Phonak Lumity 70 and dome choice

My Phonak Lumity 70 are the clearest HA I have had, whether speech, recorded music, guitar, audiobooks, or online videos. I’m not sure if they’re worth the extra money compared to the Lumity 50, since the tap function is taking some getting used to, and I’m still playing with the strength of tap choices. Also, I’ve yet to test the StereoZoom for “Speech in Loud Noise” function, which should be a bonus. Questions for you all: The provider tech sent me off with closed domes which the Phonak rep told her to use after seeing my chart. I wasn’t there. They just didn’t feel or sound right to me, so I switched back to my open domes. Above 2k, I’m in the 65-70 (Right ear) and 65 (Left ear) range on my most recent hearing test. Based on this, am I borderline for dome choice between open or closed? Thanks.

It’s the thresholds at and below 1kHz that will often determine whether you’re suited to open OT closed/vented domes. Open domes will not keep low frequency gain from leaking out of your ear(s) and will also allow ambient noise to flood into the ear and bypass and signal processing (e.g. stereo zoom will be less effective with open vs closed domes).

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I uploaded my Audiogram. Would you advise trying the closed domes based on my chart? My current open domes feel comfortable and I don’t seem to be having hearing difficulties with the current Phonak L70 setup. Much appreciated.

I have a loss somewhere in your range and wear the Paradise P90’s. For “MY loss” the open domes work very well. My AuD also programmed my P90’s using SoundRecover (frequency lowering) since my low frequency loss is minimal.

Some folks on this forum have recommended Vented closed domes with losses similar to yours. I tried the vented closed domes without SoundRecover and found lower frequencies sounded muffled due to less natural sound entering my ears.

I’m sure @Louie can address your question better with his providers knowledge.

…Just wanted to offer my insight with this caveat – everyone’s hearing perception is different, even though their Audiogram may be similar.

Good Luck!

David

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@MoHearing , just my personal subjective experience: My audi says my loss calls for bass double vent domes, which I have been using for the past two years. I told him I wanted to try power domes, which, as I understand it, are the most closed domes available. I thought the power domes might help to minimize the ambient sounds that have been interfering with my speech in noise comprehension.

I have been wearing the power domes for the past few weeks. My impression is that power domes are physically (occlusion) and auditorially less comfortable than the double vent domes. My acoustic guitar sounds less natural with the power domes.

BUT…I feel that my speech in noise comprehension is better with the power domes. It’s not a night and day difference, but, to me, it’s a significant enough difference for me to sacrifice the comfort and more-natural sound of the bass double vent domes in order to achieve better speech in noise performance. Obviously, YMMV, but that is my subjective impression.

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@MoHearing & @berettadm1 both of your losses are perfectly suited for open domes. The only reason an aud may opt for closed domes is if too much gain is leaking out of your ears through the perforations in the domes (i.e. feedback) and limiting the volume that can be provided. But assuming that’s not the case, I would recommend staying with an open dome

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