Anyone Have Experience w/Widex Remote Tuning?

Hearing Aids
#1

I purchased a set of Widex Moment Sheer 440’s from a remote practice. All efforts to find anyone within a 4 hour range, which was roughly as far as I was willing to drive, failed. They seem to have their act together and the tech used to work for Widex so have high expectations. Obviously I will be doing my fitting remotely. As I am new to HAs, I am somewhat nervous about this. I did a deep dive, got into a backdoor link to some training videos on the Compass software, and this is fairly complicated stuff IMHO. Good news is Compass seems pretty idiot proof if you just want computer assisted fitting. There were plenty of default settings that probably benefit most people. But I want as much utility as I can get within reason. I don’t plan or even want to spend an endless amount of time with tiny little tweaks.

I shelled out for these aids with the hope they will live up to their claims of “natural sound,” speedy signal processing, music enjoyment and speech discernment. I am less concerned about noisy settings or large groups. I did get the Sound Assist on the off chance I encounter a hearing loop environment or want some help with certain friends/settings that are more challenging to hear in.

If this approach is worthwhile, I am thinking of buying a used remote tuner. Any thoughts on this? OR if all else fails, there is a place, several hours drive, that will tune “other manufacturers” devices without shaming you for a pretty hefty price. A couple or three of those sessions and I will have a lot more invested in the aids than planned.

#2

I have had alterations made remotely & so has my son. I have found it a great help to have this option. You need a good WiFi signal or data available. It can feel different talking to the dispenser on the phone as you can’t stream the call to your aids whilst connected. You can see them as they speak, hearing via the phone, discuss any issues & they fine tune as you would face to face. Stick with someone who knows the Widex software well, when they are set up correctly it shouldn’t need too much tweaking. You may benefit from “eyes on” for some issues such as checking the fit/receiver length etc, you can show this via the app but should ideally have face to face available if necessary.

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#3

Thank you so much. I got the box with all the items, including the remote tuner and am going to open it today and try to go thru the pairing process etc and start wearing these. One concern I have is the receiver length. They have no idea, having never seen my face or asked for a measurement (not sure how this determination is made) what the length might be of a receiver or even an ear tip. So if there was any pre tuning based upon my audiogram and associated tests, will that be lost if they have to adjust the receiver length? At first blush I would not think so, but my wee hours binge streaming of Widex tutorials gave me the impression that this was important and could affect settings.

#4

Oh sorry, a second question: Since I have to return the remote at some pt do you think, given this is probably going to be SOP for me, it would be worth having my own tuner, or is there a point at which one should try to sit across a desk to get maximum benefit?

#5

I would suggest that you try using it & see how you get on, this should be in addition to a face to face set up to ensure you are both happy with the aids & how they fit. Then you may decide you want to buy one-or it may not be necessary. When Widex is set up as it should be by an experienced fitter-there can be little that needs changing. I had my Evokes for 3 years & didn’t need one repair or change after they were set up, in which case the remote care neckloop would be redundant. I would have a go with it, see how you get on & then you are better informed to decide if you need to buy one.

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#6

This is too be expected, the thing I noticed all through your post was how your putting far to much into this “remote” support then you need to, and this from a new user is a little concerning,

because if you’d done the “research” with your backdoor training you’d have picked up that it’s not Plug and a Play for most people, it can actually be a work in progress for a lot of us.

Yeah that’s the beauty of the manufacturer’s software, it’s all pretty easy enough to do, you can DIY better then you realise, the biggest problem I see with your approach that only “remote support” can possibly fit your HAs is the feedback test and any REM can’t be be done (not that I’m a great believer in REM anyway) especially with Compass.

You’ve also mentioned a remote tuner, never heard of it,what is it? Or do you mean the Noahlink wireless programming device, if so a brilliant choice,this way you can totally program your HAs as DIY project and get the best from your HAs, all from the comfort of your home! remember only you know what your hearing and how you like things to sound, “no-one” else can possibly know this.

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#7

Thank you! I have now taken a deep breath and just the concept of “work in progress” is helpful!

