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Brad Musil
Fellow Classmates;
I noticed with great empathy the comments on “HEARING” at the last beer summit (which I intended on attending, but had physical therapy session conflict).
I finally broke down and bought hearing aids a little over four years. After 27 years in the aerospace machine shop industry my hearing was shot (to say the least).
I was encouraged to go to Costco by several friends (& I’m extremely glad I did… more on that later). Costco carries the top-of-the-line brands of hearing aids, as well as some lesser brands. Wanting the ‘best’ possible outcome I purchased the behind the ear ‘Phonix’ (sp?) brand at approximately $1500.00
Of course, I went through all the testing and fitting procedures, and even went back a couple of times to get them adjusted. Adjusting is necessary because once you lose you hearing for as many years as I had, the brain just doesn’t recall certain sounds or words… once you get the ‘aids’ it re-learns over time and that’s where adjusting comes in.
Short version of longer story: I hated my hearing aids and eventually quit wearing them (BIG mistake) and this was because in my opinion all the aids did was amplify EVERYTHING. And when I would work with machinery, especially saws and grinders the resultant sound was extremely painful and uncomfortable. Riding the lawn mower was just torture. So, I put them in their case and ignored them. (…Again, BIG mistake).
Typically, when men lose their hearing, it is in the ‘upper’ range exactly where women’s voices fall. Which, as you can imagine, leads to many conflicts over “didn’t you hear me when I told you” or “you just ignore me when I tell you something”. Lots of communication failures, which leads to all sorts of other challenges.
The model I bought had an application so I could make adjustments for certain environments, like restaurants and watching TV; however, nothing seemed to help and I gave up in disgust.
Well, a few weeks ago, after another dust up with my wife about not hearing what she said, I decided to circle back and re-address the hearing aid issue. Thinking that almost five years would have manifest ‘improvements’ to the technology, I began the journey once again.
Yes, I went back to Costco, and talked with the technicians there and was amazed to learn, I had lifetime support on the aids I already had, AND… there was not much difference with what was new and what I already had. The tech said, we need to re-test you because it has been so long and we will address your complaints with ‘tuning’.
After the testing session, and him re-programming my hearing aids, I was blown away. I walked out into the Costco main shopping area, and I heard voices just as any normal person would expect to hear! This was truly amazing… background sounds were NOT amplified and I could discriminate individual voices from the surrounding ambient level noise. All it took was getting the damn things re-programmed correctly.
After several days of continuous use, I called the tech and told him how grateful I was that he took the time to adjust my hearing aids correctly and that I now looked forward to wearing them! Life is/was now good. I can sit and watch TV beside my wife without the sound being so high that it hurst her ears. I hear just like I remember doing years ago… not being in an echo chamber with every sound beating against my eardrums.
Bottom line: the longer you go without addressing the issue, the more difficult it will be to ‘recover’ what you’ve lost! Once fitted and tuned properly, you will be able to participate in conversations and not just politely nod and smile. It will not sound like you are throwing quarters in the toilet when you are peeing guys.
You owe it to yourselves AND your wives to address your hearing while you still can. It sure beats having to say “pardon me” or ask ‘what’ or can you repeat what you just said?
I know my experiences are ‘typical’ after speaking with other hearing aid users… you MUST get them tuned and re-tuned several times to get the best performance. That is why I’m extremely delighted I chose COSTCO for my hearing aids. Their customer service and company policies are the best. Trust me… you will be too, once you get through the ‘learning’ and re-programming process.
MyBest, Brad
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. Another thing we seemed to agree on is that we have a pretty solid "bench" for the 2028 POTUS election. I think we're in good shape with Vance or Rubio going up against Kamala or AOC. I hope I live long enough.
. Some of us are having hearing problems and there was some polite nodding and smiling going on.
