Initial review of Starkey S series iQ11

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hi folks!

I recently got the Starkey S series 11 iQ BTE with a 50dB RIC hearing aid and here is my initial experience with the aid. I was hit by the 1964-65 fetal rubella epidemic and am totally deaf in my right ear and have mod to severe sensorineural loss in the left (fairly dramatic drop from 50dB at 1Khz to 75dB loss at 2Khz and then recovering slightly which makes fitting a little more challenging).

The very first time I walked out of the clinic, I was pretty impressed. I was able to hear consonants pretty well (but not the letter “f”). Even in a noisy church hall, coffee hour after the service, it was comfortable enough that I didn’t have to pull it out or turn it off (which is what I always did with all my other aids).

I definitely would like to explore the compression and kneepoints at 2K where my hearing is the worst.

But after a day or so, I started to notice that sounds were warbly or amplitude modulated, especially if I whistle a steady 1Khz tone, it sounds like a telephone ringer or a cricket. This is, apparently, a side effect of the Purewave Feedback Eliminator working really hard with the rubber open-canal earboot.

So I called Starkey for advice and they said to:

  1. Reduce the MPO (Max Power Output) at the high frequencies
  2. increase the compression ratios
  3. Reduce the gain at 4Khz and higher
  4. Use an occluded rubber earboot
  5. As a last resort, turn feedback eliminator to “STATIC” OR “OFF”

So I went back to the clinic and did steps 1, 2, and 3. But we also slightly turned up the gain 2Khz and higher. It was still warbling but I noticed that if I was in a meeting room and kept my heard perfectly still and did not smile or respond to others, I could hear the teacher and not have it warble on me. But the moment I smiled or moved some part of my body, the warbling would come back until it settled down again. Most annoying. When I am outside, it is hopelessly warbly so I turn it off (everyone sounds like opera singers).

So I went back to clinic and got a large occluded rubber earboot and got the Purewave Feedback Eliminator set to “STATIC”. Even with this setting there aid still warbles but not very often. If I jam in the earboot so I get an airlock, then the warbling stops, but I lose some hearing that way. Some days are better than others… One day I put it on and it cooperated wonderfully for the whole lecture (minimal warble) and the next day it just whistled and whined all the time so I pulled it out and put it away. I know the ear canal is not a fixed unchanging shape so hearing aid shells should be made of something flexible that can compensate for subtle changes in canal shape (maybe a thin membrane in the shape of the shell that can be slightly inflated with something not acoustically transparent for a perfect fit everytime). As expected, after a few hours, the earboot caused pain or irritation so I could not wear it all day unless I jiggled it around every fifteen minutes to relieve the discomfort.

So I went back to clinic and got an impression to make a more comfortable occluded ear piece. The audie said it had to have a vent so I’ll probably have to block it with a spitball when I get it to stop the whistling. But this will be the first earpiece I’ve tried that is flexible and rubbery so that should be fun!

Likes:

  1. It appears to have enough gain to allow me to hear the letter “f” and “th”.
  2. So far the compression is enough to make it possible to wear all day with that much gain.
  3. with the higher gain, I can just barely hear my fingers rubbing on a piece of printer paper.
  4. Can just barely hear myself make the letter ‘f’ in “fish fry” or “french fries”

Dislikes:

  1. Hafta hold down button for five seconds to turn mute the microphone. When I want to turn it off, I want to turn it off NOW!
  2. Each time I went to clinic, I had to remind them to activate the muting feature. The software apparently does not remember previous settings (but it must remember my audiogram, right?). So definitely a bug in the software.
  3. Starkey Purewave Feedback Eliminator produces a 10 Hz amplitude modulation for all incoming signals. When I whistle a steady 1Khz tone, it sounds like a phone ringing. Very noticeable amplitude modulation or “chopping” effect.
  4. It started to make my tinnitus more noticable. Just like when you get off a boat after a while the ground feels like it is moving, the chopping effect of the aid made my tinnitus chop or warble as well. Fortuantely, it stops when stop wearing the aid for a day or two.
  5. The battery door is placed such that it very uncomfortable to open the door while wearing the aid. If it had a simple, plain old SPST switch, I would not need to contort my hand into strange positions to turn it off NOW!
  6. Don’t like the BTE because the hair touches the microphone and makes annoying sounds. But I’m not sure if an ITE, ITC, otolens has enough power for 2Khz.
  7. If people cough, still blows my ear out so I probably need to reduce MPO or increase compression.
#2

I wouldn’t rule out a cic or even an otolens for that matter… The funny thing about the warbling is that after a while you don’t even notice it… It drove me nuts to start with but now it’s gone… Same with the mpo… Give it a week or 2 and you’ll be surprised how much you adjust

#3

Dang! I’m jealous, Burra! I’m studying to become a hearing aid dispenser. Can I apprentice with you? :wink:

But for the warbling effect, Burra, I don’t know… It’s REALLY annoying and it’s so expensive! Is there simply no way around it? Isn’t there some kind of inaudible or unobtrusive signal you can impress on the amplifier final output to distinguish it from sounds “out there”? Maybe phase modulation? or a sub-threshold, wideband, noise pattern not found in nature?

But there are some times when it does not warble and some times when it does. Is it because the “acoustic dirt” changed (see http://www.audiologyonline.com/ceus/recordedcoursedetails.asp?class_id=14100)? The Starkey guy talks about how they do the feedback elimination and uses the term “acoustic dirt” to describe the receiver output modified by the ear canal, the shoulders, the hair, etc.

Does the hearing aid learn how to stop the feedback eventually and stop warbling? Maybe I need to wear it longer so it can come up with the right matrix in the DSP? If so, I wish somebody would tell me. That should be standard procedure. Otherwise the customer will reject the aid almost immediately.

Anyway, I was thinking of opening up a store where you could try all the different hearing aids out on the spot and see which one you like better. I’m not even sure that is possible, though. It sounds like everybody is all “proprietary” about it (to the detriment of the customers, IMO).

You go to an eyeglass store and there are racks and racks of eyeglasses with all kinds of shapes and sizes. Why can’t they do that with hearing aids? Obviously, it is a little more complicated than that, but if you had a BTE version of each make and model and give customers a foam insert with a standard tube sticking out, punch in a quick fit with their audiogram and give it a whirl for 10 minutes and then try another one. And “Power Users” can sit and monkey around with all the parameters with the programmer. I would delighted beyond measure to be able to do that and would happily pay for the opportunity. It would be kind of like going to an amusement park!