Help for my 96 year old Mum

Hearing Aids
#1

Audiogram.pdf (180.1 KB)

Hi All

My mum’s audiogram is attached (hopefully). I presume this suggests a severe to profound, but treatable, hearing loss.

She is currently using a Specsavers Advance RIC hearing aid (rebranded Unitron Moxi Fit) with custom molds plus a Roger On.

She still has a good deal of trouble hearing normal or raised conversation even in quiet situations.

When I ask our Specsavers clinician if there is anything we can do to help her, he shrugs his shoulders and says that I need to understand that my mother has lost the ability to hear at these frequencies and little can be done to improve that. This doesn’t quite make sense to me.

I have asked the clinician if we might consider a more powerful BTE aid but he hasn’t replied. I suspect he finds me troublesome!

Does anyone have any advice? Her loss looks treatable to me, but I am not an expert of course.

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#2

Hi there, hey great your trying to help your mum in this regard, looking at her audiogram it isn’t too bad at all, the thing to remember is hearing aids don’t restore ones hearing, also if mums lost the ability to “understand” speech then this is also going to be a problem that hearing aids won’t help with, so first off I’d get a second opinion before committing to getting more powerful hearing aids, but you’ve come to the right place, I’m sure there will be lots of advice on how to help

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#3

She has a severe loss rather than severe to profound.

She also has got No Response on the Audiogram at just the last frequency which means she has a good chance of hearing certain frequencies if hearing aids are well programmed.

With RIC Aids, the power of it can be changed with changing the receivers. She may already have a powder receiver.

Think they go 65dB, 85dB, 100dB and 105dB.

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#4

Thanks tenkan and zebras for your replies. Much appreciated.

I’m fairly sure she just has the “standard” receivers. I did ask the clinician if we might consider a more powerful receiver in her current aids and again I just got the same condescending shake of the head as if I have no idea what I am talking about!

It’s odd about her loss registering as merely in the severe range on the audiogram. I know from my daily interactions with her that without her aids she quite literally cannot hear a thing! My own hearing is pretty bad but she is on another level completely.

#5

When you get into the severe range, you’ll still massively struggle without hearing aids.

My friend has a severe loss and can’t hear a thing.

Profound starts at 90dB.
Severe starts at 70dB to 90dB.

Sometimes severe can start at 75dB but with Phonak and Unitron, they class severe at 70dB.

I’m not very experienced with RIC Aids but I beeline the power of the receiver is printed on the actual receiver?

Just checked, it’ll be on the receiver like 1P.

So a number and a letter.

I know the 105dB is UP but unsure what P would be classed as? Maybe someone else will know?

#6

Which one I wonder, I think the Moxi Fit was first released in 2015, plus there’s a rechargeable version, also I wouldn’t think the S ( standard) would be best, M
(medium) at least would fit, but also you can’t just change out the receiver, you’ll also have to have the HAs reprogrammed to suit, if your local guy is not interested then you’ll need to find someone else more sympathetic to the situation, shouldn’t be this hard to do.

#7

Thanks again to you both.

According to the Specsavers clinician, it’s the equivalent of a Unitron Discover Next platform, Moxi Fit, tech level 3. It’s the battery version, not rechargeable.

I checked the receiver and it’s buried in the mold and I don’t want to pull on it too much, so I can’t read what’s written on it but I am fairly certain it is just the regular (standard) receiver. The receipt we were given in 2021 at the time of purchase describes both hearing aids as “Advance Plus 470 R 312” and one of the serial numbers is 2112X1PG2. I don’t know if that helps.

I’d like to find someone else but Specsavers are just so damned cheap! I guess you get what you pay for.

#8

Ok then, the Moxi blu, these are the power levels available, yeah Specsavers don’t have a good rap, Costco is the way if it’s possible.

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#9

Moderate receiver is quite powerful.

I assumed they would be like Phonak receivers.

Got that very wrong! :rofl:

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#10

Sounds like “clinician” is a generous description, and this is probably a first fit. The moulds sound like they’re the equivalent of Phonak C-Shells. They encase the receiver to further reduce the chances of feedback, this time from the receiver itself.

