Day 1 going from OPN1 to Jabra Enhance Pro 20 Micro

Hearing Aids
#1

I picked up my Jabra’s today from Costco. I felt like the tuning session was the most through I’ve ever had. Measuring my ear canal, going through a voice program and watching him flip back and forth from two different programs to make adjustments until he was satisfied.

First impression was that everything was louder, and I told him that. He asked me to try not to turn down the volume and to let my brain get used to things until we meet next. He gave me 4 different programs to play with, All-Around- Hear in Noise-Outdoor-Music.

I can definitely hear speech better. While driving home with my wife and then stopping at a semi-loud restaurant with a speaker that seemed to pump music too loud (or maybe it’s just because I can hear better) I could still understand 98% of what my wife was saying. I only said “What?” one time! lol.

I could hear squeaks in my car I didn’t hear before, I heard my shoes when walking on our tile floors (I thought I was a really soft walker), went outside and heard birds chirping, heard the pool waterfall and water fountain outside my office and realized I’d never noticed them before while in my office.

My wife is REALLY Loud, I don’t know if that’s just because I’m still getting used to these or if she’s just adapted to talking to me louder over the years :smile:

I stream a lot of audio books (Audible.com) and tried the streaming thinking the sound would be so much better. I was surprised it sounded, slightly distorted? The BT will go much further. I would sometimes lose signal in one ear with the OPN’s when putting my phone in my pocket. These don’t lose connection until I’m pretty far away. But I don’t think they sound as clear while streaming from audible. I will have to play around more to be sure.

I do have a headache, might be related to fasting the day before or me getting used to these new HA’s. Anyways, so far I notice a definite improvement with speech recognition and I’m pretty happy about it!

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#2

Congratulations :tada::confetti_ball::gift::balloon::champagne:

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#3

@boosh Thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.

How did your right perform with the Jabra?
I suppose your left ear is within the Jabra’ fitting range.
Thx

#4

My right ear can hear better, when I listen to someone talking on the radio in the car and pull my right HA out I can hear the difference.

I am having a big problem with the right dome plugging me up, no air. Going to have to switch to something else so I can stop messing with it, bugging the heck out of me.

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#5

Yeah looking at your audogram you should be using a custom mold, fitted with the correct vent size and you’ll have the best of both worlds, the plugged up feeling is known as the occlusion effect, some get used to it and for others like yourself it’s intolerable.

#6

I’ve always wondered, who are the folks that “get used to it”? Severe cases? It’s hard to imagine for me

Also, the plugged up feeling for me, spells troubles down the road. As I got the worst infections due to lack of ventilation.

#7

I was used to the occlusion effect of wearing Jabra. ear buds for streaming and for conversations with their slightly amplified, to my ear test, ‘hearthrough’ mode.

My power domes I do not feel in my ear, since I started putting on a drop of ProEar to lubricant the dry domes.

Still I am interested in peoples responses to various ear molds.

In some ways I prefer the occlusion effect as it improves my streaming so much… I can ‘hear through’ fine with my hearing aids.

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#8

I can’t handle it. For me it’s the pressure build up. Sometimes it’s fine, then it completely seals up and feels like there’s water in my ear and pressure so I can’t hear as well and I constantly have to break the seal with my finger or pull the dome out under suction to break it. When it seals up it instantly builds pressure, can’t hear much and even walking sounds like my head is bouncing around. Tried punching a hole in the dome but I can’t seem to vent it to get rid of the pressure build up. Put a tulip dome on, fixed the occlusion but I get feedback if something comes close to my ear now.

Guessing a custom dome will fix things. I have an appointment to get it done.

#9

Yeah it’s usually the severe profound cases that “have to get used” to it, as @RSW mentioned most of us can tolerate ear buds for a while, there’s also a lot of ear plug use in most engineering workshops, so even some people with normal hearing can get by, I’m also one that cannot.

Yes this should fix your issues, getting the correct vent size is the important thing here.

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#10

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#11

I can also say without a doubt, the Jabra’s are VERY disappointing with audio streaming. No matter how I adjust them through the app, they’re terrible for phone calls, audio books and music. My 8 year old Oticon OPN’s smoke them in this area. They sound like the cheapest set of airline earbuds you can imagine and I just can’t understand why they’re so bad. Very "tinny and they sound like small cheap speakers compared to my old OPN’s.
Listening to an audio book from my car speakers sounds fine, but streaming from phone to HA’s is crap.

At times in regular hearing situations, it sounds like there’s some distortion, like the receiver can’t handle the power. I wonder if I need the larger receivers, or at least for my right ear where the distortion happens most.

I’m going in to get an ear mold, would I need to ask to try the larger receiver prior to the ear mold fitting?

#12

What level has your HCP set Streaming Bass Boost to in the streaming function? They are mild by default. This made a noticable improvement for me.