ReSound Omnias with M&RIE Receivers

Hearing Aids
#27

I was very happy with my first set of molds for my ReSound Quattros. I think the problem with my Omnia molds is that almost four years have gone by since the audi took my impressions for the Quattro molds. She just ordered the Omnia molds made from those Quattro impressions, perhaps because the Quattro molds fit so well, and she did not make new impressions for the Omnia molds. So, that may be the crux of my problem: in four years of aging, calcium bone loss, or whatever, the shape of my left ear canal may have changed. Rather than tell her I expect a new impression and a new left ear mold for free now, I am going to pay her another $100 for a new impression and a new left ear mold. That way, I won’t feel bad if I run the situation into the ground trying to get the best possible left ear mold out of her by repeatedly rejecting any poor remakes. And maybe she’ll learn that it’s worth the trouble to make a new impression after a couple of years have gone by.

If any providers happen to read this post, I wonder how long any of you folks consider a mold impression good for?

#28

I wonder what problem’s he was referring to? Can’t imagine anything obvious.

Oh yes absolutely, and your audiologist should have known this straight away, and as you say this is the cux of the problem, always new impressions for new HAs after that length of time, maybe she’ll offer to do it for free anyway?

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#29

well I’ve worn the MRIE’s for 2 days and I can say I definitely hear conversations better … I played golf yesterday and noticed an improvment in hearing conversations from all directions… I played pickleball this morning and then umpired a softball game later in the morning… with 6 P’ball courts going at our Rec. center it can get pretty noisy but I did notice an improvement in cross court talk and chatter from courts next to me… at softball I struggled a little because there are bleachers on both sides and behind the backstop and with about 30 people sitting and watching the game the ones dircetly behind me seemed very loud… when usually I can hear them but never really make out what they are saying… I think not being used to hearing that is something that will ease up over time when I get used to it… later after thinking about it I wished I had tried my restaurant program which I have set up for a much narrower band of hearing

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#30

@Ureout . The mics on the end of the receivers will mainly work in low-background noise situations. Sound processing will be increasingly switched to the behind-the-ear mics on the HA bodies as the environment gets noisier, AFAIK. I wonder if part of your improved hearing with the M&RIE receivers could be from wearing a more occlusive fit designed for molds made to hold the M&RIE receivers?

For me, the WOW moment with M&RIE receivers was hearing a bird chirp in a tree in our yard. The sound came to my ears as if it were shot from an arrow from the branch the bird was sitting on. My brain knew exactly where to look for the bird. But maybe it was just a particularly shrill bird! Normally, the localization effect is more subtle than that, but it’s definitely there for me. Except for the perception of enhanced bass with the Lumitys***, the overall sound is excellent and quite comparable, and I get long-lived disposable batteries plus all the MFi connectivity in addition to Smart 3D app control via my Apple Watch. I opted to leave the Restaurant program out of my allotted four HA programs. I have All-Around, Front Focus, Outdoors (for wind noise), and Music. My Omnia 962s have a telecoil option, but my audi tells me to turn that on, I’d have to sacrifice one of the other programs. She consoled me by saying that telecoil is very little used in San Antonio, TX. Hoping BT LE Audio gains traction soon and the Omnias are upgradeable. BT LE Audio would be in stereo, whereas telecoil is monaural, AFAIK, anyway.

*** Turning the bass up to +6 and mid-tones and treble down to -2 each in the Sound Enhancer, if one wants enhanced bass, and then adjusting the overall sound volume works well to provide enriched bass without having to get a HCP to make a fit adjustment.

Edit_Update: Another thought, @Ureout, on the better hearing with M&RIE receivers, is that they might benefit from the natural pinna amplification effect. OTH, ReSound only advertises better sound localization as a benefit of M&RIE receivers, not sound amplification. Maybe the artificial average-person pinna effect in place for strictly behind-the-ear mics also includes an artificial pinna amplification factor? (I’ve already mused about this in some other post lost in the vast plains of this forum!). But I thought the Lumity Sound Enhancer feature for soft voices was going to beat the pants off the Omnia, but with my M&RIE receivers, just as you found in your experience, my wife’s very soft, not Germanically-articulated voice (no biting off of consonants, etc.!), comes through loud-and-clear, very comparable to the benefit the Lumity Sound Enhancer feature conferred. I’d love to know why?!

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#31

I grabbed two interesting slides from a continuing education course authored by an AuD with GNResound. The fitting range for M&RIE is better divided into two sections as shown on the slides. For those with steeply sloping hearing losses that cut across both sections as they described, the M&RIE receiver is specifically NOT RECOMMENDED by GNResound and those “do not typically make good candidates”.

