Game Ear Hearing Devices.. upside ..downside

b3d

I'm in my early 50's and have some hearing drop off.. What experiences have you had.. I would like some of what I had back.. I am not expecting a miracle.. it is nice to hear the ambient sounds of nature, it is part of the enjoyment... ( I do wear hearing protection when firing firearms ) In my misspent late teens and 20's I did alot of night clubbing and stood near the stage and the speakers.. Not the brightest move but I was young and thought I had hearing to spare..
Also any thoughts on non field/ gunfire canceling type hearing devices as well. I am thinking about one for that purpose too.. i don't mind having one for each.. ( Especially for crowded areas like church and seminars.. Sometimes peoples voices, especially women's will fade out a for a few words..) I'm not married yet.. so no aren't you glad you can't hear your wife jokes!!..
I have poked around a bit and done some googling, and have just found a very few user reports.. Sites have testimonials.. but these day I would trust them any farther than I could throw a pick up truck..

hillbille

not sure on the newer ones. but I can say the older ones were pain is ars. they picked up to much background noise, leaves rustling, even wind, this all tended to block out the actual noise you are trying to hear. maybe the newer ones have changed if not don't waste your money.

PA Shootist

I am in my early 60's and have suffered a lot of high-frequency hearing loss from noise exposure (shooting without any or adequate ear protection when a kid, flying, noisy work, etc.). My experience with Walker Game Ear and also Peltor amplifying ear muffs is that they work well in a quiet woods environment. I can hear bird calls, deer stepping in leaves, turkey calls and clucks, etc. quite well when the woods is quiet. When windy, forget it! They become useless then. So there is for me limited usefulness, and I use these devices those times. I especially like the Peltor muffs when it is cold out, they keep my ears warm as well as hearing well, and muffle the gunshot.

perry shooter

Hello B3D I an 66 and my hearing loss mostly came from engine noise drag cars pit crew member Super Sstock and EARLY Funny Cars.Then military artillery . I have tried a number of different brands and all have their good points .Muffs help keep your ears warm and you can hear sounds you would miss without them in the ear aids also let you hear sounds you would have missed However like the other two posters wind will drive you crazy and one problem I have also had with them is I loss most of my sense of direction. Can hear a spring turkey but cant tell what direction I need to go to get to him I might walk away as often as toward one if it is very faint. They do Have a noise DB level cut out so that part works great to block gun blast. . I would love to try Real hearing aids but have never wanted to spend that much money. and have not found any that the person selling them knows for sure if they have a db cut out and what it is I get conflicting information..

nmyers

Check out this product:

http://www.earinc.com/index.php

It might be what you are looking for.

Neal

25wcf

I am now 64 and knew for years that I had a partial hearing loss, undoubtedly from thousands of rounds fired while bird hunting with no ear protection. Particularly hard to hear were bird songs, TV programs and high-pitched voices like young kids and some women. It seemed to me that I could hear the sounds, but I couldn't understand what was being said.

I tried amplified ear muffs in the woods, but gave up for the same reasons already mentioned...excessive background sounds and wind noise.

My wife had been after me for years to do something (tired of hearing me ask "...huh?"), so I finally bit the bullet and went to see a doctor of audiology for a hearing test. It turns out that I have normal hearing at low frequencies, absolutely no hearing at the highest frequencies, and a variable, but increasing amount of hearing loss in the middle frequency range. Since the spoken word is a mixture of frequencies, this accounts for how I could hear words being spoken, but not understand what was being said.

Well, the long and the short of it is that I was equipped with real hearing aids. I bought one for each ear, but I have since found that I could have got along with only one. These hearing instruments are adjusted by a computer into which has been fed information from the hearing test, so that each ear has enough amplification at each frequency level to match the hearing loss and make my hearing as close to normal as possible. In my case, this was only to improve hearing at the middle frequencies, since my loss at the high frequencies was so profound as to make that a lost cause.

The hearing aids I chose have two tiny microphones, one on top and one to the rear, mounted in a behind-the-ear unit which also contains the battery. There is a selector switch which allows you to select both microphones for all-around hearing, the top microphone only for concentrating your attention to the front (as in a crowded room), and an "ear plug" setting, which allows you to hear, but at a dimished level.

The audiologist assured me that all three settings have the cut-off circuit, but did not know the level. When shooting clay birds, I wear muffs over my hearing aids. I haven't worn muffs while hunting, though, and I have not experienced any pain or ringing in the ears that would indicate the sounds of a shot were being amplified.

Unless they see me from behind and notice the unit behind my ear, most people are surprised to find that I am wearing hearing aids, as the little tube that leads to the ear is almost invisible.

I have worn them for two years now, and I use them every day. I had some trouble at first trying to identify the location from which I was hearing sounds, but I found that I am adjusting to that and can now come fairly close to telling the direction. It is refreshing to be able to hear sounds that for years escaped me (did you know that car turn signals actually go "tick, tick, tick" and are quite loud?). Sirens, water trickling, hen turkey yelps, elk bugles, duck wings...it was good to be able to hear them again from afar. The biggest adjustment I had to make was to make sure I was wearing hooded clothing to protect the hearing aids from rain drops.

My hearing aids had a great initial warranty and a cheap extended warranty policy. I have had few problems with them, but experienced good service each time. I am told that they have an expected life of ten years. I can now hear my wife talking to me without reading her lips, I can turn the TV down to a level that won't make my neighbor's dog bark, I get very few strange looks because I answered a question I thought was asking something else, and the turkeys need to keep a little quieter when I am in the woods. It was quite an investment, but I am not looking back.