#31

Jfranek43 - you’ve gotten a lot of advice and commentary here. There is a simple solution, touched upon by David.Hendon above, that has worked VERY well for me with my Oticon Opn 1 aids.

Setup a program with your audi with just your frequency adjustments and no other processing. This should give at least a good baseline to tweak further, or in my case left me very satisfied. I use this “Music” program happily with both speakers and headphones - the only caveat for me is the headphone pads must have large enough holes to fit my largish ears.

I found this information after extensive searching, on this site if memory serves.

#32

Yes, Neville. I am posting here on my wife’s behalf, and the chart in my profile is her hearing test.

#33

That is what I intend to do - ask the audiologist to wipe any other settings out.

Interesting thing - today, my wife is using the Recorded Music program throughout the day. She does not notice any difference from the Universal program, and neither am I or our daughter when we communicate with her.
I don’t know what to think of this. Either the music program is a copy of the universal program, or my wife does not need speech recognition algorithms to understand speech in quiet environment.

#34

I am sure the audiologist will try to do it. We are going there after lunch - she said it won’t be as busy as mornings.
At the last session, we spent most time trying to get the Signia Assistant installed on my wife’s mobile. The audiologist could not manage to do it. .
She rang Signia support, and the guy told her the Galaxy A71 wasn’t compatible, so it won’t work.
Galaxy A71 is not on Signia’s list as a compatible phone for Android direct BT streaming.
That list is out of date.
A71 is compatible, it supports the ASHA protocol. Direct streaming works on it.
When we got home I re-read a Signia paper about how to install the Assistant, and managed to do it. The trick is that the hearing aids must be paired with the phone not via the phone’s settings, but from within the app. So first connect with the OR code, and once the FM connection works, go to the Settings of the app, and connect with BT.
The BT connection gives a few more controls, and a mask mode. And the Assistant.

I like your comment that lower price should not mean less service.

1 Like
#35

There is an Aussie product called Nuheara IQ2Max buds, they also have a test, and connects with Android. They also have microphones, so work not only for streaming.
But that is another AU$400 or so and complication with taking one device out and putting another one in. She needs the proper hearing aids for conversation.
My wife (and myself) listen to music with over-the-ears headphones. I use APO equaliser to fix my milder hearing problem when listening from my PC, or an app with EQ when streaming from my Android phone.
Trying to set up an EQ on my wife’s laptop is difficult. She is not technically minded, and does not have the patience to fiddle with it. But I will try if we can’t succeed with an acceptable music program on the Signia HAs.
BTW - Nuheara is also supposed to bring out a new model IQ2Pro soon. I may try it when it comes out.

#36

I think it depends on a lot factors, including the type of loss and type of music.

For me, over-the-ear headphones with noise reduction (limiting external noise) and plenty of volume. I use my in-the-canal HA set which must have a higher noise tolerance, since my BTEs keep cutting out.

But it’s still just not the same. I remember many higher-pitched keyboard sounds that were there in my youth but now are missing from the same tracks.

Best of luck

#37

It is absolutely true that the music quality coming from a laptop or smartphone is like already 2nd or 3rd generation. It’s simply never going to be the same as hearing music live at a concert/symphony for starters. So there should be some “expectation level” setting when one wears aids given the sound wave compression and crappy music streaming from who knows what source.

I also had a pair of Sennheisers that not only worked great with my laptop, but also on phone calls when I was in an awkward transition to an earlier Oticon OPN that had NO phone streamer out for over a year.

The basic nature of how HAs process sound is going to render that inferior to perfect hearing for NOW. Maybe technology will catch up - not sure how if frequencies have to be compressed.

#38

We are not used to listening to music in concert halls or opera houses, so we are not comparing with that.

My wife does not listen to the laptop via its tiny speakers. She uses wired Sennheiser HD599 headphones. Laptop Realtek audio processing is not bad. In any case, she is not very demanding. Mostly watching ballets or opera/operetta clips on Youtube. Andre Rieu too. Unfortunately, when she says music sounds bad, she can’t describe it in detail.

There are many success stories on this forum where musicians managed to configure satisfactory music programs in their HA. We’ll try that, and if that fails, we’ll have to try to figure out a good EQ setting for her.

#39

Ah, that’s a substantial hearing loss for a first time hearing aid user; adaptation is going to take some time. I would strongly consider getting custom tips made. But in terms of being successful, unless something happened that caused her hearing loss all of a sudden, she has to overcome decades of auditory deprivation–like strengthing a leg after decades of wearing a cast. Things may sound sharp and intrusive for a while. That level of loss over 2kHz is also more frequently associated with a loss of frequency acuity which may or may not lead to pitch-smearing that is in the ear rather than the hearing aid, and can impact musical quality. For the music program to sound better in the immediate, you might need to back right off of those highs–she may be able to add them back in over time. If she’s not a serious audiophile, I do still think it should be reasonable to expect that the clinician can get music sounding ‘comfortable’ through the hearing aids. ‘Nice’, even. It helps to have music that she is familiar with in the office while adjustments are being made, and yes it helps if she can think about how to describe her perception.

