Im from Czech republic and i trialed pair of siemens 7bx obtained directly in siemens in prague. They costs 27000czk which is about 1200$ (one piece, brand new)
Curious, what is the price range for the Siemens Binax 7bx in the US?
Cheapest I found them was through hearing revolutions for $2100 each. I’m sure there are people out there that try to sell them for $3500+ each.
Just got a pair of Pure 7bx. My audi only set up the universal program. What other programs are available?
Noisy Environment, Phone Acoustically, Phone mT, Phone MT, Phone T, Music, TV, Outdoor Sports, Privacy, Tinnitus, Stroll, Induction Loop mT, Induction Loop T.
Thanks for the information. That will help when I have my next appointment. I was wearing Siemens Centra Life before, and the Pure 7bx are a huge improvement over them. My speech understanding is greatly improved, able to hear soft spoken people with no problem. In large groups there is a vast improvement in understanding close conversations, although background noise could be better. I am hearing much better in the car but would like less road noise. Having an problem during meal preparation and clean up time. The sound of pots, dishes, utensils hitting each other is almost painful as is paper and cellophane packaging being crushed and the sound foil and waxed paper being torn from the roll. Other sounds like door latches, switches, car doors, things falling on the floor etc. are very loud. Have often taken my hearing aids out during meal prep because of these high pitched sounds. Think hearing aids may be set too loud and should have lowered but don’t want to loose speech. I have the phone app and have turned it to lowest setting and have lowered treble as far as I can. Phone conversations don’t seem a whole lot better, maybe the phone program will help with that. TV hearing is a lot better and volume is much lower than before, but still don’t get everything. When watching British drama on PBS still have to use closed captions. Will let you know how I make out after my next appointment. Thanks again
I stopped by Costco this morning and discovered they have just begun to sell the Siemens/Rexton Pure Binax 7bx.
They call it the Siemens “Trax 42” and sell it for $1299 each.
They assured me the Trax 42 was exactly the same HA as the Binax 7bx
I’m going back Friday to start my 90-day trial.
Can anyone make a comparison between the Siemens 7bx and the Resound Linx 9 series or specifically the Linx 962. I want to buy one or the other ASAP, like tomorrow… Thanks
If you are basing it on the message before yours, Costco has the 961 with the 312 battery and not the 962 with the 13. Both are newer generation aids. Flip a coin or trial to see which you find best for you.
Do the Pure 7bx really have 48 channels or is it some kind of simulated 48 or virtual 48?? If so, how many channels does it really have? Thanks
ReSound LiNX and LiNX2 are Made for iPhone hearing aids that can stream audio directly from Apple devices without the need for an intermediary device. Siemens binax products require a neckloop device called the easyTek.
It really does have 48 channels of signal processing.
Hey Blane! Here are some tips that might be help you out. Please note that I’m not a hearing care professional, just a very enthusiastic self-learner and long term audio engineering hobbyist. Talk with your audi about these.
There are a couple of programs that might help you out: Noisy Environment and Stroll. Noisy Environment is the one to use if the people you are talking with are in front of you. Your audi can set the directionality of the microphones to narrow or wider. Wider is better if there are a group of people in front of you that you need to hear. This program also decreases background noise from elsewhere.
Stroll works better if there are people around you. It will use the SpeechFocus microphone mode which will automatically focus on the speaker no matter where (s)he is. Your audi can increase noise reduction for this program (it’s quite low by default), but it works best only for sounds that are not speech.
To sum up, Noisy Environment is best for situations where there are lots of people, but you want to only hear the ones in front of you. Stroll works best if you want to hear everyone around you. Your audi can set the noise reduction level for these programs independently.
The Stroll program could work here well with increased noise reduction.
For both of these situations there are other options as well. Noise reduction could be increased on the universal program and utilize Spatial Configurator to set the direction in which you want to hear. Another option is to keep the current universal program as it is and set a new universal program to program slot 2 for example. In this new program noise reduction could be set much higher and you could use Spatial Configurator with it as well.
