Hearing aids

50 years as a Race Official with noise levels often over 120db and I'm pretty darn deaf but am yet to get hold of some Aids... probably because I really need to determine whether I action the likes of the FIA and FIM for failing to maintain a 'safe' work environment.

Should be a shoe-in as I was required to wear their comms equipment all that time and it was obviously not up to the task of ear protection.

I too am wearing hearing aids...but as you know Barb, I'm in Israel and the brands and financing are rather different from the States.

I think this might help. I'd recommend  seeing an ENT via your Primary Care MD, getting examined and having an audiogram done and then going from there. ENTs can give a good deal of guidance.

Edit: After seeing pelaird's reply, it occurred to me to advise you not to buy a cheap, "you can't see them" pair because they might not have the amplifying power and the programmability as well as the bells and whistles you might need.

Not wearing hearing aids yet, but most of my friends who do have the ones that go behind the ear with a tiny tube that goes in the ear. They also connect to your phone wirelessly for phone calls.

I would follow Doc's advice to see your ENT first. There a lot of companies out there that pray on the elderly, which unfortunately we all are.  

Thank you gentlemen for your thoughts. 

Paul,  Try some out, borrow a friends hearing aids! 

Seth, yes I know where you are.  And thank you for the link!   I will see the ENT. 

Pelaird, thank you, and I hope you never have to wear any! Not everyone loses their hearing. 

I was given a set from a friend...a fellow race official who got new ones via work compensation...just haven't got around to trying them out yet...;)

Paul, I'd give the ear canal part a wipedown with an alcohol swab (don't submerge them in alcohol or water, though unless they're made to be). They're generally programmed individually per audiogram, so you'd probably need to have a technician administer a test. Your needs might not really match up with your friend's. The aids themselves can be used to do that. Also, the silicon tips come in various sizes. They need to be matched to you as well. The last thing you'd want is a pressure ulcer in your ear canal. 

Low-cost, over-the-counter “hearing aids” are generally nothing more than sound amplifiers. A true hearing aid will be adjusted to amplify certain frequencies—just the ones you are having difficulty with.   As we age, we generally lose the ability to hear higher-frequency sounds.

You can go to an audiologist and have your hearing tested. If you’re a Costco member, they will test for free, and their hearing aids are generally priced at about $1,600. In my case, that was much less than the $4,000 hearing aid at the audiologist, even after insurance.  If you're not a Costco member, it's worth getting an annual membership to receive much better pricing on hearing aids.

They won’t bring back the hearing you had at age 20, but they are a big improvement over no hearing aids at all, if you need them.

Bought hearing aids about 2 years ago.  Don't use them - they just amplify all the things I didn't need or want to hear, everything except the voices I did want to hear more clearly, even though they were "tuned" to my audiogram.  Only positive was they functioned nicely as ear pods for my iPhone.

YMMV

Hearing aids amplify sound, but they cannot fully restore damaged sound-processing in the inner ear or auditory nerve. Many people with sensorineural hearing loss especially lose clarity/consonants (“s”, “t”, “f”, “sh”), not just volume. That's part of my problem. Background noise often gets amplified along with speech. Restaurants, TV, crowds, dishes clattering, air conditioning, and road noise can overwhelm the brain’s speech filtering. Also, you might have more luck understanding male speech over female because of frequency. 

The ones I have from Phonak are really good with S/N because they have AI filtration as well as focusing more in the direction I'm looking. They suppress road noise, too. I asked my audio tech not to improve the male vs. female speech thing but she didn't seem amused. Go figure.  

I think I overemphasized the audiogram in this discussion. Mea culpa. There are many brands, and some might be better suited to your needs than others. Many companies allow a trial period, and one probably should shop around...not just for pricing but for specialized features, as well.

I asked my AI to put together a list of features by brand. If anyone's interested, just let me know and I'll forward it to you.

Your pm thing is malfunctioning again. Will send it to you in messenger.

I did and couldn't answer. Apparently your prior preference is still active.

I have no idea what that means.

It's probably a glitch in the new site carrying over ancient hieroglyphic code. It'll get fixed.

The trial period is another reason why I recommend checking with Costco. Their trial period is six months.