#1

I have a difficult hearing loss, and tried several new HA’s lately. The all sound very distorted, and no one can tell me why.

I have trialed Phonak V90, a pair of Siemens, a Widex, and now GN Resound Enzo 7. All with the same distortion. The way that new aids work, obviously do not work for me. At the moment I have Nathos S+ SP w using the spice chip. I would like to try something like the Naida Q, but do not know how much more advanced they are to these. The Naida Q series do not seem to be available now, so I really don`t know what to do.
Any ideas anyone please…

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#2

The reason for your distortion is properly your ears. It looks like no hearing aids will be clear.

#3

Please describe the distortion you hear. If they all sound distorted to you, it’s probably something wrong on your end.

#4

Find an audiologist who can do real ear measures and ask them to set the new hearing aids to match your old ones. They can measure the output of your old ones in their test box.

#5

We normally do a side by side measure with Live Speech and REM - it should be easy in this case - leave the moulds in and just change the BTE over on the tubing without moving the insert mic tube.

It has to be either that we don’t like the new feedback manager, saturation/MPO issue or the downward spread of masking as we’re simply not used to the level of gain being applied.

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#6

If you have severe loss and have not heard some frequencies in a while, and the new hearing aids are giving you those, your brain does not know how to hear those. It could get clearer with use. It happened to me with my first hearing aid. High frequencies were distorted but after a few months they were clear.

Currently I’m getting some distortion with any vented fit on my new hearing aids, which is a different cause. While the distortion is going on, if I stick my fingers in my ears to seal, the distortion goes away.

#7

Hi Don, thanks for your reply.

I trialed a pair of Phonak V90s for three months, hoping they would improve, but they didnt. These Resound Enzo`s are the same. Which is why I think the new aids are causing the problem, although I do have a certain amount of distortion anyway…

#8

Hi Volusiano.

It`s most likely frequency distortion. I have proved that frequencies between 1 and 2k sound the same. Why this distortion is worse with new aids, no one can explain.

#9

Hi Zebras.

You are probably right. Clarity is not something I dare hope for, but I manage.

#10

Hi Um_bongo.

Not sure what this will prove. Several audiologists have had a go, and none have really helped.

#11

You put your old aids through the REM system then tune the new ones to emulate their response. So it doesn’t sound distorted.

#12

I have the same problem with all and any hearing aid I get! There is so much distortion that I cannot understand the person sitting across from me. I took statin drugs which initiated a drooped eye and tinnitus and I do believe that the drug did something to my ears to affect the hearing too as I began to have a hearing loss while on this drug. Please be aware of medications being the culprit in hearing problems as I have read that diuretics case hearing loss.

#13

Thanks Um_bongo.

I have an appointment tomorrow, and will have a word with the audiologist.

Thanks Aquarius_Anne.

I always check any medication, just in case I may cause a problem.

#14

How can you stick your fingers in your ears with the hearing aids in??

#15

Mine go in plenty deep to be able to seal off the opening with my finger.

#16

Hi Um_bongo.

I took the Resound Enzo’s back yesterday. He doesn’t think a REM would make any difference to me, as my hearing is so distorted.
So I anyone has a pair of Naida Q SP they don`t want, then I am interested.

#17

That’s a bit of a cop out to be honest. If your hearing mechanism doesn’t like being over driven there’s a few things he could have tried, the very least of which would be measuring the actual response of the aids through REM.

It’s a real shame that they weren’t willing to put in the hard yards with you.
Even if they’d set up a P2/P3 slot with a modified ALL-AROUND program with a slight gain adjustment to evaluate what levels were more effective for you in the real world, it would have been a start.

Best of luck in finding something that better suits your hearing.

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#18

I’m just about the list a pair of Naida Q70 UP on eBay for £220.

I bought them for my 96 year old Grandad but after trying them for 2 weeks, he couldn’t get used to the Phonak sound

My friend has just been updated from the Nathos SP to the Sky Q70 UP and she’s noticed a huge difference in sound quality. She’s had her Nathos since around 2010.

Even tho she’s gone from SP to UP, she’s had no decline in her hearing.

#19

Hi Zebras.

That sounds like too good an opportunity to miss.

Just done a quick check on the difference between the 70 and 90, and if you substitute Advanced for Premium, there does not seem much difference.

I will gain the Duophone which I believe will be helpful. They have a larger battery than mine, and the aids I expect, are a little larger, but I can cope with that.
How do you want to go about payment etc?

#20

@JohnD2 I’ve messaged you.