Looking for suggestions / insight

Hearing Aids
1

Hello Hearing Trackers -

I’m 68 years old, have a congenital sensorineural hearing loss, and have worn hearing aids since I was a child. I’m also a percussionist and recently was exposed (exposed myself) to some quite loud sounds, causing some further loss. I’m currently at a severe level of loss - my current audiogram is about 60 db in both ears across most frequencies, with a further dip to 70 or 80 db at around 4k.

I’m currently wearing Oticon More MiniRITEs, which are a very good HA, but are not quite getting it done with my current situation, even after reprogramming. I’m using a bass double vent dome, and am going to try a power dome to see if that improves things.

But, I’m also considering changing to a new aid. I’ve had the Oticons for 3 or 4 years now, so it may be getting close to time to upgrade or replace anyway.

The other wrinkle on this is that in addition to playing drums, I’m studying jazz vibraphone, and for that situation it’s very important to have good quality natural sound, and in particular good pitch recognition.

The final wrinkle on all of this is that I’m driving my wife nuts with having to have her repeat everything she says.

So I’m looking for suggestions or insights into how best to move forward with all of this. My criteria, in order, are probably:

  1. Being able to hear my wife clearly at home, with little or no background noise or other people talking.
  2. Best possible natural and accurate reproduction of music
  3. Hearing in noisy environments

I know the Widex HAs are highly regarded for their natural sound, so they are at the top of my list for the second issue - if anyone has experience with those it will be of particular interest.

The more modern tech features - music streaming, hands-free phone, etc - are of less interest. I have a mild preference for disposable batteries, but the rechargeable technology is pretty good nowadays so that is only a mild preference.

I’m in the habit of replacing my HAs every five years or so, and have budgeted for that, so while cost is never a complete non-issue, it’s less of an issue in this case. I need to be able to hear.

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What about trialing… that could be for free

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I’d seriously consider getting custom molds instead of using domes. My guess is you’d be happiest sticking with Oticon. I’ve very good things about the Intents.

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I’ve worn HAs for 13 yrs as the result of an auto accident. I’ve tried various aids. I’ve comes to conclusion that my hearing will never be ok. No matter what aids, always a hearing issue which never seems to be able to be fixed. I’m trying to come to the realization that I will never find an aid which “works” for me. Only thing that works perfectly for me with my aids, is the t-coil (tele-coil / loop). When I find that at a venue, it’s perfect. Wish it was in more places!

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