SPEAKER: Hello, and welcome back to the channel.
Today, we're going to do the hearing aid Q&A.
If you don't know from a previous video,
I did get actual real hearing aids for the first time.
First pair ever and now we're going to do the Q&A 'Cause
I know quite a few of you are gonna be curious about things.
A quick update though, I did get these
readjusted at my second appointment.
Things are a little bit better, that 'shhh' sound isn't bad anymore
and that's why I really like exaggerate it to make it hurt on purpose,
which I don't know why I would do that but experiment purposes.
And then it's still a bit louder but I do have volume control now.
So yeah.
So I asked you to ask me questions on Twitter and Instagram,
and we're gonna go with Instagram first because I just, I don't know.
It seems like Instagram is the place for Q&A questions.
'What do you like and dislike about hearing aids?' Well,
so far they made it easier to have conversations
with hearing people granted,
you know, we're in the middle of a pandemic,
so masks are still being worn by some people,
not everybody, but some people.
So, you know, even though I can hear that they're talking to me,
it's still pretty difficult to understand what they're actually saying.
I can get a word here and they are more than I did before.
You know, I also like and I did this.
I was going out somewhere, there was a baby crying,
it hurt very very much and all I had to do was take my hearing aids off.
And it was a wonderful moment of pure joy.
Just like the I think the only real thing right now is
just that there's everything's still really loud.
I mean, now I have volume control so it's a little bit easier.
But still there's just too many sounds and everything like this.
And I'm like, Oh my God, what's that?
What's that?
And now it's like I'm so what's the word that I'm looking for?
All of it hypervigilant.
But every time I hear somebody talking,
I begin to think they're talking to me,
even though 99.9% of the time they are not.
So just I just walk in there to them talking and I'm like Oh my God,
what were they trying to talk to me?
But no.
They're on the phone or they're talking to somebody beside of them.
And I'm just like, I probably just look really weird,
constantly turning my head at every single person.
It's like, Oh God.
'How much more can you hear with your Aids?
speech?
music?' Pretty much.
I can hear everything a lot better now than before.
People talking?
I can hear them more.
Music?
Definitely.
My cats?
That's a new one.
That's a new one right there.
I still don't know about extremely high pitched noises.
Oh, I haven't really tested that out like a kitchen timer.
I talked about how in the past my ex-boyfriend was putting a kitchen
timer on for something and I 100% percent did not hear it.
Thankfully, nothing burned down 'Cause he was still there,
he was in the apartment but yeah.
Now that I think about it, did I ever hear the beeping on the air fryer?
I can hear the beeps on my camera now and beeps
in other places that it's like, very strange.
'What surprised you the most about your hearing aid?'
Probably the hardware.
I didn't realize just how odd it would feel.
And so we just got them retied because
I accidentally cut them too short.
Well I didn't cut them, the audiologist did.
She was like, "They look fine," but I was like, "They are loose."
And then we cut them and I'm like, "No, no, they are too short".
And we just now we just leave them alone.
But we re tubed them and left them on but it's a weird feeling.
And now, like, everything's like touching it, my hair and argh!
'What's the weirdest thing that you've found that makes sound
you didn't know it did?' Probably the refrigerator.
See from a scientific standpoint, I know
practically everything makes noise.
The 'Could You Survive The movies' episode I did 'A Quiet Place,
' Jake talks about how pretty much everything makes a sound.
I mean, your blood inside makes a sound.
You can't really hear it, but it makes a sound.
You know, I should expect it, a refrigerator makes a sound,
but it was still weird to hear 'Cause I didn't know
what it was when I walked into the kitchen.
I thought The Conjuring was happening, thought my kitchen was hunted.
'Was it weird to hear your own voice?
What do you sound like?' Okay, so I've heard them before with
those generic amplifiers that I once upon a time tried.
It was still a little bit weird to hear it.
Kind of almost really sounds the same to me, honestly.
Just a little bit more robotic, just a tiny bit
right now because the way these things work.
But yeah, I don't really know what's the difference.
The only thing is my own volume control 'Cause
I don't I don't know how loud I am anymore.
'Do you regret getting the hearing aid yet?'
I mean, they were free, so no.
(LAUGHS) They were free.
There's really no regret there.
And my audiologist appointments for the first year are free.
