I don't wear my hearing aids all the time. After a few hours, I hit audio fatigue. My word recognition score is essentially unchanged for the last several years. A surprise from my last audiogram a couple of weeks ago, is that my word recognition switched ears this year. Usually I have a higher score in my left year. This time it was my right ear. I get my ear molds on Friday. Yippee!
Very interesting. I will pass on some information that may help. I have been wearing hearing aids for 15 years. For the first 10 years I was inconsistent in my usage. That was caused by a couple of reasons - vanity, inconvenient, comfort, battery life, etc. Well that all changed with my last pair of hearing aids. My current pair hold a charge for a whole day plus. They are amazingly small and can easily be worn with my glasses. Now the really amazing thing is they are so comfortable that more often than not I have to get out of bed because I forgot to take them out before bed and recharge them. Hope this helps someone in the future deciding whether to purchase a new set or replace a old set.
Who is the manufacturer for your new hearing aids? Currently I have Phonak hearing aids and seem to deal with those same issues that you mentioned you were experiencing with your previous hearing aids.
@@Louie200Seven They are from ReSound. They are their newest model. Honestly do not remember the model. I get them through the VA because of having hearing loss that is service connected due to noise exposure. Hope that helps.
audiologists need to expand there scope on hearing. They mostly focus on hearing speech and i get it because thats how hearing aids are developed. Ive posted this question a few times in various places and never get an answer. We are told that normal hearing can withstand 80-85 DB a long timer before any damage is done. THE QUESTION is when you have damaged hearing with some severe to profound loss in both ears are you still safe at those levels or does that threshold now drop to 60 70 db or stay the same at 80 to 85 db
@@bogdanned6989 keep me posted on anything you find out. In addition to what i mentioned is that when people have hearing loss in low frequenices the brain then makes up a bunch of noise so i cant see how even hearing aids will help just raising high mids when the ear is only hearing high mid with slight distortion. Again they look just a speech frequencies because it turns into a biz. mind you a very helpful one in many cases. but they ignore the mass of frequencies that are lost that also really affects quality of life
I pretty much take off my hearing aids once I get home almost daily. A Costco audiologist told me to try to wear them as much as possible when awake. 👀
I think it simply suggests that the stimulation from the correction keeps your brain’s ability to interpret the sounds into understandable language. Just like an unexercised muscle that atrophies the brain does not exercise and your interpretive functions atrophy.
The difficulty for me is that I have SSHL, hyperacusis, tinnitis, and sound distortion at times, post labyrinthitis, presumably. I’ve tried several hearing aids, but they just make everything louder, especially in noisy environments, exacerbating the condition. Of course, I understand there isn’t a perfect solution, but I would like to find something that will make socializing and communicating less stressful and especially keeping my cognitive function as I gracefully age. I do as much research as I can, but haven’t found much to be helpful in this case. Any advice would be monumental! Thank you for your VLOG. 😊
Makes sense. Would not expect lack of aid use to actually accelerate the rate of loss. However, I believe your brain does need to practice hearing comprehension in order to stay fit, like exercising a muscle, so would make sense that not wearing your aids regularly could impact how successfully you hear. It's similar to what happens when you meet a new person with a distinctive voice or an accent that you're not used to...even though they may be speaking english (in my case) it takes my brain a while to learn how to understand them. The more I hear them talk, the better my recognition rate grows. And the more you wear your aids, the more you brain adjusts to comprehending what you're hearing through them.
I have had hearing aids for six months now. I love these things, they go in before I get out of bed and come out before I turn the light out to go to sleep. On the rare occasion when I take them out, swimming, shooting, it seems like my unaided hearing or word recognition is better then it was prior to having the hearing aids. I know this is the opposite situation of what you are talking about but I was curious if others felt this way or if there was any research in this area.
I would be interested in your audiogram. They can do a word test on each ear and then together. How is the binaural understanding ? The programming of the hearing aids could also possibly introduce distortion.
Not sure I buy the idea that a hearing aid will correct hearing loss. That is what your dissertation is suggesting. As far as I gather, typical hearing loss especially from natural progression (aging) is not reversible and a hearing aid is not a treatment to increase hearing ability. It is an aid that increases the auditory level of specific frequencies due to your hearing loss. The hearing aid is not a medical process to reversing hearing loss.
It is a fact that each 5 years after 50 years of age, hearing decreases by 6 dB on average naturally. So it does not matter whether you wear hearing aids, iPods or headphones, etc or not! The issue of Speech Intelligibility is relevant certainly. Excessive amplification damaging hairs cells is bad for hearing of course. Only Social alertness might be influenced by wearing hearing-aids. But otherwise your premise in this podcast is wrong or at best irrelevant? I think this may be a manufactured apology to create a storyline for your presentation?? What do you think? 😮
My hearing has progressively and consistently gotten worse over the past 30 yrs, so I can presume that it will continue to do so. Will my HA stop/reduce the rate of decline? Time will tell. If it does can my HA be said to be responsible or is my rate of decline simply tapering off naturally? Not scientifically unless I stop wearing them long enough to see the rate of hearing loss resume to its previous level, which I'm not about to do. This means at least several years to get a conclusive observation if I were willing to subject myself to such experiment, which I will not. Does it matter? Not really, I'd still need to wear HA no matter what. Can wearing a HA improve my natural hearing? I doubt, the physical damage is done and as far as we know irreversible. Could I expect a brain effect from an increase sound stimulation? Logically yes.
the big question i cant get an answer for is while YES hearing aids help the issue is still the noise scenarios we live in from car sound to loud cafes etc. This means your remaining hearing is still getting pounded and while normal ears can take that kind of hit the question is can damaged ears still take it without more damage or does a lower threshold of 60 db now harmful to damaged ears. I cant seem to get a response from any audiologist
Ok so there are frequencies that are lost, and a hearing aid helps what frequencies you have left and your brain can use that to fill in the blanks. But brain pliability goes DOWN WITH AGE, that’s why kids can adapt to so many things so fast. So the older you are, it seems you should have less ability to adapt and you should take advantage of your brain before you get older. And tomorrow we are all another day older.
I think your concept is off. I have severe high and low frequency loss, but that doesn't mean those frequencies are totally gone, just very low. Hearing aids increase the volume of all the frequencies that have been lost, if programmed correctly.
I love that you continue to spend a lot of time to increase your body of knowledge on hearing issues, Cliff. AND then you pass on that improvement in knowledge on to us. Thanks, Cliff! 😍💕
I am actually the opposite. I have two pair of Starkey Livio aids and I wear one pair all day and the other pair at night. I am never without a pair in my ears. The reason is that I listen to audiobooks at night and also I just want to be able to hear any sounds in the house at night. Is there a downside to doing this?
I've lost my hearing in the very high frequencies in both ears. It wasn't until several months later that I realized what I was missing. Please note that I'm not "deaf" perse, I can still hear, but one of the major reason I decided to treat my hearing loss is to stave off dementia, if at all possible. I wear my hearing aids consistently for 12 to 14 hours a day
Word recognition loss is, I believe, the most likely effect. Personal experience as early on I removed my hearing aids as soon as I got home. Now they are in every waking hour. Others may not have the same experience.
I would agree that is would really only apply to people that have a more severe hearing loss or below the threshold of speech but if you can hear normal speech then would that still effect the wrs?, i have never had that happen to me and I went my whole life refusing wear my hearing aids but i have a moderate loss but can still hear speech normally at a normal volume
Very much appreciate your candor and professionalism.
Thanks! Now if we can only make hearing aids, and all health care, affordable in America.
Preach it.
It's affordable. Just don't get the latest smart phone
I don't wear my hearing aids all the time. After a few hours, I hit audio fatigue. My word recognition score is essentially unchanged for the last several years. A surprise from my last audiogram a couple of weeks ago, is that my word recognition switched ears this year. Usually I have a higher score in my left year. This time it was my right ear. I get my ear molds on Friday. Yippee!
Very interesting. I will pass on some information that may help. I have been wearing hearing aids for 15 years. For the first 10 years I was inconsistent in my usage. That was caused by a couple of reasons - vanity, inconvenient, comfort, battery life, etc.
Well that all changed with my last pair of hearing aids. My current pair hold a charge for a whole day plus. They are amazingly small and can easily be worn with my glasses. Now the really amazing thing is they are so comfortable that more often than not I have to get out of bed because I forgot to take them out before bed and recharge them.
Hope this helps someone in the future deciding whether to purchase a new set or replace a old set.
Who is the manufacturer for your new hearing aids? Currently I have Phonak hearing aids and seem to deal with those same issues that you mentioned you were experiencing with your previous hearing aids.
@@Louie200Seven They are from ReSound. They are their newest model. Honestly do not remember the model. I get them through the VA because of having hearing loss that is service connected due to noise exposure. Hope that helps.
@@patpolicastro6622 thanks for your speedy reply and thank you for your service.
Thanks for the info. Is there a way to improve word recognition after you have a loss?
You should also check out who is sponsering the study.
I have been wearing my hearing aids for 47 years. My hearing is going down even I wear my hearing aids for 12 to 15 hrs a day.
audiologists need to expand there scope on hearing. They mostly focus on hearing speech and i get it because thats how hearing aids are developed. Ive posted this question a few times in various places and never get an answer. We are told that normal hearing can withstand 80-85 DB a long timer before any damage is done. THE QUESTION is when you have damaged hearing with some severe to profound loss in both ears are you still safe at those levels or does that threshold now drop to 60 70 db or stay the same at 80 to 85 db
I really want to know the answer to this too.
@@bogdanned6989 keep me posted on anything you find out. In addition to what i mentioned is that when people have hearing loss in low frequenices the brain then makes up a bunch of noise so i cant see how even hearing aids will help just raising high mids when the ear is only hearing high mid with slight distortion. Again they look just a speech frequencies because it turns into a biz. mind you a very helpful one in many cases. but they ignore the mass of frequencies that are lost that also really affects quality of life
I pretty much take off my hearing aids once I get home almost daily. A Costco audiologist told me to try to wear them as much as possible when awake. 👀
Weightlifters have a term called 'use it or lose it'. Sorta fits this concept.
I think it simply suggests that the stimulation from the correction keeps your brain’s ability to interpret the sounds into understandable language. Just like an unexercised muscle that atrophies the brain does not exercise and your interpretive functions atrophy.
The difficulty for me is that I have SSHL, hyperacusis, tinnitis, and sound distortion at times, post labyrinthitis, presumably. I’ve tried several hearing aids, but they just make everything louder, especially in noisy environments, exacerbating the condition. Of course, I understand there isn’t a perfect solution, but I would like to find something that will make socializing and communicating less stressful and especially keeping my cognitive function as I gracefully age. I do as much research as I can, but haven’t found much to be helpful in this case. Any advice would be monumental! Thank you for your VLOG. 😊
Makes sense. Would not expect lack of aid use to actually accelerate the rate of loss. However, I believe your brain does need to practice hearing comprehension in order to stay fit, like exercising a muscle, so would make sense that not wearing your aids regularly could impact how successfully you hear. It's similar to what happens when you meet a new person with a distinctive voice or an accent that you're not used to...even though they may be speaking english (in my case) it takes my brain a while to learn how to understand them. The more I hear them talk, the better my recognition rate grows. And the more you wear your aids, the more you brain adjusts to comprehending what you're hearing through them.
Two of my 3 tinnitus sounds have been reduced since I got hearing aids. I am now able to sleep longer with fewer awake periods.
I have had hearing aids for six months now. I love these things, they go in before I get out of bed and come out before I turn the light out to go to sleep. On the rare occasion when I take them out, swimming, shooting, it seems like my unaided hearing or word recognition is better then it was prior to having the hearing aids. I know this is the opposite situation of what you are talking about but I was curious if others felt this way or if there was any research in this area.
I would be interested in your audiogram. They can do a word test on each ear and then together. How is the binaural understanding ? The programming of the hearing aids could also possibly introduce distortion.
Not sure I buy the idea that a hearing aid will correct hearing loss. That is what your dissertation is suggesting.
As far as I gather, typical hearing loss especially from natural progression (aging) is not reversible and a hearing aid is not a treatment to increase hearing ability. It is an aid that increases the auditory level of specific frequencies due to your hearing loss.
The hearing aid is not a medical process to reversing hearing loss.
It is a fact that each 5 years after 50 years of age, hearing decreases by 6 dB on average naturally. So it does not matter whether you wear hearing aids, iPods or headphones, etc or not! The issue of Speech Intelligibility is relevant certainly. Excessive amplification damaging hairs cells is bad for hearing of course.
Only Social alertness might be influenced by wearing hearing-aids.
But otherwise your premise in this podcast is wrong or at best irrelevant?
I think this may be a manufactured apology to create a storyline for your presentation?? What do you think? 😮
I think someone else made the comment that she wore her hearing aides all day and her hearing was in decline. So it's not a "use it or lose it" thing.
My hearing has progressively and consistently gotten worse over the past 30 yrs, so I can presume that it will continue to do so. Will my HA stop/reduce the rate of decline? Time will tell. If it does can my HA be said to be responsible or is my rate of decline simply tapering off naturally? Not scientifically unless I stop wearing them long enough to see the rate of hearing loss resume to its previous level, which I'm not about to do. This means at least several years to get a conclusive observation if I were willing to subject myself to such experiment, which I will not. Does it matter? Not really, I'd still need to wear HA no matter what. Can wearing a HA improve my natural hearing? I doubt, the physical damage is done and as far as we know irreversible. Could I expect a brain effect from an increase sound stimulation? Logically yes.
the big question i cant get an answer for is while YES hearing aids help the issue is still the noise scenarios we live in from car sound to loud cafes etc. This means your remaining hearing is still getting pounded and while normal ears can take that kind of hit the question is can damaged ears still take it without more damage or does a lower threshold of 60 db now harmful to damaged ears. I cant seem to get a response from any audiologist
What do you think of the Audien Atom Pro 2 heading aids?
Ok so there are frequencies that are lost, and a hearing aid helps what frequencies you have left and your brain can use that to fill in the blanks. But brain pliability goes DOWN WITH AGE, that’s why kids can adapt to so many things so fast. So the older you are, it seems you should have less ability to adapt and you should take advantage of your brain before you get older. And tomorrow we are all another day older.
I think your concept is off. I have severe high and low frequency loss, but that doesn't mean those frequencies are totally gone, just very low. Hearing aids increase the volume of all the frequencies that have been lost, if programmed correctly.
I love that you continue to spend a lot of time to increase your body of knowledge on hearing issues, Cliff. AND then you pass on that improvement in knowledge on to us. Thanks, Cliff! 😍💕
I am actually the opposite. I have two pair of Starkey Livio aids and I wear one pair all day and the other pair at night. I am never without a pair in my ears. The reason is that I listen to audiobooks at night and also I just want to be able to hear any sounds in the house at night. Is there a downside to doing this?
More an impact on memory.
You are wonderful.
I've lost my hearing in the very high frequencies in both ears. It wasn't until several months later that I realized what I was missing. Please note that I'm not "deaf" perse, I can still hear, but one of the major reason I decided to treat my hearing loss is to stave off dementia, if at all possible. I wear my hearing aids consistently for 12 to 14 hours a day
Love the video. Thanks for being humble.
Word recognition loss is, I believe, the most likely effect. Personal experience as early on I removed my hearing aids as soon as I got home. Now they are in every waking hour. Others may not have the same experience.
I would agree that is would really only apply to people that have a more severe hearing loss or below the threshold of speech but if you can hear normal speech then would that still effect the wrs?, i have never had that happen to me and I went my whole life refusing wear my hearing aids but i have a moderate loss but can still hear speech normally at a normal volume