I have a few questions that hopefully some of you would like to engage with. English is not my first language though and the hearing aid/loss lingo is quite new to me. First a bit of background.
I am born with my loss (or so they think - discovered when I was 8 years young).
I have tried and purchased aids several times - but eventually didn’t feel they were of use for me. They were more of disturbance than help. They all ended up in a drawer… My previous set of 8 years ago, was Siemens Pure Binax with open domes.
Now I’m giving this process a go again. I’m mainly interested in understanding speech in various settings. Music would be nice to hear well but not a priority compared to speech.
Currently I have Oticon Intent 1 on trial. Closed domes. Three programs. (“general”, Coil and mix of the two). Trial ends in 2 days.
I think they work good in settings where there is one “speaker”. Like conversations with one person or a lecture. Not so well in settings with multiple speakers. And bad for music. I was at a dance club once - and the experience was truly awful (although I heavily reduced volume) - made me queasy - I had to take off the aids).
I haven’t managed to try the streaming capabilities. My current cellphone doesn’t support the tech Oticon Intent 1 uses for streaming.
Are there other programs to get for Oticon Intent 1 that are better suited for multiple speakers? The general program I have now is heavily directional. Perhaps a program that is less directional?
My audionom of 8 years ago was of strong opinion that open domes are best. The new audionom is of opposite equal strong opinion that closed are best and didn’t want to let me try both. What do you think? (see my Audiogram)
I am interested in trying both another clinic/audionom and cheaper alternative aids. Resound One has caught my interest. The microphone in the ear canal seems very interesting. (M&RIE.) And supposedly streaming would work with the cellphone I already have.
Could Resound One be a cheaper yet good alternative for me?
The Oticon Intent 1 set I have on trial now would cost me 2500 USD. (Some price reduction by an insurance.) I know Resound One is significantly older but I can however at another audionom clinic get ReSound One RT761-DRWC for about 100 USD (heavily price reduced I think - by insurance).
Are there some other aids you would suggest I investigate?
If something is unclear, please tell, and will try clarify.
Oticon Intent is one of the best out there, but it’s not really about the aids, it’s about the professional who can fit your aids and optimise them to provide the best comprehension for you. Yes, you might find some joy in switching, but this may just be by chance, because the programming first fit algorithm is closer at first to fitting your prescriptive loss.
A lot of people on here would advise getting Real Ear Measurement (REM) to make sure the aids are a close fit to your prescriptive loss.
I would also advise going back and having follow up sessions with your audiologist. Explain your difficulties and get adjustments made.
Definitely not open domes. I think you’d do better with custom molds. You are likely to have difficulties in noise no matter what hearing aids you use. Resound Ones sound like a great deal. I don’t think the M&RIE would be appropriate for your loss. If you get the Resound Ones and like them ok I’d suggest adding a MultiMic. It will help out in understanding speech in noisy situations. Edit: The Resound Ones are older tech (two generations behind the current Resound Nexia) How much difference you’d notice between them and the latest hearing aids is unknown. It does sound like a great price and adding the MultiMic could help out in noise.
I agree the audiologist or professional that adjust and fits your hearing aids is the most important part of the whole process. You have a cookie bite hearing loss and it is been called a genetic hearing loss by one of my previous audiologist. Cookie bite hearing loss is a difficult hearing loss to adjust and fit. And i agree that you would benefit from custom ear molds.
Your loss requires amplification strong enough that feedback management is important and difficult with domes of any kind. Certainly not open domes. Similarly, the m&rie puts a mic even closer to the receiver and it is really only a good fit up to moderate losses.
Feedback management includes reducing gain, which you need to be able to hear, so molds make it more likely you’ll get all you need in your prescription.
Feedback was never a problem though when I used my open dome Siemens 8 years ago.
And feedback is not a problem with my current Oticon intent 1 on trial.
I see the point that the risk of feedback increases when speaker and microphone are close to eachother as in M&RIE… but I thought modern software took care of that problem.
(I do understand that the problem increases with rising amplification.)
WhiteHat basically answered your question. Playing semantics, but I don’t think I’d call your loss a “cookie bite” loss. It does however the shape of a "Cookie bite’, but is more extensive. To me “Cookie Bite” loss implies notable areas of near normal hearing. You’ve got a pretty notable loss from 500 hz to 4khz
As the others have said, domes will not give you what you need to hear well. You need custom earmolds.
Oticon, Phonak, Resound, Siemens as well as others are all good aids when properly set up for your hearing loss. The Costco aids are also very good aids at a much lower price if they are available to you. It’s not necessary to pay big money for good hearing aids
When they program your aids they tell the software the type of fitting - different domes or molds etc. the software takes this into account. It decreases your gain to prevent feedback.
You want a HCP who uses all different kinds of fittings, the correct ones for the type of loss. Sometimes someone is on the cusp of going one way or another. But open domes leak a lot. This is desired when you have good hearing in the low frequencies and want to prevent occlusion. You on the other hand, need all you can get.
My hearing loss is still classified a cookie bite even though I am now losing my high frequencies. But yes my loss started out with a very deep loss in the mid range and close to normal in the lows and highs.
With a ‘chonkier’ loss like this, you might find the Bernafon Encanta (say 300) is probably worth a punt. A bit less ‘active’ than the Intent, but with a little more robust output, might suit a heftier prescription.
Double domes are probably the best compromise, but a canal mould with a select-a-vent might allow the wearer to play around with the comfort level of occlusion.
@Swift (the OP) → it looks like you don’t live in the US. So I don’t know if you have any Costco in your country or not. If you do, perhaps they do carry the Philips hearing aids like the Costcos in the US do. If so, you can try out the Philips aids from Costco. They’re a close cousin of the Intent, although they’re not the same aids rebranded. The Philips aids as sold by Costco are much more affordable compared to the Olticon Intent.
No, but it’s anticipated to be available some time this year. But that’s a good point that if the OP can’t wait and must have replacement aids right away, then it wouldn’t be an option.