Did she receive any speech recognition tests, as this sounds unacceptable? If they put the wrong receivers in, then it will be costly to change, as new moulds would have to be made.

The UK NHS treated me in a similar way… First fit, then out of the door. On return visits (3), it became clear that they didn’t know much about the hearing aid, or the software, and they took me as being a nuisance because I couldn’t make out words. They did this with my late mother too. I reluctantly went private, but noted the actions the private audiologist took. I’ve started self programming. A few little changes make a huge difference.

Does your mum hear her own voice very loud, and where does she think that sound is coming from (eg, head, throat, mouth)?

Have they made any attempt to reduce the level of feedback control (if set too high, it may reduce gain in the speech frequecies)?

She may be suffering from upwards masking, where some lower frequencies overpower the high frequencies.

Another thing my Audiologist said was that Volume isn’t everything. So, even if the receivers are the wrong ones, they should still be able to adjust the frequencies and compression to get a far better result.

Good luck

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#11

I’ve been told this is very common.

#12

On first fit, my new audiologist made small reductions in some of the bass & mids, and small increases in some of the highs.

His first main action was to reduce the global feedback control. His second was the above and finally he took a long time on the high frequency compression settings, to improve quiet sounds, and compress the noisy ones.

What a difference.

This obviously may not be the issue for this lady, but it wouldn’t be a bad start.

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#13

Thanks again.

He claims to be a “GradDipDesSc(AudioDes), MClinAud, MAudSA” whatever all that means but I thought clinician might be a more accurate description!

Clinics like Specsavers work on such tight margins so I can understand why they don’t want to spend too much time on you once they’ve made the initial sale.

I think it’s time to track down a more sympathetic audiologist, although I fear they won’t be too helpful once I tell them that we are not particularly interested in buying a different hearing aid. I will need to check if the Specsavers Advance aids are locked.

#14

What country are you in, as they may not be able to access the aids, even if they were willing?

#15

Yeah, I just added that possibility to my last post.

I’m in Australia.

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#16

I thought I’d missed it when I looked again :slight_smile:

#17

My first thoughts are @thecaz, the Specsavers clinician is fobbing you off, and giving you a heavy dose of BS, well that’s my opinion fwiw… However, It is true, if unaided, with the lack of brain stimulation, and also in studies thought to advance the onset of Alzheimer’s, we will/can lose the ability to understand speech over a lengthy period of time, but we also have the ability to relearn once aided, but that can take a long time, it is obviously better, to be aided as soon as possible, once you notice you are struggling… But, we can be fickle, and all too often denial creeps in, if you are needing aids yourself, get them, you will be doing yourself a favour, not to mention everyone else whom is trying to communicate with you… Moxi aids, do not really get a good right up on here, (well none that I have read) they are much older technology, in comparison to some of today’s hearing aids, it can be night & day… If you have Costco in Australia, go there with your mother, they use best practices like REM, they are by all reports very thorough, at about a third of the price of private A.uD’s, for high end rebranded aids, research on here first :smile: And perhaps once you have done so, consider your own hearing loss… Good Luck, cheers Kev :wink:

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#18

Thanks very much Kev. All good advice.

Once I’ve dealt with mum, I will be eagerly awaiting the Australian release of the Australian version of the Sony cre-e10 OTC aid for myself, at least as a stop gap solution for my own moderate hearing loss.

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#19

That’s good too hear @thecaz, or in in your case, it hopefully will be :smile: I am a great believer in being proactive with any form of hearing loss, and OTC hearing aids, should fill the gap for mild/moderate losses, until perhaps users reach the moderately severe/severe thresholds, you will be acutely aware when you need another more powerful aid from a dispenser/A.uD… OTC aids, I believe, will help many folks, whom might not have considered going to an A.uD, perhaps because of the eye watering prices, or monetary concerns might have also prevented them doing so… But now, with the cheaper OTC, it may well be viable option? 1 in 7 folks worldwide have some form hearing loss, and probably 1 in 5 in the higher age groups… We are not alone. Good Luck, cheers Kev :wink:

#20

My Mother In Law passed at 94
She wore hearing aids dispensed by a disastrous firm that was called Listen Up Canada.

Does anyone change the waxguards in her hearing aids?

all the best
DaveL
Toronto

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