5 ms·

You're certainly not alone in resisting hearing aids. My dad just got some from Costco (most affordable) and really likes them. He probably waited 5-10 years

You're certainly not alone in resisting hearing aids. My dad just got some from Costco (most affordable) and really likes them. He probably waited 5-10 years too long. My father-in-law however doesn't like hearing aids because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Granted he's never been fitted to actual hearing aids. I understand his concern, but he's told me multiple times his hearing loss leaves him isolated during conversation. He told me one night that he has a lot to say, but can't hear so he spends a lot of time just smiling. It makes me sad that his pride (and stubbornness?) is causing him this stress.

vel0city 2y ago
> he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. I mean that's kind of the whole point of having them adjusted with an audiologist. They're tuned to your specific needs. It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing.
- Arrath 2y ago
  > It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing. This is what I'm still trying to convince my dad of, after he found the pair he was fitted with ~20 years ago absolutely useless. He found that they simply made everything louder which did nothing to help him pick out what he wanted to hear. But he's always been picky about his soundscapes, wanting the TV muted during ad breaks etc etc.
  - xur17 2y ago
    > But he's always been picky about his soundscapes, wanting the TV muted during ad breaks etc etc. I'm with him on this one. Commercials always end up being louder than the rest of the content, and are just.. annoying.
    - geocrasher 2y ago
      I thought I had hearing loss. I don't. I have Audio Processing Disorder. When I found out about APD and read its symptom list, I cried. It's me, all over. Between that and ADHD I now understand how my brain processes (or doesn't process) sound properly and why even a well intentioned (but clueless) audiologist told me I had "selective hearing".
  - vel0city 2y ago
    > he found the pair he was fitted with ~20 years ago absolutely useless IKUK but that's like having bad vision so you put on a pair of your glasses from 20 years ago, still having bad vision, and deciding glasses just don't work well. Hearing and vision change over time. And that's assuming those were good hearing aids 20 years ago compared to what is available today. I hope your dad ends up taking a chance.
qup 2y ago
My grandmother did that, as well. She was brilliant, but she was reduced to nodding a long, often inappropriately, because she couldn't hear.
- josefresco 2y ago
  It's rough now that I know it bothers him. Late at night, when the house is quiet and it's just you and him, he'll talk your ear off and hear every word you say.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y ago
> because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Could that be your mother-in-law telling him things to do? Is he afraid of losing plausible deniability - "Sorry, honey, I didn't hear that, you know how bad my hearing is."
phkahler 2y ago
>> he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Modern hearing aids can be adjusted to amplify only the things you want to hear, and even reduce the things you don't want to hear.
- RHSeeger 2y ago
  How do they accomplish this when the other/background noise is speech, like in a crowded area; where you only want the person near you amplified?
  - tengwar2 2y ago
    One method is using directional information. My low-end aids have two microphones each, and can share audio information from one aid to the other. I believe there are also some other methods, but I don't know how those work
car 2y ago
Costco is great for this I found out. Free audiogram, and all name brand hearing aids. I used to be like your father-in-law, pride, vanity, stubborn, not wanting to be told what to do, whatever it was. And my dad was like this too (the hearing loss is heritable), I used to mock him about not wanting hearing aids before my own hearing declined. When I finally got fitted, it was shocking to me how much my hearing had suffered. Suddenly I could hear birds and crickets again, and most importantly speech! Maybe you can get your father-in-law to first play around with AirPods as hearing aids to win him over to get proper ones. The latest generation hearing aids, like the AP's, have amazing AI signal processing that will suppress noise and enhance speech. It's always cool when my Phonak's detect noise and shut it down. The important thing about hearing loss in elderly, especially if someone has an elevated risk of cognitive decline, is the resulting social isolation, and the increasing risk of dementia [1]. It should be addressed sooner than later. To sum it up, the AP's have the potential to provide an affordable on-ramp for more hearing impaired people to experience hearing restoration and warm up to better ones (hopefully covered by insurance). I don't think AP's would a permanent hearing solution, other than for people who are uninsured and can't afford real hearing aids (sadly). Edit: I could not imagine wearing AP's all day, great as they are, while I don't even notice my receiver-in-ear hearing aids anymore. Edit: While AP's are not perfect, having any kind of hearing aid is a 100% improvement over having none, which is probably also why the FDA allowed OTC hearing aids. Edit: [1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing-aids-slow-cognitive-decline-people-high-risk https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing...
- RHSeeger 2y ago
  My hearing is on the border; the doctor told me hearing aids would help, but I don't "need" them. I've been resisting getting them because - I've always (decades) had issues with distinguishing speech when there's background noise. Even when my hearing was "perfect", my brain just had problems separating the two. This is _especially_ true in a crowded area (mall, restaurant, etc) where the background noise _is_ speech. My father had the same issue, tried many different aids, and _never_ managed to get a pair that worked. - Cost. I'm not interested in experimenting at thousands of $ per try. With the expectation that I'll wind up at the doctor's office a dozen+ times while they try something new to help me (with the first issue), and a likelihood that they'll never succeed; I'm very hesitant to shell out the money involved.
hanniabu 2y ago
> He probably waited 5-10 years too long. What's the downside of waiting?
- lukas099 2y ago
  Diminished quality of life during the waiting period
astrange 2y ago
> My father-in-law however doesn't like hearing aids because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. I have this issue with AirPods too, in the "adaptive" mode. It feels natural outdoors, but sometimes indoors and especially in rooms with echo it feels like it makes distant chatter unnaturally loud and closer-sounding.

vel0city 2y ago

> he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. I mean that's kind of the whole point of having them adjusted with an audiologist. They're tuned to your specific needs. It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing.

