CPAP and hearing aids

Hello CPAPtalk,

This may not apply to most people here, but for those CPAP users who use their CPAP every night, have great AHIs, but still experience excessive daytime drowsiness, brain fog, etc.

All other potential reasons excluded -- if you think you may have hearing loss, you should get a hearing test. Age does not matter. This is why.

I began CPAP several years ago and it had an immediate positive impact. Changed my life. Over time, it has not lost its ability to keep me sleeping solidly at night (as far as my machine tells me and how I feel), but after a few years, I started to feel tired again during the day, not nearly as much as pre-CPAP, but definitely groggy, not able to pay attention to things as well as before.

Turns out it was nothing to do with CPAP or sleeping, but something that was fairly easy to fix and I was kicking myself for not dealing with it sooner. Hearing loss. For me it was a gradual hearing loss over several years and I never noticed it degrading much, since the progression was slow. Once my hearing loss got severe, I finally got hearing aids.

Incredible. The world opens up, like new!

I never realized how bad my hearing was until I got tested and then the aids themselves. I don't know if there are official studies about this, but one data point here (my opinion only):

Hearing aids significantly improve cognitive abilities, alertness, concentration, wakefulness -- everything! I believe the brain simply works better when it is getting all the proper stimulus it needs. The technology these days is amazing. It's a little bit like living life in a sound studio.

It's no wonder you get tired/sleepy/groggy during the day when you can't hear anything!

That was the missing piece for me. With both CPAP and the hearing aids, I damn near feel like a kid again! Even if you think your hearing is "okay enough", it might be a lot worse than you think, and it may be causing just as much of a fog in your life as untreated sleep apnea was.

That's all I wanted to say, thanks and good luck!

I got hearing aids last year. Probably due to me shooting guns most of my life. I had a hearing test done, and I asked the lady is it bad. She said there were folks that could hear better than me with hearing aids. After I got mine,my " ah-ha" moment was hearing birds again. There's alot of stuff that can affect your sleep. We often think issues are apnea related.. when it can be something else.

Sheriff
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My hearing loss was very gradual as well, but only on one side, as a result from an childhood ear infection.
My loss was only moderate when I got my first aid, and that was to alleviate tinnitus.
(One sided, a cross between a locust and a bad fluorescent light.)
Hearing gave me back the ability to locate where the birds were.
I raved so, that my brother finally got his aids (after procrastinating for maybe a decade)
He had one program set just for hunting, cutting wind noise out so he could hear wildlife--being wild.

My husband has both inherited Hearing loss and hearing loss from occupational noise exposure. When he first had a hearing test without HMO he asked the audiologist when he would need hearing aids.

"Your wife will tell you".

I finally did. He's having a tough time adjusting to them, though.

My problem is I'll be blasting away at the gun range and I'll think man, that's loud! I then realise I forgot to remove the hearing aids!

Sheriff

This is interesting as I have been on CPAP for 5 years and still have bouts of tiredness during the day. I had a check up with my ENT who advised a hearing test. As an aside my wife has been after me for several years to have my hearing checked. I was tested and they found that I had noise related hearing loss. I cannot hear high frequencies which is where my wife's voice is LOL. I have ordered hearing aids and they will be in next week. It will be interesting to see if they help with mid day tiredness. "The adventure continues".

Sheriff -- LOL, funny.

J + J -- the wives are always right, aren't they? Pisses me off! LOL kidding.

Also Joel, don't be surprised if the world is very "bright" and "crinkly" at first. It's the brain going "whoa" on all these new signals. I'd almost give a brief speech of: "keep at it, don't give up", as some people don't tolerate hearing aids, but who am I talking to? A 5 year CPAP veteran! (If you can adjust to sleeping with a mask on your face, you can adjust to hearing aids -- no problem.)

Chunkyfrog -- not to whine too much, but tinnitus has been a *major* problem for me, so I thought I'd mention -- some of the new earpieces now have "Anti-Tinnitus" mode. It injects a white/pink/custom noise directly into your ear, with a volume/intensity control for it. It's pretty awesome. It sounds like a soft "sshh" but it can be a higher or lower pitch of "sshh" depending on what works for you. It's been a life saver for me. Truly.

I don't know if there are official studies about this, but one data point here (my opinion only):

Hearing aids significantly improve cognitive abilities, alertness, concentration, wakefulness -- everything! I believe the brain simply works better when it is getting all the proper stimulus it needs. The technology these days is amazing. It's a little bit like living life in a sound studio.

It's no wonder you get tired/sleepy/groggy during the day when you can't hear anything!


Hey, wake that deaf guy up!!!

Just kidding. I don't know if your theory, opinion has legs or not. I'm glad it works for you.
I don't usually suffer from daytime drowsiness so you might be on to something.
I had a BAHA Coclear hearing implant back in 2006.
I do have trouble getting to sleep though.
Got any ideas????

Bryan

@Milligram:
My tinnitus only bothers me in the absence of background noise.
Eventually, I may go after that feature, but I don't feel like I need it yet.