New Hearing Aids

I bit the bullet and bought a pair of hearing aids today. My hearing loss is significant (60 dB loss above 2kHz) but not unusual. As even the audiologist did not know, 60 dB is a factor of a 1,000 in acoustical power. After the audiologist tweaked the hearing aid amplification spectrum, I retook the hearing test and scored 30 dB hearing loss above 2 kHz. She offered to turn up the gain, but I declined. Maybe later, after I have adjusted to hearing the clanging and clicking of daily life.

The first change I made after I driving away from the doctor's office was to turn down the treble in my car radio/CD player. I had turned it way up before, and now having the bass and treble set to zero gain sounds fine. Here are the sounds that are most different for me:

Paper(!) -- flexing a paper bag, wadding up a piece of paper, even something as small as a 3M sticky note.

Car alarm chirp -- I could hardly hear it before.

Car keys and door latches -- they really clink and clack, don't they?

Water flowing into the kitchen sink -- it is a loud clatter to me now.