I have been wearing hearing aids for about 25 years now. Widex, Resound GN, Oticon More and currently a trial of the new Resound Vivia 9 with custom molds . Can anyone here tell me why I can’t get good results out of the Resounds? Have had about 4 adjustments and with each change I’m hopeful it’s the change that will finally make them sound acceptable and each time disappointed. Is it my audiogram? In the past I could get new aids on and never look back. Never needed to adjust hardly anything. Now we just can’t find a sweet spot. I liked my Oticons in the past but my hearing took a drop this past 6 months so hence the upgrade. I’ve heard sometimes one just can’t get used to the type of sound that is individual to each brand. Is that true? I wanted to trial the Oticon Intent 1 but my Audi’s office doesn’t sell that brand. My trial period is running out fast and now she is making new molds w larger vent to see if that helps.
It’s all very frustrating… any insight out there? Is it my hearing, her programming or the hearing aid brand itself? Driving me bonkers. I’m not very techie but I know what sounds good. Anyone else have bad time w one brand but find success in another or problems w Resound Vivia?
Thanks everyone.
Are you saying that a private audiologist can’t walk on water? Say it’s not so!
Now back to our regular programming.
I suspect that the additional gain that you need now for your hearing loss is causing you issues.
I would suggest that you download an AI voice generator on a laptop, and a frequency analyzer on a smart phone and bring it to your next adjustment. That should help identify where your issue is coming from.
You can certainly try a different brand of hearing aid. Sometimes a different manufactures programming works better for some folks.
I’ll take a look at that… Thanks!
@user990 I’m curious, how do you make use of these tools?
Do you search for an AI voice that doesn’t sound good and then you use the spectrum analyzer to figure out which frequency range is most prevalent?
@tragess, seems obvious, but did your Audi do REM?
I have Resound/Jabra HAs and the settings after REM were significantly different from what the fitting software originally suggested.
I had Oticon Opn 1 for last 5 years, and have also worn Widex. I have mild to moderate loss, low word comprehension. I previously trialed Oticon More and Real, not great for me. Recently trialed Resound Vivia 9 from online company with remote audi, I had also trialed the Micro Rie last year and they had a bad vibration, plus not a great audi.
My Resounds sounded tinny and they also were vibrating. Streamed music was bad.
So returned for Phonak Sphere Infinios thru same company. Not happy with them either….
leading to a friend let me try on his new Resound Vivia 9s, and they sounded pretty good… music was still bad, but sound was pretty good, maybe very good.
Now I am wondering if the problem is my online audi, and not the aides!…
It’s very hard to find well trained audis in Portugal where I live.
Time to try DIY … not that hard … and lots of help here
What kind of domes do you have? Open domes can lose bass and sound tinny. Try putting your fingers in your ears while streaming. If the sound dramatically improves, you could try playing with different domes.
I have a hard time understanding children. As such, that was where I concentrated my efforts.
As you can see in my audiogram, my hearing under 1,500 hz is still OK.
So I listened to a AI child’s voice and monitored using the frequency analyzer. I noticed that the child’s voice contained some pretty large spikes when the child’s voice was raised.
Knowing the the hearing program shows three different settings for low, medium and high loudness inputs. I concentrated my effort on reducing the high and medium gain levels at the frequencies that showed large spikes on the frequency analyzer.
By doing so, I was able to make a significant improvement in understanding a child’s voice. I suspect that if I was around small children a lot, my understanding would get better.
As a DIYer, I made additional adjustments to other frequencies. That’s an advantage of DIY, you can spend hours fine tuning your hearing aids, and know immediately if you are making any improvement.
I did the same … then I changed to NAL-NL2 which has that built in (more compression )
Did your audiologist attempt to refit the Oticon More devices with custom tips that were modified for your new prescription or were you out of the fitting range for the most powerful configuration for your device? If not, why not?
I am currently in the same position. Used various Phonaks over the last decade or so and was going to try their Infinio Sphere when they came out last year. Unfortunately they weren’t available in black (I hate the usual nursing home colours), so I waited. While I waited the Resound Vivia caught my attention, and I’m now at the end of my first fortnight using them. I was attracted by their small size compared to the Sphere and the AI aspect, and they’re available in black…
I hate them. Ghastly, tinny sound that ruins music, feedback from Hell near any glass surfaces (including my car windows), and the AI doesn’t appear to work any better in noisy environments than my Phonak’s restaurant mode. It does stop the feedback though. I’m handing them back and considering the Phonak Audéo Life Lumity - which may not have AI but are rechargeable by induction (as opposed to charging contacts), and waterproof - I just can’t exercise in my Audéo 312s without sweat getting into the battery compartment and shorting things out.
Plainly, different manufacturers’ HAs do sound different!
I have had the Jabra EP 30 for a couple of weeks. Overall, I like them, but find the Hear in Noise program underwhelming. I’m not sure that in noisy situations I can hear people better in that setting than in the other settings.
I return to Costco later this week. Does anyone have any suggestions for things they could change to improve the Hear in Noise program.
It would be helpful to see your audiogram and what dome or mold if vented, you are using.
Without knowing what your hearing aids are set to, we really can’t make any suggestions. I might be helpful if you can get a screen print out of your settings from your Costco hearing aid fitter.
What you can do is take a course at Audiology online covering the Resound software. That might give you a better idea as to were to direct you Costco hearing aid fitter. ’
The course is free unless you want continuing education credits.
Classic high frequency deafness, not sure how to upload my audiogram! Open domes.
My audiologist bumped me up from a low to medium receivers for these HAs, and at first I thought that was the source of the problem, except it didn’t improve over time, at all. Even with my first HAs that harsh tinniness barely lasted more than a week. To test that theory I bought some medium receivers for my current Phonaks (Audéo M90-312), and…
Instant karma! None of the Resound problems and they’ve never sounded better, even had to turn them down a notch. Just have to decide on what Phonaks to get now; the Sphere’s are pretty big and as I mentioned, don’t come in black!
Medium with open is not always a good result, custom made molds with the correct sized vent could well be a solution for you, have you tried the different formulas available in SmartFit?
Instructions as follows:
- Click on your icon.
- Click on profile icon.
- Select preferences.
- Select My Audiogram.
- Enter your Audiogram and save.
I’ll take your word for that, but in this case medium receivers with open domes are working extremely well thanks! Humans are variable creatures, sometimes refusing to meet expectations…
Yes depending on ones hearing loss, all very subjective indeed, but your problem with higher frequencies could easily be sorted with the correct programming, all those issues feedback, tinny sounds etc, it’s not one size fits all! They need to be “dialed in” and can take many additional adjustments to get there, without seeing your audogram it’s hard to say if the open dome is suitable, pretty sure Al in both models really requires a more closed fitting otherwise your just letting a lot environmental noise in past the open dome, same with music streaming, open dome not best, just letting all the low end (bass) straight out, again same with feedback issues the open dome is letting to much sound out, again all this depending on your hearing loss.