Pretty new to the world of hearing aids and have been lurking around on this forum for a while. (If I hadn’t dragged my feet I really should have had a couple of years experience by now…)
Have only tried one pair, late last year, which was Phonak Infinio Spheres but gave them up because they were, literally, painfully bulky. (Might have worked if they were on their own behind the ears but they needed to compete with my different pairs of glasses that I switch a gazillion times a day.)
Now trying to reboot my search for HA:s and decided to come here for advice. The reason is that I’m actually in the search for two pairs. At work, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and similar connectivity is a no-no. Out of work though I would prefer all the “bells and whistles”.
My audi recommended that I’d try to stick to the same brand though. The reason being that it would be easier for the brain to adapt if the “sound image” between the sets would be as similar as possible. (We’ll see if the audi can come up with a decent suggestion.)
Anyone here who’s been in the same situation, i.e. starting out with two sets from scratch? Or even just having the same work/out-of-work needs? If so - any recommended combinations?
Living in Sweden and we’ve got the major brands like Phonak, Oticon, GN Resound, Signia, Widex, Starkey available as far as I know of. Maybe others as well but haven’t seen much of “over-the-counter”.
Don’t have any real preferences regarding type/style. Seems to me though that it would be easier to handle RIE/RIC rather than CIC/IIC but then again - are there any non-bluetooth RICs anymore?
For the out-of-work pair all features would be nice to have but sound is the most important. I.e. true native hands-free would be wonderful but not a necessity (I prefer Android phones so a bit chastened already) and so on.
Unfortunately I don’t have an audiogram to upload but as far as I understood it after the test was that my hearing loss wasn’t too severe (“moderate”?) and that it was mostly higher frequencies that were affected. My personal experience is that I mostly have problems with conversations, especially when there’s a lot of other people talking in the room or when the speech gets distorted (e.g. by echoing in a stairwell).
I have been retired for about 11 years so I have no reference for the no connectivity at work, but I do understand secret issues. I worked for a company that sent me to a government agency to work on their servers and they would not let me in even with my top secret clearance because I wore aids, and my aids at that time didn’t have any connectivity. I explained that without my aids i couldn’t do the job. I explained that my aids didn’t communicate to anything other than each other, they at first refused my entry. It took my company and boss about 72 hours to get me cleared, once in the server room I fixed their issue in 15 minutes, but tje agency still got charged for my whole time there. Also most hearing aids with connectivity can be put in air plane mode that disables Bluetooth. I have been on planes and none required me to place my aids in airplane mode. I have been in courtrooms that didn’t allow cell phones or smartwatches but they never said a word about my aids.
I got approval to go into controlled space last year for my HAs. Then I added another device and they haven’t answered my request for the new medical gizmo. The approval for the HAs was straight forward and only conditioned on me putting them in airplane mode before going in. I’’ve added that to the dance I do before I go in to check for things that need to stay out. The forms used for this had spaces for extremely high security facilities. I was a bit surprised they had it all out on the form. Different approvals, but there it was. I know of multiple agencies allowing it, but they all use different form and processes. The approval authorities go back to the same lists, however. One of the secret squirrel shops gives the advice and then the local security authorities don’t feel like they are sticking their necks out.
I am not in the same situation - but yes I actually use two (OTC) hearing “aids” - one with no wireless connectivity and the others when I want to stream, use hands-free phone etc,
You say your hearing loss is “moderate” so they could work for you if Eargo’s are available in Sweden. I like them because they are virtually invisible and they work well for me different settings with a Soundmatch program (based on your audiogram) for different environments (normal, meeting, restaurant etc) and the ability to adjust the noise filter, emphasize speech etc within each setting. The charging case does have Bluetooth connectivity so you would have to leave that behind - but they are rated for 17 hours on each charge (which seems accurate based on my experience). Wearing them I really have no need to stream in most cases. I can join video / phone calls using the device speakers, listen to TV through my 5.1 system, take calls in the car using the car audio system.
When I want to stream or go hands-free I use Airpods Pro 2’s. Here in the US they are now approved as over the counter hearing aids (not sure if that is the case in Sweden) and you can either use an Apple Hearing Test to set them up or load an audiogram from another source. They also work great for flying etc where you can put them into transparent mode (to speak to aircrew etc) or noise cancelling mode to listen to music or other audio.
The downside of course with the Airpods is it is very obvious you are wearing them (and some may think you are not paying attention to them) and they have short battery life.
Anyway Eargo 7’s (if available in Sweden) may solve the issue of finding hearing aids without any wireless connectivity for work. Then you could select the best hearing aids for you for outside work.
Hi. so very different approach, but have you considered the Lyric hearing aids? they are an ongoing cost and may not be suitable for your hearing loss, but they are incredibly discrete and they have no connectivity requirements at all. Now that would mean you wore the same set all the time, you don’t take them out, but if they work for you, you’d not really have to think about them again and work would have no issues with them. Worth looking into at least I’d say
