Home » Helpfulness

Field report for young people


Experience report of a hearing aid beginner

Motivation for this review

Based on my own experience as a fresh or inexperienced hearing aid wearer, I would like to help all those who are bothered by the idea of ​​getting a hearing aid or not, the inhibition threshold against the "unknown" dismantle. Possibly. This report also saves you around € 4000.- in the household budget. The press, and in particular some television broadcasts, have already produced some critical reports about the prices of acousticians, which certainly unsettled many people and set the threshold for going to the audiologist even higher. Predicted, despite my sometimes critical attitude towards the acoustics, I regret not having dared the step to the hearing aid.

Already in my younger years I noticed a strong impairment of my hearing of the left ear. Since I was a professional young engineer usually traveling abroad, I did not care about it, especially since I did not feel disadvantaged. Actually quite the contrary: I often had to stay in hotels in Africa, which regularly held Ramba Zamba until after midnight, then I lay down on the side of my healthy right ear, and it was already quiet. When I finished my job as a bush engineer after 12 years in 1986 to start a family, I had my left ear examined, which had become quite numb. Diagnosis: Adhesion of the stirrup, which had to be corrected by surgery. Said, done, but the result of the operation was rather modest: I could then hear something left again, but with a miserable frequency response, i. from 3 kHz was absolutely final. Well, do not worry, I thought, I can hear quite well on the right.

Only at the age of about 60 did the hearing of the right ear slowly deteriorate. I did not take it any further, as it is certainly the "normal" Age deafness is. In normal life or conversations, I noticed no significant restrictions, only in group or conference calls (New German Meetings) I did not get much. Since I was mostly occupied with work in the laboratory (software development) and development of communication concepts (on the computer), I did not take the increasing impairment seriously.

Only after my retirement in 2010, when I was 65 years old, did I make the decision to seriously approach my hearing problem. As a vigorous pensioner, I have some honorary offices traded (in the board of church, amateur radio club, senior work). At the meetings, I realized that a lot of things passed me by. Thankfully, there was usually a log, where I then missed the missed topics. So I went to the ear specialist, who then urgently advised to wear hearing aids.

Auricular prescription of a hearing aid, measurement protocol

In the two diagrams above it can be seen that I still hear quite well with my right ear up to 4 kHz, but then it sags. To create the diagrams, headphones are used to produce individual sounds with increasing volume, and then I had to indicate by hand each time I could hear the sound. On the left ear it goes already from 1 kHz into the cellar. Speech intelligibility is measured with loudspeakers at a target level of 65 dB, each speaking a series of monosyllabic words. At this level, my speech intelligibility was 32% on the right and only 10% on the left compared to a good ear. That was pretty hard then.

In my circle of acquaintances, I interviewed two hearing aid wearers according to their experience. They were not that enthusiastic, but said they already heard hearing aids a bit better, but not as good as they had hoped. Then came the not very flattering reports of the television magazines about the pricing of the acousticians. In addition, the hearing aids contributed to my two friends not just to the youthful and sporty image, they were still significantly visible. Thus I pushed the way to the acoustician first before me.

In January 2011, I had to introduce myself to my new family doctor because my former had to give up for financial reasons. The new doctor finally dismantled my high mistrust of the hearing aids, with the following arguments: With deafness one got one or the other not with, but that’s not the bad thing. Worse is that by doing so, you slowly begin to isolate yourself from the environment. You tell yourself that what you heard was probably not that important, what the hell. You lose the courage to ask again and again. Finally, one says to oneself, why should I go there at all or participate, I’ll get half the time before. In other words, the psychological factor is far worse than the physical impairment. I had never looked at it from this point of view, but it did shine. It reminded me somehow of the time when I was in my mid-forties, and only after a long hesitation did I gain glasses. The new glasses not only helped me to read better, but also freed me from reluctance to read and increased my overall well-being. So on to the hearing aid acoustician!

Selection of the hearing aid acoustician

Forewarned by the television coverage, I first wanted to make smart on the Internet. Here you get an approximate asking price, but without knowing which hearing aid is really right for you. Both "good", i.e. high-priced devices could find out there already a price difference of up to € 400.-, however, without indication of the obligatory additional services. I found only two acoustics companies on the net who made specific price information. However, the two were over 100 km away, so they did not question. So I just went to the nearest store, which belongs to a larger chain of acousticians. Proximity plays a role insofar as you often have to use the service until the device is actually set optimally.

