I have been wearing hearing aids all my life, I was born deaf.
I grew up learning to adapt to new sounds and listening from the hearing aids.
But as we all know, hearing aids don’t last forever which means new upgrade, new sound quality, new everything. I have been wearing behind the ear hearing aids since I was a baby. I have had these particular old hearing aids for 10 years.
Ten-year-old hearing aids plus lifestyle changing equals different sound quality and environment. I can say for sure it’s a huge difference and improvement when switching from these old hearing aids to these new ones.
I have had these new hearing aids for under a week now and wow, what a huge difference! I have been discovering new sounds I could not have heard with my old hearing aids, and without the hearing aids. I did not know that leaves made a noise, or the door opening and closing, even my own coffee machine! That explains why I never got warm coffee in the morning… Because I couldn’t hear the beep! Hearing aids, work your magic! Maybe this time I will have warm coffee…
I have these Phonak Bolero hearing aids, and everything sounds so much clearer than it did before with my old ones. I was talking to my dad and first thing he did was increase his voice. I said “Whoa! That is loud! Turn it down a notch would ya?”
He says “That’s how loud I have been speaking to you when you were wearing your old hearing aids. You are asking me to quiet down? Don’t know how I feel about this…” I replied back “Really?! Wow that is a difference! Hey, maybe I can watch TV without having the volume on so loud either…”
I take pride in being a hearing aid wearer. Another reason why I got purple hearing aids. I want to show the world that being deaf/hard of hearing is perfectly okay. I remember as a child I was ashamed of being deaf, I wanted to have discreet hearing aids and hide them. I had those discreet hearing aids throughout high school.
After I graduated high school I said “You know what? I am going to show the world that being deaf/hard of hearing is acceptable! I’m going to decorate my hearing aids!” Once college rolled around my discreet hearing aids were not compatible with my FM System. So I switched to the beige hearing aids, but they started to fall apart and it was a clue that I really needed to upgrade to newer hearing aids.
My audiologist knew I decorated my hearing aids. The first question she asked was “Do you have a colour preference?” I of course said “Yes! Purple please!” When I got the hearing aids (I was pretty excited might I add) my audiologist and I just looked at them in awe. “Wow they are so pretty and beautiful!” we both said.
Each day I discover new sounds, in new environment. I was telling my family and friends about the sounds I have discovered so far. They all said “We hearing people take our hearing for granted, hey? This is so amazing to see how you, as a hard of hearing person, are discovering sounds we have to deal with everyday. Be warned, some sounds are annoying and irritating.” I replied back with “This is why I love being hard of hearing, I can easily just take my hearing aids out and ‘aah! Silence!’”
I am ready to listen and to discover new sounds… I wonder what tomorrow will bring. What will my Bolero hearing aids let me discover? I am ready! (I also hope I get warm coffee too…)
I’m a Vet I really have enjoyed my Phonak ears. Thank You
I love my blue bolero’s! I have mine programmed with three telecoil options; I can alternate between the three to find the optimal program for public access whether it be in an auditorium, a train station or a place of worship. I can use the telephone without an intermediary device allowing me to use any of my friend’s phones. My blue bolero aids are the best ever!