New to aids and trying to solve problem

Hearing Aids
#1

I’ve had hearing aids for a couple of months (UK resident with NHS supplied Phonak Nathos Nova M). They have certainly improved speech intelligibility but have the problem of making certain things sound sharp, metallic and distorted. Examples are plates being knocked against other plates, door handle mechanisms and water splashing onto a water surface.

Is this a common problem?

I asked for an appointment to have them adjusted and was rather disappointed with outcome. The audiologist adjusted the gain without taking any measurements and although this has produced a slight improvement, it has not fixed the problem. I can go back but wonder whether I will just get further random changes to the gain.

A more diligent audiologist would help, but is it likely that a change in HA could be the answer? I am intrigued by Widex’s claims for their aids but can they really reduce the transit time of the signal through the processing stages enough to make a significant difference?

Any thoughts would be welcomed.

#2

An audiologist wouldn’t normally measure your hearing loss again on making adjustments from an initial fitting. They pay attention to what you describe to them and from their experience adjust the gain or other settings accordingly.

You might find Widex aids suit you, but I have twice owned and a third time trialled the latest Widex aids and I always thought they sounded terrible. But wherever you go in the UK, if you are buying aids privately then you need to have them on a trial basis.

#3

Thanks, David,
I guess one of the problems was that I was not in a position to recreate the the type of sound that was causing the problem in the consultation. Being asked whether it sounds better after an adjustment is difficult when you’ve only got the voice of the audiologist as input.

I don’t know how the adjustments available to me in the myPhonak app compare with those available to the audiologist but is it just as likely I will get a good outcome if I play with the adjustments myself?

Does anyone recognise the description of the effect I’m experiencing and is able to say whether it is correctable by tuning the response in the app?

#4

What you are describing are environmental sounds.

There’s a chance your brain will learn to put these sounds in the background as you get used to them.

I am always hesitant to have someone adjust the aids based on these kind of occurrences for fear that it will disrupt the sounds that I do want to hear.

If your aids are sophisticated enough and your Audi is skilled enough as well to make adjustments then give it a try.

I tend to fall in the good enough for me category because I want to hear stuff and won’t let it bother me that I can hear dry grass crunching when I walk on it or water sounds, etc.

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#5

Been there … like EVERY TIME I get a new pair of aids! You will need to find a patient, caring audi who listens to YOU and doesn’t rely on audiograms or blind faith REMs.

For whatever reason, I’ve always but always had to go back at least 3-4 times to get the aids to sound warm, rich, natural and NOT the painfully sharp sounds you’re getting. It CAN be done, but (since I’m not a DIYer with the software on my laptop) you need to keep tweaking the frequencies till you achieve balance.

When I first picked up my Phonak Lumity Life aids, speech AND ambient sound was like every single word or sound ended with a crisp “SLAP!” of annoying noise. It was almost like someone crumpling crispy velum paper no matter what the sound was. So right there, before leaving, I had some changes made. But I had to come back 3 more times till things were set up (and programs juggled, added and deleted). Now I’m walkin’ in STEREO with speech enhanced but not to distortion. Ambient sounds and music are natural sounding and not painful.

Be politely persistent, but don’t give up on this expensive investment in your health and lifestyle till YOU are hearing the world you want to hear.

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#6

Thanks. I recognise your description of the slap and the crumpled cellophane - and it does occur with several different types of sound.

Looks as though setting up the aids is a bit of a dark art, similar to prescribing prisms for my glasses. The measured value is just a starting point.

I’ll try some trial and error changes before going back to the audiologist and try taking along something to provoke the effect for comparison.

It would be interesting if anyone knows what is technically happening to cause the effect. It may indicate what changes should be looked at.

#7

Prior to Marvel it was called sound relax in Target, now I think it’s soft noise reduction.
I’m sure @tenkan will know.

#8

Yeah i believe its still called SoundRelax for the Marvel.
Those plates,cups are in the higher frequencies so a little adjusting there can help, @user425 is it possible to record these annoying sounds on your phone and get your audiologist to program accordingly.

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#9

Thanks, I wondered if it was some form of AGC that was involved. I’ll see what I can do to record the sounds and try again with the audiologist. Is there a link to the feature descriptions and tuning information?

#10

The target software user guide can be found here, including some other pdf files that could be helpful.

https://www.phonak.com/en-us/site-search?q=Phonak+Target+step-by-step+guide+

#11

Excellent, thank you.