261–270 of 452 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I resorted to wearing earplugs for several years when I was going out more. I felt it did very little to reduce my ability to hear conversations, and it made the whole experience overall so much more pleasant.
If the SNR is already low enough that you're having issues discerning speech, lowering the volume won't help.
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> I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well This is one of those frustrating gaslighting things that is half true in that half the time I also pretend to hear what someone else is saying even though I couldn’t just because it’s not really important and making a big deal about it (ie asking them to repeat it at continuously louder deci…
So I'm not alone. I'm in my mid-forties and have experienced a significant decline over the last few years. Now I can rarely distinguish one voice in moderate background noise (conversations, music) without leaning towards them, cupping my ears. Sometimes I just have to give up and try to nod or smile at the right time as the conversation goes on around me. I recently had a test at an ENT doctor who told me my hearin…
I wrote about my experience with this last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35897515
I did exactly the type of diagnosis you're talking about. It was quite good at how it simulated a noisy environment with a bunch of background chatter and then a single voice you were meant to listen to that would repeat various patterns of words with various combinations of lower speaking volume and/or higher background noise.
One thing I wish I'd made a point of at the time was the fact that, despite being an apparently soundproof booth with headphones on, I could definitely hear people talking in the waiting room and another audiologist in an adjacent room. Though I'm not sure it would have materially changed their lack of diagnosis (they'd already detected I could hear into negative decibels).
I still don't have a diagnosis, but I'm increasingly coming around to the idea that maybe it's not that my hearing is bad but that I actually hear too much. What I'd previously thought was my unability to hear people speaking on the radio in the car when everyone else clearly could wasn't because I couldn't hear the radio, it's that I can't hear it over the top of all the tyre and wind noise I'm also hearing and trying to process out. I don't think the other passengers in the car hear the rest of the noise, they only hear the radio.
I bought various types of Loop earplugs and have found them fantastic for live music events. I can now hear my friends when they're talking to me! Unfortunately they greatly amplify my perception of the volume of my own voice when I talk which has the undesirable side-effect of making me talk even quieter so I feel like I'm having to yell when I want to talk to people. I've also not found them as useful as I'd hoped in restaurant-type settings.
If the size could shrink to the size of a small earplug, I'd love to use this as a person who is not hearing-impaired (at least they couldn't diagnose me with it, so now I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well) . In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me th…
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They don't cost 50k. They cost at least an order of magnitude less. My moms hearing aids cost 3000€. They support bluetooth so she can use them with her iPhone. The price includes hearing tests, getting molds of the hearing canal, all the setup and configuration performed by skilled technicians. Sure they are expensive, but there really isn't much of an opportunity for disruption. Customized hardware is expensive, th…
I live in the US. I noticed that someone else posted a comment, saying that Americans exaggerate medical costs. We don't. Our doctors drive Bentleys. I'm really glad that they have broken the monopoly. Maybe some politicians retrieved their souls. It's absolutely insane how expensive healthcare is in the US. But THANK GOD we don't have socialism! /s
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It's certainly their issue if they want to continue spending time with the group doing what most of the group prefers. > I don't get why people go there and leave money, cause I wouldn't go there even for that money. That's a problem with lack of empathy and understanding on your part, not with the group dynanimcs of that person's friends.
Group dynamics are hard, see Abilene paradox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox
If the size could shrink to the size of a small earplug, I'd love to use this as a person who is not hearing-impaired (at least they couldn't diagnose me with it, so now I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well) . In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me th…
Other person: *mumble mumble* SOMETHING CLEARLY SPOKEN
Me: I'm sorry, what?
Them: "clearly spoken?"
Me: No, the first part.
Them: "something?"
Me, giving up: *smiles and nods* Yeah!
(quietly hopes I didn't just agree that putting hamsters in blenders or something is a cool idea)
One thing that the HN crowd should appreciate is just how expensive and shit hearing aids are. go and look the up the price, they are deeply expensive, even for basic "make it louder" type aids. Worse still, because they interfere with your ear, you tend to loose the ability to "steer" your hearing. This means that you can't tune out other conversations/noises or stuff. The one good side effect of facebook spending b…
Modern hearing aids are pretty cool. They've crammed in an amazing amount of features in a super tiny form factor, with a battery that lasts for a week even when using bluetooth. My Phonaks have the ability to automatically switch programs to some extent, and to fine tune the program using a companion app. I can function and even have conversations to some extent in noisy environments, something that would have been…
My current pair are about 6 years old, working fine still, thankfully... But in a recent visit to audiologist, they had me test out a newer pair... but they had a single button instead of rocker + button, and bluetooth/app was touted.
I dread the touchscreen phase of HA as a young person with functional fingers (vs elders with dexterity issues) and a preference for physical buttons (a la my 2009 car).
The idea of autoswitching the programs outside limited cases (direct audio input cables and increasingly-rare telecoil situations are the only things I would accept) also doesn't sound great! :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well This is one of those frustrating gaslighting things that is half true in that half the time I also pretend to hear what someone else is saying even though I couldn’t just because it’s not really important and making a big deal about it (ie asking them to repeat it at continuously louder deci…
So I'm not alone. I'm in my mid-forties and have experienced a significant decline over the last few years. Now I can rarely distinguish one voice in moderate background noise (conversations, music) without leaning towards them, cupping my ears. Sometimes I just have to give up and try to nod or smile at the right time as the conversation goes on around me. I recently had a test at an ENT doctor who told me my hearin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in the US. I noticed that someone else posted a comment, saying that Americans exaggerate medical costs. We don't. Our doctors drive Bentleys. I'm really glad that they have broken the monopoly. Maybe some politicians retrieved their souls. It's absolutely insane how expensive healthcare is in the US. But THANK GOD we don't have socialism! /s
This is a low quality comment, that was already debunked by a google search in a comment below.
You mean the specific hearing aid searches?
It was a general comment on the state of health care in the US (not just hearing aids).
Before the new legislation, we couldn't just go to the corner drug store, and buy a hearing aid off the shelf. It needed to come as part of a package, including many tests and appointments with ENT folks.
But I cede the point. It was a low-quality comment that is likely to trigger folks with certain political views, and I apologize. Won't happen again.