Here I was very competently advised and examined again. At the second session, I already had a passable device (Siemens Pure 501) with specially made for my ears fittings, so-called otoplastics. After the third session, the acoustician had actually set everything optimally, after I had made my wishes. It was not perfect, I had to get used to the somewhat tinny sound, but with the "meetings" I noticed a significant improvement.

After that, a preliminary invoice was prepared, which was given to me after the 4th session. Here I was amazed, although I had feared something like this: It was full € 5600.-, where over € 4,000.- own contribution for me were there.

Cost estimate for the hearing care professional 1

The optional letter of protection may be deducted here, as certain services are included in the service packages. I discussed the whole thing with my wife again and reviewed my current financial situation. I started major renovations a few weeks ago, for which my cash was already spent. So what to do? So again an Internet research, and found another chain, which is actually more known for eyewear, but recently also offers hearing aids. Well, I thought, ask nothing, and called. I asked for the price for the o.a. Siemens Pure 501, and learned that the whole thing would cost him a good € 1000.- less. This acoustician 2 asked if it would necessarily be this Pure 501, since there would be equivalent devices, and where I possibly only a total of 1200 – would have to pay. That’s an offer, I thought, and made an appointment right away. The big disadvantage here, however, was that this acoustician 2 was not within walking distance, but was scarcely 50 km away. I counted back and forth, fuel costs for each session, time frame and so on. Time was not really an argument for me as a pensioner, and for the almost € 3,000 reduction in costs, I would even be able to drive to South Africa. I went to the Akustiker 1 the next day, and gave him the equipment not yet purchased. Admittedly, I had a bit of a guilty conscience that he had really tried to help me, but with the price difference I had no other choice. He then offered me a cheaper device, but then I did not want anymore, because I felt a bit fooled. Ultimately, the decision for the 50 km away Acoustic 2 caused hardly any fuel costs. On the contrary, it was conducive to my health, as between my place of residence and Acoustician 2 is the most beautiful bicycle route in the region. From the 2×50 km drive (1 hour each) 2x 38 km bicycle tour (good 2 hours each), which I enjoyed very much. As I said, I am a pensioner and have endless time. At the destination of Bad Neuenahr, I stop for lunch and stop at Ahr and Rhein several times to watch the herons or the ships. Acoustician 2 was a welcome occasion to overcome my inner bastard and tackle a longer but beautiful bike ride every time. So far, the weather has always been good to me.

How did the hearing aid acoustician 2 continue??

The new acoustician immediately told me that I would have the choice of virtually all hearing aids that exist on the market. Due to the previous telephone appointment, he would have already prepared a device that is in the comparable quality level of the above Siemens Pure 501. The new GN Resound Alera would cost me a total of 1200.- with my own contribution. The acoustician did the measurements with me again as before with the audiologist and the acoustician 1, and thus had the corresponding traces stored in his computer. Again, I had the impression of high competence and courteous service.

Once the auditory curves have been recorded, it is easy for the computer to adapt almost any hearing aid to my individual hearing ability. With the GN Resound Alera, this even worked wirelessly, ie via a kind of wireless LAN or Bluetooth. It was very impressive what you can put into technology today in such a small case, which disappears almost invisibly behind the ear. In the attached description of the device, I could also read that you could hereby connect the radio or the phone or the TV directly. After adjusting the two devices, the inevitable feedback effect was reduced. This worked perfectly, as well as the acoustician 1. The session, as well as the following, each took about 1 hour. I was able to start the two hearing aids the same, and we agreed on a follow-up appointment next week. The device has not yet been equipped with the earmolds, just missing a bracket.

On the bike ride to my next appointment, halfway down I noticed that I had lost my right hearing aid. Of course that was extremely embarrassing, how do I explain that to the acoustician? Do I have to shell out the € 600.- myself? On arrival, I immediately confessed to my misfortune, and to my relief I was told we’d sort it out, and conjured a replacement device out of the drawer. Well, in the following test some corrections were made by computer, and then a new hearing test with speech intelligibility was done. The result, after all, that the clarity of 30% increased to a nice 85% drastically. This was in fact similar to the € 5,000 Acoustic 1 devices. Also, the devices were given an almost invisible mount so I could not easily lose it.

