New member, getting first HA, seeking opinions Oticon, ReSound

Hearing Aids
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#163

Been there, done that LOL. Sounds like we’re of that age. Did Fortran at University. Let’s see. I think it was an IBM 360/85 with some sort of 2nd gen front end. That was 1969. A few years later I took a COBOL course and yup, I remember the hard drives that size. Many years later I remember agonizing over whether to spend the extra money to get a 40mb hard drive instead of a 20mb. And I know I’ve got more computing power in my ear than those early machines had.

As for flexibility and options, it’s much better to ignore or turn off if not needed than not to get the best improvement possible. There is no one size fits all.

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#164

I guess one can safely say that if you’re old enough to have programmed in Fortran with punch cards, you’re old enough to probably need hearing aids, since something like 2/3rds of the folks over age 75 need hearing correction. And we belong to that gang (I’m going on 73).

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#165

Fortran and COBOL with punched cards. I’m 70.

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#166

Jim/Bob, I am of the generation that got started with the Vic-20, CoCo, etc. I remember a discussion I had with another Commodore guy on the school bus. We were talking storage space…specifically 20MB. We were both laughing at how long it would take to fill that up. Now I have some 20+ TB of various files on my home NAS systems.

I laugh at ignorant people talking about an iPad or Android tablet not being a real computer. They are … and far more powerful than the ‘real’ computers of 10 years ago.

Yes, most of today’s digital hearing aids are more powerful in pure computational power than many computers of yesteryear.

I started wearing hearing aids in 1st grade…over 40 years ago.

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#167

Hmmm. This is a concern. As someone looking to buy their first HA, I was considering the Resound and buying an Apple watch just to have quick access to HA functionality (well not just that, but it’s finally giving me justification to buy one, even though I’ve wanted one since they came out). I still have a 6S, although am thinking of upgrading to a XR, and would be a Series 4 watch.

#168

No, I have no connection issues at all, neither with the watch or the phone. I use the watch 95% of the time to make any changes to my HAs because it is so handy and convenient to change volume, change programs, fine tune program. I have the ReSound app as a complication on evey watch face that I may use.

I have the Watch 4 with OS 5.0.1 (updated from 5.0 earlier this week) and never an HA connection problem. The phone is an Xs max with OS 12.0 that came that way out of the box. I’ve seen many posts here with connection issues both with phone and watch with various hearing aids, but none have happened to me. I hope this is more than luck and is due to improvements in the phones and software.

As an aside, I like varying posts in a thread and do not consider them off topic. I like both palm trees and oak trees, however I find oaks much more interesting with their convoluted branches.

#169

That’s good to hear. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the older hardware or Bluetooth, although which side, or both, I don’t know. Both are at the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. The watch runs Bluetooth 4.0 and the iPhone 6S 4.2. The iPhone X and up and watch Series 4 are Bluetooth 5.0. I may be in the market for a new phone later this year, but I doubt I’d get a new watch.

I’m not as concerned about the watch as a convenience. And I’ve had no trouble connecting to my iPhone.

I don’t think I’ll branch off into trees.

#170

Nice pun there, well done! :+1:t4: :grin:

Interesting, I had not considered the bluetooth version might affect that too, but it makes sense. I just looked it up and the Xs max and watch 4 are both BT 5.0.

Computers were a later thing in life for me, first at work and then home. I spent my younger years in the mountains as much as possible and spent much time hiking, climbing, skiing, so I worked in mountain shops or construction to get time off when possible. That took me into being a manufacturer rep for mountain and bicycle companies, traveling various western states for years. One reason I still want to be outside in nature as much as possible.

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#171

I bypassed both FORTRAN and punched cards and went straight to Microprocessors and Assembly language. I’m 76.

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#172

@DanTheMan, sorry to get back on topic, sort of, but I notice that you’re audiogram profile is similar to my left ear’s. From your posts I believe you have Costco KS8s. My audiologist at Costco thought that Phonaks or ReSounds would be better for my profile. So I’m wondering how you’re finding the KS8s?

