Comments on: New Audiogram

By: Alicia

Alicia — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:15:54 +0000

Hi Cindy:
I had recruitment since day one of getting hearing aids in my twenties. But nobody told me what it was. Like you, as I lost decibels it got worse and worse. For over twenty years, I spent all day popping my hearing aids in and out. I felt like a crazy woman. I bought three different pair, what a waste of money. My loss was in middle decibels so I had trouble understanding conversation all along. (Cookie bite loss). My lipreading was okay but not as good as yours.
Finally, I passed (or flunked) the test for a Cochlear Implant. In my case, the CI ended my tinnitus and recruitment problems. The CI improved my life so much. I’m HOH but I understand speech much better now and am not in pain anymore. That in itself makes me so relieved.

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:35:16 +0000

Hi Cindy,
That’s part of the problem why they can’t amplify enough for me. It’s not fans that bother me, but speech itself if they amplify the high tones to the level where I would be hearing. They COULD still amplify some areas, but you know there’s always bleed into other frequency areas where you hear better and the more deaf you become they less comfortable you get with noise I think. Also over time, I personally think our ears just get less flexible. I was so much more tolerant of noise when younger. Now it seems like it vibrates through my entire head if it’s at the wrong frequency. Which is why I spend so much time without my aids in anymore. They moved my CI eval back to Nov. 13th now.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:48:33 +0000

Hi Cindy,
What did the audiologist do for your left ear? Are you able to wear a hearing aid at all in that ear?
I have read about recruitment myself because I struggle with handling the “vibrations” and hums from the fans, air filters, and electric heaters that make my coworkers comfortable but make me uneasy. These things never bothered me before wearing hearing aids. I’m still hoping I will adjust to them. I don’t know if I have recruitment or just misophonia (dislike of sounds).
It’s so frustrating when sounds you don’t want to hear are magnified and the speech you need to hear remains difficult to distinguish.
Keep us updated on how the change in your hearing aid settings works out for you.