I was warned that if the € 1200 were too much for me, you would have less expensive equipment available. Well, I thought, in principle I could afford the 1200.-, but as a technically interested one can even try a cheaper device. I was then asked what price I would have. I said then as a house number, yes so the € 500.- for both. The acoustician looked at a huge list and suggested that I could then try a device of this price category at the next session. Then I started my bicycle back on the way back. I took exactly the same route as when I was driving, since I had an idea where I could have lost the device on the way there. Surely it had meanwhile trampled or blown by the wind in the Rhine. But on the Königswinterer ferry, I just asked the cashier to see if maybe such a mini-part was randomly delivered. Wait a minute, he said, I have to look in our treasure chest. And behold, someone had found it there. I remembered that I had taken off my sweaters on the ferry on the way there, and had to drop off my glasses. And the thing got lost too.

At the 3rd session I was then the € 500-Dinger (2x Bernafon Inizia) missed and programmed. The improved hearing also, but somehow I had the impression that they were worse than the GN Resound Alera devices. I then wore these again for a week, and then appeared for the 4th session. The acoustician said he was obliged to offer me a free device as well, so only € 10.- additional charge per device. Well, you can try it, and already I have the cheap things, GN Resound Ziga 61 missed. They were also quickly adjusted with the computer to my auditory curves, it went on with a week trial period. I was not so satisfied, and my wife complained that she had to repeat herself more often. The reason was probably too low a setting of the volume. I found that out by listening to the TV sometimes, sometimes without hearing aids. I could hardly detect a volume difference, although the speech intelligibility with the devices was definitely better.

On to the 5th session a week later. Here I asked the acoustician to increase the volume on program 1 significantly, leaving program 2 as it is (note: all tested devices can be loaded with several programs, eg adaptation to loud / quiet environment, which can then be toggled by button pressure ). I also asked for an earmold, because the existing insert (so-called tulip) made me itch in the ear canal, and I also promised me a better fit of the earmold and thus minimizes the risk of losing the loser. He took a mold from my ear canal with a molding compound, which was then probably sent to another specialist company, who then had to make the earmould.

On the 6th and provisionally last session I got the finished earmolds, then hereby again a setting of the feedback minimization. The subsequent hearing test then showed a significant improvement in speech intelligibility, ie 85% as with the expensive devices.

Measurement protocol of acoustician 2

What more do you want? It was enough for me, I was basically just a better speech intelligibility in the groups / meetings, and any additional bells and whistles with induction loop, telephone connection and radio transmission, I need not for now. Then we agreed to buy the device, the acoustician made a detailed bill, and I flipped the slack € 20.- for both devices as an additional payment. I still could not get it right, from the original proud € 4000.- to just € 20.- "shut tested". The acoustician 2 then gave me a big one at the end "Service packages", which not only contained batteries for 1 year, but also a dry box for the night storage and various cleaning products. Here one must say approvingly that this package as well as the Otoplastiken would have been additionally charged with Acoustician 1.

Invoice from acoustician 2

As a last action I had to confirm the usability of the devices once again by the ear specialist, so that the health insurance paid the acoustician also. A medical assistant carried out the tests, with the result that I suddenly had the same speech intelligibility with and without hearing aids. The reason for this was probably that the MTA had turned up the speakers full of pulses instead of having set the target level of 65 dB. As Dipl.-Ing. I pointed out the good girl to the communications engineer and experienced radio amateur, but she could not find the doctor to get the equipment set up properly. I finally convinced her that she could give me the release paper anyway, since I am indeed satisfied with the hearing aids.

The new hearing aids in practice

Like the o.a. Clearly confirming the results of the measurements, the theoretical intelligibility of the hearing aids was considerably improved. But how did the hearing aids work in practice? How can I measure the improvement at home? Can I really understand everything better now??