What I am calling a remote tuner is the Widex “Remote Link” which I will wear around my neck during the fitting process. I am not sure how that compares to a Noah Link, but believe the Noah link can be used with these aids as I saw a tutorial in which the Widex company presenter actually used a Noah Link to program her aids with Compass GPS software.

If there were a way to have a Noah link and some non proprietary software to tune my aids I would be a very happy camper. I followed endless links trying to find a previous post for DIY on this site alleging access to Compass software and found the drop box empty and the person is suspended. Wish the admins would remove the post or at least issue a disclaimer at the top, was a 20 minute time suck to wade thru all the posts looking for the referenced link only to ultimately hit a wall.

But while I know it doesn’t have direct bearing on my appt this coming week with a remote tech, I will definitely endeavor to understand what I might achieve with a Noah Link and some appropriate software. I would rather invest in that than buy a Remote Link which is just a tether to my dispenser (I don’t mean that in a bad way, but yes, my personal preference ultimately would be to master my own hearing universe ha).

Thanks for the pep talk.

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#8

When I have new custom tips we always do a new sensogram & feedback calibration via the remote fitting session (the Widex version of REM). This ensures it’s always matching prescription requirements. You can also do a new fit via remote session but as before, this should ideally be done face to face to check the fit etc. The benefit of remote care sessions are that if you find an excellent fitter some distance away, it enables all fine tuning to be done remotely. Meaning you access their expertise rather than potentially compromising with a closer fitter who is less experienced & doesn’t deliver the same results.

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#9

Yeah I didn’t even know of such a thing, well I wouldn’t want to go down that path because it’s strictly for Widex, you may want to change brands in the future.

Yes definitely the Noahlink wireless is used on the moment models onwards, it’s a fantastic little bit of kit, as it’s the industry standard for programming, so can be used on most brands.

Yes your not the only one to go drown in this rabbit hole, and yes it would be a good idea to remove them as it’s just pointless.
So all you need to do is head on over to the DIY section on hearingtracker

There you’ll find want your looking for.

Cheers

#10

Yes i always liked sensogram when I had the Evokes, did a fantastic job, but I had to have new molds made! it really pushed up some gain on certain frequencies and made quite a difference.

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#11

Noahlink works as a connection device enabling Compass to program Widex Moment hearing aids.
I thought it was the only connection device for Widex Moments but at my last short session with an audiologist they used something called a “neck loop” for changing the program in my Widex Moment 330 hearing aids from Compass.
Maybe the Moments can be programmed via 2 different devices - the Noahlink or the “neck loop”?

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#12

Quite possibly they can still use the old ProLink, which was for the older Evoke models, but no need for it now because the industry standard for programming is the Noahlink wireless, and of course it can provide programming for all the other brands if you decide to change in the future.
There are some ITE CIC models that used ProLink which needed another device that plugged into it, really glad everything has moved on from all of that now ; )

#13

I paired and donned the aids tonight. At first I thought huh, these are not working. (They are def set to a too-low “acclimatization” level because I had to crank up the volume.) But then I noticed I had left a ceiling fan on (haven’t heard that in a long time!), the clacking of my key board (ditto), and that I was actually listening to a Netflix program without reading the captions for the first time in forever. So they are definitely working. Was able to hear family talking to me from nearby areas where previously I couldn’t. Didn’t have to practically lip read my kid.

They need a lot of tweaking, and I need to use them in more challenging settings, possibly/likely need a longer wire for one ear, maybe a slightly bigger dome as I am getting some feedback. But honestly for me the wow factor is that they really do sound natural and I feel like I can hear again. Amazing actually. I am very impressed.

Not impressed with the app that manages them–seems like zero functionality, esp the so-called “equalizer.” But with a NOAHlink and the help of the DIY I think I can move past that!

Thanks to everyone for the very helpful comments. I don’t think I would have had the confidence to order online, and definitely not the knowledge to achieve a great initial result without the people on this forum and the content and educational material provided by the hosts.

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