Questions regards fitting a hearing aids ..

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hello Hearing tracker Community, I have recently discovered this site and I can’t describe how I’m amazed by the amount of helpful information and insights this family provide.
I’m male 38 father of 2 , born with HF hearing loss and it get worse slowly .
I have lost some db in the mid range area in the recent years (1k and 2k) , been using ITE aid for the past 8 years and I think now it’s time to upgrade .
My original audiologist is retired now and I went for 2 new Local aud they both were Young …
•First one sell Resound hearing aid and recommend Enzo Q BTE
• Second Recommended Oticon more 2 mini RIC (suits my Budget )
I tried both of them at their offices for 30 minutes and preferred the sound of Oticon more although they were fast programmed and still needed more fits .
Now my questions for the experts users and the audiologists to take the right decision (aside from both aids)
1- how would you sir fit my hearing loss ski-slope severe loss based on my hearing test(WR is 70 and 76) ?
2-What formulas would u use ? I have read there is different settings and in my situation I have hard time hearing speech while I’m driving the most !
3- which Receivers do my loss in need ? SP 105db ?
4-BTE or RITE ? (I liked the Rite feel but I absolutely disliked the domes )
5- Type of custom mold? I’m used to Hard acrylic ITE but audiologist said he Goes with soft silicon for profound )
6-Any specific recommendations ? I’m kinda a newbie with BTE/Ric hearing aids.
I’m basically deaf in 6k+ areas … the More aud said I would benefit from Sound compression feature .

Lastly but not least I apologize for my long Topic and my poor English Grammer .
I know I requested too much but I could use any help; its been difficult Lately understanding my kids and function well in my life
-Thank you in advance :blush:

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#2
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#3

My concern is the fact that you were allowed to wear the aids for 30 minutes in an accoustically favorable office, which proves nothing. I also get leary when the audiologist only sells one brand because one brand doesn’t work for everyone. I don’t know where you are from but has a trial period been mentioned. Most states require a trial period. Costco offers 6 months

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#4

I have seen this topic! It’s still unclear for me …
As I said am newbie when it come to BTE and RIC .
If I went the Medium receiver will it be enough in the future in case I needed more amplify ?

#5

It was my own request to test them , I was excited cuz it will be my first time trying RIC and BTE . And no castoco here in my countery I live in a small city so not many options left.
That why I seeked for help …

#6

In the future, you’ll just change the receiver of the RIC for a more powerful one, if you need more power.

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#7

Here’s my thoughts. Disclaimer. I don’t have any audiology training. I’m a Registered Nurse. I have read extensively. Take that’s for what’s it worth. You’re young and have pretty fair word recognition scores for your loss. I’d want to maintain that as much as possible and I think the way to do that is to be able to use as much high frequency information as possible. I think Phonak’s Sound Recover 2 frequency lowering is the best way to do that. It allows the high frequencies to be shifted lower down than other frequency lowering sytems do. I’d try to find somebody that fits a lot of Phonak hearing aids to profound losses and go with their recommendations. I would focus on trying to retain/improve speech understanding and try to minimize concerns about “sound quality.” Regarding custom molds. I would encourage trying the silicone. It gives a better seal, but if you prefer acrylic, that should work too.

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#8

That’s a Well one reasonable answer!! Thank u
Unfortunately none in my city Offer Phonak hearing aids :disappointed:…
The only decent providers that been recommended sell Oticon/Resound/Starkey …
I think Oticon have this HF compression feature it’s called Speech rescue , have no idea about Starkey tho . The Resound Aud specifically wanted me to get a power BTE to maintain a better speech understanding especially for kids and women (He said Resound one RIC best feature doesn’t suit me not sure what it was) .
BTE about the preference u suggested I comprehend that u prefer BTE hearing aids ? Or large Receiver ? To maintain the Highest Frequency right ?

