Hi, I’ve had the oticon more level 1 hearing aids for 9 months and have found that when I’m in a bank or grocery store with a lot of people close by, that the hearing aids amplify everything to a degree that it is uncomfortable to have all the conversations so loud as well as not be able to understand what it being said by the person in front of me because it all jumbles together.
I am retired, single and the only time I really have to test the settings is if I’m out shopping or running errands.
I have one more free adjustment on them. Would asking the audiologist to make “speech in noise” the default setting be a good or bad idea?
I don’t use blue tooth normally, which is needed to redo the program. So its one more step I need to do if I’m in a noisy setting.
I have a friend who uses speech in noise setting all the time but had the Mics set from Directional to All Around or Real Ear Sound (under Phonaks term).
Apparently she hears better this way.
The only issue you might find is you struggling to hear behind you if Oticon is similar to Phonak.
I have the More1 aids, I only have the auto select program, which is the way I prefer it. My More1 aids have been great for every environment that I have thrown at them. Restaurants aren’t an issue, neither is driving or riding in my vehicle, or riding my motorcycle. Church services are great too. I know so many that may need more control but I prefer putting my aids on in the morning and literally forgetting about them. But it has taken many appointments for fine adjustments. And yes I have also over the years forced my brain to adjust to being able to accept noisy environments and to big out the conversations I need. Do I have trouble at times with noise and lack of understanding, sure I do, but I am determined to adjust to it for as long as I possibly can.
no I end up using the blue tooth to change the setting . I just googled to try to find the difference in speech in noise vs directional setting and then saw a youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMSQemYlC80
My audi didn’t do this “real ear measurement” which is what I emailed him the link to ask him to do at the appointment if possible.
He switched the domes last time to ones that are larger (I was complaining about feedback when anything got close to my ears) which has made them louder in the default setting they are in when I put them on.
I would concur with @pvc to add a Speech in Noise secondary program and switch to it when you’re in a noisy environment, as opposed to making it your default program. You can have up to 4 programs in the More 1 so while you’re at your last free audi appointment, you should probably have him fill all 4 programs up instead of just adding Speech in Noise. You’d have 2 programs left after Speech in Noise is added, so maybe add in MyMusic and Tcoil for your remaining 2 programs. The Tcoil would be useful if you ever use headphones, or if you’re at a venue like in the theater or a church that is equipped with an induction audio loop for tcoil hearing aids.
There are some other built-in programs as well as listed in the first screenshot below that you can consider. The second screenshot is where your audi can add and fill up all 4 programs. The third screenshot is where your audi can adjust the parameters. I’d suggest to have him max out on the Neural Noise Suppression settings for Easy and Difficult situations so that it’s most effective for you in suppressing noise and clarifying speech.
There’s also another option beside Speech in Noise called MoreSound Booster that you can enable anytime by yourself if you use the Oticon ON app in your phone. If you don’t have Speech in Noise as a program set to switch to yet, while you’re in your default P1 program, you can always turn on MoreSound Booster in your ON app to effectively block out the surrounding noise and focus on hearing people in front of you only.
Note that your P1 default program does have noise suppression already built-in, but it’s not set as aggressively as the Speech in Noise program. So that’s why it’s better to leave it as the default program and add in a Speech in Noise program that you can switch to if you only occasionally find yourself in noisy environments but most of the times, you’re in an easier environment like at home.
That sounds like a pretty big cop out to skip REM on you. That should have been the first thing that gets done in your first fitting appointment. Do insist on getting it done if you only have 1 free appointment left with him.
thanks so much for all this info. I will try the more sound booster setting when I’m in a store next time. I never had the REM done by any of the 3 people that did the hearing aids for me in the past if it is like what the youtube showed.
the ENT that I’ve seen also mentioned he has someone in office that does hearing aids. would you think that might be a better way to make sure I get the right fit for my next pair?
Due to the $2000 yearly allowance with medicare advantage program, what I’ve done in the past is to get one hearing aid & pay the difference to get a higher level aid, ($400 each) one year, then get the 2nd one the year after.
I thought of asking if I could get a loaner even for a week, so I can properly test out the aid.
There’s really no telling if an ENT-recommended audiologist would be better than the ones you find by yourself. I guess a qualifying question when you interview them is to ask if they always perform REM on their patients or not, beside other things like cost and how many fitting appointments they give you, etc.
If you use your $2K allowance to buy 1 aid at the end of the year, then the other $2K allowance to buy the second aid at the beginning of the next year, assuming the limitation is based on calendar year and not based on a 12 month lapse, then that’d be a good strategy to get the top tier hearing aids. If that’s a workable strategy, then I don’t see why the audi would not agree to giving you a loaner aid for a week during the trial.
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I have one more free adjustment on them. Would asking the audiologist to make “speech in noise” the default setting be a good or bad idea?
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Bad idea - like having yer vehicle onTurboCharge as its default setting, IMO
I’ve got OPN S1s, and have speech-in-noise as my second program, with “music” as my third. I just pop into that program when I go into noisy places, easy to do and much easier on the ears!
I did check the website for my ENT and they have 2 audi’s and says they do the REM tests.
I’ll contact them next week to see if they will work with my insurance as well as check the yelp reviews.
Thanks Spud gunner. I guess what I can do is to just switch the program setting when I’m in shops.
Has anyone compared the MORE1 to other high end HA brands, that they found had better speech in noise settings or made it easier to understand people in noisy environments?
Thats the one thing that I find really upsetting, in not understanding what’s being said, especially when people are wearing masks &/or behind plexiglass on top of it. Do people without hearing loss do better in those circumstances?
