I’m interested in experimenting with verification of dynamic range and frequency response of hearing aids.
I had horrible experiences with a set of Costco Preza 861’s, made by Resound, and roughly equivalent to Resound LiNX Quattro 9. The problem was the features the technician enabled by default that compressed both dynamic range and frequencies (moving high frequencies into a lower range). Listening to the bubbler on my aquarium was an acid trip because of the latter.
After several visits to disable features and adjust the frequency range, I finally bought a Noahlink Wireless, and entered the grey area of tweaking my own. I soon realized that I needed to do something like a Real Ear adjustment. So I bought a few cheap microphones advertized as measurment mics, and made my own acoustic coupler to the tube for the ear. I quickly found that cheap mics may have great frequency response, but they lack sensitivity to the low sound levels required.
I then went through some cancer treatment, and haven’t picked up on it again. I imagine I’ll need to buy a used audiology probe microphone to save time.
Since then, I’ve also changed to Phonak Audéo Lumity L90-RL’s through the VA. I can’t seem to find a safe download for the Phonal Target software. I fear malware infected downloads.
What I wish is that some enterprising audiologist would do audiophile testing of HAs and publish them. I’m interested in dynamic range and distortion, in particular, as I find that typical setups from audiologists boost voice frequencies as a rule, and sound processing seems to distort quickly, riding the edge of feedback on louder sounds.
Ideally, a manufacturer would recognize the market for sound professionals who need hearing aids and want verification of sound quality before purchase for shopping. The stats published on most HAs are practically useless. I imagine the manufacturers will counter that DSPs and AI features make this all moot, but DSPs and AIs could be adjusted to provide the best possible audiophile experience just as easily.
I’m an amateur, by the way, but I’ve built electronics from scratch, and done acoustic testing to verify my home setup in the past.
Ultimately, I’m sure we will confront our tragic hearing loss by pursuing this. I’m ready. Bring it on. I just have no confidence in the audiology industry in addressing my desires at all. They just match an already poor fitting curve based on decades old audiology theory and practice, and enable features that are poorly described by marketing hype.
=seymour=