Posted by hannah on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/Hearing-Aids-tp4026941p4027135.html

I have experienced deafness over very many years and experienced tinnitus long before using hearing aids. Over about 12 years I used first analog and then digital hearing aids.  Tinnitus and the different ringing, humming, etc. sounds that it causes became familiar over many years but sometimes I noticed sounds of a quite different type which I believed were something else.
Living in the remote countryside I do not come close to all the electronic types of equipment that I would encounter in the city, and I only wear the hearing aids when they are needed as I feel that the less I wear them the better it is for my health including head and ear comfort.

During the past year I noticed variations in my hearing both when I was wearing the hearing devices and when without them and wondered about the cause. Also during this time our electricity supplier installed smart meters. There was no choice about it. The electricians/technicians just came along and changed over the meters. My smart meter happens to be on the wall immediately outside where I often sit at night to watch tv or when reading or using the telephone, so it is quite close to me.

The other evening I began to hear a kind of 'distant motor' sound which is difficult to describe and which I could not account for. It was uncomfortable to my ears. After half an hour or so of this a friend rang and I talked with her while sitting on the couch near the smart meter. In addition to the first sound there had begun another layer of sound, something vibrational and resonating in a way that was similar to human
voices. (There were no humans talking anywhere nearby)  I was able to talk with my friend but was feeling disturbed by what was happening in my ears and found myself unable to concentrate properly on our conversation. After we had stopped talking the uncomfortable vibration and noise continued for some time, lasting in total for about two hours or more.

Up until this time I had been unaware of the effects of smart meters and it was only after this experience that I read the posts on this site referring to smart meters and hearing aids, so now I am wondering how much that smart meter is affecting me. I am due to have a hearing test soon and am also wondering should I consider going back to analog hearing aids. I would be interested to hear what others think.