While the Pinna provides directionality not all canal aids have the ability to adjust like a BTE/RIC aid with their combined four mic array decoding directionality. Typically, you need to go to the largest canal aids to get this benefit. The result will be more occluded for the wearer. This may not be the case with the BTE style aids.
I think one can structure payment method to encourage acting in best interest of patient. Salary with no bonuses based on sales (perhaps a bonus for customer satisfaction) encourages acting in best interest of patient. Commission basis does not.
Just read another post from OP. He chose high end hearing aid and Oticon specifically.
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My take is, that use to be so, but not so much any more. Take the salaried bank employee, regardless of position, who, when dealing with the public, is nonverbally âencouragedâ to push product with the only bonus being job life expectancy.
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There is that. One is unlikely to get the advice to go somewhere else.
I think perhaps I was unclear in my post and so it was misinterpreted by KenP. In a nutshell, I think a person with a very slight hearing loss would be better off living with the slight loss than using BTE/RIC-type hearing aids. Similarly, with mild loss in one ear and very slight loss in the other ear, using only one HA might be the best strategy. In each case, my opinion is based on my belief that one loses all benefit of the pinna when using a BTE/RIC-type HA.
Moreover, my belief based on a month of trialing Oticon OPN 1s and about a week of trialing Widex Beyonds is that, âcombined four mic array decoding directionalityâ notwithstanding, the directionality capability of high-end HAs is substantially inferior to the directionality effectiveness of the pinna.
Please post your results in a couple of months after wearing only 1 HA. BTW, open or closed domes can only be evaluated by the wearer. Costco DOES SELL 1 HA. What did you actually pay out of pocket for 1 HA?
Benefit will be based on loss. Open Fit uses the aid and the ear itself. Not all people can benefit from that but those with a milder loss would.
Iâm a skeptic. Most practitioners are in business for themselves. Being in business is to make moneyâŚDUH!. Best interests comes SECOND. If an Audie like those in Costco work as salaried employees the scenario is a bit different. An Audie is a Tech, some are good and others not so good. I could go on but Iâm sure you get the idea.
And with good low-frequency response. I think thatâs a big limitation of open-fit, that you canât be too deficient in the lower frequencies.
Just a word on the difference between the two tests.
If you are still reading I would just like to add that Costco will do Hearing tests with the aim of working out if you would benefit from aids and fitting those aids.
The audiology clinic tests would have been a diagnostic assessment and could then be used to help advise and fit aids.
Both would refer you to an ENT if they felt it was indicated. Often asymmetry of hearing is a trigger for that.
As you can see in this thread - hearing correction involves a lot of different nuances and there is more than one way to solve problems. Your job now is to educate yourself as a consumer so that you are aware of the possibilities and have realistic expectations. There is a lot of information on the forum to help you with that. Read lots and ask when you have problems/questions.
The thing is this is not a âgoodâ ear. It has 40 dB loss at 250 Hz and at 3 high frequency data points. Although 40 dB is considered âmildâ by hearing loss standard, it is a noticeable loss that I wouldnât consider it âgoodâ hearing anymore.
And youâre applying louder than ambient sounds to the area of loss only. There should be no amplification in the areas where there is no loss. Most modern hearing aids have at least 16 channels, more like 24 to 36 and sometimes even 64 channels. So accurate amplification to the affected areas only is easily achievable.
Eh, but I am priviledged to be able to do so. I work for someone else and I donât work on commission, so all that business stuff is out of my hands. Sure thatâs by design, but if I were business minded, who knows that I wouldnât need to find myself a shorter horse.
To be fair, if you are doing a unilateral fit the Opn is a nice choice because itâs advanced processing is based on a unilateral strategy versus a lot of manufactuers whose top level binaural processing would be lost with a unilateral fit. As to why the Opn 1 is recommended over the 2 or the 3. . . itâs âbetterâ? In my direct experience there is a bit of a difference between the 1 and the 3.
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IIRC, most pinna cues are above about 5 kHz. With high frequency hearing loss, youâre already losing them.
If I had this kind of insurance coverage where my OOP is only $1250 per OPN 1 hearing aid, I would not hesitate to shell out $1250 OOP for the other one.
