It is great to have the advice of experts and thank you JustinHIS and Mark Chambers to supply information about Oticon. As a Resound wearer for the past year I appreciate the input but also wondered why the user experience for people like adgraham, who has another post, is so very different from mine, and why Oticon is perceived by JustinHIS as luxury while resound is economy. I also remembered my experience regarding the variation in knowledge among audiologists and HIS who fit the devices, so I did a bit of research.
I stumbled upon this report http://www.audiology.org/sites/default/files/journal/JAAA_20_01_03.pdf that addresses the reasons audiologists make brand recommendations. It turns out that 93.5% of audiologists recommend a single brand. The article goes into a detailed explanation of the reasons, but there are 7 factors. The first is referred to as “aptitude.” This refers to the Quality of the brand’s product, Fit/comfort of products in patient’s ears, Brand’s customer service and the Brand’s programming software. Since all are potentially dependent on familiarity with the product (other than perception of quality), the new product from resound and the programming of the device may cause it to be less appealing. I have also found the Resound support in terms of explanation and interaction with audiologists regarding programing of the devices to be somewhat lacking. This could lead to improper programming that would give rise to quality concerns and the battery and popping issues described in other posts.
I guess this is a long winded way of saying, your mileage may vary and these devices are very subjective. I pursued the Resound device because I wanted to the features and when I received and it and had to programmed correctly, it exceeded all expectations.
If your audiologist or HIS, or any audiologist or HIS recommends a brand, make sure you ask why and their familiarity with others.