#173

I’m very happy with them. Strangely, the best program for my understanding of speech is the music program. I have programming tools, so I am gradually trying to move the “Automatic “ program to those settings.

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#174

Not so strange. We use wide dynamic range compression to try to squish speech into the reduced dynamic range available in the face of hearing loss thereby increasing audibility, but compressing sound also distorts it. So it’s a bit of a balancing act to determine how much compression is tolerable/beneficial. Severe/profound losses often benefit from more linear gain (likely because of the increased level of distortion already present in the auditory system). Music programs are typically more linear.

#175

So are you should first try to turn off frequency compression in the Automatic program?

#176

I was talking about level compression, not frequency compression. Although frequency compression is certainly another area where you are balancing audibility with distortion.

#177

Glad it worked out for you. Costco is the only hearing aid dispenser that is open on the weekends. EVERYONE else I looked at was only open 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. That Costco is putting a hurt on everyone is not a surprise. I had wanted to visit Hearing Aid Express, sorry 9 to 5 only Monday to Friday. Doctor’s office, make an appointment, take off work. Costco, drop in on Saturday and chat them up. Who would you rather do business with, someone open to your schedule or someone who is only open when you are working. Plus the prices. I am sure the $6,000 a pair hearing aids are great, I bet I could hear a fly fart when wearing them. But I like what I hear with my $1,800 Costco hearing aids just fine. I might turn in my KS 6.0s and go with Forte 8s or the new version which are still at a decent price. Just my two centavous

#178

I finally solved my music listening issues, and it makes listening to podcasts better as well. I posted this in another thread about music, but wanted to post it here as well, this being a journal of my ups and downs of acquiring my first hearing aids:

I’m a huge music enthusiast, and listen to music hours a day, while at home, walking around town, sitting outside a coffee shop sipping and reading. At home of course i had a system with excellent speakers, outside it was high quality earbuds. When I got my first aids I tried to stream to them, with limited success due to the small speakers (receivers) and lack of bass, and not good reproduction of mid to high ranges.

My Costco fitter was great at trying to help. He increased the bass in the Music program, increased bass boost in the Phone Clip+. gave me bass domes (I was correctly fitted with open domes due to my loss), and some test bass domes a size larger for better occlusion. Still not content with the music sound, I tried some high quality over the ear noise cancelling headphones that would go over the hearing aids, thinking I would get the music bass to mid range notes direct and the highs restored by the HAs like I did with my home music system. What I got was horrendous feedback with my ears covered and sound reflecting out of my ears to the hearing aids. Ugh, back to more research.

I started with an Android phone and had so many frustrations with it and the Phone Clip+ that I finally tried an iPhone at the Apple Store, and bought one to test with a two week return window. The iPhone was much better for me, even though I did not like many aspects of the Apple Business Model, I was not going to spite myself to get the best hearing aid experience I could, so I bought one and Apple Watch. I never even looked at the Apple earbuds since every phone I ever bought came with low quality earphones. My beloved BT earbuds would not go into my ears, so after a month I looked in the box at the Apple earbuds to see how they worked.

Lo and behold, they sit in the outer ear with no interference with the hearing aids. I tried them for a day, and was pleased. I just don’t like dealing with the cord on earbuds, even though I did for many years starting with the Sony Walkman. Two day later I went back to Costco and bought the Apple Air Pods, and I have been completely satisfied with them.

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#179

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

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#180

More data points. ReSound Forte 8 962 battery life (size 13 battery).

  • 8 days (first change before outdoor event, would have gone longer)
  • 10 days 3 times (changed on low battery warning)
  • 11 days 2 times (changed on low battery warning)
  • stopped streaming podcasts & music to HAs, now use Apple Air pods
  • 15 days 1 time so far

Current batteries now on day 5 (11/11/2018)

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#181

In case anyone wants a comparison, I’ve been getting 5 to 6 days on the Forte 8s 861 with a size 312 battery. I don’t do very much streaming.

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#182

how much hours you are using per day?