Hearing aids: more or less processed output?

Hearing Aids
#1

I wear Oticon More 1. They sound very natural to me and work great in easy/quiet ambients. However, I was still unable to fully comprehend speech in not so very challenging situations (echoey places, small restaurants, etc.).

To investigate that, I have two programs running side by side, both with the exact same prescription and fitting formula (NAL-NL2). They differ as follows:

  • P1 was pretty much as Oticon recommends it to be: “Neural Noise Suppression”, “Transient Noise Management”, “Spatial Noise Management”, and “Feedback Management” all toggled ON; and mics set to “Neural Automatic”.
  • P2 went the other direction: “Neural Noise Suppression”, “Transient Noise Management”, “Spatial Noise Management”, and “Feedback Management” all toggled OFF; and mics set to “Fixed Omni”.

My impression is that P2 allows me to have a much easier time understanding people, hearing music in that environment, and being aware of the complete soundscape. On top of that, I was relaxed and not experiencing any sort of discomfort. On the other hand, P1 frequently annoys me with what I perceive as “unnatural” sound behavior, especially noise suppression (that often seems to take a bite of the human voice as well).

Although I still rely on those digital assistive features in more complex situations, I have been using P2 for most of my day and am very happy. IMHO, this is the true embodiment of Oticon’s “brain hearing” or “open sound”…

I post my experience so anyone else struggling to get the best out of these hearing aids could explore that with hers/his hearing care professional. Perhaps I am an outlier, perhaps my brain is a bit odd, or perhaps for my hearing loss less “sound meddling” is more.

Questions about Oticon Real hearing aids
#2

E! You are on to something. I’m sure more Oticon wearers will chime in here, but even as a Phonak wearer, I can totally relate to your irritations and annoyances.

I have my Noise Management dialed WAY down. I simply don’t want it reducing the volume across the frequency board whenever someone steps on a twig! I have asked my audi if there’s a way to boost SPEECH frequencies and dial down other ones, but I just don’t think that’s happening with my Phonaks, so I still get into situations where I put the aids into, say “Music” so I get just the actual sound and no tinkering by the aid’s brain.

There is likely a happy medium where you can adjust some things and not others. Too many things dialed down probably is like over-medicating, and you’ll end up with consequences in hearing that are not pleasant.

Along that line, I got rid of my Comfort in Echo program cuz the newer Phonak Lumity Life aids actually do a noticeably better job of adjusting to ambient sounds and acoustic challenges than my older Phonak Marvels.

MANY here seem to have a brain that I simply lack. They wax poetic and positive about Oticon’s natural sound that lets the human BRAIN make sense of it. But the Oticon OPN aids I trialed for NINE MONTHS several years ago were a disaster for me, no matter how many times I had them adjusted.

If you’ve got the latest and greatest Oticons, be persistent with the adjustments and programs till you get a listening experience that you like. Keep us posted on what works for you.

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#3

Thanks for always offering encouraging and supportive words to all of us, @1Bluejay ! :).

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