I have recently been told I have a partail hearing loss on high frequencies and that I would benefit from an aid. I really do not like the NHS aid, and the private ones are very expensive. I recently saw a press advert for the Ampli Ear hearing amplifier. Has anyone used one of these, and are they any good?

hi hansi

This is not what the experts would advise nowadays but if you’ve been told you have “a partial hearing loss on high frequencies and that I would benefit from an aid”, it sounds like it’s not troubling you too much so you could just try living with it. That’s what I did for 20 odd years. I was not at all happy with the thought of wearing a H/A in my 30s. Now in my 50s, my hearing is a bit worse and I have just started wearing one and I don’t feel too bad about it. It’s not helping my hearing much at the moment because it’s not tuned in properly yet.

Re The cost. Mine was not cheap, but was less than half some people pay. You’ve got to shop around, there’s lot of good advice on that (from Smoker mostly) to be found on these pages. Let me know if I can help you find it.

Just looked at Ampli Ear on the net: they say you can try it for a month then get your money back.

Thanks for that Digger. I think I'll take advantage of the offer and see.

Hi hansi

Private systems are not as expensive as they used to be. There are a few firms out there who have some really good prices when compared with the sorts of costs you may have heard about.

Amplifier/mini-ear is a good cheap option IF everything you hear is just too quiet and you need volume. Pretty much akin to an ear-trumpet really.

But if, like most hearing-impaired, you need to hear more clearly, not loudly, (typical with the high frequency loss that you decribe) then the amplifier/mini-ear is likely to just distort your clarity even further and make background noise even more intolerable.

Smoker

that made me laugh when I read what Digger wrote..Didnt fancy wearing aids in your 30,s eh?
I was born partially deaf and had to wear 2 aids from the age of 4. This was when they realised I was deaf and I wasnt talking properly. I had to start with the body worn aid, remember those? and I didnt get the all new behind the ear aids until I was 7 I think it was..
Well by the time I was in Hi school..I had been bullied a fair amount and was always conscious of my aids, so much so that I resorted to wearing just one, which strangly enough I found easier with not so much crashing noises.
Im 41 now, worn aids all my life, so at in your 50,s Digger, you have nothing to worry about.. you might wish you did it earlier.
Actually the reason I came on here in the first place was to see what people thought of the Amli-ear and I think I have been advised..With my Hi frequency loss they are not recommended

Hey Rubyjosie

I appreciate that you like many other – if not most – members of this forum have a hearing loss far greater than mine.

I’ve received some invaluable advice on this forum, and I just feel I want to do something in return ie. answer a query even when I’ve got little to offer other than to share my own experiences. I suppose I might have said something like: “this Ampli Ear thing sounds like a load of old rubbish to me” but that wouldn’t have helped anyone much and anyway I am not qualified to comment. I just wanted to offer something … and I hope I haven’t offended anyone. You have been unfortunate enough to be inflicted with bad hearing problems from a very early age, but there are millions with better luck like me who suffer relatively minor problems later in life. I hope this forum will attract and do something – in it’s own off the record slightly muddled way – to help all kinds of people, with all kinds of hearing problems

Interesting … you choose to wear one H/A and not two as the experts always recommend. I actually had two 7 or 8 years ago, hated them, wore 1 off & on for a few months, then gave up completely. Now I’ve just decided to approach the problem more sincerely, and I’ve bought one and one only (against professional advice) new H/A, and I’m determined to wear it. (either that or live in a world of my own).

Thanks xx d

ps … can't help with the Amli-ear thing, but hopefully someone will be along with some answers soon.

hello, im new here. i have been hearing impaired since the age of 5. im 22 now, though i like wearing hearing aids, i dont know whether to consider Ampli Ear. i was diagnosed with severe bilateral loss or something like that. i just want to know how would i go about in considering hidden aids, are they more beneficial than NHS (wear digital aids) aids? sorry if i posted in the wrong topic.

Try ampli-ear ONLY if you are absolutely certain that you get full refund within 30 days of purchase.

They are OK for a very small minority of people, who need increased volume across the whole range of frequencies. A sort of electronic ear-trumpet if you like. But that's less than 1% of the hearing impaired.

A bit like putting magnifying glasses on your eyes to see better........

Smoker

Not very helpful replies, are they. You ask a question about Ampli-ear and you get told to manage without an aid! Makes you really happy you came on here and asked about it.

I had a career in electronics designing all sorts of equipment. I too wanted to know how good the sound was from it. And looked on here.

That is best tested initially by getting someone with good hearing to give you an opinion. How good does the sound, via the aid, sound to them?

If it is rubbish, it is not going to do you any good whatever your hearing state is.

As to loss of high frequency hearing (I have it myself) from tests on myself, I find the loss is so severe, I will not get it back with a hearing aid. The bits in the ear that are sensitive to high frequencies die as we get older. They have gone! But the lower frequencies are OK, but need a boost. An aid can raise the levels of those frequencies which will help you.

I find listening to the TV via headphones does a lot for me and I can enjoy it. And the aid should be able to do the same, depending on how well it is made.

I can also talk with people without an aid.

At a cost of about 20 pounds each, not a lot of money is at risk. We just need someone to buy one and give an opinion.

K.H.

Smoker,
How can a hearing aid "distort your clarity"?

If it has been properly designed it should be able to reproduce the sound as the original sound, without distortion, and also louder.

Its reproduction may not be quite as the original because of a restricted frequency range, for instance speech requires a frequency band of only 300 to 3000 Hz, but that restriction is NOT distortion. It is similar to using tone controls.

The original Post Office telephones used a similar frequency band and we used those for years.

OK, going up to 3000 will not reproduce any hiss sounds, and having those can help with speech clarity. But if a person has lost the ear sensor hairs in the cochlea (sp?) that detect those high frequencies, he/she is not going to get the sound back by using a hearing aid.

Many 60 year olds and above have lost their hearing for frequencies above 5000 Hz and some at even lower. At the same time they do not hear those lower frequencies as well as they used to. A bit more loudness is a great help.

K.H.