I had an appointment with my audiologist today. We talked about the difficulty I have been having with my current aid.
Since I have almost no hearing in my right ear and severe loss in my left she suggested the cros system by Phonak. A transmitter in the right ear “catches” sound from that side and transmits to the aid in the left ear. She put the aids on me and whispered something while standing on my right side and I heard her!
She gave me a “loaner” pair to try out over the holiday weekend.
My initial impressions are good; I’ve worn the aid for several hours and it is comfortable. Voices still sound “fuzzy”, but not to the degree with my other aid. I think that is just something I’ll have to accept as the new normal.
I know several hours does not guarantee long term satisfaction, so I am looking for some feedback from some long term users of the Phonak or other brands cros systems. Are you satisfied overall? Pros and cons you have found.
I used Phonak cross (ambra H2O+cross unit-BTE) around 3 years,but even 22 times I visited my Audi for calibration.I am very unsatisfied at noisy places, talking on phone and listening TV.and than decided to gave up using Phonak cross 1 years ago.Main difficulties cross one is just transmitter not hearing aid.
I am a salesman and talking on phone is important for me , due to this reason I am using Resound Linx+Iphone now…85% satisfied.I think there is no full perfect hearing aid available…My recommandation that Check your hearing aids noisy environment,if you can speak and understand clearly, go on with Phonak cross …
I have used a Phonak for several years (just one HA), and recently I got a CROS for it too (actually BICROS), similar to your set up (BICROS is where you get amplification in your “good” ear too, as well as transmission from your bad ear), and I prefer it to just the one HA.
Pros: I was surprised at how natural the BICROS felt immediately I tried it, and I do get some sense of sound being all around and not just on one side, even though my one ear is completely dead and the other one is getting the sounds for both sides.
Cons: inconvenience of having to wear two HAs, and it uses about 4 times the batteries (2 * because it is two HAs instead of one, and 2 * because they use more juice to talk to each other).
I suggest you haggle with the audi for the best price - often they will do a discount, but you have to ask (nicely). You can always buy elsewhere, where it is cheaper.
Also there are different ways of keeping the CROS in place, e.g., a dummy dome that goes in the ear the canal, or you may prefer a less intrusive retention clip that attaches to the outside of your ear. Have a read of the manual for more details: http://www.phonak.com/content/dam/phonak/gc_us/Documents/Product/Phonak_CROS/CROS_UG%20029-0122-03.pdf.
@Albert55: I had a lot of problems with my Phonak for several years - a lot of background noise, reverb etc, so I ended up programming it myself, with much better results. Obviously that is not for everyone, but I get the impression that some/a lot of Audis are not very good at the programming, especially as they have to be familiar with a lot of different software and HAs from different manufacturers.
if hoh54 ever decides to post his or hers audiogram, I will reveal a better option.