In article <artemis.22.0010631C at mindspring.com> artemis at mindspring.com (Terri Siegel) writes:
>From: artemis at mindspring.com (Terri Siegel)
>Subject: need some possibilities regarding CICs
>Date: Mon, 15 May 1995 07:39:32 -0400
>All right everybody...Put your thinking caps on here for me, please. I have a
>patient whom I recently fit with an Argosy CIC with a K-amp circuit for his
>high frequency hearing loss. The real ear looks ideal! As pretty as you
>could possibly achieve. He loves the sound. The fit is comfortable and there
>is no feedback problems at all. Sounds ideal, right?
>But.....his complaint (and this is an experienced user who by the way is
>wearing a linear class D mini canal in his other ear) is that after wearing
The class D amps should do better than anything else.
I am not an audiologist, just an acoustical consultant that has also done a
lot of listeming to electronic media )ham radio, air traffic control, news
radio, TV, acoustical data transfer, etc.). Any time a new medium is played
(for my ears, anyway), there is an adaptation stage required before fully
acceptable performance is achieved. Even at that, it may be that one never
fully adapts to any medium. They all have their special requirements,
limited performance (as compared to naturally good hearing) and burden as
far as continuing the use ad infinitum. I present as a case in point the
wearing of glasses (spectacles). I started when I was 13, but I have never
completely gotten used to them. I tried contact lenses several times, but
they, too carry their burden, Today, I wear contacts only for skiing and
theatrics (a total of 1% tp 2% of the time.
>the aid for a few hours, his hearing deteriorates to the point that when he
>removes the hearing aid, he appears to hear better without it than with it,
>but at the same time, he feels that his actual hearing thresholds have
>decreased in that time. I had him put a new battery in the aid, insert the
>aid first thing in the morning, and come to my office when this phenomenon
>occurred.
The deterioration may in reality be intermediate acclimatization, where,
when they are just taken off, the patient misses the good high frequency
service provided.. I take that as a good sign.
Finally, I offer, as a wag, the thought that: As in alcoholics recovered,
they are never really cured, only alcoholics who have not had a drink in a
long time: So also the patient (IMHO) who is acclimatizing to hearing aids,
is not a patient that has now achieved hearing, but rather one that has
impaired hearing that is improved with a piece of pparatus.
Hopefully, he or she will get to the point that day after day goes by with
them achieving their daily (listening) tasks being little aware of the
hearing aid.
Look at it another way: I don't think that audiologists (IMHO again) are
fully aware of the number of hearing aids that have been bought, only to
find their way permanently into the bureau drawer with no further comment.
Be happy that the client comes back to you with a coherent complaint (one
that you can understand). It could be worse... I look at it as progress!
Ang.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Sound Technology /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
