mastoid bone hearing aid equalizer ????

Would you consider a small in ear aid?

Interesting thoughts.

In ear does not work for me. I tried ear buds but the pain and little sound increase told me that is not the way to go. How sad.

You really need to work with an audiologists. Find one you like and let him advise you. I have molded in ear buds and yes they are irritating for a week or so until you get adjusted to them. The mastoid type only works for a sub group of people with hear loss.

I am in that sub group. Three thousand dollars for hearing aids got a rapid thumbs down by my insurance.

Pain from extremely loud but totally ineffective ear bud hearing aids make the inner each itch then later scream in pain.

About a dozen or 15 years ago I tried out some hearing aids from a local place, Miracle Ear (a/k/a/ Sebotek). They were billed as "deep insertion" hearing aids and they occluded the hearing (acted like ear plugs so that nearly all sound came in through the inserted-in-ear speakers). The tech cranked those babies up so high, a closing door sounded like a gunshot. I told him it was too loud, but he said I'd adjust. Driving in the truck was an ordeal; every creak and rattle was magnified. Leaves rustling in the wind sounded alarming. And the itching was unbearable, way way deep in my ear. I took them back.

But then I bought some used ReSound BTE (behind the ear) hearing aids off ebay and had them programmed at another office. Very little itching, and I could kind of reach the spot with my pinkie to scratch it. Those got me through a couple of years. Since then I've gotten some from America Hears (they were pretty good) and now I have a pair of Sonic Enchant mini BTE.... all of the above have had the wire going to the speaker in the ear, not so deep though, and not occluding (unenhanced sound gets in too). On all of these I've had a way to control the volume, which is a great feature.

My point is, after the first bad experience I was gun shy about working with audiologists. So I found ways to get hearing aids to try without having to interact much with them, and I got ones that I could self-adjust. (Those America Hears ones came with software and a programming module.) It took me quite a while, but I finally took a chance on another local audiologist and I've been happy with what he fitted me with.

If you have a Sam's Club or a Costco down yonder, their prices should be better. Sam's sells "Liberty" branded hearing aids (in the US at least) which are actually the same as America Hears. You should be able to get a 30 day trial period on a pair.

About the itching, there is a small possibility that you were allergic to the pliable stuff that attaches to the speaker tip. It is removable, and there are other types of tips (like foam) that could be tried; I doubt anyone could be allergic to all of them. But if it's just a matter of the ear canal toughening up a bit, that should happen within just a few days and major itching should end.

I hope this helps. We have to be able to hear those grandkids and stuff..... ;)

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
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With a 32 band PREamplifier feeding transducers that lay against the mastoid bone, Is it possible to restore a significant portion of a normal audio bandwidth?...

NO!

I got mine from Costco maybe 4 years ago. Program from my phone + phone talks directly to them. They gave me a little bottle of stuff for the itching.

I agree with age. It took a week to get used to ear buds.