No other HA can go as low in the low frequencies for me. So either way I will be missing out. I’m happy with my NaidaUPs and I’m hearing loads more then my Superfront aids. I was just very curious to this as I didn’t know HAs didn’t go up to 8000htz.
My 2012 test has confirmed that I’m 120db at 250htz and 500htz in both ears.
As MCB said, " most people have HF hearing loss" and the HA manufacturers make their products to deal with the vast majority of hearing losses and needs. The reason they only go to 4900 Hz with the UP is because they probably figured that most people needing a high powered aid aren’t going to get much of a response in the upper frequencies so they don’t even go there. If you Google “Speech Banana” you will see that a lot of the alphabet is between 250 and 500 Hz and the rest up to 2000 and basically nothing past 6000 Hz, so why make a HA that goes much beyond that?
Frequency range is important as long as you still have usable hearing at high frequencies. It offers such a greater sound experience for environmental sounds and makes listening to a lot of non human sounds more enjoyable such as birds. Also you can hear alarms and bells easier and wider. I experienced this with my naida V sp aids. I can hear up to 8500 hz with these aids. It doesn’t help with human voices much but makes your hearing more enjoyable.
How do you hear up to 8500hz?..Phonak website say the Naida SPs go upto 6400hz only.
And the Naida UPs go to 4900hz.
Thanks to the soundrecover feauture.
6400 hz is output of the naida. With soundrecover enabled, you can hear ,for example,8000 hz at 6400 hz output. Of course, sound quality changes a little due to frequency shifting but the brain gets used to it over time and everything sounds normal.
And, I had my aids reprogrammed . My frequency upper limit is now 7500 hz. But I can hear speech a bit clearer and louder.
You can test your frequency range with some online test sites. It is not professional measurement but gives you an idea.
http://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/
Before the test make sure you turned the volume of the computer to the highest.