Oticon Dual Connect XW

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hi,

This is my second day of trying these. I am also using Bluetooth (Streamer) for the first time and i must say, its absolutely beautiful feeling.

First of all, the ease of use of mobile phone is undeniable…i can hear the calls right into my hearing aid, which is so cool. Yes, my voice sounds much more like echo to person taking my call, but they werent bothered by it, clarity was good. I am still working on how to adjust the streamer so that both people can enjoy the conversation.

Otherwise, sounds are much more crisper, sharp and i think its annoying the first day, but you wont notice it the second day. I can hear softer tones now, hear my son in the car while i am driving, so those were the areas i was seeking improvement over my first hearing aids(Seimens signia)…and i will say i am satisfied at this point.

I still have to test the hearing aids in noisy restaurants.

I have to ajdust my HA a little bit, as the background noise of car is also bit louder and since that is bothersome, i find it difficult to enjoy radio or conversations in car, although i can hear them more clear than before.

Other than that i am very happy and i will keep everyone posted.

I am wearing BTE for first time, so its taking time for me to wear them properly in the morning.

Thanks,
ND30!

#2

Thank you for your post on the Dual hearing aids and blue tooth compatibility. I have a 14 year old son with bi-lateral high freq loss and we are looking at those. They are very expensive of course and the audiologist is great but also playing on our emotions as parents to get the best available. Our son’s loss is due to chemotherapy. For those of you who have tried these, is it worth the additional cost? They also go up to a higher range than the nest price point (10,000 Hz). Is that additional range significant? It’s hard to know what the world sounds like to our son – without and with the aids. Any help from people here would be much appreciated.

#3

For me, the insurance company paid most of the cost, so i got lucky.

I have high frequency hearing loss (moderately severe) in both my ears, and hearing aids help me making quality of my life much much better. Without them my life would be very difficult and difficult for those who live with me and work with me. I wouldnt say with Oticon i can hear 100% better, i still have trouble listening when there is background noise.

Oticon Dual Connect has bluetooth technology, so things like ipod and mobile phone are easy to use and now i enjoy phone conversations with confidence and enjoy music much better.

To be honest, most hearing aids (advanced) do cost a lot of money and they are worth having to improve the quality of life. I dont know if i can justify the cost but their quality is too good to ignore.

Try different hearing aids and see what suits your son best. Its a very time consuming process but in the end, your son should be satisfied with his hearing aids, otherwise he will not like to wear them, he will not like to join in conversations, he will avoid tv without captions, he will avoid parties and have lower self-esteem cause he will always doubt whether he is going to be able to understand conversations or speeches or question-answer discussions etc…

I hope this can help you.

#4

My 2 cents…

Cannot comment on if the 10KHz range will be helpful for your son or not.
I have Epoq XWs w/ Streamer and like them alot. I find the sound & function to be very natural and effective for me but I have a low frequency loss…

Cost - compare the cost differences between the Epoqs (3 prices V, X & XW) or Duals (3 prices V, X & XW) and the other companies alternatives. You may not need the top of the line within these product families. (or you may ask the AuD). I don’t know the price points of the 3 levels, but XW w/ 10KHZ is the most $$$, folewed by X then V. Streamer, depending on where you buy it, costs $200-300.

Your basic choice should be what best fits your son’s hearing loss & lifestyle. That is the primary reason for getting HAs in the 1st place. I never found any HA to fit my loss that was less than $5,500 US. (My EpoqXWs w/ Streamer cost me $6K)

Figure out which aids are best & most viable for for fitting your son’s loss, then choose from that group the one that gets you the most value for the $$ spent.

No hearing aid is going to be worth the trouble or cost if it is not worn. Your son absolutely has to buy into the idea. Get his input. What would he like to have? What will he wear?

Get a good grasp of what cost differences you will incur by upgrading within the model levels and what the trade-off are. (You are doing that by posting here.) The actual cost differences may not be as much as you think.

Also, give your local Lions club a call, maybe they can help with some of the costs. If you need to spread the costs out, you can buy a bluetooth capable pair of aids now & add the BT accessories later.

I am not a Teenager, but I think the Streamer is a way cool device! The other tech junkies around me are very envious of my expensive “BT headset”.
I don’t know how he feels about wearing aids but, the Bluetooth “Cool” factor may help give your son extra incentive to wear them.

I love them. I use it for home phone, cell phone and listening to music, TV, gaming etc. It gets used every day.

FYI, the Oticon Streamer does not deliver 2 channels of Stereo, it sends a Mono signal binaurally. Phonak w/ iCom & Siemens Pure w/ Tek do true Stereo (different channel to each ear) but I don’t think they look as cool as the Streamer, they cost more & both require a 2nd part to function as both Streamers & remotes.

