> 0n (31 Oct 05) Barbara McNay wrote to Cindy Haglund...

 >>  BM> I do occasionally get a persistence of a sound actually heard; I
 >>  BM> sometimes have to stop up my ears to determine whether I'm actually
 >>  BM> hearing a noise or not.

 >>  That's a head noise. The URL explains what they are.
 >> Ever get hit by
 >> a softball? Bonked your head on something? For an
 >> instant you may see flashes
 >> of light/and a 'tone' sound in your head? Those are
 >> quite real.

 >  BM> Certainly they're "real," but the point is that I
am sometimes not
 >  BM> aware that it is a head noise; rather, I am under the impression that
 >  BM> I am hearing an actual externally generated sound.

 >  I was thinking about this a lot. Now I recall shortly
 > before
 > deciding giving up the aid (ten Octobers ago) and what
 > you describe
 > occurred to me too. In fact this confusion " is it
 > real or a head
 > noise' was one of the deciding factors. I do recall,
 > Barbara there
 > was a time when I was trying to hear what someone was
 > saying- the
 > volume on the aid turned way up - to no avail because
 > the head noise
 > was so loud. It seemed as though the aid was making
 > those noises
 > louder instead of the external sound.

This is a complex issue.  For one thing, an aid normally amplifies sound.
Without knowing what exactly the situation was, I could say that there
might have been background noise that your aid was picking up.  Also, aids
have an induction coil and "compatible" phones can work with this
to enable (theoretically) better hearing on the phone.  This same induction
coil in some aids can pick up emanations whenever you go near a computer,
(especially a large mainframe), a heater thermostat, and other things like
that, and it makes a raucous hum (I think, it has been a while, now) that
gets louder, the closer you get to the electrical item.  Also, aids which
are malfunctioning can make a variety of noises.  And if you were trying to
talk on the phone, then malfunctioning phone lines can be so noisy as to
make conversation impossible, as can the noise if the caller is at an
airport.

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