AUDIOLOGY Why does my voice sound so odd to me when wearing hearing aids? I feel like I am talking into a barrel . It sounds as though you are experiencing what is called the occlusion effect". Normally, when you speak with Heather Zimmel your ears unblocked (hearing aids out), you hear yourself both through the air traveling through your ear canal (air conduction) and through vibrations that you create in your skull and ear canal (bone conduction). However, when you wear hearing aids your ear canal becomes partially or fully blocked/occluded causing the sound you hear by means of air conduction to be reduced and the sound you hear by means of bone conduction to be increased thus affecting the way you perceive sound. To help you better understand this concept, try humming aloud while altermately plugging and unplugging one of your ears with your finger. You should notice that the sound of your humming changes in pitch and loudness in the plugged ear. After a short period of time most people with hearing aids adjust to hearing their own voice differently; however, if you feel this is not something you will adjust to, your audiologist can attempt to make changes to decrease the "hollowness" or "booming" you are experiencing. Such changes may include: keeping the ear as open as possible (ex: increasing venting in an in-the-ear hearing aid) or decreasing the amount of volume for low pitches. Au. D., CCC-A dvantageAudiology & HEARING HEALTHCARE 677 Anne Street NW, Suite G Bemidji, MN 56601 218-333-8833