I am a new HA user here and am researching to find my first pair. I came across this forum and I appreciate all the information I’ve found so far, and figured I’d jump in and ask some specific questions.
I have moderate hearing loss in both ears. I am 40, spend a lot of time outdoors, and in loud crowds at work and church, but also have a really hard time with soft voices in one on one environments. My audi steered me to Resound Quattros, so I tried those for 3-4 weeks and decided that RICs just weren’t for me. I wear glasses and found that I just don’t have enough real estate up there to be comfortable, so I’m switching to an ITE style. I had Quattro 7s, and I found that I had a lot of challenges in loud crowds. I’d have a hard time hearing voices, so I would turn on speech clarity, but it made everything super loud and overwhelming. Also, someone could be saying my name right behind me and I still wouldn’t hear them. I decided that I probably need to bump up to the premium level on the technology given these challenging environments. I met with my audi yesterday and asked about Opn and Evoke, and she didn’t know anything about either one and is steering me towards Signia Insio Nx7, because she has a lot of experience with Signia.
I’m intrigued by the Opn1 technology, but from what I’ve read, it seems that people either love them or hate them. I was wondering since I’m new to hearing aids if I might have an easier time adjusting to them. My concern is if it doesn’t suppress noise, does it just make everything loud and overwhelming (like my experience with the Quattros)? Even when driving with my Quattros, the noise was really overwhelming unless I had the noise filter on. If anyone can comment on that I would appreciate it.
I’ve read a lot of positive comments about Evoke440 and not really anything bad. Can anyone comment on that, or if you have any comparisons to these other specific HAs?
I haven’t read much about Nx7. Can anyone offer comments on those?
Post your Audiogram and it would be easier to help you.
I have been wearing aids for over 14 years and my OPN1s ITE hearing aids are my fifth pair of aids. So I had no problem adapting to them. I for one enjoy hearing background noise and and all types of natural sounds. But I would be the last person to say that you should get them, I would say you will not know what works for you until you experience hearing aids yourself.
@bardenme, My advice is to try out all of the hearing aids that intrigue you before you commit to purchasing. You will be able to assess each brand and model you mentioned individually, with the advantage of already having tried the Quattros to compare the others against.
For me, I’ve tried several different options. I started with OPN, went to Resound, then to Marvel, and I have returned to OPN 1. Why?–because they seem to provide the best hearing experience for me, especially with regard to speech. I also hope to try out the new OPN-S when it is released.
What works for one person doesn’t always work for another. Just be a comparative shopper. Your audiologist should be willing to let you do this. If he/she doesn’t prescribe the brand you wish to try, go elsewhere and explain that you are on a quest to find the right hearing aids for you. Wishing you luck and better hearing.
I don’t have my audiogram, but I’ll be sure to get that next time I see my audi.
I just finished reading through your post about your experience with Opn, and I appreciate all the details. It sounds like you’re really enjoying all the new sounds you’re hearing. Can you tell me, do the sounds seem natural? Any instances where noises are too loud? Or you can’t distinguish sounds due to too many competing loud sounds? Also regarding music, you mentioned that music sounds good but choir (voices) were hard to distinguish - do you still feel that way after having worn them for a while? I really enjoy music in church and on the radio and it would be disappointing if I couldn’t make out the words. I do think your hearing loss is greater than mine from reading your post.
Besides changing brands or technology levels, speech in loud noise can be adjusted. In fact, everything is adjustable.
When I get new hearing aids I have soft speech bumped up, and noise reduction maxed out.
There are separate loudness settings for soft sounds, medium sounds, and loud sounds. I can normally hear medium and loud sounds. It is soft voices that I need help with. Boosting soft sounds doesn’t affect medium or loud sounds. You can even have loud sounds lowered and soft sounds raised.
The default noise reduction is never enough for me. When I max out noise reduction I can hear pretty well in noise.
@bardenme, I only know what I’ve read about the OPN-S. There are posts about it elsewhere on this site. Do a search of the Forum. OPN-S is supposed to offer some improvement in speech in noise and also in feedback control. vs the original OPN. There will be several different models of the OPN-S, including a lithium-ion rechargeable version. The posts I’ve read said OPN-S will be released in Europe sometime in March, and I assume the first model will be available in the US after that. However, in your previous post, you said that you did not like RIC hearing aids, and that you prefer an in-the-ear hearing aid. I know that the current version of OPN has an ITE model, but I don’t know if OPN-S will, at least maybe not right away. Perhaps someone else on the Forum with more knowledge about OPN-S can provide more info. Cheers.