A simple test can be done with the TV. With the hearing aids, I adjusted the volume of the television so far that I could just understand the language perfectly. Then I took out the hearing aids and compared the intelligibility. In fact, then I could only understand fractions. However, this is not a real k.o. criterion, you could turn up the volume of the remoter again. So for the TV I would not need the hearing aids, although my family is now pleased that the volume is now back from "deaf" on "normal" can be turned down.

The real thing "KO criteria" was actually the better speech intelligibility in the meetings of my various honorary offices and club meetings. In the beginning, I had some doubts as to whether the situation had improved significantly, because in some situations I still could not understand some of the quiet speakers. But how do I find that out? Then I did the same test as with the TV, I took out the hearing aids for a few minutes during the sessions and compared the intelligibility. And here, in fact, I noticed a striking improvement in intelligibility. Without hearing aids, I could only understand the few noisy speakers or my neighbors, the rest went under. So I am actually very satisfied with my cheap devices. I realize that I have not achieved perfect hearing, but a significant improvement.

With the better hearing also improved my general health. I was happy to see that I can now correctly perceive the birdsong. Previously, I suspected that there are actually too few birds in my large garden, probably because my half-wild cat is poaching vigorously. I just did not hear the bird sounds. Now I can sit for hours on the terrace, just to hear the cheerful birdsong. In fact, I am somehow more now "there", I take my environment was more positive. In fact, I had to agree with my new family doctor when he pointed out to me the improved overall wellbeing of hearing aids.

Initially, the sound with the hearing aids seemed a bit tinny or unnatural. But this is probably only a subjective feeling, because now the higher tones are audible, and thus a completely different, yet unusual sound prevails. The ear needs a few weeks of training here, until it has grown accustomed to the new sound. The acoustician here rightly advises to always wear the hearing aid because of the learning effect, except during the night‘s sleep.

The comfort of the two devices is good. They are virtually unnoticeable and are not annoying. The smaller tulip inserts that I had tested previously produced a slight itching, while this does not occur at all in the earmolds. Here it must be said restrictively that the earmolds were better for acoustician 1. The earmolds of Acoustician 2 slip out partially, with the hearing aid still holds only by the hose on the ear. Once when berry picking I even lost the right device, probably because I brushed a branch with the right ear. I did not notice it immediately, but I was able to find the device again after some time, since I moved only a few square meters meanwhile. But the thing I had to pay with a considerable fright and 15 min searches with tussle tearing out. In the meantime, I have also found out that putting the goggles between the hearing aid and the ear, that is, the outside, makes it less critical to slip out. When normal "Eyeglass fitting" The brackets are usually clamped between the head and the hearing aid so that the latter are on the outside. But at the follow-up after 6 weeks, the proleme was also resolved: the earmold was brushed with a presumably rougher special varnish, and since then the thing sits neatly.

Addendum 1 year later after the first session:
It’s been 1 year since the first fitting this week, and this week I’ve been to Acoustic 2’s due inspection. Here was a new hearing test (without equipment) performed with the result that my natural hearing has improved slightly. Actually, I had expected the opposite, because after all, one year has become older. Acoustician 2 explained this to me and said that by wearing the hearing aids certain stimuli arise in the ear, which partially regenerate the hair cells in the inner ear (see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr). Since the hearing test found that the auditory curve was only very slightly different than a year ago, the device was not reset.
A few months ago, I lost my right hearing aid but was able to find it on a sidewalk the next day. At least 1 time was stepped on the device, and the earmold was doing a lot of splinters "decomposed", while the hearing aid itself and the inner electronics survived the tramp without damage. At my next meeting with the Acoustician B, I had the choice to have a new earmould made for me (presumably for free or reimbursed by the health insurance company), but I opted for the simple tulip inserts on both ears. It worked quite well, but the feedback effect increased significantly, at least when I was wearing my warm winter jacket with high collars, or in certain positions in the TV armchair. At this 1st annual inspection, I share this with the Acoustician 2, and he recommended a brand new double tulip, which comes in 2 different sizes. And lo and behold, the double tulip brought 3 significant improvements: 1. The feedback effect was totally gone, is even more effective than the more expensive earmolds, 2. the hearing aids are now sitting very well and do not wander outward by themselves, 3. the volume has become perceived as stronger, so I get along with the 2nd program or channel, which attenuates the volume by 6 dB. However, I had to take the larger tulip for the great improvement, since the smaller double tulip, the feedback effect was also noticeable. Compared to the small tulip, the big one probably sat better, i. she closed the ear canal more tightly.
At the end of this successful session, Acoustician 2 handed me a large pack of batteries, as well as cleaning wipes and 4 spare tubes, all for free. I like the service! What I did not like was the weather that day. Until now I could always ride my bike and enjoy the beautiful Rhine and Ahr Valley, but due to the April weather since the beginning of the year, I reluctantly had to take the car.
The new double tulip, as well as the previous single tulip, initially caused a slight itching, but after a few hours of wearing it became less and less. Maybe the new tulips or the plastic produce any fumes, which then lose.
Additional Supplement 18 months after the first session: The double tulip was not so good for the left hearing aid, which must have a fairly high degree of gain, but there were feedback effects. The Acoustic 2 missed me there again an earmold, this time sitting outstanding. He took my complaints for the first earmoulds seriously, which m.E. were too big and therefore always slipped out.

