Wow, Mike, I’m very thankful to have hit on this forum and picked up on your question.
Forgive me, I don’t want to hi-jack your topic, it’s just that I have been reading up on all mug’s, as I am beginning my 6-month trial on Costco’s ReSound CALA. When I picked them up, I saw their Phonak Brio 2’s and did a walk around with them.
Phonak claims that rather than the regular four programs, their platform allows the device to check the environment 100 times per minute and blend the best programs in real-time. That means determine “what to block out”, a different approach than Oticon. I’ll try them!
I have determined that I MUST have compatible streaming direct from iPhone to HA’s for telephone, Audible and music. The Costco CALA’s are providing that but sales person said the Phonak Brio’s will also. Thanks, hope to read more reports. Floyd
The Brio 2s will not provide “direct” streaming. You will need an intermediate device. I believe Compilot II Air or Compilot II
The OPN is one of those few made-for-iPhone HAs out there that will provide direct streaming from the iPhone.
You absolutely have a point here! Not only do I have the decades of HA use, but even my age of 61, and the lifestyle fact that I live in a SNOW cave for months every year. Ah, I exaggerate a bit on the last one, but I DO think that younger folks (20-something, 30-something) have a natural ability to sit in a maelstrom of noise and keep track of several audio inputs simultaneously - something which would exhaust me in short order.
Also, because my Agil Pro aids do SO WELL in directional mode, I have been wearing them half the day, and really just switching to my Opns at night when I want to stream the TV. So … I am guilty of simply NOT wearing these Opns round-the-clock until just recently. The past week, I put them in upon rising in the morning (after all, they fit BETTER than the hard case Agil Pro!), and wear them all day now.
In addition to my old Agil Pros doing better in places like Costco, WholeFoods, et al, their size 13 battery was a BLESSING. Dang if I don’t get a full 11+ days of use out of them. But they only stream with the phone - no TV streamer ever worked with them.
I will simply have to knuckle down and keep these Opns IN till my lazy ol’ brain starts making more sense of all that sound. I have my directional setting and my volumes to play around with. and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the light feeling of these aids. If I had those Comply domes, I would never even know I was wearing aids. By contrast, my old Agil Pros are hard case, difficult to squeeze into my swollen ears in the morning, squeak here! there! You know: HAs are like spouses with their ups and downs, comfort and irritation! I am lucky to have THREE of them - counting my 2-legged companion.
I think you have several challenges in your adaption to the OPN: 1) Maybe you’re not out and about enough in noisy environments everyday to give your brain enough time to adapt to the OPN, especially in noisy environment 2) You have your Agil Pro as a back up so when you need to hear better in noisy environments, you revert back to your Agil Pro in those situations like at Costco/WholeFoods, so you don’t get a chance to get used to the OPN where you need to train your brain the most, in noisy situations. 3) And of course at your age, you’ll probably need longer to adapt to the OPN as well, although I believe your brain can adapt, but how long it takes depends on how immersive you can be with the OPN.
For me, I’m not that young (55), but not too old yet either. And I work in the office all day with all kinds of noise from people talking on the phone, then I eat in the cafeteria every day where it’s really loud and noisy as well. So being immersive in noisy places all day long helps my brain adapt to the OPN much faster. I also wear the OPN exclusively 100% all day long and I don’t use my old HAs as a fall back as well, so that also helps get me adapt much faster, too.
If your lifestyle is mostly in quiet places most of the day everyday, then I think even normal hearing people who are used to a quiet lifestyle will be bothered a lot every time they’re exposed to noisy environment themselves, let alone us hearing challenged people.
The latest issue of The Hearing Review has an excellent article - “Consumer Responses to the Oticon Opn Hearing Aid” - reviewing 700 consumer response cards of new Opn users.
Not a single person was dissatisfied which is pretty impressive.
Here is a link: http://www.hearingreview.com/2017/01/consumer-responses-oticon-opn-hearing-aid
Thanks for sharing this article, Anthony!
Thank you for sharing. It is very informative.
We recently surveyed over 360 audiologists - in partnership with the investment bank UBS - on their opinions about the various hearing aids brands out there. Here’s a snippet from the UBS report about Oticon and the Opn:
Oticon is particularly strong in “Sound quality”, which audiologists see as by far the most important attribute in driving brand choice - 33% of respondents believe Oticon has an edge in sound quality, vs. Phonak at 21% … Audiologists were positive on the Oticon brand as a whole, and cited Opn as a key recent innovation.
