Phonak Virto B Titanium for Severe Hearing Loss?

Hearing Aids
#42

Looking at that test, there’s a couple(lots) of pieces of information missing.

Did the machine run the test or was the audiologist pressing the buttons?

Did they put on a second headband to get Bone conducted levels?

When they were testing the left ear in particular was there another sound (while noise) played to your right ear?

Without the confirmation provided above, it’s entirely possible that the figures measured are entirely spurious and your left ear has a completely different hearing loss.

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#43

Thanks for clarifying that.

#44

Those were the questions I was going to ask, along with: What caused that hearing loss and how long has it gone unaided?

#45

Quite.

That Audiogram gives more questions than answers.

What I am particularly suspicious of is that despite the degree of asymmetry, the shape of the loss on both sides is virtually the same. That screams ‘test error in terms of masking’ at me, especially in terms of the circa 60dB transcranial difference. Added to the lack of masked BC on there.

I’m happy to be wrong on this, but it would explain why the hearing aid is totally inappropriate.

#46

Hi. As per my original post, I’ve been suffering with hearing in my left ear for 6-7 years.

In terms of the cause, I picked up an ear infection and although the pain and discomfort passed after 3-4 days my hearing has never been the same, and seems to have gradually deteriorated.

I do have my suspicions that at the same time I’d recently started using an e-cigarette, and from doing a little research on the internet there does seem to be a few people linking the ingredients in e-cigarettes to tinnitus & hearing problems, but I’ve mentioned this to my doctor and a couple of consultants I’ve seen and none of them seemed to take this seriously, one even laughed at me!

#47

Hi. Custom hearing aids can be fitted for severe/profound hearing loss but is not the optimum choice, RITE or BTE is. If you want custom HA you have to go with one that has a UP receiver. Not all HA manufacturers have UP receiver in custom HA. Also a half shell or full shell is choice for custom HA for severe/profound hearing loss. I wear Resound half shell with UP receiver for my severe/profound hearing loss. The challenge with a high power custom HA is feedback especially in the high frequencies. I was fortunate that I was able to get power in the high frequencies without feedback with a pressure vent. My fit was a deep canal fit which helped control feedback. I prefer a custom HA over BTE because the custom HA sounded more natural since microphones are in your ear. My original choice was Starkey but did not have direct streaming of iPhone at the time for custom HA so I went with Resound which had the direct streaming. Try a couple manufacturers custom HA and see which one will meet your needs

#48

Thanks, really interesting. I think I’m experiencing feedback in the high frequencies too, but my biggest frustration is that it’s offering nothing in noisy environments at all, I might as well not be wearing it. I was thinking that a BTE might be the way to go for me, but then I read your comment about custom HA producing a more natural sound, made me think again!

I’m seeing my audiologist again tomorrow so I’ll ask him his opinion - appreciate you taking the time to reply.

#49

As requested, here’s a pic of my new Phonak Virto M90-10 IIC aids

HAs
HAs2671×2449 2.03 MB

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#50

With a loss like that, I might not expect a hearing aid to improve hearing in noise at all. There are options besides a traditional hearing aid that might be a bigger benefit for you. But as Um Bongo said, there is a lot of information missing from the audiogram.

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