On the Hearphones, the World Volume definitely works for outside noise, whether streaming or not. I’m not sure about the SoundControls. It probably wouldn’t be as effective for those, just because of the way they fit, but for the Hearphones, the World Volume and mute were amazingly good.
Guess we can agree to disagree. I trialed the Hearphones and couldn’t figure out how to reduce noise for speech other than with directional mics. I called Bose and they said then noise reduction worked only with streaming. Perhaps we’re talking about different things.
World volume is not a noise reduction control, but it does change volume, pitch, and compression …
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There are a lot of complaints on here about sound quaility with new hearing aids. “Sounds like a cheap transistor radio.” “Too sharp.” certain sounds being too loud “sounds like a computer” “sounds like everybody breathed helium.” I think most of these are related to getting high frequency sounds restored that people hadn’t heard in a long time.
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Yeah, you just have to push through and let your brain adjust.
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Hearing aid companies know about this too, which is why they typically provide less high pitch amplification than needed. If the audiologist goes with the hearing aid manufacturer’s recommended settings, people are typically more satisfied, but also receive less benefit… ultimately, it reduces return rate, and this means more units sold, and happy shareholders… some of the companies provide auto-acclimatization features that gradually increase the highs over time, but these features must be activated by the audiologist, and often aren’t… this is why REMs are so critical… you simply can’t trust the manufacturer to give you the best possible outcome. Interestingly, Bose found that people adjusted themselves up over time to eventually give themselves amplification that was similar to what REMs would have achieved, so I do hold out hope that empowering users with simplified controls like “world volume” (which actually allows powerful self-customization behind the curtain) will lead to acceptable or even good outcomes for the users of these products… of course, as has been discussed, most of the folks in this forum will be out of range for Bose, but maybe these types of controls will find their way into medical models. I’m all for it.
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Any idea why a company would restrict sales to only 5 states?
And an odd choice of states . . . Two immediately adjacent states (the Carolinas), Texas makes a third state from the same region, the South.
Montana has a tiny population, so why bother? No states from either the Midwest or anywhere west of the Rockies.
For those who are curious about the 5th state, it’s Massachusetts.
I don’t know. Guessing it’s related to state regulations? They have the green light to sell direct from the FDA, but not sure what things are like state by state.
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Interesting thought. I was guessing they had certain test marketing demographics in mind, but yours makes more sense.
I’ve placed an order. Should be here by Friday. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
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My order arrived Thursday night, so I’ve had 2 days with them. Feedback cancellation doesn’t eliminate feedback at my settings, so I don’t think I’ll be keeping them. Customer support is very good, so I’ll give them a shot at helping me, but I don’t think there’s much they can do. I’ll post details when I have more time.
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I agree w/ all these positive comments about the Hearphones. I’ve worn mine since the pandemic started, and I can’t imagine going back to wearing BTE HAs. I love the noise cancelling, the streaming connections to TV, iPhone, iPad.
So I Received a brand new pair of HA from Bose which I received on June 23 and sent back my original pair which I received on May 25. On June 16th, the left HA died. The Bose experiment is over. Very disappointing because they worked well and were an easy solution to a complex problem. This sucks because I was so hopeful about a HA coming to market that was a lot less expensive. I’m sure Bose will get this fixed but I can’t go through total breakdowns every month. Fortunately I have a brand new pair of Signia Cellion 7 which I need to program and will be fine. I have all of the programming stuff for the Signia’s so I guess I’ll find a thread and see how much help I can get programming these. Any comments directing me to the right thread and tips on programming will be appreciated.
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Thanks for the update.
You can find self programming help in the DIY Forum.
Good luck
Here you go hopefully these will work out for you.
https://forum.hearingtracker.com/tags/c/hearing-aid-self-fitting-and-adjusting/15/signia
Good luck
Wow, so sorry it turned out bad. I know they worked great for me, but I got the feeling I was a beta tester, and returned them. I’ve now had the new Jabra (Resound) HAs from Costco for two weeks. They are great, and enjoying the perks of buying from Costco. I plan to try OTC HAs again, but will give the market a few years to mature.
They worked out great for me but they kept breaking down which was the last thing I expected from Bose. Fortunately I have a brand new pair of Signias which I bought off Ebay. One of the mini receivers was for a different model. The seller wouldn’t respond so I got a complete refund. Free hearing aids are not bad. I bought my previous pair of Signias from Buyhear and they sent me the all of the stuff to program them but went out of business and I have all of the programing stuff…again, for free. I’m mostly disappointed that Bose didn’t work out. I’d really like to see the hearing aid industry have their predatory pricing practices break down. I still believe OTC HA are going to be great for consumers.
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Have you looked at COSTCO at all? you will get a reasonably priced set of good quality hearing aids if you look at the KS-10 and they will be serviced by a professional who can provide ongoing support and aftercare face to face. Sounds like the BOSE was giving you some good benefit and although it did not work out for you it would be a shame for you to continue on unaided if you cannot get the signia’s to work yourself.
I got the Signias set up. The programing software takes a while to understand but I’ve got the main stuff figured out. Actually since I can test each change I make, I think I can hear better then the audiologist’s set up. I’m a musician and programing hearing aids is similar to a lot of music software.
I wasn’t afraid to try out the Bose because I knew I had this brand new pair. Considering that they sell for almost $4000 and I payed $0, I landed on my feet and now I know how to program hearing aids. These are working out nicely.
It seems like Costco is an excellent option but it takes a few months to get an appointment. I can’t work without HA so I didn’t go that route. I went the route where I didn’t have to pay an audiologist $4000. Hopefully I’ll get a few years out of these Signias and the OTC market will mature as I’m sure it will and I’ll be able to take advantage of that. I think that we’re going to see the high prices that people have been paying come down and many people that couldn’t afford HA be able to have them. Make no mistake about it, Bose worked well , but with 2 of them just stopping working, I couldn’t deal with that any longer.
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I’m looking to speak with someone who has used the Bose hearing aids. Just a quick call. Anyone willing?