#41

No, they are not necessarily gimmicks. When the lumity came out, I was actually expecting it to be a not-a-big-deal upgrade from the paradise line, but was surprised by my patients noticing a difference.

The bigger issue here is that manufacturers are a bit optimistic about their fitting ranges. Your hearing ‘technically’ falls into the range of the RIC, in many cases it’s not going to be a great fit for more severe losses.

Manufacturers try to fit everyone into RICs, and when they roll out new product the RICs always come out first. New BTEs are rolled out a lot later, which unfortunately means that BTE users always feel a little bit “behind” in their technology. But at the end of the day, the difference between a hearing aid that can provide sufficient gain and one that cannot is WAY bigger than feature upgrades from one chip to another. There’s always a ton of hype about new products and HUGE marketting campaigns, but keep in mind that new hearing aids come out on a two year cycle these days, so if you wait for a particular model to roll out, you’ll feel behind again within six months. The M and P BTEs were still very good.

Your audiologist may be open to trying a RIC fit after looking at your loss and your ear, but if they try to steer you away form one and into a BTE, trust them. I’ve also had situations where I’ve ordered a RIC for a patient and then when it comes in and I verify the fit on-ear it’s just not sufficient and I have to turn the the patient and say, “I know you were excited to get your hearing aids today, but I cannot in good faith send you home with these.”

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#42

@Neville: Yes, Neville - I think the type of HA needs to be just as you suggest: UP BTEs with molds.

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#43

I haven’t read the whole thread, but do we know OP’s word recognition scores? I’m concerned that with that loss and a first time hearing aid user they may be disappointed.

#44

Thanks for explaining, now it’s making sense to me. I am open to the BTE and will listen to my audiologists suggestions.

In the end I want what’s best for my situation and all the advice from you guys has been a huge help!

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#45

MDB, there are three sets of numbers on my audiogram, not sure if these are what you are referring to?

There is Speech reception threshold which is 80dBHL for both ears.

There is also Speech Discrimination Quiet which is 96 for left and 84 for right.

There is MCL which is 95 dBHL for both.

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#46

I believe so. If I’m interpreting correctly your word recognition scores are 96% and 84% at 95dB. That’s better than I would have guessed with your audiogram. Hearing aids should help significantly.

#47

That is a shockingly good WRS for that loss, particularly after bilateral sudden loss.

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#48

That’s nice to here. At this point I will take any good news.

I think when I go to the audiologist I will ask for a new hearing test. The day I went for the first one my allergies were really bad and I was very congested. Plus my Tinnitus which I have in both ears was on fire and that makes hearing that much more difficult. I informed them of us so not sure if they took that into consideration.

May not make a huge difference, but for my hearing loss even a little bit of improvement will help.

#49

Is there a conductive loss in there we aren’t seeing? Any little square brackets higher up on your audiogram?

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#50

@Neville: Yes, Neville, I realize that - betimes - I can be overly suspicious, but there’s something about this picture that seems “off” to me. Not the OP’s fault , but something seems not to jibe…

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#51

Ha! But now we’re all very invested in hearing what the outcome will be after they see the audiologist. :smiley:

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#52

Yes there are.

At 500 they are at 35 for both.
At 1000 they are at 25 for both.
At 2000 the right is 50 and the left is 65.
At 4000 the right is at 55 and the left is 50.

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#53

Ah, wild. Then you definitely need BTEs, but you will have much better outcomes than we all expected.

And. . . we’ll see if the audiologist does indeed suggest a second opinion for an ENT. That seems worth surgical intervention to me, although you’d still need hearing aids. But I don’t know the details, and there are conductive losses that cannot be surgically resolved.

Edit: But if that conductive component COULD be corrected surgically, then you’d be fine in RICs.

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#54

Ok by surgical intervention do you mean Cochlear Implants?

#55

No, I mean stapedectomy.

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#56

Ok, this is the first time I am hearing that. Maybe there is some hope for me.

It sounds like it may be best for me to also schedule an appointment with a new ENT to look at all of my options because the first ENT never mentioned that.

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#57

@gregzic: I’m really enjoying participating in this theead, even though my knowledge is nothing compared to @Nevilles. But you’re to be complimented because you’re really open-minded and amenable to good suggestions from Members like @Neville (Lots of folks come here with preconceived notions and “push back” if it’s not what they want to hear. That’s not so satisfying …)

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#58

I don’t know! You are an exciting mystery. If there was a chance of surgery, I would have expected the ENT to say so. They like surgery. Also, I don’t know what would cause a sudden non-middle-ear-dysfunction-related conductive loss, nor why one would take prednisone for it (though one can have a sudden sensorineural hearing loss behind a conductive loss). I bet Suspicious Spuds is imagining some wild medical malpractice, but in my experience ENTs are generally smart people who did a lot of school and have very little time, so while they can be abrupt and not always clear communicators, they usually have sound reasons for what they do and I want to default to trusting them. So with the bits and pieces of info we have here, it’s hard to know what’s going on. I’m looking forward to finding out.

#59

You guys have been a blessing, I can’t thank you enough. You have made a difficult situation so much easier to deal with.

I went to the ENT Center of Georgia.

My ENT basically said three things to me.

  1. You’re hearing loss is not noise induced, you have a genetic issue.
  2. You’re hearing can’t be improved in any way.
  3. You need amplification.

Have a good day, that will be $450.00.

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#60

@ Not really … more like someone who’s burnt out and could benefit from a sabbatical or retirement.

:potato::mag::gun:

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