We also did our own write up: What’s Hot and What’s Not? Groundbreaking Audiologist Survey Ranks Hearing Aid Feature Preferences
We have over 20 consumer reviews for the Oticon Opn here: Oticon Opn 1 Reviews
Hi, I purchased the Opn about a couple weeks ago. For reference, I have mild hearing loss in the low and high frequencies. I trialed both the widex unique 330’s and the Oticon Opn’s and I liked the Opn’s a lot more. My previous hearing aids were the resound futures. Coming from the futures, I definitely noticed that the Opn’s offer a more natural sound. My audiologist said she usually only needs to fit people with one program on the Opn’s since it’s such a powerful aid. Of course, depending on your hearing loss, this may vary.
While I don’t know all the science and technology behind the Opn’s, I can say that it makes sounds sound like how I imagined they would sound if I didn’t have hearing loss (hope that makes sense). I tested this in difficult situations like: movie theatres, concerts, and conference rooms. Usually, when people whisper to me in those environments while a movie/music performance/presentation is going on, I can’t really hear what they’re saying. But I could hear 90% of what they were saying with the Opn’s on. As a result, I feel less anxious about missing what others are saying, more comfortable to socialize in noisy environments, and less fatigued at the end of the day (since I don’t need to focus as hard to hear speech).
Just my two cents. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the OPN, Cal. Which OPN level did you purchase? The Opn1, 2 or 3? Did you happen to try out the different OPN levels? And if yes, can you share your impression on them?
Your sharing about being able to understand whispers better in a movie/music/presentation environment is something new I haven’t heard mentioned before. Usually people comment on just regular speech in noisy environment, so it’s refreshing to hear that it works on whispers, too.
Since you’ve worn the Resound Futures before, do you find that you needed an adjustment period with the OPN at all?
Thank you for the example of whispering in theaters. I have been in that situation many times and it is very frustrating. I am looking for new hearing aids and want to hear more rather than mute more.
Hi,
I purchased OPN 1’s 3 weeks ago, after wearing resound Lynx for 3.5 years. I have moderate to severe hearing loss, particularly at high frequencies, My audi asked me to take notes on my experience. I did so and am sharing them with you:
Oticon Opn 1 Notes
• Sounds are louder and much sharper – I’m hearing new sounds
• Streaming a song – clicking noise, may be my watch interfering
• I’m typing this and hearing the keys click for the first time.
• I just ate and I hear my stomach growling!
• I didn’t know my shoes squeak.
• Walking in my slippers – They clack – I hear small creaks in the stairs – sound I did not know existed before.
• I took a long walk while streaming an audiobook – I moved my iphone from my pocket to my hand to improve reception.
• Compared to Resound, I am hearing sounds that I failed to hear with the LYNX.
• The music streaming quality is also much better
• I can hear the TV better as well without streaming – not possible at all with Resound.
• I am experiencing a vast array of sounds… sounds that I did not know existed before.
Sitting in the kitchen, I hear the cyclical sound from the refrigerator. Sounds from the Keurig coffee maker are magnified to a surprising degree – like a rocket ship taking off whereas before I did not hear the water heating up and only heard the final stage (hiss) of the fill cycle.
When people talk it’s so loud it seems they are shouting – conversations in a crowd are really loud as well. It will take a bit of time to get used to all the sound /noise inputs, and to reestablish my ability to mentally focus on the sounds I want to hear/understand.
The Speech in Noisy environments does not work well - seems even noisier to me.
Compared to Resound and the Phonak, it makes me wonder if the latter where not properly set up, because I am hearing a vast spectrum of sounds for the first time.
The streaming quality is quite good with impressive range, but intermittently clicking occurs, and sometimes one channel will drop out temporarily and then come back. Is this to be expected or is it indicative of a defect? Perhaps try a new pair of same HA device?
The clicking happened once in one aid while on a phone call. Resynching the HAs did not eliminate the problem. This does not happen all the time – it is intermittent in nature. Putting my Apple watch in Airport mode has no effect.
The fit of my left HA is very good. The right aid seems to not be as tight… needs to be checked out.
…
Since I wrote the above, I find I like these more and more. I think they approximate what people with normal hearing experience. I like not “missing out” on all sounds and expect to get better at focusing on those I choose to hear.
With respect to the intermittent clicking, Apple is working with HA devices to improve the bluetooth implementation - it seems that this is a problem across HA brands, not just Oticon.
It’s not a game changer for me, because the benefits far outweigh this annoyance.
I have Apple AirPods and can also choose to use them for flawless streaming and sound quality.
I have OPN 1s. Could you please tell me how to put them into directional program? I have a great deal of trouble hearing person in front of me in noisy places as well.
I had the same experience switching from Resound Linx 3D (which I trialed for a few weeks) to Oticon OPN3. The OPN3 had me running around the house trying to discover what it was I was hearing – refrigerator compressor, furnace turning on/off, fountain in pond behind my condo. I used the Oticon Genie software to tone things down a bit. I decided to keep the Oticon.
