Why Aren’t Hearing Aids Enough For Some People ?

[sphearclinic]

While the majority of people who suffer from hearing loss may be helped with hearing aids, for some, hearing aids do not provide the benefits they need. Why is this?

Simply stated, hearing aids only amplify sounds. For people with a moderate –to– profound hearing loss, even the most advanced hearing aids may not work because making sounds louder does not make them clearer.

You may be able to hear sound with hearing aids, but understanding speech and other sounds may still be very difficult. Using a hearing aid with a moderate – to – profound hearing loss can be likened to listening to a loud, badly tuned radio program. Your experience only fragments of the program, but at full volume. And in some cases hearing aids may not provide audibility. In such cases, a cochlear implant may be the best option.

[caryawilson]

My limited experience with hearing aids.. First I'm SSD due to the removal of my hearing nerve during AN surgery. I have tried the headband for bone implants as well as I own a pair of hearing aids. I have the same issue with both. They amplify the background noise as much as speech , if not more. So sounds such as rain would be louder. I spent time with the audiologist and I was surprised that I never was to remove these noises from the speech. Since these should occur outside of the speech frequency I was surprised this was an issue. I noticed the same issue with bone implant headband and the hearing  aid

In the end one ear is preferred for me. Hoping the technology in the hearing aids will improve. I didn't see one technology better than the other and would it appear more funding and innovations is going into hearing aids.

Thoughts?

[sharonov]

Unfortunately. people with good hearing don't understand that hearing aids don't do for the ear what glasses do for the eye.  I'm amazed that technology hasn't solved this admittedly complex problem yet.  Maybe with the baby boomers entering the Hearing Loss years, more attention will be given to the problem.