h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

An early Christmas present to myself has been hearing aids!
I've had tinnitus for some years which had gradually got worse. As seemed to be confined to one ear, went to the GP in the Summer to get an NHS hearing test, which I thought might be more impartial than a private one. Result was mild to moderate hearing loss, no need for further investigation of my tinnitus & no need to do anything unless it was causing me a problem.

Recently decided I was struggling to hear certain voices enough to take things further & booked a private appointment. Very thorough test showed an interesting dip in the ear with tinnitus & having tried some sample aids for 15 min, chose to go ahead with some fancy RITE (receiver in the ear) ones.

I've had them for 10 days now & am really pleased. All the new beeps & noises I'm hearing around the house are quite a novelty - even textures seem more intense with sound attached. I'm enjoying TV better, haven't had to concentrate so hard hearing at work and coped brilliantly at a noisy group dinner out. The aids have even been configured for my language class , but I haven't had a chance to test that out yet. A bit odd having to hold the phone earpiece in a different place so the behind the ear mic can pick the sound up. But the aids are wirelessly paired with my iphone so music & phone calls from that come direct into my ears !!

Very discreet, hardly visible at all. Took a few days to get used to wearing them & they're not 100% comfortable but not far off. A bit of a bother cleaning them before putting them on in the morning, but as I've splashed out on rechargeable ones, easy to pop them in the charger at night. How dull everything seems without them! Tinnitus generally less noticeable with them on so overall well worth having. Just working out the cost per day so far....

Glad you had such a positive experience.

Just when it was all going so well....

Started coughing Christmas Eve, now suffering with a respiratory virus. Yesterday the dishwasher stopped working & today one of my hearing aids isn't working. But apart from all that, Christmas has gone pretty smoothly.