I have an iPhone. I use the OPN app to switch to Speech in Noise.
You can use the buttons to switch between programs or change volume, depending on how your audi set them up.
“I decided to keep the Oticon.”
Yes, me too. I want my hearing experience to mirror a person’s with normal hearing. They have difficulty hearing in noisy environments too, and learn too “extract” the sounds they want to hear. This is a real plusi n group settings, where you have no control over the current speaker.
Some of this must be fitting or setting differences. I’m wearing ReSound LiNX 3D 961. On the all-around program, which I use most of the time, I hear air whooshing from the A/C, the thermostat clicking, the refrigerator running, cars approaching from behind when I’m walking, birds tweeting, whatever. Based on advice I got here, I pushed my audiologist to get me up to full prescription gain ASAP.
member98, in order to take advantage of the Opn “directional” setting, it has to be programmed by your audiologist. This step involves dedicating one of 4 programs for directional use only (the others can be default, and set for other listening preferences).
Now the bad news: No matter HOW many times I had my so-called “directional” program tweaked by my aud-guy, I was simply never ever able to hear with those Opn aids in any kind of ambient noise. The situation was so dire, and dragged on for so many months, that I was able to get a trade-in on the Oticons for a pair of Phonak Audeo B-Direct aids.
Now, are the Phonaks any better? YES! But even so, I’m convinced that NO (as in nada, zip, zilch, never) pair of aids that sit behind the ear can deliver true directionality like a pair of old-fashioned in the ear aids. The mic is simply not positioned optimally in the BTE aids.
If you are not satisfied with your Oticon’s directional capability, you may have to dig your heels in and demand a better solution from your hearing aid dispenser. GOOD LUCK with it!
1Bluejay is correct that there is a directional setting for the OPN that you can have your provider set up for you in one of the 4 programs. And 1Bluejay is also correct that the directional setting on the OPN is not aggressive like the other traditional directional noise reduction hearing aid brands/models are. The OPN may put the focus to the front in its directional setting mode, BUT, not everything else around you is all of a sudden quiet and all you hear is the front speaker. That’s not how the OPN strategy is designed and works.
The OPN strategy is to let you hear everything, and it solves the speech in noise issue by doing 2 things:
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Clean up the noise from the speech in front of you, so there’s better clarity.
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Still let you hear everything else around you, and expect your brain to learn to tune out what you don’t want to hear and focus on what you want to hear. Once you can focus on what you want to hear (the speech in front) and separate it from what you don’t want to hear, this speech in front will be delivered to you with better clarity than before.
So basically the traditional way is to block out everything around you so you can hear the speech in front more, but this speech in front may be still be muddled by the noise diffused into it. The OPN way is the remove this diffused noise from the muddied speech in front, but not remove the other sounds around you.
Beside removing the diffused noise, it also DOES use directionality always (but a different kind called NULL directionality) to balance out the sounds by removing well placed sources of noise. But this is not the same as the “front” directionality setting like with traditional hearing aids. Once well placed sources of noise are identified and “balanced” out by the null directionality, it then goes to a secondary noise reduction stage to remove the remaining diffused noise that are not well placed noise sources. This diffused noise stays diffused with the speech in front, and most traditional directional noise reduction hearing aids can’t clean up, but the OPN can via the processing power of the Velox platform.
Maybe using an analogy with an “I Spy” game on a very busy picture helps make more sense. And let’s say this picture is a bit blurry. Let’s say you can choose two goggles to look at this picture. The traditional goggle blocks out all the stuff in the picture except the I Spy item. It help makes you see this I Spy item right away but the picture is still a bit blurry like the rest of the picture, so you still have to use some effort to guess what this item you see is. The OPN google doesn’t block out anything, so you’d still have to focus and find this I Spy item in the picture, but once you can focus and find it, this I Spy item is clearer to see and not as blurry as the one in the traditional goggle.
So if you buy the OPN for its directionality setting, you’re probably buying the wrong hearing aid. You’d want to buy the OPN for the ability to achieve better clarity on the speech, but counting on YOUR ability to focus on this speech and tune out other things.
But it doesn’t hurt to also have your provider to set up a program for you with the directional setting selected because every little bit helps. BUT WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT is to make sure that your provider turn up the noise reduction value/setting to MAX value (which is -3dB for simple environment and -9dB for complex environnment on the OPN 1), and the Open Sound Transition value set to High to help maximize the auditory focus. I don’t know why, but these values are not set to high in the default program. In my opinion, they should be defaulted to the highest setting because it doesn’t hurt to have them on high, especially since that’s what you’re paying for and that’s what makes the OPN a premium technology.
But if you select the built-in Speech in Noise program, they are set to High by default. The Speech in Noise built-in program also increases the gain a little bit more than the default program to help you hear better in noise as well.