . itās still a bit of an open question as to whether she could get some of that volume back if it were refit for an open dome. Itās possible that the feedback limiting will be too dramatic, but I canāt know over the internet.
She could try a custom tip, but it sounds like she has a pretty small ear which makes me suspect that a custom tip would be too occluding given her ear canal size and her hearing loss.
Whatās she wearing right now? Signia/Widex have some nice small vented sleeves that do okay in a small ear. Sometimes you can hack a dome from one manufacturer onto another hearing aid if the fit isnāt too loose (too loose will fall off on the ear).
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I have absolutely no idea if ears that have experienced sudden loss can be kind of ātrainedā to maximise what hearing remains, but I definitely imagine that is more difficult when there is still a good ear that ends up taking over most of the work. Iām of course not talking about improving the loss such that the PTA audiogram would look any different, but rather training the brain to understand whatās coming from the bad ear. I just feel that if you have fairly equal bilateral loss like I do, the brain has no option but to use whatās left, but if itās unilateral and maybe a bit distorted, the brain just goes ānah, donāt like that, letās not use itā. Iād love to hear from others on this forum with widely differing ears whether they find the better ear does most of the work or whether they do find that (maybe especially with the right correction from HAs) they do use both ears.
If it were me, I might try wearing an earplug in the good ear for a day or two and listening to a lot of something like speech radio at the very limit of understandability, just to see if it forces the bad ear to do a bit of the work. Maybe this is a ridiculous idea but at least Iām hopefully not suggesting anything that can do any harm.
No idea about Widex domes but others on here will know.
Sheās wearing a widex tulip on a widex hearing aid but itās been set up for an open dome. The audiologist said he thought she was just getting away with the open dome, feedback wise, so he didnāt think he could increase the gain anymore on an open dome. She tried a small closed dome before this but it occluded and popped out of her ear
Thanks as always for the suggestions
Yes same here! Weāre also starting to think that the SSNHL has done more damage than the audiogram is showingā¦ Really not sure where to go from here
I think itās kinda like having a dominant eye for shooting etc. I donāt think I could hit the broad side of a barn shooting using my right eye.
In my case, it is the same thing with my ears. If I am not concentratingā¦I would tell you that my left ear only is hearing, but if Iām paying attention I can tell that sound is coming from both sides. This is very clear in the mornings when my right hearing aid is put on after the left one is already on.
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I have permanent distortion in my left ear.
If you have distortion in an ear, the aid will amplify the distortion.
This can be hard to get use to. Especially when your own voice is distorted in your head. Loud and clear. Usually annoyingly so.
Iāve worn aids for seven years.
I still find it hard to get use to.
Some of my experiences.
If Iām facing someone or looking at TV the distortion is not too noticeable.
If the sound comes in from my left than itās distorted.
I do hear better with my right ear even though my audiogram says they are close.
Beeps do not take distortion into consideration.
Out of eleven audiologist only two figured out something s wrong with the left.
The last one was the only one to use the automated voice for word testing. She also was the only one to use a different volume.
The others scream the words into the mic.
If itās loud enough I usually can make it out in the left ear.
Went to a very noisy funeral. My nephew was talking to me.
He was on my left side.
I turned so I could hear him in my right ear.
I could understand him a lot better.
So after all this I do believe my right ear
does a lot more work then the left.
I keep saying this.
If she has permanent distortion she can adapt.
She has to hang in there and give it time. It wonāt be easy.
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@Veroda, I just came across your post. Hereās some information on my journey with SSNHL. (BTW, Iām in the US).
Back in 2015 I woke up one day with reduced hearing in my Right ear. After about 3 weeks of a doctor treating it as an ear infection, I ended up with an ENT specialist about an hour from me. I had an MRI done prior to seeing the ENT, which showed nothing unusual. He did an Intratympanic steroid injection into my right ear, as well as a 10 day regime of oral steroids. This didnāt help me.
This loss caused a moderate to severe loss in the low frequencies, and moderate in the mid frequencies, with no loss in the high frequencies. Over the course of about two years, It ended up shifting to what I have now, which is mostly severe across all frequencies, with a slight slope down. (see my audiogram)
My initial symptoms were a lot of distortion in sounds from the right ear. For example: any mostly loud noise would sound like pans banging together. Other noises could sound like aluminum foil noises. I could still understand voices and TV etc. And at the time, since it was mainly the lower frequencies affected, I didnāt pursue a hearing aid.
As mentioned above, my hearing in the right ear would progressively change - the lower frequencies started coming back, and twice I lost enough in the mid/higher frequencies that I got emergency appointments with the ENT. He did one more try at the steroids, but then the third time I had a major change, we decided not to do that since it hadnāt helped the two times before.
The Pots and Pans and other distortion went away probably in the first 3 to 4 months. And after that I didnāt have any issues with distortion, even when I had other changes happening.
Initially, my WRS on the right ear was somewhere near 85% at (I think) 65db. Today Iām at 55% at 90db. However, Iāve been mostly stable with both WRS and the loss iteslf for about 3 years now. So Iām hopeful no additional major changes.
My hearing aid history: about two years in as I was losing some of the mid/high range, I started with a single hearing aid on the right ear. That was useful. However after it got worse again, I decided to go for a pair of hearing aids to [try to] help in localizing sounds, as well as [trying to] understand in restaurants better. Iām currently using a Jabra Enhance with M&RIE, but will be moving to the newest Jabra soon.
Iāve found that with my left ear being pretty good overall (I think close to what your wife is experiencing with the difference between her good and bad ear)ā¦ that I do have to āfigure outā how well the hearing aid on the right is working. When trying to determine how well the HA is working, Iāll take my left one out and put an ear plug in. Iāll then usually just use the TV as ācan I understand what people are sayingā. I also can VERY MUCH tell the difference - much more tinny in the voices on the right ear. I do not however notice that when listening with both ears. So my goal here is to get the right HA to a level where I can understand the words. And then wear both hearing aids on the assumption that getting those signals into the right ear is helpful long term.
Sorry for the long append here!! but I hope some of the information will prove useful to you and your wife. Ask any questions if you have them!!
Thanks for all the input as usual guys
@narenkona , thanks for the detail, thatās really helpful and weāre going to take your advice and maybe wear an earplug in the good ear to really try to understand what the HA is doing because she is going from āit does a little bit I thinkā to āitās literally doing nothingā. By removing the good ear as much as possible hopefully weāll get a more accurate depiction of whatās going on
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