So, I think the only way I could ever really regret it but I wouldn't
really regret it like it might make sense in a minute,
is just now hearing people be like, "Oh, you have hearing aids now.
So now we can just I don't have to do anything.
Like I don't have to be accessible to you.
And now I don't have to learn ASL for you." It's funny.
I was thinking about how my ex would be now if I had these things on,
and he would really be like,
"Oh, I don't have to learn ASL now."
Even though he never even tried before.
So, that's the only thing that like makes me go, "Okay,"
that might be regret but it wouldn't really be regret.
It would just be I don't know how to explain it,
but hopefully that makes sense.
I think that fellow hearing aid wearing people would
probably understand what I'm talking about.
'How is your interaction with your audiologist
using an ASL interpreter?' Fantastic.
I love my interpreter.
I love my audiologist.
It's been a fun time.
'What was the first impression?' That it was
a little bit weird 'Cause I hate having things
in my ears like I don't even like wearing
my air pods in for a long period of time.
So, it's having these on all the time is like a nurse,
definitely hearing aid fatigue, right?
It's just, Oh God, I hate wearing these so much, so much.
Eventually, I will get more used to it.
But right now it's like, Oh God.
'Did you notice any difference verses ordinary amplifiers?' You know,
it's been so long since I tried those things that I'm not really sure.
'So far, what is your minor annoyance you have with your pair?'
Just the hardware, you know,
the things that you gotta put over your ears because
they were very loosey goosey in the beginning,
and I thought they'd be too long.
They started to get a little bit better as I started wearing them,
but now we just had to retube them because,
like I said, we actually we ended up cutting them too short.
So, now it's like they're brand new and all loosey goosey again.
So, it's just it's just constantly feel that it's gonna fall off
my ear and it just takes up so much of my ear and it's like...
I imagine eventually I'll probably get used to it,
but right now it's just like, Oh God.
'What are things you have changed since
wearing them because it was too loud?'
Touching paper bags a little bit better now,
but I'm still like ever so quietly picking them up and memory cards.
Those were too large but now it's only tiny,
tiny like ever so slowly putting them down.
'Is there something you really like hearing
now with your hearing aids on?
Like before and after my blowing change.'
Listening to my cats meow is the funniest thing.
Simon not so much because he does it constantly
and he's always screaming at me and I love my boy.
I love him to death, and he's adorable and he's so sweet.
But there's constant screaming 24/7.
It was fun to look at, it was cute to look at but now that when you
when I have to put these on and I can hear it, I'm like, Oh God.
And now Zane, Simon has started to teach Zane to meow I guess.
I think Zane is finally figuring out because the previous
cat that he grew up with here never really meowed.
So I guess he never really understood the concept.
So now he knows, Hey, if I meow all the time, I'll get what I want.
Now, the only time Zane ever really made much
of a noise is if you pick him up long enough,
but he never really meowed, he just he would just growl at you and hit.
So now he's meowing, and it's so cute
because Zane is the more aggressive,
the more threatening one.
He's the one that is more like,
I'm going to scratch you and bite you because you're annoying me.
Where as Simon is very passive.
He's like a pacifist.
He doesn't want to hurt anyone,
he doesn't want to play with other cats and like fighting,
you know, things like that.
He'll just be like, "Stop fighting.
Oh, please, no." But Simon sounds so much more
aggressive and threatening than Zane does.
It's like their voices don't match and they need to be switched.
It's so funny to me but just hearing Zane
meow now is like the cutest little thing.
Oh man.
'Does it sound better when you listen to people, especially lipreading?'
Lipreading is 10 times easier now with these things on.
It's still difficult, but it's a lot easier when these are on.
You know, I went to return my rental car enterprise
I pretty much got everything the guy said.
Again, these were also when it was like super super super loud.
'Are you eager...?' (LAUGHS) This is funny.
'Are you eager to flex on people who annoy
you by taking them out in front of *them?'
It's such a shame that VidCon's been cancelled this year.
I understand why, I understand why.
It would have been so much fun to take them out in front
of all the troublemaker YouTubers and TikTokers
and whoever else now would be showing up because there's always a few,
there's always a few, we know.
And it would just be like, Oh my God, like VIP parties do with kids
running around and you just take them off would be alright.
