Ask Lemmy

28143 readers

2560 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Why can't my grandfather find hearing aids he likes? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by 11111one11111 to c/asklemmy

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Looking for anyone with experience with helping pick out hearing aides. It's hard for him to describe what he doesn't like about them so I can't provide much in the way of specific issues. One thing he has said was that they change how loud some things are compared to how they should be which I think he means they will make certain pitches louder than other pitches so something like setting spoon on glass plate will be loud but the sound of a low voiced man talking is quiet when normally the low voices are the only ones he can hear. He is the typical old geezer so it's easier to list all the numbers in Pi than it is to get him to a doctors office.

We have tried 2 different very expensive aids costing thousands each, we tried the new apple ones, he tried countless magazine ads hearing aids and doesn't like any of them. He's a very straight forward man so it's not his way of getting around using them or that he's embarrassed. He wants to find a pair he likes but he is also a very picky man who was a mechanical engineer so I feel like his expectations can be a little high sometimes for things to be perfect.

Just thought I'd see what other people's experiences were with hearing aides and if there's anything anyone can recommend.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] IMALlama 4 points 1 day ago

I think you've probably got the correct replies already (see an audiologist a few times), but I wanted to share two quick anecdote that might explain your Grandfather's reaction.

I recently bought a pair of swim goggles with blue tint to wear when I go swimming with my kids. I leave them on for about 45 minutes before taking them off. When I take them off it's almost overwhelming how vibrant some colors become. It's almost like someone took the saturation slider and dialed it to 300. The white walls around the pool, the orange rash guard my youngest was wearing, etc. They all become almost extreme.

I have a pair of TWS earbuds that you can 'calibrate' to your ears based on what seems to be a crude test (detect a beep at a frequency over a background noise). The profile it generates is very bright. It's very possible I've lost that much hearing, especially since we lose high frequency first, but it's a bit jarring. I find myself not wanting to accept that reality. I'm approaching 40 and haven't been around that many sustained loud things without hearing protection. I do kind of like the sparkle, but it seems a bit over the top so I tend to turn it off. Perhaps your Grandpa is experiencing something similar?