Pricing for the hearing aids

The TV magazines claimed that the actual manufacturer price of hearing aids should be between € 35 and € 75. That sounds plausible, since it has incurred considerable development costs, but the devices can then be mass-produced cheaply. For what price the devices are sold to the hearing aid acousticians, I do not know. Why are the devices then sold by hearing care professionals between € 400 and € 3000.-? The reason is certainly the unmissable multiple sessions that are necessary to optimally adapt the devices to the respective customer. In my case it was or will be 6 sessions with the acoustician having to spend about 1 hour each. If one calculates with a master class with € 70.- including measuring expenses and shop rent, that would be already € 420.- alone. With my 6 sessions, the good man probably did not get his money’s worth, at least he did not make a huge profit. He still gets a service fee from the health insurance for both devices, and with it could be in my case, if necessary, just cost-covering. Inwardly, I had a touch of guilty conscience, and perhaps would have voluntarily paid him € 200 for his efforts, since I was very satisfied..

The high prices at the "High-end"-Devices are certainly not at the barely higher manufacturer prices. I can only explain to me that these devices offer more bells and whistles, the service cost is correspondingly higher. In my case, I can do without it, and am satisfied with my device no frills.

I assume that the basic properties of all device classes can not be so different. They all work according to the principle of dividing the auditory frequency spectrum into individual channels, whereby, depending on the degree of hearing impairment, the level of certain frequency range is more or less raised. Certainly there are still possibilities for a better sense of direction, feedback suppression, number of different programming and frequency channels, speaker quality (total harmonic distortion) and suppression of noise. But do you really need that? At the moment I do not need it, but in 6 years I can miss a new device. And since I will have learned a lot about hearing aids until then, I can already imagine putting 1000.- to 2000.- Euro own contribution to have a bit more comfort.
It must be mentioned, however, that the budget for my earcups could be adjusted well, but probably not fit for everyone. Many other customers may have more complex hearing damage, which can then only be compensated by higher quality devices.
Supplement 12/2012: The "German future price 2012" went to some hearing aid developers. Their hearing aids communicate with each other via radio and adapt "on-line" running together. This can be a better directivity and a more natural surround sound can be effected. That was very interesting to me as an electronics engineer, and I do not want to exclude the possibility of digging deeper into the bag in a few years and trying it out. Further information: http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/DE/Joachim-Gauck/2012/11/121128-Deutscher-Zukunftspreis.html