Fortunately, there is a much better option than lowering volume. The right answer is to use compression (not frequency compression which is something very different). Did your audi input your UCL (uncomfortable loudness level) data in the audiogram when doing the first fit? If (s)he didn’t, the compression levels and knee points are probably set too mild and should be fixed.
If you are not familiar about compression, here’s the idea: when a sound at a particular frequency reaches a certain loudness value (this value is called “knee”), the dB’s that go past it are compressed (lowered) down according to a set ratio. All the loudness levels at the knee or below are left unmodified.
For example, if we set the knee to 80 dB, the compressor kicks in when that level is reached. Now, if the knee is set to 80 dB, ratio to 5:1 and a sound with the loudness of 90 dB comes in, the compressor will lower it to 82 dB. Where does this 82 come from? 90 dB - 80 dB = 10 dB and then 10dB / 5 = 2 dB, 80 dB + 2 dB = 82 dB.
Another example: let’s use the same knee, but increase the ratio to 8:1. Now a loudness of 100 dB comes in and the compressor turns it to 80 db + (100 dB - 80 dB) / 8 = 82.5 dB. As you can see, with more compression, we keep even very loud sounds at a reasonable level.
If the ratio is very high, let’s say 30:1 or more, we are essentially talking about a limiter. It basically keeps the loudness at the level of the knee at max, no matter how loud sounds come in. But just limiting everything is not wise as it starts to sound very unnatural quickly. Only the highest peaks should/could be limited.
So in your case, extra compression is needed to cut down some extra dB’s from loud noises without affecting lower volumes. Your audi can do it (hopefully knows HOW to do it) by hand, but if UCL data is available but was not entered in the fitting software, it should be entered and then recalculate the first fit. That in itself might do the trick.
It’s possible to create a new program based on the universal program and manually configure it for noisy environments. You could set more noise reduction and play with the directional speech enhancement setting. Directional speech enhancement works best in situations where the speaker is in front of you, as it will reduce noises from the back and sides. But you could try setting it to “min” and having the most clear/loudest speakers on your side and others in front.
Just received my new Siemens pure 7bx. It came with 6 programs. I would like to find the best place to learn specifics about each different program and how they differ from each other. I can hear they sound different but, would like to understand them better. Can’t find anything on Siemens site. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Can anyone comment on how the Binax 7 compares with Costco’s KS 6.0?
I just bought the KS 6.0 and just found out that Costco also sell the binax which is renamed to Rexton Trax 42.
Does the Binax have frequency compression? My main goal is to hear speech well so I don’t really care about hearing other stuff.
Attached is my Audiogram
Thanks.
I just recently got my 7bx. Yes!! I was told they do but, as of yet, I have no idea if it’s working. I plan to do some experimenting later to see if I can detect any benefit… So far, too many problems with Easy tek to worry about that.
What exactly is frequency compression and how would they adjust the 7b to use it? I have the trax 42, which seems to have very similar technology as the 7bx
Im a total newbie but why I’ve gleaned is (and i could be very wrong as researching this is a stretch with my tech knowledge)
- FC allows higher frequencies to be moved to a lower frequency rather than amplify the high freq.
- 7b’s come in different models that have different db ranges that facilitate freq comp depending on client requirements
- just beacause the 7b’s have freq comp doesn’t mean it is active for all clients. Depends on db loss in high freq
I have had the trax for a week and wonder if my aids have active freq comp. it seems I have had a smaller degree of improvement compared to others. I know my Audi used the standard template for programming as I’m only the second one she has done. She seems eager to learn though.
Youre right. And: For your loss, frequency compression is not the way to go.
Best regards,
M72
Hey MJD2k,
Frequency compression are for people that have hearing loss > 90dB on the higher frequency range. Your audiogram shows that you don’t have any hearing loss >90dB so you don’t need any frequency compression.
Thanks for the replies
Good to know.
Thank you!