Granted though, VidCon can still get pretty loud even if I take
them off but I haven't been in like three years or so,
maybe longer than I can't remember the last time I went.
So, who knows what would be like now in comparison, but yeah.
'How does music sound like now?'
Think music still sound a little bit funky.
If I listen to the regular radio in the car,
it does sound a little bit more evened out
even when I'm listening to Classic Rock.
Usually, if I'm using the regular radio, I'm playing classic rock.
So, before it was just even if I had it all the way up,
it was difficult to understand the lyrics
or figure out what song it was.
A lot of time, it just it wasn't it wouldn't sound as loud
and it wouldn't have enough bass with it, whereas, you know,
if I turn on Apple Carplay or something so that I can listen to like
my my K-pop or my K-hip hop, whatever needs a lot more bass.
Now it's a lot even more don't really understand lyrics all that much,
but at least the sound you know.
I don't know.
Don't care about the lyrics.
Who cares?
'How did you decide the color for your ear molds?'
I've been really liking pink a lot.
Lately it's become one of my favorite colors.
It is a bit more neon than I would have preferred
when I looked at the computer screen,
they looked blush pink but partially more neon, but you know what?
It's okay.
Although I'm not gonna lie now I'm like what have
I got purple 'Cause I've been liking purple too.
Maybe next time, I don't know.
How often do you?
How often are you supposed to change molds?
'Do you like having hearing aids?
Do you think you will once the period of adjustment is over?'
I mean yeah, they're fine.
They're helping me do what I need to do.
I have noticed this one thing that when I'm filming,
I don't make my throat hurt so much anymore because
I'm not like practically doing whatever
the hell it is with my throat to make me talk louder and try to
enunciate better so that I can understand myself when I get it.
So there's that.
'Have the hearing aids helped with any
tinnitus you have?' I don't think so,
because even last night I was thinking about it because I was
thinking about this question and it started happening.
I guess not.
That was Instagram, so let's go to Twitter.
'Because I always love hearing about myths and misconceptions...
What are some of the most common misconceptions about hearing aids?'
That they're a cure for hearing loss and that
your hearing will be restored and that you
don't need any more accessibility like you
wouldn't need captions or an interpreter,
you know, whatever you use for accessibility,
because now you can just you have hearing aids, problem solved.
No.
Especially when driving right now.
Like, I'm still constantly having to turn my head,
so I don't really want people in my car to try
to talk to me because I can't understand.
'How have your hearing aids made life easier/more difficult.
Easier to film.
Doesn't really help so much with editing because,
well, I might need to try them later,
since I've gotten a readjusted but putting on headphones
over these is like a little bit uncomfortable,
and I still just like, Oh my God, so loud and staticky.
I tried to edit with these on and it sounded so
staticky that I thought I screwed up the audio,
but filming again, usually because I'm not straining
my voice and hurting my throat so much.
And then when I edit without my hearing aids and just my headphones,
I was understanding myself is still
a tiny bit of struggle.
I don't know.
And also like trying to have conversations.
Most of the time I still just tried to.
I just don't make them type and all type 'Cause I just don't wanna like,
if it's quick, I'm not so worried about it.
If it's something that is like a legal thing and it's going to take
a while and I really need to make sure I have the details (WHISPERS).
I'm not gonna risk it.
I'm still not gonna risk it with these
because it's not perfect nor difficult
it's just me being paranoid about every single little sound.
It's... it's like a horror movie now.
Everything's like, Oh God, oh my God,
oh my God, someone's trying to break in.
And it's not as I walked on the floor and
I thought somebody was breaking in my door.
'I know you were quite hesitant about getting hearing aids at all.
Are you going to keep wearing them regularly?
No one quite has.
I was really only quite hesitant because of the cost, too expensive.
It wasn't gonna happen out of my pocket,
but am I gonna keep wearing them regularly when I go out?
Right now, I still don't always wear them when I'm going out mostly
because I'm downstairs already and my hearing is upstairs.
I'm too lazy to go back up, but if I'm going out
somewhere to do something, I'll have them in.
When I'm filming, I'll have them in.
But if I'm just going to sit down and, you know,
watch YouTube videos, watch TV, right?
Just just minding my own business by myself at home,
I don't really feel the need to wear them.
