Oticon more 1 background shhh sound on one side

Hearing Aid Self-Fitting and Adjusting [DIY]
1

There was a related post in 2021 about low hiss or floor noise in More 1 HAs (Oticon More 1 Low Hiss in Quiet - #12 by Volusiano). But because the problem I’m having is somewhat different, I started a new topic.

I have Oticon More 1 HAs and am trying to eliminate a constant soft shhh sound that I hear in quiet environments, and only in my left ear. That ear has a small diameter canal that has a fairly sharp bend in it.

The shhh sound is like a radio station that isn’t transmitting a program, but has an audible static-like signal. Or like the sound of wind blowing in the distance.

If I block the opening of my left ear canal with a finger, the shhh noise stops immediately. Because of this, I didn’t see an applicable answer to my problem in the earlier posting and discussion about low hiss or floor noise

I’ve run Genie 2’s Feedback Analyzer one ear at a time, which didn’t detect any feedback problem. The tinnitus program, Speech Rescue, and MoreSound Booster are all turned off. I’m using the VAC+ fitting rationale. With my hearing loss and small ear canals, I use 60dB receivers.

I’ve tried Oticon double bass domes, closed single domes, and open domes. They all fit snugly. No matter what dome I use, when the environment is quiet I hear the constant shhh sound in my left ear. I have usable low frequency hearing, so would prefer to use open domes if possible.

(I also have Phonak Marvel G30 HAs with open domes. I don’t hear any background shhh sound with them.)

The only setting adjustment in Genie 2 which I’ve found that reduces this sound, but doesn’t eliminate it enough to be very tolerable, is by setting MoreSound Intelligence in an Easy Environment to Aware. But the shhh sound is still always noticeable when my surrounding environment is quiet. When set to Balanced or Focused, the shhh sound is louder.

I have Directionality set to Neural Automatic. When set to Full Directional, the shhh sound is louder.

Maybe not important, but as noted by padraighgriffin (Oticon More 1 Low Hiss in Quiet - #31 by padraighgriffin), each time during a fitting session that Genie 2 for a few seconds disconnects from the hearing aids while updating a change of settings, the shhh sound stops in my left HA.

I’d appreciate any suggestions that can make using my More 1s more acceptable. Many thanks!

2

I had a hiss but only when using Bluetooth.
Not sure why tho.

The audiologist turned soft sounds up by 2 clicks in all of my 4 programs.

I don’t wear the More tho, I wear the Xceed.

It has worked.

This may not help you tho but it worked for me.

:slight_smile:

3

Zebras,

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. When you said your audi turned soft sounds up by 2 clicks, did you perhaps means down by 2 clicks?

Reducing the volume of soft sounds would be more likely to reduce the hissing sound, isn’t that true? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

The kind of suggestion that you’re making is exactly what I’m looking for. Before I re-program my HAs, I’ll wait to hear what you reply. Many thanks!

4

@Owl1

Hello.

No it was definitely up 2 clicks.

I watched as it was done. She highlighted soft sound part and clicked on the + button.

Maybe my hiss is not the same as others?

5

That’s interesting and maybe a bit counter-intuitive. Could you describe the hissing sound that you heard? What I hear (and just through my left hearing aid) is similar to the sound from an empty seashell when you hold it up to your ear, or the sound of wind blowing in the distance.

So far, I’ve been able to decrease the constant hissing sound a bit by going to Sound Controls and unlinking the right and left aids, and then changing Brightness Perception to Fuller (2 tabs to the left of the center position – which was, for my Personalization settings, the default). This, as I understand it, decreases all high frequency gains.

I was concerned that this could affect how well I understand speech (always my main concern). So to compensate for this high frequency loss of gain, I then went to Gain Controls > Loud frequency band, and then raised the top 10 frequency bands by one click on +. This didn’t increase the hissing noise, so I kept this setting.

I’m not completely satisfied with this, but will leave it for now as is since I may change the domes I use, which could effect the amount of hissing.

6

Mine was just my right ear.

It sounded like an empty seashell for me as well and the wind on my Microphones.

I believe changing it to fuller is reducing the highs?

I have mine set one closer to brightness so not in the middle.

I don’t think my Loud Sounds were changed.

Although an audiologist set my HAs up, I have since bought a set myself and are self programming.

Let me know if I can be of more help?

:slight_smile: