Hearing aids?

[CHASAX]

In my experience

General practitioners always call it Meniere's, see a specialist

Diuretics can make it worse. I start drinking Gatorade when I get crickets in my ears. That can also stave off vertigo.

Using a Neti pot twice a day has reduced my problems greatly. Do boil the water for a minute or two or use distilled water.

Have spent entire nights retching and doing projectile vomiting. I finally came up with Neti pot use on my own.
I use a couple of tablespoons of salt and then a plain water rinse.

Have a Phonak hearing aid that delivers pretty good bass. Had never really heard my own voice until I got it.
My sister has a ReSound that she says delivers great sound. Plan to look into that.

[George R. Lane]

I haven't followed this thread like I should have. I am surprised so many of you wear hearing aids. I will have to go to my audiologist and have them make the adjustments recommended. The Café is a great place for learning, thanks to all of you.

[yankees1]

I have read a number of posts in the past wanting to know how to make their mandolin sound louder. Well, get hearing aides and than see how loud your mandolin sounds ! I have to take my hearing aids out to play as any high pitched sound will blow my ears apart !

[lflngpicker]

Hey Steve, So sorry to hear about your decline in hearing ability.

I heard about a newer product that allows the ambient sound to come through while you are amplifying the pitches you need most.

http://eargo.com/

If I understand it, there is more of a tiny web on the portion that enters the ear canal first, thus some sound from the environment still gets processed in addition to the amplified sounds. A friend of mine who performs professionally is finding them very helpful to hear the instrument live, while amplifying other aspects he needs to hear. I wish you the best as you make the adjustment. As a teacher/administrator during my career, I have an affinity for both teachers and mandolin players! Take care.

[D C Blood]

I have worn hearing aids in both ears for about eight years. Also have mild tinnitis (low cricket sound). Thanks to the VA I now have the digital Bluetooth type of aids...l have no problem hearing my mando, and I'm much happier with the sound of it with the aids. If there are any of you out there who are Vietnam vets, you might check the VA and find Vietnam vets are eligible for free hearing aids. Well worth the phone call.

[Spencer]

I heard about a newer product that allows the ambient sound to come through while you are amplifying the pitches you need most.

This is pretty common with the over the ear devices, my audiologist said you should only get ear plugs, if you absolutely need them. The interesting things about the device mentioned in the post are that it is rechargeable, and completely in ear. Wonder if it would survive a shower? The biggest problem with mine is remember to take them out before showering.

Spencer

[ald]

My doctor said I had menier's "syndrome", which is similar to the fully-fledged variety but you are not falling all over the place and vomiting. But it's true that doctors, even specialists cannot exactly see what you have, they surmise from the symptoms. They gave me some strong diuretics for a month and it was almost back to normal (normal for me that is because I already some hearing loss) but after stopping the medication the hearing went down again. it's a matter of maintaining a constant fluid balance in your ears, according to the theory. What does Gatorade do for tinnitus?
My homeopathic doctor sister-in-law recently prescribed a three-month treatment for me. I don't have a lot of faith but I am keeping my options open. Next stop a visit to the witch doctor!

[SGraham]

Thanks for the kind words, Dan, and thanks everyone for the discussion on this. I went ahead and got my hearing aids back in November. They are very small Oticon over-the-ear aids and have 5 different settings that the audiologist was able to program into them. On a couple of the channels I have a tinitis interference background noise that helps deal with the jet engine turbines that constantly roar in both ears all day and night.

On the suggestions of several of you, I did bring in my mandolin when we were setting up the programs. Hearing speech is fine, but it seems that no matter what we do, when I play an instrument the notes sound all quacky and distorted, like a horrible piezo pickup with the mids turned all the way up. Even my ukulele sounds distorted. I've brought the mando in three times now to no avail. I have a strange, assymetrical kind of hearing loss: no high frequencies on the left, and no mids or highs on the right. Maybe that's why everything sounds distorted through the aids. On the plus side, I can hear! I can even hear myself sing, which really helps when I'm singing the baritone harmony part with the band. I haven't been able to hear myself for years. So, that's all to the good. I can also hear what my students are saying to me in the classroom, which is a relief to them and me.

I'm hoping that my brain will adjust to the way music sounds through these aids. So far it hasn't.

[lloving]

I do not ,as far as I know, yet suffer from a measurable hearing loss. (My wife may disagree) I do however have a band mate that wears hearing aids most of the time. We are experimenting with the TCoil feature in most modern hearing aids combined with a small induction loop system to amplify the monitor mix from our live sound system. If we are correct in our assumptions we should be able to provide a controllable feed from our stage sound system directly to his hearing aids. We are in the initial stages of working this out. Now that the holidays are past we intend to get back to it. I will post our results as we go along.

Anyone else working in this area?

[ccravens]

I haven't followed this thread like I should have. I am surprised so many of you wear hearing aids. I will have to go to my audiologist and have them make the adjustments recommended. The Café is a great place for learning, thanks to all of you.

I agree wholeheartedly!

This thread has been a help and learning experience to me.

Thanks for all the comments.

[John Cadd]

Chasax I was reading your bit about Netti Pots and using so much salt. Salt is the worst thing for vertigo .That will make vertigo much worse . If you vomit and lose your last meal make sure to gulp down a glass of water . It will come back up in about one minute but diluted and no dry retching . The water will stop the acid burning the inside of your throat too . At the end clean your teeth to get rid of the stomach acid .That will rot your teeth very quickly . I had Menieres and sometimes it faded away for a few years Each episode was a bit different . Always keep the salt levels as low as you can. It gets into all sorts of food .