Everyone releases something new every few years to try to stay relevant, and I have found that improvements from one to the next are typically small. I will allow that even small changes or features in hearing aid programming can make a big difference, but I will agree it’s kind of a drag when the new thing is not wildly different.
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I am using the ZPower battery system (now called Riot Energy), and I order replacement batteries directly from them now. I’ve had a few bad batteries that only last 6 months, but most last about a year. The pair I’m on now have lasted 14 months.
I usually wear my aids for 14 hours a day. If I’m doing a lot of streaming (on long calls or listening to podcasts, music, or audiobooks) they will give out at 10-12 hours, but most of the time, I make it through the day without having to switch to regular batteries as backup.
@csmanegold , you say you have inherited your Opns. So you must have lost someone close to you. I’m so sorry.
As far as HAs, I think you have probably inherited a pair of HAs that will significantly improve your hearing. The Opns were released several years ago but, as I remember, members here said that the Opn was one of those rare releases that really was a paradigm shift from the previous generation of Alta. So, if you’re lucky enough to have found an audi who will program HAs that you did not purchase from them, I say go for the Opns and enjoy your improved hearing.
I’m glad to hear that Riot has improved the performance of the battery to last as long as promised. When I was using the original ZPower batteries before they went bankrupt, I’d gone through 3 sets and I’d be lucky if any of them lasted 6 months long. Apparently Riot has taken over and managed to solve the reliability issue that ZPower couldn’t solve for these Silver Zinc batteries.
Would you be able to do a month trial of the Real1 with your audiologist? That might help make the decision.
My hearing is deplorable but the More1 does better than most for me. I do have custom molds. Further I ordered the Microshell mold that is specific to the More1 - avail in 65 and 80 powers only. I did find some enhancement with the Microshell vs the custom mold that I had prior (now on my backup aid).
I upgraded from More 1s to Real 1s because as an active cyclist I found the improvement in wind noise handling made it worth it. My understanding is that it’s not just software - there’s dedicated hardware for the wind and sudden noise features. After several months with the Reals I can’t say I have noticed improvement in my speech-in-noise comprehension. Streaming is also the same - occasional dropouts depending on which pocket my phone is in.
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Thank you for your response @joel.schuman and everyone else who has responded. I think I will try again to achieve some improvements in my aided hearing.
I’m going to try custom molds again and also trial the Real and the Phonak Lumity. But I’m going to tell my audi upfront that I won’t be buying new HAs unless I experience a significant improvement in hearing.
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The company which seems to have taken a big leap forward with this year’s release is Starkey with the Genesis AI. Might be worth considering.
My Audi said that if low frequency hearing is good custom mold will make low frequency hearing worse. I’m confused. What did your Audi tell you? TiA. Just trying to understand what may help w/ my hearing with Lumity L90s
Well that’s subjective, I mean with a large enough vent it’s the same as using a open dome, molds a better fit for some people anyway, although it’s common and practical to use a dome for mild low end losses, as the audiologist can program then and there, instead of additional waiting for the molds to be made, cheaper for the customer as well ; )
Maybe a dome for the right side and a mold for the left side?
Thanks. I don’t have too much trouble with domes. I brought it up to him, as some ppl say it improves their hearing. I have Lumity 90RLs and of course want them to work to their full potential based on my hearing. That being said they are ias good as the Audi is. I’m still thinking im not hearing as well as I should snd do not know how yo explain to Audi. If I’m about 6-8 feet away from my husband talking, I struggle to hear. He did apply Semi linear compression at 750-1500. Im not sure it helped. He said he could do much more but did not want to do Too much. I’m a bit frustrated & don’t understand the basic working (frequency ) of aids to help him help me. Thank you @tenkan
Most people with very bad hearing loss that needs high amplification (at any frequency) tend to choose custom mold for a tighter fit to avoid the leakage that a not-tight-fit-enough dome can bring about. If their loss is severe across the frequency range, they may not have any vent at all in their custom molds to avoid 100% any leakage which would compromise the (high) amplification they need.
Usually custom mold implies no vent (but not always). So if your low frequency hearing is still OK up to 1 or 2 KHz before it takes a nose dive (normal ski slope loss), then the lack of any vent in the custom mold would prevent low frequency sounds to reach your ear drum. You will only hear the low sounds as amplified by the hearing aids, but without the vent, you will not hear the natural low sounds that would have come through a vent. This presents a problem → the hearing aid is good at amplifying mid and high frequency sounds, but is very mediocre at amplifying low frequency sounds, especially the very deep low frequency sounds like the booming type of sounds. So that means that even if your low frequency hearing is fine, you will only hear some of the low frequency sounds (that the HA is able to produce), but you will miss the very deep low sounds that the HA is unable to produce.
Usually for speech, it’s no big deal because even low male human voices don’t go that deep. But for music enjoyment that has good deep bass sound that makes the music more enjoyable, you will miss that deep bass sound. But note that in the case of streaming music, you’ll miss it anyway because the whole music audio is streamed and reproduced by your hearing aids, so those deep bass sounds can’t reproduce those deep bass sounds in the first place. Only in the case of listening to music through the air via speakers that you will miss those deep bass sounds; and only if you have nice big speakers capable of reproducing the deep bass sounds. Smaller speakers like from smart phones or laptops or even small portable Bluetooth speakers that fit into your pocket won’t be able to reproduce very deep low bass anyway.
So in summary, while your audi is technically correct that custom mold will make low frequency hearing worse for ski-slope loss users like yourself, it’s only in very specific and limited situations. For most of the times, custom mold would help more than it hurts. And if you want to have it both ways (be able to hear low deep bass sounds for over-the-air music), putting a vent hole in the custom mold as suggested by @tenkan would allow this low frequency type sound to reach your ear drum and solve the problem. The compromise is that this vent hole will cause some leakage in the mids and highs, but at least it’s still usually more well sealed than the generic dome to minimize leakage. But don’t discount the other big advantage of a vent for custom mold, which is that you won’t feel completely occluded.
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