Arrath 2y ago
> It's too bad so many people think they're just mics and amplifiers. Modern hearing aids do a lot of signal processing. This is what I'm still trying to convince my dad of, after he found the pair he was fitted with ~20 years ago absolutely useless. He found that they simply made everything louder which did nothing to help him pick out what he wanted to hear. But he's always been picky about his soundscapes, wanting the TV muted during ad breaks etc etc.
- xur17 2y ago
  > But he's always been picky about his soundscapes, wanting the TV muted during ad breaks etc etc. I'm with him on this one. Commercials always end up being louder than the rest of the content, and are just.. annoying.
  - geocrasher 2y ago
    I thought I had hearing loss. I don't. I have Audio Processing Disorder. When I found out about APD and read its symptom list, I cried. It's me, all over. Between that and ADHD I now understand how my brain processes (or doesn't process) sound properly and why even a well intentioned (but clueless) audiologist told me I had "selective hearing".
- vel0city 2y ago
  > he found the pair he was fitted with ~20 years ago absolutely useless IKUK but that's like having bad vision so you put on a pair of your glasses from 20 years ago, still having bad vision, and deciding glasses just don't work well. Hearing and vision change over time. And that's assuming those were good hearing aids 20 years ago compared to what is available today. I hope your dad ends up taking a chance.

qup 2y ago

My grandmother did that, as well. She was brilliant, but she was reduced to nodding a long, often inappropriately, because she couldn't hear.

josefresco 2y ago
It's rough now that I know it bothers him. Late at night, when the house is quiet and it's just you and him, he'll talk your ear off and hear every word you say.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y ago

> because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Could that be your mother-in-law telling him things to do? Is he afraid of losing plausible deniability - "Sorry, honey, I didn't hear that, you know how bad my hearing is."

phkahler 2y ago

>> he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. Modern hearing aids can be adjusted to amplify only the things you want to hear, and even reduce the things you don't want to hear.

RHSeeger 2y ago
How do they accomplish this when the other/background noise is speech, like in a crowded area; where you only want the person near you amplified?
- tengwar2 2y ago
  One method is using directional information. My low-end aids have two microphones each, and can share audio information from one aid to the other. I believe there are also some other methods, but I don't know how those work

car 2y ago

Costco is great for this I found out. Free audiogram, and all name brand hearing aids. I used to be like your father-in-law, pride, vanity, stubborn, not wanting to be told what to do, whatever it was. And my dad was like this too (the hearing loss is heritable), I used to mock him about not wanting hearing aids before my own hearing declined. When I finally got fitted, it was shocking to me how much my hearing had suffered. Suddenly I could hear birds and crickets again, and most importantly speech! Maybe you can get your father-in-law to first play around with AirPods as hearing aids to win him over to get proper ones. The latest generation hearing aids, like the AP's, have amazing AI signal processing that will suppress noise and enhance speech. It's always cool when my Phonak's detect noise and shut it down. The important thing about hearing loss in elderly, especially if someone has an elevated risk of cognitive decline, is the resulting social isolation, and the increasing risk of dementia [1]. It should be addressed sooner than later. To sum it up, the AP's have the potential to provide an affordable on-ramp for more hearing impaired people to experience hearing restoration and warm up to better ones (hopefully covered by insurance). I don't think AP's would a permanent hearing solution, other than for people who are uninsured and can't afford real hearing aids (sadly). Edit: I could not imagine wearing AP's all day, great as they are, while I don't even notice my receiver-in-ear hearing aids anymore. Edit: While AP's are not perfect, having any kind of hearing aid is a 100% improvement over having none, which is probably also why the FDA allowed OTC hearing aids. Edit: [1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing-aids-slow-cognitive-decline-people-high-risk https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing...

RHSeeger 2y ago
My hearing is on the border; the doctor told me hearing aids would help, but I don't "need" them. I've been resisting getting them because - I've always (decades) had issues with distinguishing speech when there's background noise. Even when my hearing was "perfect", my brain just had problems separating the two. This is _especially_ true in a crowded area (mall, restaurant, etc) where the background noise _is_ speech. My father had the same issue, tried many different aids, and _never_ managed to get a pair that worked. - Cost. I'm not interested in experimenting at thousands of $ per try. With the expectation that I'll wind up at the doctor's office a dozen+ times while they try something new to help me (with the first issue), and a likelihood that they'll never succeed; I'm very hesitant to shell out the money involved.

hanniabu 2y ago

> He probably waited 5-10 years too long. What's the downside of waiting?

lukas099 2y ago
Diminished quality of life during the waiting period

astrange 2y ago

> My father-in-law however doesn't like hearing aids because he feels they amplify things he doesn't want to hear. I have this issue with AirPods too, in the "adaptive" mode. It feels natural outdoors, but sometimes indoors and especially in rooms with echo it feels like it makes distant chatter unnaturally loud and closer-sounding.