They replaced the first custom molds almost immediately because they messed the venting up. The replacements are better but do not fit well. Left one has feedback, and the right one slips out. Went on vacation and will have another appointment for new impressions first week in August. This is a long slow process.
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I had my followup appointment today for the molds, and got the open mouth impressions made. The fitter seemed a little skeptical that was going to change anything, but was certainly willing to give it a try. Should have the new ones in 10 days or so. I sure hope they are an improvement. Currently the molds are really no better than the non vented sleeves.
I also found out today that I only have two weeks to make a final decision on KS8’s on whether or not to keep them. It seems to have something to do with our healthcare system and the amount they refund.
I had a good talk about alternatives. She tried a slightly different gain curve adjustment that was recommended by her Rexton support person. It was a change in 1.5 to 2 kHz range where my loss curve is steep. Didn’t help and was in fact probably worse. She also gave me a ReSound aid to try, and did the REM adjustment on it. At first I thought it was better with quieter sounds, but the longer I wore it the more I concluded the ReSound was no better, and probably even a bit worse. So I think I am going to keep the KS8’s. Certainly going to the KS9’s would be an option, but I really don’t think they would be better other than being $100 or so cheaper.
So, I guess I will ride the mold fine tuning option to the end and call it quits on expecting any better. She admitted they could just turn down the gain on the left ear to the point it stops being annoying. I guess it gets back to the early warnings about hearing aids. They are a partial solution to hearing loss, but a far from perfect one…
Would have figured you would have given the KS9 aids a try. Sure wouldn’t cost you anything.
I suspect the KS9 aids are really good aids, not that the KS8 aids aren’t.
To get there, I believe I would have had to return my KS8 aids, then go with no aids until the KS9’s are released in Canada (6 weeks or so in her opinion), then start this whole merry go around process all over again. To date I have used two brand new pairs of KS8’s, the fitter’s demo pair of KS8’s, plus the ReSound ones today, and they all have been essentially the same. I think it is probably time to admit it is my left ear that cannot be fully corrected, unless I get a magic breakthrough with the molds. To be frank I am getting a little tired of them. I tried with just a left ear correction, and that was terrible. I tried just the right ear, and that is better, but probably not as good as the right ear along with a gain reduced left ear. If the molds don’t work any better than they have so far, I will probably go back to just the non vented sleeves, and return the molds.
I had flat forgot about Canada not having the KS9 aids yet, sorry about that.
Does your left ear actually hear sounds in the upper frequencies? If not you could be dealing with frequencies that can not be helped. If you can then the right aids and fitting will help you.
No trying to push but Phonaks have a good reputation for feedback control. I was pretty impressed with the KS9 aids the other day at Costco. Almost enough to sell what I have and do the Costco thing.
The one slightly uncontrolled variable - tough to find out if it makes a difference -is that, as you have pointed out, each HA brand gets a different mold custom-made for its receiver. So there might be the slight possibility that if you switch to another roughly equivalent performance HA, you’d get a better mold somehow.
Is there any way of doing something additional - just joking a bit here - like stuffing “putty” in your left ear with the receiver and the mold in your canal. If the additional material cut out the feedback, then you’d know that the mold you have now for that ear is just not good enough - and couldn’t you just keep pushing Costco to make a better mold, change material, or whatever, until they find a way to get a decent, comfortable seal with a mold that blocks feedback? Sorry, this is just off the top of my head.
What my left ear sounds like to me is a fairy faint replication of a clean signal like I should be hearing, with an overlay, potentially with a slight delay, of a sound that is being produced by a $5 AM radio. “S” sounds in particular seem to get turned to garbage. Today the fitter used a stethoscope with an adapter that let her listen to my hearing aids. She said it was loud, but the left or the right did not sound abnormal to her. One would have to think it is some combination of my ear and the HA’s.
Yes, I think there are further options to pursue with the molds. If I push on the mold in my left ear hard enough and get my mouth in the right position the effect I am hearing can be significantly reduced at times. That suggests feedback issues. The fitter says in all her experience she has not seen anyone go to the small pressure vent and silicone material and not stop the feedback. She says 95% of her clients use hard plastic and still get the feedback stopped. Don’t know.
