As an audio engineer, I like to get into details of my new hearing aids. This forum has been greatly helpful. I have open domes and have gotten conflicting answers from Chatgpt (not surprising). My loss is mild to moderate, and I’ve noticed when listening to the radio in my car, it seems I can hear certain programs better with my HAs removed.
Does anyone know how much direct sound open domes block at various frequencies? In general, I mean, because I understand every individual is different. I realize I’m being persnickety, but I like to have as much info as possible.
Depends on the anatomy of the ear. This is something that can be measured with REM. Trying the hearing aids with the domes off could give you an idea, but for some the receive block itself can block a fair bit if the ear canal is very small or narrow.
This is a bit about earplug effect after domes. If this isn’t overcomed by gain from hearing aid, you could lose benefits from the REUG (effect from tour earlobe and ear canal resonances).
So, in your case, you have probably underfitted REAR (Real Ear Aided Response) which could be poorer in some frequencies than REUR (Real Ear Unaided Response).
There is some differences betweer “Gain” or “Response” e.g. REAR and REAG, which measures sound from hearing aid turned on, but with different philosophy. Or REUG vs. REUR.
I’m a long retired broadcast and recording engineer.
It may be that without HA’s you turn the radio to a higher level.
Then with the HA’s you set the level lower because the HA’s are amplifying other sounds and noises.
Do you have an SPL meter?
I’ve actually done some simple subjective experiments. Up to my roughly 1 kHz bandwidth, my open domes add no audible attenuation. That is, music with intentionally-limited bandwidth sounds exactly the same.
I do not have the Spheric Speech in Noise program. I bought my HAs at Costco and to my knowledge, they didn’t do a REM. Apparently some Costco’s do, so I will go back and ask them. I appreciate your response and will be studying it.
Of course, this is subjective, but I’ve tried removing the HAs while listening at the same level, and ‘believe’ I can hear a difference, though this could be do to blockage vs frequency gain in the HAs. I do have an SPL meter and will give that a try.
You should, I was there 3 months ago and they did it and knowing the way Costco operates, their operations should be the same in every store. Did they put a wire in your ear?