APD now to choose oticon HA please help question on bottom

Question and Answer
#1

Hello, i am new here but for most questions i found answers on this forum…

About me i am in my 30s male german/american and since i was a child i was convinced that my hearing is off… but was told i have normal hearing i just have selective hearing and so on…

Recently after a hearingtest at a HA dispensery of starkey my test came back normal but she let me try a set of basic models… and my coworkers noticed a difference in me asking less to repeat themself. after 3 weeks and a anoying whistling sound which the lady in the dispensery denied that they were bad but would send my trail devices for a free repair in the trail period back to repair but it still counts towards my 45 day trail and i would be buying at that point previously repaird HA… i went to a dr.of audiology and she actually confirmed that i have normal hearing and audio processing disorder… Long story short… i am her patient now insurance picked up with a good amount in the 4k range (usa) and now i have to choose… i believe i am ok with only one aid since my left is my problem side … but 2 might be better

My audio problems seem to be in low or deep male voices… and all kinds of whispers…

My choices are
Oticon opn 1 only left side and some accessory
Or
Oticon opn 3 both sides no accessorys

I been using mostly left side in my trail since both aids make me feel if the world is too loud and i can hear baby crying from 200 feet away

This week i am testing 1 opn1. Next thursday prob 2 opn 3.

Pricing is 2100 each for the opn3
2600 for the opn 2 what she does not recomend
And 3200 i believe for the opn1

#2

This is very interesting. I’m not sure I understand how hearing aids would help audio processing disorder, but apparently it seems to help you.

The OPN 1 mainly is better than the OPN 3 in the area of noise reduction on the speech to help improve clarity in complex noisy environment. There are other differences but i think the above is the most significant. If you don’t have too much issue with understanding speech in noisy places, then maybe the OPN 3 will suffice for you.

The OPN has a soft voice enhancement so maybe it’s helpful for you on whispers. I usually don’t understand whispers very well myself, and I cannot claim that my OPN 1 helps me well enough with soft voices and/or whispers.

For low or deep male voices, not sure why it’s a problem for you so I don’t know how the OPN can help in that area.

It may be helpful for you to post your hearing profile up even though you’ve said that they told you that your normal hearing is fine.

#3

Thank you for your reply.
I don’t have a profile or printout since both test were avg hearing as in i heard every tone or pressed the button on time…

I will try to explain or express my problem…

Since i was small if i focus on something it is hard to hear outside things… if i would play i would not hear parents or teachers call my name…

Other problem i have is imagen every sentence u hear you are missing the first letter of the main words … so as a example… my car needs gas… i hear or guess i hear: my car needs “guess” or “ess” or “mikes guess…” or sometimes the whole word is just missing atleast to me… its like ppl stop mid sentence… … and ppl think i am trying to be funny… i cant make picture the possible words in my head because i am dual linguistic… so i have too many possible options of what soneone could have said…

And with the first hearing aids somehow i was able to understand the first letter or the pronounciation better… but at same time everything else is too loud…

#4

Oh and mu audiologidt also couldnt understand why i can understand girls or high voices really good but deep voices wich should be easy sounds like noise not even speech…

If u have seen the movie bladerunner the new one and hear harrison ford talk… i had to turn in subtitles because i could not figure out what he was saying… i really felt stupid…

#5

Personally I know some perfect hearing folks who use subtitles because they want 100% comprehension in films and some actors don’t enunciate well :slight_smile:

#6

Movies try for immersive sounds where speech is often degraded by environment sounds. Movies where the place I first noticed I had a hearing loss.

You are a good candidate for what are referred to as PSAPs which are comparatively less expensive. Also consider Costco where they have entry level aids in the $6-800/pair.

Part of your problem might be volume with strong and weak speech levels giving you the problem. Aids try to smooth levels and succeed to some extent.

#7

Thanks for your responses.
I will look into the psap devices in the future ( nearest costco is 90miles) they sound similar to my problem…
A main problem i have is also beeing able to hold and follow phone conversations even with family members… they talk and i am just trying to figure out what its about… until they get mad.if i cant see u talking to me … then it turns into a guessing game for me… I think for now i will go with the pair of oticon opn 3 instead of just 1 opn1 since they are prettymuch paid for… and continue on trying to get better at reading lips

Thanks for the replys again.

#8

Check on your phone’s store for caption. It is a government service paid for by the excise tax.