How to adjust HA to sound as good as TV Connector

[user113]

First of all, I’d like to thank all the folks who are posting great advice here. I’ve been reading these forums on and off for several months. I too am a forum moderator elsewhere so I appreciate it when i see a forum work so well like this one does.

But on to my story and question…

I received my first set of hearing aids (Phonak Audeo L90-RT) in late December, it’s been 5 months now and I’ve tweaked them quite a bit by now. My Audi works for the VA, she is terrible. The total story is no REM, went there 3 times, told her that I can’t hear speech at all in my left ear with the HA installed, I can hear better without the HA, she said that maybe I didn’t need HA’s. She made me mad so I just left angry. I got Target and have been slowly tweaking and for me, it’s a guessing game. I’m not stupid but I’m not trained in this field.

I want to hear speech in my left ear. With all my tweaking to date, the Bluetooth audio sounds very good, I can hear speech extremely well using my TV Connector. When I’m not using Bluetooth the HA just doesn’t seem like it’s amplifying the speech audio range. I’m also thinking my right ear could be compensating and my brain thinks the left ear hears better than it really is, well it’s possible I suspect.

Question: Is there an easy way, or even a difficult way to make the HA microphone work like the Bluetooth audio? I’m fully willing to reset to baseline and start all over again, whatever it takes. I might even go back to the VA and demand they fit my HA’s properly but that is a last resort, I don’t need my blood pressure to spike.

Thank you for any responses.

[Zebras]

@user113

Question: Is there an easy way, or even a difficult way to make the HA microphone work like the Bluetooth audio?

Many people ask this. Bluetooth and TV Connector stream sound directly into the Aids. Only way to get that effect, is using a Phonak Roger System or Partner Mic

I assume you’ve turned the volume up?

If you’re using open domes, you’ll notice when on the Bluetooth program, more low frequency gain is added. That won’t be on the everyday program but obviously I have no idea what domes you’re using.

[user113]

Thanks for the reply.

When I turn up the HA volume, the high frequencies seem way too loud, screechy I’d say and can’t leave them up that high, it almost hurts. And I can’t say that I could hear speech which is of course my goal for having the HA’s in the first place.

It seems odd that an external mic would produce that kind of better results.

Well domes is another thing I’m working on. The Audi gave me cap domes that fall out after about 10 to 30 minutes of use. She said they will be fine. I ended up purchasing a few different types, right now I use a vented small for the left and a vented medium for the right. I did try the power domes and they stayed in but I felt closed off. I think I’ll stay with the vented for now. They stay in place and sound better. I did adjust the HA settings in Target for the domes.

So let me ask this odd question… If the Bluetooth audio is very good, If I copy the settings to the default HA audio, would that mean my frequency curve and gains are sort of close to being correct? I have not copied the settings over but I’m still learning how HA’s work. Since my left ear is the one which does not hear speech well, I’m planning to wear just the one HA for the next few weeks. I was just hoping to find a better starting point. I could just reset to the original settings that came from the Audi but those high frequencies are ear piercing. I can hear a pin drop, just not someone asking for help. Drives me crazy.

[Zebras]

@user113

If the Bluetooth audio is very good, If I copy the settings to the default HA audio, would that mean my frequency curve and gains are sort of close to being correct?

They’re correct anyway.

The issue as I already said is you’re steaming with Bluetooth and TV Connector so will always sound better, then hearing sound’s through your Aid Microphone as there’ll be distance that the speech has to travel even when very close to the person speaking.

Are you sure your Aids are working as even your bad ear is still very good so I’m surprised you feel like you’re not hearing.

Copying the settings is okay but it still won’t sound the same.

[user113]

Thank you. I think I understand what you are saying.

My bad ear really doesn’t hear very good without the HA, it’s like having an ear plug in. But my main complaint is I cannot make out normal speech with or without the HA. I could barely make out what my daughter was saying to me this morning. At work I have to ask the guys to “say again”. Maybe time will fix it, I just don’t know.

But you did answer my question about the Bluetooth vs. HA Microphone. I found a few setup videos that I’m examining, maybe I need to tweak the Phonak HA’s a little more and then give it some time.

Cheers

[Zebras]

@user113

But my main complaint is I cannot make out normal speech with or without the HA.

Have you changed the fitting formulas to see if that helps?

I get better speech understanding with NAL 2. The others don’t work well for me but someone else will like other formula.

[user113]

I just painfully reset and restarted from scratch. I set adaptive setting to 85%, target is now 28 days away. Took me about an hour, maybe slightly longer. I’m currently using the Phonak Adaptive 2.0 formula, and I also changed the automatic program switching time to Very Fast. 10 seconds sounds like a long time to me to switch settings.

I will give these settings a try and in one month, if it just doesn’t work out, I will try the NAL 2 formula.
I also disable the QuikSync so the hearing aids volume controls can be controlled independently. I am not allowed to have my smartphone in my classified work space so the HA’s need to work without minor smartphone tweaking.

When I manually place the HA’s into the Music program, the sound is much better. I just need to work on tuning these where they work for me.

Thanks for the advice on the formula selection. I took that note and as I said, if this tweak fails, I’ll give that a try.

Cheers!

[Zebras]

This might help in terms of understanding where most speech comes from in the frequency range.

Feedback (and feedback-ish feeling)

Feedback has typically been in the 2500 - 3500 Hz range. That is also where most intelligibility is in human speech. In the older days a notch filter was used to reduce feedback but all it really did was reduce the amplification in the most important area. No feedback but could not understand as well, not a good trade off. The sound recover suggestion is certainly a good one. You have no usable hearing out at 6 - 8KHz so I would not even try to amplify that area.

[user113]

So far so good. I’m hearing better, not great but better. I still need to give it some time to get use to some of the louder sounds like the wall clock driving a nail through my head, along with the computer keyboard clicks. I’m sure I can adjust that out but I’m trying to make small adjustments and then see if they work. The next adjustment will be for those annoyances, but hopefully without harming the vocals.

Thanks for the advice and the link, I read that twice.