My recommendation for future hearing aid users, approach

  1. Examination at the ear specialist
  2. with the certificate issued by the doctor "Ear doctor prescription of a hearing aid" go to an acoustician near you
  3. Tell the acoustician immediately that you want to test a cash register device first, if possible with the naming of a specific manufacturer
    (he probably does not have the device in stock, but he can get it within a few days)
  4. if the acoustician does not want that or claims that he does not run cash register equipment, then change the acoustician
  5. then carry out the hearing test with the acoustician (session 1, which saves time for both sides)
  6. one week trial, at the next session (session 2) to submit the requests for improvement, with the request for correction. Here you can not cheat on any expensive variant
  7. one week trial, doing a lot of testing at home and at meetings (like above)
  8. The Acoustician will probably suggest a higher-priced alternative at Session 3, which you should then accept as a sample.
  9. a week trial with the more expensive device, here also the o.a. Perform tests in practice
  10. then decide if the more expensive device is really much better than the POS device, and at session 4 make the purchase clear to the acoustician
  11. At the ear specialist the suitability of the equipment can be confirmed, so that the acoustician also gets his money
  • Anyone who suspects a hearing impairment should go straight to the ear specialist, who will then probably recommend the purchase of a hearing aid
  • Hearing aids not only improve hearing and speech comprehension, but also general well-being. One takes things that were previously unaware, e.g. birdsong.
  • the hearing aids may have manufacturer costs between only € 35.- and € 75.-, nevertheless they are brought by the acoustician from 400.- to 3000.- to the man. The different price ranges probably differ not so much in the basic functions, but more to additional comfort features that are not necessarily needed by many customers. The difference between manufacturer and acoustician prices can be explained by the fact that the acoustician has to pay considerable service costs, which are included in the device prices. For cash register devices, the profit margin for the acoustician due to the service cost is relatively low.
  • the acoustician should be asked to offer a cash register device first. Can not or does not want to change this, then the acoustician.
  • Of course, an acoustician in your area is of advantage, as they often have to go to the service for at least the first few weeks. Maybe you have a choice between your place of residence or your job.
  • Test the rehearsal hearing aids intensively at home, at work and during meetings, e.g. remove the devices for a few minutes, then replace them for comparison
  • Do not expect any miracles from the new hearing aid, you will always have to live with limitations. If you buy a new pair of glasses, you may then see better than a normal-sighted. You will never be able to achieve this improvement with a new hearing aid, since the hearing mechanism is far more complex than the mere correction of a lens. Hearing aids that adjust to the individual hearing senses automatically in every different sound situation can not exist (despite appropriate advertising!), A healthy ear in interaction with the brain is simply unsurpassed. Nevertheless, I am satisfied because my situation has improved significantly, especially in group discussions.

I hope to have given some useful tips to some potential hearing aid users with this review.

Supplement 19.3.2016
I still have my original cash register hearing aid Zyga 61 GN for almost 5 years. For less than a year, my new acoustician has been getting new software, and I’m very happy with that. Since I have moved to Siegburg with a new branch, the acoustician has also changed.
I explained beforehand to my acoustician that sometimes my hearing was not satisfied. I experimented once and pushed something forward with my ear cup, and then I heard a lot better. Just as 100 years ago, where the grandfather had always pressed with the ear cups with his hands. My acoustician understood me, and then I copied my auricle so to speak electronically. And lo and behold: my hearing was almost crystal clear! As I said, always with the old device, but with new software.

At Hall, I still have problems, just as many people speak at the same time. If you dampen the device with 6 dB with the setting (2nd program), the environmental noise is better, but you hear wiser. As I said, I drove well with my voice optimization, so less music optimization.

Meanwhile I hear the twittering of the birds. 5 years ago, without a hearing aid, I could not hear any birds at all. Unfortunately, I only hear the birds right back, no matter which direction. If I turn my head to the right, then still only the voices are heard in the right rear. This is a pity. For other voices with speakers, street noise, family, etc. that works quite well. The direction with bird chirping is completely wrong. Probable cause is that my Freqzenzgang the left ear from 1000 Hz at -65 dB and down sags, there is hop and malt lost. I hope for next year, then there is a new device after 6 years with a new hearing aid generation. Let’s see.

Supplement on 27.12.13:
I get for the o.a. Report a lot of letters, mostly a kind of letter of thanks, as the readers found my explanations quite helpful. But I have to emphasize once again that this report was written only from my personal point of view as a layman, and my tips may not be right for everyone.

Supplement 19.07.2017, now with new hearing aids after 6 years

For 6 years I have that "old" Hearing aid Ziga 61, now I have a brand new GN ReSound
Enya EY377-DW in the branch Siegburg at the acoustician 2a. The old device was always functional, of course I had to change the tube.

