Please be quite

[Sailorsong]

Well I picked up my first ever hearing aids today at the VA. Talk about sensory overload! I'm NOT TOO SURE I want to be able to hear right now. Seems like every one is yelling, while walking I can hear my keys rattling, I hear my cane hitting the floor as I walk. I came very close to yelling out while at the VA for every one to shut up.  

The Audiologist said that my brain will learn to ignore these sounds that I can now hear. I sure hope so as I had trouble with sensory overload before the hearing aids. I can't imagine what it will be like now if my brain doesn't adjust. :(

My hearing aid ( just the left one) adjusts the frequency of some things in order to help me understand what people are saying.  So right now I am trying to get use to the strange sound when people say things with things like "S" or "CH". I don't know how to explain what it sounds like though.

On the bright side I can hear cymbals in music again. I love music so that is great! And maybe I can start composing again now that I can hear things better? On the down side I can now hear my own voice clearly and how much off key I am when I sing along with a song. :(

I'm also going to make another post ( if I can stand the clicks of the key on my computer) about the rest of my VA visit today and I'll include my wildlife report in it.

Dennis

[Lulu54]

It takes quite a while for your brain to get used to hearing these sounds - at least that is what my dad and my motherinlaw were told when they got theirs.  Dad takes his in and out of his ears, depending on the environment.  He can't stand to wear them in noisy places like a restaurant.  He slips them out for some peace and quiet.

Good luck with all the adjustments.

hugs, L

[figuerpa]

Dennis,

I hope you are getting use to the hearing aids. It has to be better being ablt to hear some things that you couldn't hear before.

My mom is in the process of getting hearing aides and it is nice to know what she may experience with them.

I hope you can get the adjusting done on them so that it doesn't drive you insane.

Enjoy hearing eveything you couldn't hear before :)

Paula

[Sailorsong]

Good luck with the wildlife!

Oh one of the main reasons I know they have the threshold set too low is that when there isn't any other sounds going on around me I can clearly hear myself breathing. It's not like I'm wheezing, or stuffy nose thing either. Just the rush of the air going in and out. As you can imagine that is really annoying. So for now I am turning down my hearing aids when there isn't anything I want to hear going on just so that I won't hear my breathing.

Dennis

[SarahL2491]

keep us posted and good luck!  hoping to see wildlife on my trip down country next week-end too!

[Sailorsong]

Thanks for the Info. I actually noticed that the first site you mentioned also had smoke detectors for the hearing impaired as well.

Dennis

[SarahL2491]

ok, here's the smoke alarm site for difficult hearing!

www.assistech.com

I'm off to bed, hopefully to get some sleep like normal people!

[SarahL2491]

Dennis
check this website out

www.harriscomm.com

they have alarm clocks for deaf people (not saying you are but any aid is a port in the storm)  I have not checked out the smoke alarm thing yet but will

[rendean]

Dennis,
Good idea about checking in to something. My mom sleeps through smoke detectors too. However, she had them change one earring aid to hear the siren and the other doesn't. Usually she doesn't wear them at night anyway much to my chagrin.

Take care and get used to HEARING  all that wildlife you've been seeing.

Ren

[Sailorsong]

My hearing loss is from prolonged exposure to loud noises while in the Navy and have been hard of hearing for 40+ years. Nothing gradual in the hearing loss here. As such there is no way I would just stop using the hearing aids.

Luckily these new hearing aids are very programmable so I will have the VA reprogram them to not amplify the soft sounds they are now boosting as I feel the threshold is just set too low right now. I also think I will have them reprogram the right hearing aid to do the same  frequency shift that the left one does as I find it very annoying hearing something different in each ear.

The only thing I don't like about them is I wish I could wear them to bed. This is because I don't hear alarm clocks or smoke alarms very well with my hearing loss. As such I can sleep right through them and have many times in the past. I think when I get that appointment at the VA to adjust my hearing aids I'll ask them if they have any thing to help with that also.

Dennis

[twopack]

My guess is Dennis that if you lost your hearing gradually you turned up the volume of the world little by little in places where it was possible.   It makes sense the reverse process would be required now.  I'd actually be surprised if you told us you could tolerate anything OTHER than increasing sound intensity by very gradual increments.

How could you ever pop right back to 'normal' sound levels when you have slowly adjusted to a muted or silenced world?  That would be way too intense(!) especially since sounds are filtered differently with hearing aid amplication than they are with the 'naked' ear.

Maybe you can adjust by using the new gizmos for gradually longer periods of time each day.  Nobody would blame you for turning them down or OFF in noisy environments.  It would be the equivilent of my habit of carrying ear plugs to stuff in my ears when I'm feeling overwhelmed and over stimulated.  Why torture yourself into tossing a good thing in a drawer forever?

Good luck getting used to yet another new normal.
Mary

[RazCarver]

It does take time to get use to hearing aids. LOL they amplify everything! some of the higher end ones can filter out some background noise. mine are old, cheap, nothing fancy, kind. I remember water running in the sink sounded like water falls. restaurants suddenly became clanking dishes and roaring people, ohhh the distractions!!!! you will learn to adjust the volume and enjoy hearing things.

I don't often wear mine any more. partly because the doors are broken and because i enjoy the quieter world. I get overload easlier then i use to. Then again I'm a good guesser as my ENT docter said.  

heres to you enjoying all that you have been missing!
Raz

[SarahL2491]

thanks Dennis, that was interesting and a good explanation!
you are right, we are much more sensitive to sensory overload

good luck with the VA

[Sailorsong]

Sarah it isn't a theory that our brains ignore a lot of normal everyday background sounds ( and also sights). It is this feature of our brains as to why you don't hear things like your refrigerator running unless you actually try to listen for it.

Of course for us MS'ers that feature tends to be broken and is why we have sensory overload in certain situations.  Our brains are trying to treat every sight, sound, touch, and smell as a priority for processing which overloads the brain and we have a melt down so to speak.

This is why I don't think my brain will learn to ignore all of these background sounds at the level it is set right now. Closing a door sounds like I'm slamming it shut, every step I make in my house sounds like I'm walking on autumn leaves, And opening a letter Ouch! adds meaning to the dread of opening bills. :)

Today I have set my hearing aid vol. down by to notches to try and help with the background sound problems. It is helping some, but it also means that I'm not hear things I want to hear as well as I could be. It was so nice to be able to watch TV last night and actually not struggle to try to understand what was being said.

I am going to call the VA on Monday to get an  appointment to have my hearing aids adjusted, They told me they could adjust the threshold for when soft sounds are amplified.

Dennis

[SarahL2491]

wow, thats amazing.  Interesting that the theory is that you will learn to tune out some of the background noise....keep us posted!  We'll try and talk softly on here so we don't irritate ya!  LOL