#9

I’m only guessing, but I doubt there’s any benefit to trying to drive a lot of gain to those higher frequencies for multiple reasons: 1) Some of those areas are likely cochlear dead spots 2) It’s really hard to get that much gain without feedback 3) Even if you can get that much gain and can hear it, it can interfere with the lower frequency sounds. So, no I don’t think you need an UP BTE or a 105 receiver. 100 dB receiver for the 1.5khz frequency might be worthwhile. Yes, Oticon has Speech Rescue for frequency lowering, but sounds can’t be lowered any lower than 1.5khz. I’m not convinced you have an area of good enough hearing to take advantage of it.

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#10

Wow sir , this incredible I feel like im with the Audiologist again : he said the Same things u just explained about WHY NO need for High-power receiver or BTE power aid . Also mentioned the cochlear dead spots / implant.
He was optimistic about Speech Rescue feature cuz he said my word recognition wasn’t that bad for my hearing and it will be a decent help for sure .
I just contacted him he told me the receiver that I tested was actually 85 db (medium) :flushed: .
It’s kinda confusing cuz my ITE has M receiver but I felt the gain was much lower than the Oticon .

Thank you again .
Any plan of how to fit a 85 DB or 100db receiver ?
Aud said they both will work . 100db might affect the Low frequency and sound clarity+ battery charge. 85 db might be just lower in Volume but he can tweak them to be decent. (He said it up to me )

#11

I really don’t know on the 85dB vs 100 dB receiver. I’ve heard arguments both ways.

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#12

No problem @MDB you were such a great help ,
Am leaning now into the Oticon more cuz of you , if anyone would suggest how to fit them with any receiver .

#13

I’m an audiologist - I saw you mention a cochlear implant in one of your comments. Is this something you’d consider? With the degree of loss in the higher frequencies, that might be your best option for hearing well.

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#14

Hey sir @speedy , well I have giving that a thought but it not gonna work for me for 2 reasons
1- ENT said my lows are good and WR wasn’t bad
I managed to 1 to 1 conversation with Him without my aids in and also I could hear the 4k/2k tones well with aids in with my current 8yo aids (fairly weird for me) only 6k was crashing tone
2- Personal reason … I’m at a point in my life were I have to 100% concentrate wether for my work/ business or Personal life , Also I’m a single father for 2 young kids which need my foucs on many things . CL surgery would be a distraction for me. Im quite aware this decision might be wrong later …

Do u have any Fitting plan for my hearing loss sir ? How would u start it?

#15

Feedback that’s heard by everyone but you, ugh.

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#16

You CAN get a cochlear implant with good low-frequency hearing! If that is what your ENT is telling you, I’d get a second opinion from somewhere more updated. There are hybrid devices that are a hearing aid and cochlear implant together, which give you good access to low frequencies through the aid and to the high frequencies through the CI.

I think you’ll have an easier time focusing on work and your family if you can hear better - yes, there will be a bit of work to do in the beginning, practicing listening and going to appointments, but it hopefully will be worth it. Unfortunately there are no guarantees though, but people do well with cochlear implants!

My plan would be for you to see an audiologist that works with cochlear implants so they can give you a good battery of tests and see what would be best for you. I am not a CI audiologist so can’t give you concrete recommendations.

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#17

Yeah Especially when getting hugged :rofl: …
My son tell me that my aid Yell on him often (feedback when gets closer or in the kitchen new many stuff )and I tell him cuz u annoyed them so be quiet :joy:

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#18

I will do my research then.
I have to educate myself about CL .
thank you speedy

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#19

I’m a big fan of people getting cochlear implants when appropriate, but I doubt OP is going to qualify with WRS of 70 and 76 as noted in his original post. I do think cochlear implants are in their future though.

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#20

Could be the case. I am not a CI audiologist but I know they do some intense testing in background noise, which can really drop people’s word understanding ability. Scores in the 70% range with that loss seems pretty impressive to me!

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