The really weird part of this whole effect is that it is worst when the audio quality of the source is not the best. For example when some reporter in the field is talking using Skype or a satellite phone, or something other than studio quality microphones, the lost sound quality effect of that seems to get exaggerated big time. It was the very first abnormal effect I heard with these HA’s from day one. I made a post here about it calling it the vocal fry effect. Still have it today. Still sounds the same. Not all voices do it, but some, including my own at times, seem to be brutal.
I was asking how sounds were during your audiogram, not from the aid. Sorry if not clear.
The sounds during the audiogram at Costco, or when I do an on line test are not distorted. They sound fine, expect that I need about 90 dB sound level at some frequencies to hear them. I’ve tried various tone generators etc, and same thing. No distortion of the pure tones.
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I don’t remember where I read this, but it was one of the Big Five HA companies talking about fittings for asymmetrical losses. The suggestion was to fit the prescription to the good ear on both ears initially. This was based on the concern that, for some patients, amplification of the ear with more loss would create problems, not solve them. The explanation was the one brought up here: audiograms can look the same but the way speech is processed can be different. So amplifying frequencies on an ear with more loss may not produce better results and may actually erode performance. I hope this is a little helpful.
Actually my fitter suggested that as a possible alternative yesterday. I understand it is an option, but I would like to use that as the last resort. I’m not sure there would be any magic in having the prescription in the left ear exactly the same as the right, but backing off the gain to stop the trash talk in my left ear would be a help.
As an update, I am two days into using my new molds which were made with open mouth impressions. It may be a bit premature but I would say they are a significant improvement and are perhaps a 98% solution to the issues I was having with my left. It seems that feedback artifacts were the most likely cause and these new tighter fitting molds have made the change. Is it a perfect solution? Well no, and it reinforces the fact that hearing aids are never a perfect solution to hearing loss. They decided to go from a canal style mold to a half shell. It is not the most comfortable or most inconspicuous. I hope it is only a matter of time for my ear to get used to the extra material. However at this point the shell portion is irritating. I also find it hard to get into my ear, but I guess I will get better with time. It certainly is firmly in my ear and takes a pretty stiff pull on the “handle” to remove them. They are not going to fall out on their own!
If you made an open mouth impression then you have to open your mouth to insert to create that seal. In ear monitors are the same.
This is a work in progress for me. For sure the half shell molds are much more difficult to handle than the canal style.
Well I toughed it out as long as I could with half shell custom molds. While one of them fit quite well, the one in my left ear was so irritating that I could barely stand to put it in and take it out. As at least temporary fix I stopped at the Costco hearing aid counter today and asked to have the closed click sleeves put back in both ears. My plan is to use them for 3 weeks until I can get to see the fitter. Then I will make a decision on whether or not to abandon the custom molds, and get the REM set back for closed sleeves. For the couple of hours I have had the closed click sleeves back in, I am really liking them. It feels like I am not even wearing hearing aids, except that I can hear!
I really like the closed click sleeves. Since I went up in size, no problems.
Oticon makes a Grip Tip that is somewhat similar to the Click Sleeves, but will fit on Oticons and I think most other hearing aids. It comes in both vented and closed versions.
After having the closed sleeves back, and about a day of use, I’m liking them a lot. They are not perfect by any means. With the molds I could put my hands over both ears and not get even a hint of feedback. With the sleeves I get immediate feedback with hands over the ears. That might be partly due to them not being set up for sleeves though. I also hear a harsh edge on some voices that was not as harsh with the molds. The sleeves certainly do not stay in my ears as well as the molds. I find I have to push them back in a few times a day. I know I have tried the large instead of the small and got no improvement, so this may be as good as it gets for fit.
The major improvement with the sleeves however is that I can now hear when I am eating. The jaw movement induced noise I was hearing with the molds is gone. I think this aspect alone is going to be the deciding factor on going back to the sleeves.
The feedback, or lack thereof has been really good since I started these from the Widex. They were annoying to say the least. The sleeves aren’t perfect: I have to push them in at times too, and it took some “own voice processing” by the audiologist in their programming to get it right. I know it’s a struggle for many with feedback on this forum. Moulds are hard to fit. The Starkey ones I use for monitors are amazing. Ten years old and no discolouration on the soft silicon type.