The 85dB’s are hard wired on mine.
I liked the older molds which allowed the receiver to be removed.
Versatility. I could switch from domes to molds for different situations, and comfort.
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I have the resound llinx quattro UP encased mold
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70% alcohol swap for cleaning the silicon dome once a week and air drying it. This will reduce the smell and wax on the dome. Ear Wax removal - many convenience outlets in Asia!.
@danka Thanks, but my father passed away 9 years ago,
Answering the questions here:
How often do you change the RECEIVER?
I had both receivers changed on my current aids: one after two years of use, the other after almost 2.5 years of use. I don’t abuse the aids in any way or pull on the wire, so it could be they failed from use alone. I have never just changed out receivers unless they fail.
What brand of hearing aid do you have and what model?
These are Phonak Marvel aids.
How much did you pay for the new receiver?
I paid $6700 for these Phonak Marvel aids when new. They were purchased from an audiologist in NV. At the time, my health plan covered $600 for the pair, which reduced the cost to $6100.
And how long did your receiver last since you bought it?
As stated above, one receiver lasted 2 years, the other almost 2.5 years. Both receivers were still under warranty when they failed, so the replacement was FREE.
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I’ve been wanting to ask you this since you have worn both: Do you feel that wearing OTE HAs gives you better hearing? I’ve been wearing ITE for even more years and find them much more comfortable and trouble free than OTE.
Thank you
I thought I heard from one of our HCPs on the forum (@Um_bongo) that all HA mfgs use pretty much the same receivers across the board. I don’t know about the wiring difference, but I usually consider the wiring harness to be part of the receiver right out of the production line so I’d think that they’re not different either.
Now to answer the questions based on my personal experience:
- I’d say that most of my receivers tend to last between 1-2 years. I have worse hearing loss in my right ear and the right receiver tends to fail before the left receiver. I must say, however, that I live in AZ so humidity is usually never an issue here. I don’t have humid ear canals either. I think humidity is probably a big factor in their longevity.
- I use Oticon OPN receivers.
- The cheapest I’ve been able to get my 85 dB Oticon receivers is $16 for a pair from eBay in brand new condition in Oticon labelled box just the same as those I got from my HCP.
- The receivers bought from eBay seems to last about the same as the ones I originally got from my HCP.
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If I could get the same sound quality with the new Oticon OWN as I get with the Oticon More1 aids I have I would beg the VA to put me back into the ITE aids. I just feel more comfortable with ITE aids. But so far the More1 aids have been before my hearing loss.
I have never had a receiver replaced during my 4 years with Siemens and 5 with Oticon OPN1s.
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I’ve just asked my neighbour.
He has some 2008 Phonak Audeo Yes Aids and he’s never changed the receivers.
He hears quite well still.
If I may also chime in with my own 2-cents’ worth here, I wore ITE aids for about 20+ years, then switched to RIE aids for the past several years.
Initially I REALLY preferred the ITE aids! They will pretty much never fall out of your ears. Plus, I felt like the ear’s natural cup shape enhanced sound going IN to those ITE aids. On top of which, placing the phone in the “sweet spot” was easy! Just hold it up to the ear canal like most folks without hearing aids do. My old Motorola flip phone also had a natural cup shape in the receiver, so I’d never get feedback putting that up against my ear.
So now that I’ve been wearing RIE aids, I guess I’m happy enough with them? There is the annoying hair rustle; also a HUGE chance of losing them thanks to the pandemic masks with straps around the ears competing for space with eyeglasses, sunglasses AND our “beans” attached to the ear wire. DOH.
But phones no longer have that nice cup-shaped receiver! Indeed, I just bought a nice Galaxy Z Flip4 phone, and like all the rest, you have to find the “sweet spot” somewhere over that ear where the mic is located. If you don’t get it just right, you need to keep moving it around. BUT! Today’s aids stream by Bluetooth OR you can enable a program like “acoustic phone” to have a very “streamed-like” conversation on the phone.
If adult ITE aids were bright, cheery colors like RED! BLUE! PURPLE! I’d also consider them, but no. They are the color of a bandaid. UGH. Very dated and dumpy looking. Even the new BLACK ones are simply WAY too masculine for me to ever want to wear.
Therefore, I cast my vote for the RIE style for now, even though the mic unit is in the BORING BMW colors: black, white, silver, pewter, champagne. Does NO ONE under the age of 85 wear aids at all? Can you picture a teenager or 20-something with these boring, institutional colors?
You seem to have a preference for ITE as I do but your main fault seems to be color. I did ask my Audi for colored ones but she said that with my ear and allergy sensitivity that I most likely have an allergic to them. I have no idea if that is true.
I’ve noticed all the problems you mentioned with RIC and I often wonder why they are so popular. I’ve been wearing HA for about 40 years and would never, even try RIC again. ITE are just so easy to handle and to put on and wear, there doesn’t seem to be a contest to me. I also wear Oticon and have no desire to change.
You raise a lot of great points, maggie07!! And come to think of it, I am pretty allergic to any kind of earmold if it isn’t of the boring flesh-toned plastic, so maybe I should stop pining away for vibrant colored ITCs or ITEs. Plus, I have a lot of ear canal swelling every night, so in the morning, I’d always struggle to get the ITEs in (with the feedback and whistling till my canal swelling went down).
Main thing is that I’m able to put my RIEs in upon waking up, and I just jiggle and jimmy the soft silicone double domes till they’re seated.
Oh well, that explains why your preference is RIC. You are lucky that they are something that you can wear. Good luck.
I went from ITE to MiniRite because the ITE aids were not updating as fast as the MiniRite aids. Also, I get my aids from the VA and I have full trust in my audiologist’s decisions. Sure I could have said no I want ITE aids, but I also new I wouldn’t get the latest technology. My dream at this time is to have my More1 aids and also have the OWN1 ITE aids so I have backups that aren’t such a downgrade in hearing if I need to have my main aids in for service.
Thank you for that info as I wondered why you switched from the ITE.
My ITE are quite large due to my hearing loss and are Oticon Siya as the head Audi recently told me that the best, most expensive HA would not do any better for me due to the severe distortion in my hearing. Hearing speech is still a problem, but since I’ve aged, I’ve settled.
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Had to have the receiver replaced twice in my Phonak Marvel’s. Once due moisture and the 2nd time because of a intermittent connection failure.
If I wiggled it just right, the Hearing aid would shut off.
No issues so far with my Paradise. 
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My hearing loss is not a normal loss, I ear lots of sound without aids but can’t understand sound. And even with aids before my audiologist I have now I still had issues with speech understanding with aids. When I moved I waited until the VA audiology clinic opened to go to back to get my hearing test. When I met my audiologist I was really impressed, because he said down almost an hour and listened to my issues and concerns. And I have never had an audiologist to spending so much time with me and gone over and beyond to get me the aids and extras I need. I can email him with any questions and he will respond. I always email him before I have my appointments so he can make calls or do research before the appointment and not afterwards.
Fortunately or not (ha) I can’t use the VA but use Kaiser Permanente in No. California. Did not have good luck with Costco & I see the audie is no longer there. I get good care at Kaiser and am happy with them.
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Phonak Venture 90s. Mine have broken at the wire where it joins the receiver - luckily it was just as I was taking them out. They last about about 18 months and I now keep an eye on the little bit of ?silicon that surrounds where the wire meets the receiver because when that starts to disintegrate or wear then I get them replaced. Mine are free for the life of the aides but I did pay a lot for them in the first place.
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