Neat! Hidden Benefit of New Hearing Aids

[Dougfirtree]

My hearing was damaged due to several years with the 11th Marines, a 155mm howitzer unit. Back then hearing protection was fingers or cigarette butts in your ears. My hearing loss is moderate in one ear and severe in the other.

Went for a walk today and found when I turn the volume up, I can hear the dogs walking on grass and deer walking in the stream by where we live. Going to be a new hunting experience this year when I now have hearing to help me out.

My dad, who was a green beret, says that the reason he volunteered for special forces selection was because he was desperate to get away from the truck mounted anti-tank rifles he was assigned to at the time. Apparently they were quite loud and there was nothing for the ears, but cigarette butts.

Congrats on the hearing aids. My wife wears them, despite being fairly young. They have really been a game changer for her, but it's a little alarming how few health insurance companies cover them!

 

[davinski]

Got some Phonak bluetooth ones through the VA a few years back. I should have gotten them way sooner, I had no idea everything I was missing. Besides the wind, the only downside is my daughter figured out the bluetooth phone tether thing and sometimes walks past my phone and says "Hey google, play Ariana Grande..." or some such painful music. Then I have to scramble to get to my phone and stop the music.

At work I got a "on the air" light up sign in my office so people know when I'm on a call, otherwise they just walk in starting a conversation or question. I just about have everyone trained.

Oh, and be careful turning them up while hunting. I've, umm, dozed off a couple times while turkey hunting and woken up to a giant marauding bear running my way only to turn out to actually be a squirrel or little bird. That definitely gets the blood pumping!

 

[JAG]

Hearing aids I used as a kid (40 years ago) would either distort or cancel sound after a certain decibel level. It's not quite the 'noise-canceling' technology that our hearing friends use in modern headphones. It's just that the hearing aids don't amplify damaging volume levels in our hearing aids.

However, later models of hearing aids do have noise-canceling technology added to them. My latest pair of hearing aids allow me to adjust the volume to the device I'm listening to; phone calls or music from my iPhone. I change it to 'streaming focus' or 'call focus'. Here, it will cancel out the road noise from my truck and all surrounding noises.

Ironically, modern sound device technology for hearing people has rapidly outpaced the deaf world with Bluetooth compatibility and noise-canceling technology. For the longest time, hearing aids didn't have these features. When they finally got them, the devices were extremely prehistoric in their connectivity and had to use ancillary devices to make them work (device tools like a life alert necklace, a bulky pen, a large boot attachment to the hearing aid, etc.)

My current pair has directional microphones that allow me to use my phone to switch to restaurant mode; the microphones facing behind diminish those sounds so you can just listen to the sounds coming from the people or person in front of you. Directional mic's predate Bluetooth and noise-canceling tech.

As I get older, I've grown quite fond of the 'off-mode'; this is great for sleep or someone just keeps talking and can't seem to stop.

 

[OntarioHunter]

First day with my new Oticon hearing aids from US VA. Great. Put them through the wringer. Drove 4 hours home with windows down (AC broken) no problem. For the first time in years I could hear the radio without forcing everyone else at the stoplight to listen to it. Wore them to trap league last night. When shooting on the line I wore ear muffs over them instead of usual ear plugs. I used my phone to turn hearing aids off when shooting. Muffs are uncomfortable but didn't seem to be too much of a distraction. I shot 49/50. It took a while to get the blue tooth working due to operator stupidity. Man, is that sweet! Stereophonic TV listening with a mixer in my app that enhances the sound. I fell asleep on the couch with hearing aids on watching highlights of Blue Jays kicking the Red Sox butts. It's the first time in months I slept through the night without waking up. Go figure. But man, I need do to brush my teeth! My greatest fear is forgetting to take the hearing aids out when I shower. So I have put a zip lock bag over the shower handle to remind me. I'll just leave it on there. No problems working the handle. Looks goofy but it will undoubtedly save the govt a ton of money replacing them ... which, according to the literature, the VA would do.

 

[Farmerj]

I’ve accidentally jumped into the lake forgetting that I even had them in. They did just fine

 

[WyoDoug]

I like the way you can turn then all the way up and hear critters walking around. Plus hearing sounds in the wild I never could hear before like them squirrels or a bird chirping at me because I was too close to the nest or something.

 

[Farmerj]

Have them send you a container with desiccant in it for storage when you’re not wearing them.

Seems to really help keep them cleaner and work better.

 

[Beignet]

I like the way you can turn then all the way up and hear critters walking around. Plus hearing sounds in the wild I never could hear before like them squirrels or a bird chirping at me because I was too close to the nest or something.

I recently ponied up and inve$ted in a new pair to replace my 12 y/o barely functioning pair. Technology has really taken off! I’d hitherto had no idea how many birds are actually out there fussing around.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Have them send you a container with desiccant in it for storage when you’re not wearing them.

Seems to really help keep them cleaner and work better.


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Usually mine will be in the charger when I'm not wearing them.

 

[Farmerj]

Usually mine will be in the charger when I'm not wearing them.

I have batteries for mine. Nothing is rechargeable other than my Bluetooth clip

 

[Curvebow]

Do they have any hearing aids that also can deaden or noise cancel a gunshot?

The answer is NO! Hearing aids use silicone type tips that go into your ear canal. These do NOT seal off your ear canal. Even if the hearing aid cuts out the sound, 95% of the noise is still going into your ear. Always were muffs over the HAids. I use Walkers Game Ear electronic muffs. With the sound on (battery operated), they DO cut off the damaging sound.

 

[OntarioHunter]

In the field I shoot an old magnum twelve gauge A-5 with 31" barrel which helps. But I'll still have ringing ears some at the end of the day though rarely shoot more than a handful of shells. I'm soon to be seventy and hearing loss is there but not extensive, especially for my age. I suspect daily subjecting myself to jackhammer and heavy equipment for six years in the eighties probably accounts for most of the damage. Ordinarily I would only fire a couple rounds a year through my hunting rifle without protection. That's all it took to get a deer, moose, or elk. Now I shoot more animals per year in Africa and should probably make more effort to protect my hearing. But if family history is any indication, I'm pretty much at the end of the rope now. What's the point?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I wore Otto Noizebarriers last fall while hunting a nice Limited Entry unit on thanksgiving week due to my rifle having an aggressive brake.

I was amazed to hear multiple bulls bugling and a lot of cow vocalizations I never would have heard with my naked ears. I'm going to use them a lot more going forward.

edit to clarify: these are not hearing aids but electronic in ear hearing protection that can enhance ambient sounds to aid hearing. I hate not being able to hear with muffs and plugs so my intention was just to be able to hear what I normally would but found they actually enhanced while providing protection. I wear these for chainsawing and working with power tools as well.

 

[WyoDoug]

I wore Otto Noizebarriers last fall while hunting a nice Limited Entry unit on thanksgiving week due to my rifle having an aggressive brake.

I was amazed to hear multiple bulls bugling and a lot of cow vocalizations I never would have heard with my naked ears. I'm going to use them a lot more going forward.

Exactly my experience. I can now hear the cow talk I could not hear before. And I can hear when critters are in the vicinity now.