Good Luck

#5

I fit a lot of children… it is worth every $

If you wish something cheaper… consider a Safran with corda…
that is if you want the stick to the brand

#6

ND 30 - I am very interested in purchasing the Dual’s. Do you feel the quality is that much better than what was previuosly available. Are you hearing speech better in places that used to be very difficult? I understand you feel the bluetooth capabilities are excellent, and that is mostly why I am looking at these aids, but i also need to hear better in meetings and seminars and it would be nice to hear my children the first time around. Also, do you think the open ear RITE is much better than an ITC? Sorry about so many questions, but it is hard to get any true answers from the companies or audiologists. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks!!:slight_smile:

#7

there are a couple of things more you should consider…

If your child is OK with the size of epoq, then I would consider a
epoq since it has FM compatibility. FM could be critical for school.
Epoq uses the R12 with the amigo FM and is the smalles FM soluton out there.

If you are not planning to use FM, then dual is more cosmetic, and it doesnt look like a HI.

Again, I would prefer a RITE instrument as you could change speaker size when your son earcanals grow.

In an ITC you would be force to buy a new instrument every x# years

so either a Rite Dual conect or a Epoq would be the best investment for your child.

#8

I am actually going to try Epoq as with Dual i dont have any control in noisy situation like while driving car on highway or talking to my friends in a crowded party. I like the fact that with Epoq, the control buttons (program and volume) are on the hearing aid itself. With Dual, i have to have the Streamer with me. Plus i am still in the process of fine-tuning the hearing aids (Oticon Duals i have now) to adjust the speech in background noise. Right now it amplifies eveything, which is not good.

Over all i am really happy that these are superior in quality as i can hear softer tones, sharp and clear speech in phone conversations (Even without the use of Streamer, i can hear so much better on the phone with Oticon Duals). Bluetooth is really cool feature but i am still getting used to using it. Using streamer for mobile phone requires patience and pairing adjustment frequently and for Music (Ipod), the Streamer is perfect.

#9

ND30…

I am seriously considering the Dual. As one that does not use a cell phone a lot or have an Ipod, I don’t feel the need to purchase a Streamer. I would like to be able to hear as well as possible and wonder if the investment in the Dual Connect W/O the streamer is a good option?
I guess I’m vain in that I would like an instrument that is as little visible as possible too.
Would the Dual Mini be as good of an option?

#10

The Siemens only require one device the TEK when communicating with a Bluetooth Phone or other Bluetooth enalbled device. If the other device i.e., TV etc; does not have Bluetooth; then you must Bluetooth enable that device. You can get the Bluetooth device from a third party or Siemens.
(Ps: you can also use the minijack from an IPod etc and plug it into the Siemens remote bluetooth device with the mini plug.

ps 2: The Siemens is stereo.

#11

remember you will use the streamer as a remote control
the instrument has VC learning, so over time the instrument will learn
your VC preferences…

#12

You’d probably have to try them both to really compare. There are several differences other than the Streamer.

The Dual mini is smaller than Dual Connect, which is smaller than the Epoqs

The Dual Connect can be controlled via the Streamer remote (Program & Volume)

Dual Mini is fully Automatic, with no user controls for volume change or program switching. Streamer is not listed as an option w/ Minis.

Dual Mini does not have Binaural synchronization (HAs that adjust and compare to each other like Dual connect & Epoq)
Dual Mini does not have the “My Voice” feature

Because of the Binaural Sychronization features of Dual Connect, there may be differences in how well they perform in noise or with feedback compared to the minis.

What to get depends on what you like and how much control you need. How complex the environments are that you see every day etc.

Here is a link to a pdf which shows all the features of both Connect & Mini (page 31 of the pdf) It is too large a file to be uploaded to this site. Be patient, It will take a while for acrobat to load the brochure. The next to last page has the comarison chart.

#13

Oh My!!! I had been a three year user of the Oticon Delta 8000 series and the difference with the Duals are like night and day. First, the Deltas could not be adjusted in volume and it was frustrating whenever I went into a crowded environment. I could hear everything and understand nothing! I am in my second week of the Dual XW’s with the streamer. I got them from HearingWorld in the UK for about $2K less than here in the US. I emailed my latest hearing test and they were programmed perfectly. The Bluetooth features are great and the other person can hear me just fine without any interference or loss. I use the short lanyard ensuring the speaker is on th etop of hte streamer. Then it’s only 4" from my mouth. It is internally programmed for normal and music environments. I don’t need the music however-They normal sounds great in our church choir. If you have these and have the sharp “tinny” sound, then it’s likely in the music mode. Just hold down the volume arrow for a couple of seconds and hear the two-beeps. The batteries last a whole week!
These are absolutely the finest devices I have ever seen. I now feel and hear normally! I had major left-ear high frequency hearing loss from military helicopters. I am one happy camper! Any specific questions email me at gdoss@aol.com

#14

the quick explanation is

dual connect = epoq
Dual Mini – an improve delta