There will be periods of time when I will because, you know,
just to make sure my brain is getting a little bit
more trained every day to get used to them and,
you know, whatever other scientific stuff.
But I don't I really don't think, you know,
like I said in the original video that I'm going
to be like a 24 hour, 24/7 hearing aid wearer.
'Does the fridge actually make a sound or is my
best mate having me on?' It makes a sound.
It makes it that.
And I don't just mean when you open and close
it and then the closing makes the sound.
What was it called the compressor or something?
Whatever the hell that is, makes a buzzing sound.
Not always, but like every once in a while it
starts start to come up and I'm like, Oh, Okay.
'Did you have any expectations before getting them?
And if so, were those expectations met?'
My only real expectation was that they would be a little
bit louder so I would be able to hear noises more.
And yeah, my expectations have been met.
I can hear things more, and understanding understanding I knew would be
wishy washy because I'm known from other friends past experiences that,
you know, it's still a struggle to understand everything,
especially if I had known,
I don't know when this will ever happen again,
but being at a table with a bunch of people and they're all talking,
that's not necessarily something I'm looking forward to,
but I expect that dinner table syndrome would still be a thing.
I'm hoping it'll be less so at the very least, I can, you know,
focus on someone and understand them and then maybe get some context,
but I don't want to see that ever happens in the future.
Actually now I'm realizing, I believe I asked if anyone
in the comments of our original video have questions.
You can leave them now.
So, let's go look at the comments there.
One person asked, 'Where are you on the hearing loss scale?'
The answer specifically is a little bit of a blur.
Remember that being talked about at a very tippity-top starting point.
Moderate to severe and then eventually it goes severe to profound.
So I think it's more like when it comes to deep tones,
it's moderate to severe.
And then when it comes to the high pitched sounds severe to profound.
Good luck, Ricky.
'What's the physical sensory experience of wearing them like?
Do you feel like they hurt your ears after a time?'
Oh, definitely, definitely.
Every once in a while, I'm like putting my
finger in and like kind of readjusting
a little bit of rubbing inside my ear
because it's just it hurts so much.
I just after, I think, a couple of hours it's like,
okay, I'm kind of really over it now.
Like, I spent a day being out because I was doing things
then I came back home and look I want them off
for even with the hardware 'Cause it's just heavy
in comparison to like and it's not that heavy,
like if you hold it but like on your ears, it gets heavy after a while.
It was like, okay, I was like, I really want to take them off.
'How has the process of getting them through VR?'
I think it's a video that could probably be beneficial
on its own because I feel like the whole answer is a little bit longer,
but it did take a while.
Prepare to take a while, especially now during COVID times,
where literally everything is taking longer.
But it did take less than I expected.
It was from April to August.
Though a bit of a wait, but not as long
as I was expecting because some people
were telling me that once you know you got the press for a molds,
you were getting the molds done that
you could wait up like three months,
but I only had to wait three weeks after that.
So that was good.
But yeah, I think I might do a whole separate video on that
in the future so subscribe if you wanna know about that.
'Do hearing aids help you when you're watching a movie?'
Oh, that's the one.
That's one thing that's been very different.
I can have the TV volume ten out of 100, and it's still way too loud.
I am able to hear like we're still hearing there.
But it when it comes to movies, you know,
the angles everybody switch and angle you're seeing
in the back of people's heads when they're talking.
And so I would I still most definitely need
captions when I'm watching a movie.
I don't think that's ever gonna change.
When it comes to like commercials where you know like car commercials,
where the car dealers are always like right
there at the screen and staring at you.
Or even like if I'm watching the weather report 'Cause
they just just keep looking at you, right?
Or news, that's a little bit easier, but I still need captions.
Quality of the audio and just the way that it works when I recorded
versus I coming out of a live person is way, way different.
Like, you can have a human beside my TV that can be at the same volume,
but I'm likely going to understand the live human in front
of me more than the human on the television, science.
It's weird and complicated.
And those are the questions for this Q&A.
I hope you learn a little bit more about
my experience with hearing aids.
So, will I make more videos about them?
Probably.
Like I said, the process of getting out through VR.
I think that might be helpful for that.
Any other topics in regards to hearing aids and videos about them,
you can always leave them down below in the comments
and I'll write them down if they sound good.
So, just let me know.
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Thank you for taking time out your day to watch
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Bye.