For more than 1 year I was not so happy. Already a few years ago the earmould pressed me. From mid-2016, I got a bad ear infection, then immediately a pharyngitis. When the earache had subsided, the acoustician had ground down the earmold, and now it was ok, so no more inflammation.
Unfortunately, then my ears or the characteristics were over, my ears "squint". I would have had to make a new appointment before, the acoustician would have recalibrated the earmoulds. Anyway, my 6 years are over, the acoustician has finally moved everything, now they are "new ears" there. Immediately it worked much better immediately. After 6 years there are new technologies, because now you are dreaming, now even with the cash patients.

What’s new:
– the two new hearing aid GN ReSound Enya EY377-DW
– the otoplasts are slightly thicker, i. straighter with the ears, so completely closed
– the hoses are a bit thicker, so also bigger volume
– the volume can turn 0.15
– various programs are selectable (currently inactive)
– My family can hear me normally, even in a low voice
– the TV has a normal strength

I copy the cost proposal of the acoustician 2a:

Three years ago, the Techniker-Krankenkasse had approved the double additional payment. Now the box office has paid a mere € 1534, my share I had to shell out only € 20.-. I can not complain!

The new measurements:

Now comes the new measurements from 28.6.17. You can see here as a comparison of the old data in mid-2011 (on the first page above). After 6 years, of course, something is deteriorating. These values ​​are of course without hearing aids. I will soon examine the values ​​by the ENT specialist.

As of 29.06.2017, for the first time with the new hearing aid.
My 2nd appointment will be 12.7.17, let’s see. I hope that the earmolds have no problems with my ears. (Infection risk).

Supplement 7.2.2018, Otoplastics problems

At the beginning I was satisfied with my new hearing aids. It was clear to me that my hearing loss and my new hearing aids were a compromise. I could hear well with my family at the table, even with the television, it worked quite well.
For scarce additional € 100-. I got a remote control, the two ears could be adjusted separately. The volume can be adjusted with 15 levels, the level 7 (middle) is my right ear, with level 5 for my left ear. The intelligibility is much better then. The acoustician of course had previously set the two levels, right to 50% (medium), left to 10% (almost deaf).
My otoplastics were now completely hermetically closed. In principle, that was desirable.

But now my ears or earmolds slowly started to annoy me after 2 weeks.
Here are my experiences:

    • the earmolds were too big. I needed the earmoulds ("plug") literally squeeze into the ears. But it went with the oily ear drops.
    • after 2 more weeks, I realized that my ears were slightly inflamed now because of the hard plugs. I knew that, so I let out the earmolds. Only on special occasions, e.g. I carried the hearing aids to the doctor, to the Sunday service or to the restaurant.
    • The ear infection had subsided to some extent, now another problem:
    • Now I had an itch with my ears. With the earmoulds I had a strong moisture. With the moisture I got a mushroom.
    • The dermatologist wrote me an ointment (Nizoral). Only after 3 weeks did the itching become better. So that the fungus is really killed, I applied another tube of Nizoral for another 3 weeks.
    • For the time being, I will only wear my hearing aids at lunchtime for dinner and for television from 8 pm onwards and on special occasions. I suppose then I will not have problems with ear infection and / or fungal infection. Possibly. I will try after 3 months, always start the hearing aids during the day. Just take a look!
    • M. E. was these earmolds a misconstruction: very hard (ear infection), a lot of sweat (fungal danger)

    5 weeks ago I got other earmolds called Egger Otoplastik Thermotec. I felt better with this guy right now, so how smooth. Now I do not need that forcibly anymore "plug" Press, it was pleasant. With scarce € 100.- in addition I was there. Also, the moisture is better now, the fungus has subsided.

    Speaking of hearing and stroke:
    Maybe it has nothing to do here, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I had a stroke in January 2014. A few nerve cells were over. Sometimes I have the impression that my sound waves in the ear and brain are delayed for a few milliseconds. If someone speaks very fast, then I have problems. Also with Echo / Hall my hearing works badly. Likewise, when you talk to several people at the same time, that does not work at all. With the TV and in families, it’s fine, because I’m actually happy. Nobody is perfect.

    Here again my final invoice. I hope that’s it.

    Related Posts

    Like this post? Please share to your friends:
    Christina Cherry
    Leave a Reply

    ;-) :| :x :twisted: :smile: :shock: :sad: :roll: :razz: :oops: :o :mrgreen: :lol: :idea: :grin: :evil: :cry: :cool: :arrow: :???: :?: :!: