Hearing Aid question

[Eadwine Rose]

Good that you have the in ear option available. There is a reason that I am VERY happy with my more than perfect still eyesight! Seriously.. I have small ears, but with glasses added to them I feel like I no longer need my car to get around once outside.

[davidy]

I have a titanium stapea in my right ear. Right after the operation I remember telling the Dr. I could taste the titanium. Makes it hard to hear and my balance sucks too. Gosh I remember those magnet things used to change the bats my grandfather wore.

[mdmarmer]

On Wednesday I am going to Costco for a hearing test. They made 2 more appts for Fitting, etc. I plan on getting behind the ear type. I don't think the fancy bluetooth stuff will help me. I do want them to adjust automatically to the environment.

[razor2021]

What they need to do is build eyeglasses with hearing aids in them w/ intergated bluetooth to your phone (optional). The rechargeable batteries should be inside the eyeglasses providing longer life with better microphones built in front and rear of eyeglasses for better clearer audio to user. Just my 2 cents. Something like BLU - which did not get productized ... -> https://icrowdnewswire.com/2015/12/17/b ... e-calling/

That might work for most people including the original poster where replacing small batteries become mute as you can easily recharge these ones. Maybe someone will have come up soon with something like those.

[Eadwine Rose]

Integrated? Oh heck no.. what if you need new glasses every two years?

You cannot change the kind of frame, and you HAVE to use compatible frames or the aids won't connect.
Hmm.. why does that sound familiar?

I want linux glasses & hearing aids

[j2mcgreg]

What they need to do is build eyeglasses with hearing aids in them w/ intergated bluetooth to your phone (optional). The rechargeable batteries should be inside the eyeglasses providing longer life with better microphones built in front and rear of eyeglasses for better clearer audio to user. Just my 2 cents. Something like BLU - which did not get productized ... -> https://icrowdnewswire.com/2015/12/17/b ... e-calling/

That might work for most people including the original poster where replacing small batteries become mute as you can easily recharge these ones. Maybe someone will have come up soon with something like those.

I remember when I was kid in the '60s that my grandmother had a pair of those. Her major gripe was that when the hearing aids needed servicing she had to give up her glasses for whatever length of time the repair took and use an older pair with an older prescription in the interim.

[razor2021]

Integrated? Oh heck no.. what if you need new glasses every two years?

You cannot change the kind of frame, and you HAVE to use compatible frames or the aids won't connect.
Hmm.. why does that sound familiar?

I want linux glasses & hearing aids

Yeah, that's true. You could just change the lenses, but I agree, most people change the frames as well. Maybe that's why the start-up idea never took off when it first started back in 2015 ...

[razor2021]

I remember when I was kid in the '60s that my grandmother had a pair of those. Her major gripe was that when the hearing aids needed servicing she had to give up her glasses for whatever length of time the repair took and use an older pair with an older prescription in the interim.

Yep, true. Repair would make the person sightless and also not being able to hear. A non-starter ...

[CaptainKirk]

I suffer from high frequency hearing loss - the typical age-related deafness.

I used to have digital aids provided by the National Health Service - free, and they worked very well, but during the Covid pandemic my local clinic closed and we were expected to post the devices to a remote hospital for repairs, etc. I was reluctant to send them away and have no aids at all for a period, so I went to a local private retailer (SpecSavers) with a qualified audiologist, who provided (at a cost!) digital hearing aids.

The devices I got can be linked to my smartphone with bluetooth, so I can get mobile phone calls direct to my devices, and also listen to recorded music, hear internet audio and all the other bluetooth goodies. I am an amateur musician (play cornet in a brass band) and go to a lot of concerts - I can change the frequency response of the devices using a smartphone app, to a setting more suited to music.

Very happy with the devices so far.

[j2mcgreg]

I thought that I'd give an update to my situation. Last Friday I switched from a pair of behind the ear aids made by Signia to a pair of in the ear aids made by Phonak. The sound quality from the Signia aids was superb but the cords from the from the in-ear speakers were not long enough ( I've got a big head) to comfortably reach the receivers. This meant that the receivers were sitting on top of my ears rather than dangling safely behind them. The short cords also meant that the receivers would fall off my ears with little provocation. The only reason that I switched to the Phonak brand is that Signia does not make a rechargeable "in the ear" hearing aid in my price range. I've only had the current set for five days but my only complaint is that I am getting a lisp on esses when watching TV or watching videos on my laptop. I 'm confident that the hearing aid clinic will be able to make adjustments that will eliminate the lisping sounds on my next visit.

I also had an idea that if the behind the ear receivers were magnetic, they could attach to metal eyeglass frames and no longer flop about with any head movement.