I have long suffered from hearing loss but am now ready to treat it. I had an opportunity to demo the ReSound Vivia 9’s today at an audiologist in the mall. They programmed them based on my audiogram (from another audiologist) and made some quick in-office adjustments. Then I was told I could walk around the mall to see how they work. I was pleasantly surprised overall. He was able to tone down the tinny sound of his own voice and overall ambient noise. However, my own voice and the music playing in the mall were still very tinny. It was so strange. Is this something that I just have to get used to? Or can they further adjust? It was just a quick demo so I did not get REM or any major adjustments so I am hopeful that, if I order them to trial, they will be able to further refine it. But, keep in mind, I have nothing to compare it to as I have never worn HAs before. Thank you!
Your hearing loss is similar to mine … The tinny sound is the high frequency sound that you have not heard for as long as you have had the loss. You can tone down some of it … but you need it to understand speach properly . Over time it will become normal to you.
Thanks so much. That makes me feel better.
Half the struggle with new aids is your brain re-educating itself to grasp what the aid produces is speech, or rustling leaves, or you shoes on the pavement. A week or two from now it will probably fade away into “normal” as grey ghost referenced, though sometimes it can take a little longer and require fine-tuning by the audiologist.
I am currently a 30 day trial user of Vivia9 rechargeable. The tinny effect and muddled voice at low levels are making it tough. I have worn HA for 6 years but recently had an episode that cause a hearing loss moderate to nearly severe. I am a DIY on the adjustments and can get improvements in some areas (excessive low rumble road noise when driving) but the high end tinny and muddled low speech is challenging. I recently went to Out Back Steak House and the noise was overwhelming even with Hear In Noise. Could not have a conversation with my wife nor understand the waitress. In quieter settings things are better but not satisfactory. Some sounds I have gotten to be normal like running water and door closings, but others are overwhelming. My HA were programmed with real ear measurements. I have noticed improvements if I lower the gain from 100% to 90%. My next step is to go to 80% on the gain.
Hi there, yeah so your not doing something right, DIY projects need a plan, you can’t just jump in and make adjustments and that somehow you’ll “work it out” so there’s lots of variables to consider, what formula used etc, also REM is for your original audiology settings, once you start changing and making additional adjustments that goes out the window. Could you post your audogram as this will help everyone offer advice.
Ok so I’d start a new fit with In-situ audiometry or audogram with SmartFit, make sure you have the correct acoustics and experience level set, run first fit and check feedback thresholds, let SmartFit do the work to begin with, now check in the real world testing, take notes etc I’ve taken my laptop, Noahlink out to a local mall, cafe bar and made adjustments on the fly, are you using the music program as this one has most features turned off and it’s quite interesting when you try this in normal everyday situation, so this can give a hint that some features are set a bit stronger than expected in other program etc
Here’s a place to see what these features supposedly do.
@tenkan I thought REM is for checking the prescription that is delivered to the ear drum, once that is correctly established, any subsequent adjustments within that prescription do not require REM, am I mistaken?
Thx
Yeah what I mean in that statement is that the original audiology settings are set after REM, so once you start making all sorts of additional adjustments,acoustics formula etc the REM no longer apply, they would have to be recalibrated, but in this case it shouldn’t matter being a DIY’r
; )
I appreciate your insight and reply. I first start with what is the worst and try to figure out what adjustment makes an improvement. All the tinny sharp sounds were my first effort. Each time I make a minor adjustment I note what I did and the outcome. I reset back to the original audiogram as you mentioned and then attempt it again either at the same or different area. The best overall has been a reduction to 90% gain from !00%. That alone makes most things bearable especially on the high end. I have most sounds in the lower end very near normal. The mid range and high are the worst. There is such an improvement with 10% reduction in gain that it is almost starting over at this point where the midrange is now the issue with voice clarity. Attached is a copy of my audiogram.
Thanks for your insights. How far are you into your trial? Are you considering returning them to go with something else?
I just got the Jabra Pro 30 aids which are said to be the same aid as the Vivia 9 and i found a huge difference between Resound’s proprietary programming software (which my Costco used for initial setup) and after rem. I actually asked them to set both as a program so i can compare because i liked Resound’s software programming so much better at first listen but wanted to see how each preformed in different environments. Resound’s software is definitely more sharp and crisp while in comparison i would say the rem programming seemed slightly more natural yet my speech comprehension wasnt near as good. I do have severe to profound hi freq loss so that may be why i prefer the more sharp sound but they dont sound tinny to me, just more crisp. I also found the hear in noise program worked amazingly well in a crowded restaurant setting. I could actually hear my wife well and not the loud kids 2 tables away or the dishes being tossed around in the kitchen.
I returned them. They got notoriously bad about disconnecting from the app and the TV Streamer2. Randomly would drop one of the hearing aids. Would have to reboot to get them to reconnect which requires the charger. Went to Saltgrass Steak House and could not understand the waitress or my wife. None of the setting worked in that atmosphere My Key 362 were/are much better and stay connected to my devices. I am beginning to think too much electronics interferes with itself or I had a defective set. Also learned that I did not need the 17 bands of adjustments for my hearing loss. If your loss slopes as mine does, the fewer but wider adjustment bands are adequate. If you loss is more sawtooth then more bands are needed to to adjust in-between. My Key 362 have 8 bands vs Vivia9 has 17.
Interesting because mine are totally stable when connected to my phone, streamer or car. They havent lost connection once so for. The tap to answer works every time. My streamer stays connected while i walk all the way to my garage from my bedroom. If i go farther it disconnects, but as soon as i get close again they automatically connect (they do lose connection if far away for more than 5 min, but just hold aid button for 2 sec and back connected once in range). I have a Samsung S24fe running Android 15, UI 7