A lot of the automatic features turn off in a truly quiet environment. Most of the algorithms in hearing aids are attempting to manage background noises and babble. Keep in mind when you do end up going somewhere busy that there are also limits on what a hearing aid can do in noise, particularly when a hearing loss gets to the level of what you have posted. Hearing aids on their own can boost the signal to noise ratio by maybe 4-6 dB. It is not uncommon for individuals with that level of hearing loss to need a signal to noise ratio boost of 9-12 dB to be able to understand target speech in noise, and that sort of boost can only be accomplished by a remote mic system.

1 Like
#40

Thanks, Neville.
Things are not as bad as the test chart indicates. We met in a restaurant with friends before Christmas before she had the HAs and she could converse with people sitting next to her.
At home, it was worse, because a lot of ‘conversation’ is done in passing, not face-to-face, or even talking from another room.
In this regard, the HAs are a big improvement. I don’t think the (expensive) remote microphone will be necessary. We only go to restaurants a few times a year meeting with a few friends.
Meeting with our teenage grandsons is a bigger challenge. Their speech is a pool of mud with American accent. Their father is American. I can understand about half of what he says. He speaks clearly only when he is asking Siri something. The Signia app has a face mask mode - it may help to listen to them. :smiley:
Custom tips? The Insio is all custom. No tips.
Regarding music - as I said before, she has distortion even without HAs.
Her hearing loss worsened from mild to what it is now within - I would say - 6-10 months.
We will try to compensate with an EQ for headphones if the music program is no help.

1 Like
#41

Ah yes you’re right, I was still thinking she was in RICs for some reason.

#44

My hearing loss is similar to your wife’s though a slight bit better at 4KHz and above. Like your wife, music is key to me. After trying several OTC units and two audiologists prescribed RIC units, I have found the Insio AX7 ITC the best for music. RIC units were a disaster for music as their mics(receivers) were on the top of the ear not in the ear. Because of this the pinna effect was lost and music was flat and lost all depth and sound stage…stereo or surround became monophonic. My first pair of Insio’s came in with a poor fit and venting that was too closed. My audiologist returned them for a redo. Signia is apparently not as familiar with fitting as other manufacturers…if fit properly they should be well within your wife’s ears. My audiologist has been very patient as we are on this journey and has been working to optimize my Insio’s for music as well as speech.

1 Like
#46

The patient is referring to a Signia branded product, not the Specsavers Advance. In answer to your question though, no they do not lock their hearing aids - if another clinic requires the software to adjust them, Specsavers will send it out to that clinic. And no I cannot share this software for DIY

#47

Yes I was aware of that,the Connexx software and most others are freely available, this is why my question was directed at you, as you mentioned your with Specsavers, but anyways, thanks for letting us know about the software.

2 Likes
#48

At the last visit with the audiologist, I asked her to check and modify the Recorded Music program.
Most of the settings that have to be switched off were switched off.
Feedback was set to minimum, and she switched it off.
MOP was not at maximum, she said she set it higher.
Result - my wife so far watched a few Youtube classical videos, and she thinks there is an improvement.
I also asked for the other two music programs to be enabled.
The Live music only differs in the microphone direction - front instead of 360deg. The other is for musicians - don’t know what is the difference.
So we will see how it goes. There is probably nothing more that can be done in the Signia platform for music.

#49

I’m an orchestral musician, so have had a steep learning curve on this since starting to wear hearing devices a few months ago.

I’ll link to the UK paper mentioned above:

My audiologist found that helpful, and has shared it in her local team—it’s not much talked about in their training, apparently, which focusses heavily on speech comprehension. With that, she was able to make a fairly useful custom progrmame on the trial Signia 5AXs quickly.

Last week, I started a second trial, of Widex Moments. Word-of-mouth among musician colleagues suggested these were worth trying. And it’s chalk and cheese. For me, they are a huge improvement. Whatever the Signia was working to do was not helping music at all. Widex seem to have a very different aesthetic and goals. The default ‘let the computer choose’ programme was fine, but I was quickly able to set up my own profiles for listening to recordings at home, and performing in different venues. They have been excellent from get-go.

I hope your wife is able to find some way to rediscover her pleasure in music. Your support will be much appreciated by her, I’m sure.

3 Likes
#50

yes on the phonak , one week w/the new h/a, i play guitar, and am pleased with the music as it should sound… :smiley:

#51

Trial a different set. Till u find one you like

#52

I trialed the signia AX 5 and the 7. I’m a musician. The 7 is better, enough so that I went ahead and got them for extra money that I don’t have. They had to be tweaked like yours, mainly turning off the feedback management completely.

#53

We got our Moderna boosters earlier this week. Next week we are going to meet a few friends for lunch in a restaurant, so it will be an opportunity to try the Signia AX5 in that environment. Also, the wife is going to her walking club again, that involves a train ride 40 min , and conversation in a group of ladies, possible wind etc.

With that info in our pockets, my wife will Phonak Virto Marvel. The audiologist is happy to order them for trial.
It is not the Paradise, but some people say the difference between M and P is mainly in the BT connectivity area, not in the sound processing department. And it is not rechargeable. Those 312 batteries are tiny, aren’t they (for old people, I mean).