Hearing aids, amazing 😊

[Susiesue61]

I am so happy! Have been struggling to hear for months if not years, and masks at work have made it embarrassingly difficult. Yesterday I got hearing aids and the difference is incredible! I wish I had done it ages ago

Brilliant to read - happy hearing!

I know I need hearing aids, it's been on the cards for a while but my hearing has all but gone this last 6 months.

Can I ask if you're very aware of them? Does everything sound very different? I feel apprehensive that people will notice and treat me differently. Silly I guess.

Go for it. I have hearing aids - lovely to be able to hear and I forget they are in!

Can I ask what sort of aids you have? I got some nhs ones a couple of years ago but haven't found them helpful enough to put up with them being there if that makes sense? I found they amplified the background noise too much without helping enough with speech. I did persevere for quite a while and they.were irritating! Thanks

I went to Boots. They are extortionate but it's fab! I wore them to work today and was very nervous, but when I had a conversation with someone I can't normally hear and didn't have to ask them to repeat themselves a thousand times, it was so good 😆
My voice is a bit echoey but apparently you get used to it.

I got a pair during lock down from spec savers. Yes, lots of money but they change your life. I didn’t know how much I was no longer hearing

I wasn’t someone who use ear buds so the first issue I had I struggled with for about a month, then changed to another brand which had much smaller ear bud piece. Lots of options in the app for different scenarios. I love love live it. No more people shouting at me, no more people getting flustered when I ask them to repeat themselves because I couldn’t hear them (usually they’d say “never mind”) which makes you feel excluded.

I now hear it all.

Plus I use mine now to listen to audio books, music and pod casts via my mobile. Got an extra item that hooks up to the tv snd streams sound direct into my hearing aids. Such a life changer.

With mine, no one sees them and I wear my hair up too.

That’s so lovely to read such positive experiences. I’ve had my NHS hearing aids for a month and can barely tolerate them. After just a short while of wearing them, I get a terrible headache. Plus the whole top part of my ear goes red and is very sore. My DC said they could see the imprint of the wire in my skin. I’m so demoralised. I’m desperate to wear them as the audiologist terrified me about the link between hearing loss and dementia but the discomfort and overwhelming noise is making my tolerance level very low. I seem to have the choice as well between wearing my glasses or hearing aids as I can’t accommodate both behind my ear! It seems ridiculous but I end up balancing my glasses higher on the side of my head just so the hearing aids stay in place. What am I doing wrong? What type of hearing aids did everyone get? Is it really expensive to go privately?

Thanks for the positive stories. The idea of being able to listen to audiobooks, tv and podcasts through your aids and them not be visible is awesome. Maybe I need to think about saving up and thinking about going private- it does sound like the options are much better

@Goldistheanswer please have a look on Specsavers and boots websites for an idea of pricing.

Do you need one or for both ears? Prices will vary greatly for this

I will tell you I paid close to 2k for my pair (resound) but they’re top of the range digital ones that are rechargeable. They’re flesh coloured, quite small compared to the first pair I tried (phonak), they sit on top of my ears towards the back. I can wear my sunglasses no problem.

I do know they have flesh coloured ones that sit inside your ear too. I think these are about £495

Specsavers has a money back guarantee of 90 days. It’s well worth investigating. I think they offer financing too. While I haven’t looked, I’d be surprised if boots doesn’t offer this too. I paid using my credit card to have extra protection but had saved for them. Have a look too in case they may also be offering Black Friday special offers.

Attached photo compares phonak and resound hearing aids. I changed because I could get used to the phonak size of the piece that goes inside my ear. The resound worked better for me as much smaller piece inside my ear.