Pay for REM or go DIY with ConnexxAir

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hello,

First post on the forum and would like various opinions on my current situation please.

I purchased a pair of Signia Silk NX for $1000+tax at local provider. For what I paid, I’m really liking the upgrade from my previous aids.

Had the initial fitting plus two adjustment appointments thus far. My HIS is very friendly, and has called me 1 week after each appointment to see if I’d like to schedule another fitting. She, from the start, made it very clear that Silk 1NX were lower level tech and would unlikely provide great results in crowded/ active situations. She didn’t annoyingly try to persuade me into purchasing above my budget. I told her I’d be happy if they provided a noticable upgrade from my other aids.

And they definitely are meeting my needs better than my previous HA. Only thing is I think I could receive a better fitting. No REM was performed and after researching I feel I understand fitting with connex 9 as well as she does, if not better in some areas.

I can 1- travel from Oklahoma to their Kansas location and be refitted using REM at no additional cost. 2- Pay $300 to another clinic in my city for a years worth of adjustments using REM or 1 adjustment for $100. 3- Go the DIY route, purchase a connexair unit online and upgrade my Connex software. Been using audiologyonline’s free videos and pdfs recently for education. 4- Keep returning to my current HIS until I feel satisfied. (I had to request in-situ in my first follow up appt, and Frq. Compression at my latest.)

What would you do? Thank you!
Gabe

#2

Depending on how far the travel is I would look at either traveling and getting the REM done, or paying for a REM. 100 seems a good deal and a single REM fitting should do the trick. It will save you a lot of time and effort that could be spent better otherwise.

Jim

2 Likes
#3

Looking like 2.5 hrs each way, so 5 hrs round trip according to Google. Why do you think 1 REM fitting should do the trick? Obviously I have no experience with REM. I just assumed I’d likely need at least 1 follow up fitting, to adjust my Fmin and Fmax compression values or some minor tweak of some sort. The $100 fitting would be performed by a licensed Audiologist, so maybe I’m overthinking this.

I was leaning towards the $300 unlimited adjustments for a year. And after actually googling the travel time it’s definitely the least appealing option. Thank you for your input.

#4

@gabejones0010 that might be your best option…a REM verifies that your hearing aids are actually meeting your prescriptive needs and allows the audiologist to set your aids to that prescription, it saves a lot of trial and error. After the REM follow-ups are usually just a matter of time tuning and setting up speciality programs.
Check out this video for more information: https://youtu.be/cHR0Oa6I-wY

Jim

#5

For you its a no brainer DIY is the way forward, I think you’ve already made your decision anyway, you have done the right things in getting to understand the connexx software and studying the basics online from audiologyonline.com
You don’t need REM
(it’s dead in the water anyway, anyone for remote telecare, OTC hearing aids, Airpods etc)
Save your gas money and put it towards the connexx Air programmer.

Why do you say this, you have the base model 1NX so its not going to be much good in noisy environments and so on anyway.
Actually you probably should have gone to Costco for phonaks KS9 for $1500 a set, you’ll do way better with those then Signia 1NX.
Unless of course you just won’t use RIC type of hearing aids for cosmetic reasons the KS9s are Premium models.

#6

It’s cosmetic reasons due to my age, to be completely honest. I know it seems illogical, but that’s where I’m at.

Why do I think I can obtain a better fitting? I was the first person she had performed an in-situ gram with on Connexx, bc I asked for it. When I pointed out areas of predicted/ potential feedback she said that wasn’t what the lighter shaded areas meant. Next time I tell her I was having feedback issues, and asked if I should try different click sleeve sizes or venting. She agreed, and then “showed” me how potential feedback decreased with closed sleeves. Then I inquired about frequency compression, as I read it can help those with high frequency tinnitus. She said that she didn’t know if it was automatically enabled, it wasn’t so she then recommended enabling it.

Yes, she’s friendly and stays in contact via phone calls. But I believe I can DIY, and get better results. And no I don’t expect my low budget 1NXs to do well in noisey environments, but I do want a proper fitting so at least I know they’re working the best they can.

Thank you- Gabe

#7

She might be friendly but seems utterly incompetent.

Since you already know more than her, and this gap will just grow, I’d recommend one rem and then diy tweaking. And keep this friendly one just for spare parts.

One rem is enough to get a good baseline. Assuming that you don’t have special snowflake of a loss (then two more could be useful, to test other two fitting formulas, since they by default use nal-nl2) or extra special snowflake where no logic applies and ability to get help from aids diminishes.
Since you already got something positive, it looks like you’re on the safe side concerning snowflakes.

So I’d pay for one rem fitting, and if needed pay for more.

3 Likes
#8

Thankfully, my loss is nothing unique like cookie bite or reverse slope loss. Moderatley-severe high frequency loss. Thank you!

Gabe

#9

I agree with one REM to be sure you are in the ball park. Then if you feel comfortable with DIY, fine tune from there. If you are not in the right ball park to begin with, you have no idea which way to go.

3 Likes
#10

I’d like to know what the OP finally decided. I just got a pair of Silk 1X and am in a similar situation…wondering whether to have an audiologist do the tweaks or buy a Hi-Pro or Connexxair to do the fitting tweaks myself.