June 7, 2025, by Helen Henshaw
Colours and more
As mentioned in my last blog, I have acquired a nice pair of blue hearing aids together with purple ear moulds:
I wandered out of the audiologist’s feeling more than a little self-conscious and curious as to how the world would respond. In short, as it turned out, not a lot. Few people have commented directly, and they have been mainly family or people I know well. What I did notice was that it became more frequent for conversations about hearing in general to take place, leading me to conclude that of course the other person had noticed (how could they not?) and thus felt safe to talk about hearing topics. Initially, I had a sense that some people were looking at me but trying to be subtle about it. This may also have reflected my own self-consciousness but, within a week or two, I have become much less bothered by this. The coloured aids are what I wear, and they are a statement about hearing loss and how it is OK to make this visible to others.
What is quite fun is that it is possible to change the colours of the earhooks, the connecting tubes and the moulds, so that today, for instance, I have green earhooks and yellow tubes. It would be cool to have bright red hearing aids as a change from the blue, but that is way more expensive than just paying a few quid for earhooks and tubes, so that will have to wait for another time. Another option I am thinking of is to add some jewellery (as produced by companies like Deaf Metal or Auzi) but this might require an ear piercing. Hmm.
So, in the event, the colours haven’t been as much of a big deal as I expected. I must say that, personally, I like the look, so I am quite happy with that aspect. What has been more significant is the change in the type of hearing aid, and that is the reason for ‘And More’ in the title above. Previously I have used receiver in canal (RIC) hearing aids, where the aid is connected by a wire to the speaker, which is located in the ear canal and held in place by a round silicon piece (dome). The advantages of RIC are that they are light, less visible, and allow you to use more of your residual hearing, especially of lower frequencies as sound can still enter your ear canal from outside. They are pretty easy to maintain as you just need to replace the wax filter on the receiver every now and again.
The new hearing aids, being intended for children (!), are made to operate in a different fashion. The sound is produced in the hearing aid itself (hence these are known as behind the ear; BTE) and transmitted via the tubing through the ear mould and into the ear canal. With a custom fitted mould, there is a close seal between the mould and the ear canal. Indeed, if the aids are turned off, they are akin to ear plugs. Most ear moulds have a second hole which acts as a vent to allow low frequency sounds to get through. Otherwise, the effect is quite strange and a bit like being under water. Thus a BTE aid is a bit more complicated than a RIC model, but it is more powerful as it retains more of the sound produced by the hearing aid.
I hadn’t really thought about how different these two types of aid might be, and I think I am still getting used to wearing BTE aids. However, what I do notice is that they make available sounds that I haven’t heard for a while, like birdsong, and there is a richness about fabric and other sounds that is pleasing too. It does change the sound of my own voice, making it come from inside my head, and this is definitely taking a while to adjust to. For close-up sounds (within arm’s length) they are almost like having a Roger device in your head. They are slightly fiddly to insert at first, but the strange sequence of movements that you need to place them correctly is soon learned. Cleaning is more complicated, as it is important to keep the mould and the tubing as dry as possible, which requires wiping, blowing air through the mould, and using drying crystals for storage. However, I imagine this just becomes routine too. It’s certainly worth doing as much as possible to look after this expensive kit.
Thus, this blog is not so much about colours, more about the different hearing experiences from different types of hearing aid. As usual, life turns up things that are unexpected. Which is why life remains interesting and stimulating.
Tom Dening
6th June 2025
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