I am trying for the third time the tedious process of trying to switch to digital HA after having had worn analogue for 35 years (my whole life basically). Suffice to say it hasn’t been smooth sailing!
This third time, the audiologist has programmed a BTE Siemens Orion P (basic level as I’m under the Australian Government hearing scheme) his best to mimic my old analogue HA. This time it has been a big improvement on previous attempts as I’m not finding unnecessary sounds too loud and I have been able to hear some speakers fine. I am still struggling with soft voices, but the main issue I’m having is hearing this very annoying sound only when certain noises and sounds occur. It’s quite difficult to explain, but the best I could describe it is that it sounds like the sound that small diesel trucks make when put in neutral, that electrical/mechanical humming sound, but at a little higher frequency and when it’s occurring for a long time, it grates on my nerves in a really bad way (I’ve ended up in tears on a few occasions and only found relief when returning to my beloved, trusty analogue). In a way, it sounds like a tinnitus kind of sound, but it stops when the offending sound stops. When I was first fitted with this HA I didn’t notice this sound so much, as there were many new sounds to get used to. It was after a few weeks, I started to notice it and now I notice it very much so. The electrical hum occurs during the following scenarios: when someone flushes the toilet or takes a shower, while the microwave is cooking, while the kettle is boiling, the fan in the kitchen, when I’m walking around outside in the city, in some department stores, just after a car passes me when I’m on a quiet street. When watching tv it occurs when there’s a studio audience cheering, laughing and clapping or when a scene is shot outside on busy roads.
Does anyone know what this could be? Several thoughts come to mind, is this the brain responding to certain sounds? Are there some adjustments that the audi can do to address this (to date I’ve had 3 adjustments)? Would this problem be rectified by going up in levels of the type of HA? Or is this simply (and I fear this) a digital thing which will be present regardless of the type of HA I go for?
This third time, the audiologist has programmed a BTE Siemens Orion P (basic level as I’m under the Australian Government hearing scheme) his best to mimic my old analogue HA. This time it has been a big improvement on previous attempts as I’m not finding unnecessary sounds too loud and I have been able to hear some speakers fine. I am still struggling with soft voices, but the main issue I’m having is hearing this very annoying sound only when certain noises and sounds occur. It’s quite difficult to explain, but the best I could describe it is that it sounds like the sound that small diesel trucks make when put in neutral, that electrical/mechanical humming sound, but at a little higher frequency and when it’s occurring for a long time, it grates on my nerves in a really bad way (I’ve ended up in tears on a few occasions and only found relief when returning to my beloved, trusty analogue). In a way, it sounds like a tinnitus kind of sound, but it stops when the offending sound stops. When I was first fitted with this HA I didn’t notice this sound so much, as there were many new sounds to get used to. It was after a few weeks, I started to notice it and now I notice it very much so. The electrical hum occurs during the following scenarios: when someone flushes the toilet or takes a shower, while the microwave is cooking, while the kettle is boiling, the fan in the kitchen, when I’m walking around outside in the city, in some department stores, just after a car passes me when I’m on a quiet street. When watching tv it occurs when there’s a studio audience cheering, laughing and clapping or when a scene is shot outside on busy roads.
Does anyone know what this could be? Several thoughts come to mind, is this the brain responding to certain sounds? Are there some adjustments that the audi can do to address this (to date I’ve had 3 adjustments)? Would this problem be rectified by going up in levels of the type of HA? Or is this simply (and I fear this) a digital thing which will be present regardless of the type of HA I go for?