I last posted about my hearing aid about a month ago, so it’s time for a follow-up post. Since then, I have actually picked up my hearing aid and used it for awhile. I even went back for a follow-up and changed something. So I’ve got some stuff to blog about.
When I first got the hearing aid, they gave me a small dome. That seemed fine to me, though I was getting a little feedback from time to time. When I went back for my follow-up visit, they switched me to a large dome. That solved the feedback problem, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the large dome. I might see if I can try out the medium size. (Here’s a page with some info about domes.) I’ve figured out that I can order domes from Amazon, or I can just stop by the hearing aid center at Costco and get them to give me one for free. So I may do one or the other of those things.
In terms of overall performance of the hearing aid, I’m pretty happy. Short version: It helps me hear better. (Duh.) Longer version: It doesn’t solve all of my problems. I still have issues with speech comprehension in noisy environments. Maybe that’ll get better as I get used to the thing. I sometimes feel like my brain is still catching up and isn’t used to it yet.
And in terms of how it’s fitting in to my life, and how convenient / inconvenient it is:
- With the small dome, I was getting to the point where I didn’t notice it was there, and it wasn’t causing any irritation. With the large dome, I find myself fiddling with it a bit, and trying to push it into my ear so it’ll stay in place. (Hence, I think I need to try the medium dome.)
- While I can pipe audio to it from my iPhone, that doesn’t work really well. So when I want to listen to music or podcasts, I’m always swapping out the hearing aid and swapping in the AirPods. That’s a bit annoying, but it’s not that bad. I’ll get used to it.
- At work, I use a regular old USB headset for Teams calls. I can use that with my hearing aid still in, but it’s not a great experience. The big issue is that the mic for the hearing aid is behind my ear, so outside the headphone cup. But the speaker of course is in my ear, so I’m getting the outside sound amplified and the sound from the headset blocked by the hearing aid dome. So I generally have to pull out my hearing aid when I’m in a Teams meeting or on a call. I might look into getting a fancier headset where the ear cup fits over the whole ear, so the mic and speaker are both under the cup. But I don’t know if that’s a good idea. For now, I’m just going to be taking the hearing aid in and out for calls.
- It turns out that I now have too many things behind my left ear. At nearly all times, I have my glasses on and my hearing aid in, so that’s two things fighting for space back there. And I’m still one of those weirdos who is wearing a mask in certain places. So then I have the mask string back there too. And that tends to get tangled up with the hearing aid wire. And I’ve found this week that adding a baseball cap to the mix makes things even more complicated. So I’m getting used to all that and figuring it out.
Overall, the small annoyances aren’t enough to get me to give up on it and demand a refund. I’ll get used to it, I think.