If anything, Iâd skimp out on the rechargeable version. But if I only have to pay a smaller percentage to get the rechargeable version, Iâd seriously consider it, too.
Remember, your hearing loss usually can only get worse as you age. So itâd be good insurance to have that second one in case your left hearing worsens in the future, while you still have good insurance (pun intended). After all, itâs already not as good as before and for sure itâs not going to get better.
Just to clarify about the $ comment I made - I wondered if the reason they suggested one at this time was since my cost was so low and maybe just maybe I did not meet a criteria to get two yet.
I agree / understand that the left ear has loss and only the âtest driveâ will tell if I can have success with one.
Before I left the hospital aud⌠I posed a question / statement âno doubt the left ear will need assistance someday - and given that, will I be able to get the same model in the future?â I was told that the OPN1 should probably be available for 3 years perhaps more before it is retired.
When I pick it up next week Iâm going to bring up getting one for the left ear, and if they agree - purchase it and have that calibrated for the current loss in the left ear. If they are in agreement, I would still have two at a very good price, even if I âparkâ the left one for a while.
So with that in mind should I really try another pair from Costco? My thinking is that this is overwhelming enough already since it is in someway a lifestyle change (for the better) and that is probably not a good idea.
If I could get a pair of OPN1s for $2500, Iâd definitely go for it. Iâd go into it expecting them to work. If for some reason they dontâ, then you can explore other options (like Costco)
If youâre going to spend the money then use them. I wouldnât just âparkâ them. Technology changes too. Get what you need for whatâs available now. If you were to park them then when comes time that you decide to aid the left then you might have different options available to you. Whereas nowâŚyou can aid both sides properly.
IMHO.
There has been some post recently where the poster tried out both the OPN 1 and the KS8 from Costco and they like the OPN 1 better, BUT not for the $3000 better for the difference that theyâd have had to pay between the 2 pairs. But they said that if itâd only been $1K difference, they would have gone for the OPN 1. Of course their hearing loss is different than yours so thereâs no telling how applicable that situation is for you.
But you do have the opportunity here to get a very premium pair of hearing aids for only $900 more than the KS8, which is a very competent aid itself by the way.
If I were you, Iâd just try out a pair of OPN 1 first and not bother with the KS8, because like you said, itâd be pretty overwhelming to try out 2 pairs of hearing aids in parallel. Only if youâre not happy with the OPN 1 for some reason, or only if youâre intensely curious on how the KS8 compares to see if it would be worth the $900 difference or not, would I want to try out the KS8.
If youâre still fixed on going for the rechargeable option, I donât think the KS8 has that option, although others may correct me if Iâm wrong.
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I totally agree with this. After all, you DO have some hearing loss on your left ear. Why not try to correct it if you have a premium aid available for use.
If you look at my hearing loss on my right ear, I have up to 40 dB loss between 250 and 750 Hz. When I take my hearing aids out, I immediately notice the loss in my right ear at those frequencies compared to my left ear at those frequencies.
A 40 dB loss is of noticeable significance, even if itâs termed mild in the hearing loss world. In my opinion, a 40 dB loss is worth having correction applied. It may seem fine in simple listening environment, but in complex listening environment where thereâs a lot of noise, youâll need all the help you can get.
Consider this as well. Even for a normal hearing person in a noisy, complex listening environment, it IS challenging to them as well, not just for us hearing impaired folks. If they had an easy solution to help clarify speech in a noisy situation, wouldnât they want to utilize it? Of course wearing hearing aids to them is NOT an easy solution. But wearing hearing aids to YOU is already a given because youâve already have to for at least one ear. So if wearing a hearing aid on the other marginally good ear as well is an easy solution (because you already have it) and will give you an edge in noisy situations as well, wouldnât you want to utilize it?
Could also possibly check the price on a pair of OPN 3 vs the single OPN 1 if money is an issue? Only way youâre ever going to tell the difference though is to try. I routinely recommend a cheaper single unit pair Vs a single, more expensive aid if a patient has a set budget and is unsure whether to proceed monaurally vs. binaurally. Personally, I feel I this provides better overall results for my patients and happy patients = a more sucessful clinic in the long run.
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