1 week into Phonak Lyric trial - Background Noise and other issues

Hearing Aids
#1

I am about 1 week into a Phonak Lyric trial for moderate hearing loss.

I chose the Lyric because the idea of invisibility and 24/7 set-and-forget appeared attractive. Granted I am an engineer and computer nerd so I would enjoy the ability to customize tuning, but I would rather not have to deal with yet another electronic device to manage/charge.

That said, I have noticed a few things so far which I will discuss with my audiologist as my first follow-up visit in a week or so:

(1) Background noise - Background noises can overpower all else. This is particularly noticeable when driving in a car. The tires-on-pavement sound is so overwhelming that I either bring the volume way down or put it into Sleep mode.

(2) Simultaneous sounds - If two people are talking or if one person is talking and there are other noise sources, it seems as if everything is amplified to the point of being hard to focus on the one discussion I am most engaged in.

(3) Music- When I listen to music the basic is almost all gone such that if I set the audio equalizer in the car to max bass, it sounds great to me but gives me wife a headache. I gave up and used headphones for my music while others in the car listened to the car audio system.

Are these observations likely fixable by tuning, or should I consider a much more programmable device not fully in ear such as the Widex 440?

#2

This old post suggests it may be possible for a user to buy a programming interface for the Lyric - is that possible with the current Lyric model?

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/user-customizable-options-newbie-geek-that-wants-to-tinker-with-my-own-eq/23150

Or alternatively can a user purchase the programming wand and fitting software on the current Lyric model?

#3

I ended up giving up on my Lyrics after 11 months. Now to be fair, you have to give your brain time to adjust to the analog sounds of lyric vs the digital sounds of other aids. And in that regard, after a few months using them I was really enjoying the more natural sounds of people voices, along with virtually zero occlusion. BUT, the trade off with analog is you have to deal with the fact that these aids do not have the technical ability to “assist” with things like road noise, and conversations with groups of people all talking at once. In addition they are not very good with music. So for me, I am retired, do a lot of traveling, and church with music every week. That and the fact that my extended family of 11 visits often made a situation where these were just not the best thing for my particular situation.

all that said, if you minor in those things mentioned, you will be thrilled with the sound quality and ease of use of the Lyrics if you stick with them for at least a month. If you major in those situations mentioned, you will not be happy.

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#4

It would be helpful to know whether your hearing loss makes you a good candidate for the lyric, or whether you are someone who should probably be in an open fit device but chose to go with the lyric anyway.

#5

@Neville - My hearing loss is moderate and well within the criteria for Lyric according to my audiologist. Trying Lyric was my idea based on my reading about convenience; she agreed I am a good candidate based on my audiogram.

That said - @jsemberger summarizes my initial observations well - road noise, multiple people talking, and music. I noticed those in just a day or two and was hoping those issues fade with time. If instead they are well-known problems I need to deal with to get CIC, then I may need to change to something else.

Assume for the moment I decide to switch to another device. If I am generally an uber techno-nerd and would like an extremely user-customizable device then what models should I consider? Is there something better than Widex 440 in that regard?

#6

I wouldn’t say they are well known effects. Good lyric candidates quite often really like the analogue sound. I usually expect boominess or crunchiness in people who are having occlusion issues.

That said, the lyric doesn’t give any extra support in terms of sound management the way other devices do.

Most manufacturers apps these days give you some level of customization. I do like the A/B comparisons that widex uses.

If you’re planning on playing around a lot… Keep in mind that the brain adjusts to the signal but that it needs time to do so (imagine taking an arm out of a sling for the first time in… However many years you’ve had hearing loss). It’s worth getting a solid fit to prescriptive targets and then giving it a while prior to messing about.

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