Riding in a car and trying to hear someone in the passenger seat is an extremely challenging situation for me. What can I expect from my first set of HA for this situation? (I’ve yet to buy a pair) My gut says that the directional mics won’t be of great value if I can’t look at the person directly.
Also, what about hearing passengers in the rear? Would the HA want to turn of the rear mic when the road noise is there? What have been your experiences with this one?
FYI, I’m considering the oticon dual mini m9 and the AH 32 SIE.
Actually, there are a number of HAs available that possess noise reduction and the like for just this sort of situation. And I understand that the directional microphones do a very good job as well.
One option on the Phonak Audeo YES IX is called VoiceZoom. This allows you to select which direction to concentrate the listening in. It does not totally wipe out all sounds, but makes the sounds coming from the selected direction have priority, or makes them louder and turns down the input from the other 3 directions. I can have my window open while driving with the VoiceZoom set to the right side and hear my wife in the passenger seat clearly. Of course this is only available in the top model of the YES series, the IX. Yes, it costs more, but you do get what you pay for with this model, and I find it quite worth it.
[quote=pax576]Riding in a car and trying to hear someone in the passenger seat is an extremely challenging situation for me. What can I expect from my first set of HA for this situation? (I’ve yet to buy a pair) My gut says that the directional mics won’t be of great value if I can’t look at the person directly.
I am a new HA user on a trial period 3rd week. That said, I will tell you how the HA have worked for me while riding in the front passanger seat. I have been able to hear and understand the conversation from the side and in back without the need to turnaround. The HA I was demoing were Otigon Vigo Pro. I am now demoing the Oticon Epoq xw, which are better. I am not recomending them for you, but what has worked for me and my hearing. Just make sure you have a demo period!
Ed K.
250: 20/25 500: 20/35 1K: 30/55 2K: 60/65 4K: 50/65 8K: 70/65
Discrimination R 92% L 60%
I’ll ditto this. There’s a lot I don’t like about the Pures, but Siemens’ noise reduction circuitry is EXCELLENT. I can listen to music and hear passengers in my car without any background noise to speak of.
I will maintain HOPE. It sounds like several people are dealing with the car situation well. So, my new HA will definitely help my dating game as I am 28 and single. You can only smile and nod so much before you get caught and then it gets mighty awkward.
Here’s my next burning question. For the life of me I cannot hear when someone leans over and whispers in my hear. In a church meeting, for example. And then it gets hard to explain why you can’t hear when the person is talking DIRECTLY into your ear…
So what about it? Do whispers get better? I imagine they made up of almost all very high freq as no sound is coming from the vocal cords?
Oticon dire. sistem is based on AI (artif. intell.) so the instrument decides to choose between 3 options- omni, direc., split. If the dominant voice comes from behind the instrument will set it self to omni helping you getting the most of the speech signal from behid you. their Noise reduc. is also trigger by AI - but it is speech depent.
Now, other aids make the change omni vs Dire, based on how loud is the envi.
it is quiet the instrument sets itself in omni if it is somewhat noisy it sets in directional. While this might make sense, it might not make sense in a car setting.
The ideal choice, would be an FM. If this is the case, perhaps a mini bte
like the Oticon Vigo with an FM reciever Amigo R12 (tinny) and a transmiter either amigo t10 or t20
could do the trick just nicely. Phonaks Fm are nice But they are BIG, they dont have an Fm solution as cosmetic as the AMIGO r12
So what about it? Do whispers get better? I imagine they made up of almost all very high freq as no sound is coming from the vocal cords?
Whispering to a hearing impaired person will always be tough. Prior sentence has double meaning!
I’m 44 and have had HAs for 15 years but probably needed them 25 years ago! I’ve “missed” whispers my entire life and you do get use to it. Just let the person know you can’t understand them.
Whispering directly in my ears keeps me from seeing the speaker’s face also so that makes understanding what they say nearly impossible anyway.
You might do better than me if your loss is moderate or less but for most of us, well we just have to grin and bar:p e it!
bherring thanks for your response. There is definitely a certain intimacy to whispering that pains me to not enjoy but I’ll try to have realistic expectations in this regard.