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Resound Omnia 961 rechargeable versus 962 with 13 zinc-air battery
ReSound Omnia M&RIE
#32

Yes, I reported on that after taking an Audiology Online course back in September 2021 in which ReSound summarized their recommendations after the ReSound Ones with M&RIE receivers had been out and in use for about one year. (see graphs in my post)

OTH, Dr. Cliff, in a YouTube video, has said that he’s successfully fitted patients with loss that doesn’t match ReSound’s advice and that patients that he’s fitted with the M&RIE receivers prefer those to standard receivers.

I think part of ReSound’s advice might be grounded in the standard practice that people with good low-frequency hearing should have a relative open fit so they don’t have occlusion and can use their own good hearing and pinna effect with an open fit to good advantage. You can’t have an open fit and serious high-frequency amplification with M&RIE receivers, or you’ll get feedback galore.

OTH, if you’re like me and wear a totally occlusive fit, you’re essentially also relying on your HA’s for even low-frequency amplification. So I’m essentially having myself fit like a moderate to severe loss across all frequencies. And I am probably pushing the M&RIE limits. I have to have an ~almost perfectly fitting mold or I’ll get feedback. I am also pushing things by employing the NAL-NL2 fitting algorithm, which amplifies high frequencies a lot more than ReSound’s proprietary “more comfort” Audiogram+ fitting algorithm.

So if I can’t get a good enough fitting left mold with a ReSound remake for my left ear, I may just switch to Audiogram+ or just cut back a bit on NAL-NL2 high-frequency amplification for my left ear to compensate. :grinning:

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#33

Hey, thanks! That’s an interesting thread. Looks like now a year and a half later, ReSound hasn’t changed their recommendation.

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#34

It’s your iPhone doing that for you. Mine did the same way.

#35

My molds for my KS9s look more like your new ones regarding vent placement. Do you know if the mold that is giving you feedback issues tends to back out? I have big concha locks on my molds and if I orient them correctly they keep the molds snug and I avoid feedback.

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#36

Part of their recommendation is undoubtedly based on not wanting the average user to have trouble with feedback or wear a more occlusive fit than they otherwise do and then returning their aids and, at worst, switching to another HA brand. The average user would probably not want the complete occlusion that I accept and would want to go with an open fit if they only have a moderate loss. And if you check either your graphs or the ones that I previously supplied, ReSound essentially divides the use of M&RIE receivers into two camps: those with a somewhat but not completely open fit who have modest loss across all frequencies and those with more serious loss but not truly severe loss who would have to go with a very closed fit across all frequencies even without M&RIE receivers. So, anyone who is willing to join the closed fit camp can essentially wear M&RIE receivers as long as their loss does not exceed the MPOs recommended for M&RIE receivers. That’s what I’m doing.

The left mold does slowly back out as the day progresses. But the problem is more with the fit of the mold and having it seal when it’s fully seated in my ear. The right ear, push it in 'til it stops, and it works great. The left ear, push it in as far as it will go, it’s likely not to seal, and unlike the right ear, there’s a lot of flexibility to move in around. The mold doesn’t seal until it’s backed out quite a bit compared to the stopping point for pushing it in, and then it has even more flexibility to move around. And it moves out any further from the optimum point, back to getting lots of feedback.

Thanks for the suggestion on the concha lock. If a remake of the mold from a new impression doesn’t work, I’ll suggest that to the audi. After the audi did a new impression, she tried to show me that the new impression in shape doesn’t look very different from the left mold that’s giving me feedback problems, but I don’t think one can easily visualize any 3D spatial differences and we’re probably talking here about mm’s of fit differences, if the mold shape is the problem. I tried to tell her that I’m semi-TMJ on my left side, too, and her reply was that people tend to chew on one side of their head, and that wears out the jaw on that side of the head more than the other. So, if that’s what’s involved, that might explain why the jaw “thunks” a bit as I chew or talk, which may make it easier to move the mold around. With my left Quattro external mics failing repeatedly in an unexpected fashion, one grasping-at-straws theory I considered was that the constant vibration from my left jaw movement was rattling them to death! So, look forward to not only getting a good mold but seeing how the left Omnia holds up over time. And hoping that @ssa’s prediction that a BT LE Audio firmware update for qualified ReSound HA’s may be coming down the pipe! I suggest no one favors any HA brand for that reason until it actually happens, though. :grinning:

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#37

for those that have the MRIE receivers… look at both of your receiver ends where the mic is located and see if you have a little white filter over the mic… I noticed the other day that the filter on my left receiver wire had come off and it is now just a tiny black hole… My audi called Resound today and they verified that the white filter was to keep out debris… my audi asked for replacement filters and he was given a rediculous price of around $200 for 50 of the little filters

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ReSound Omnia and microphone issue
#38

It’s my vague recollection that the M&RIE receivers I had with my trial Omnias had those filters, but the Omnia 962 M&RIE receivers that I own didn’t come with them. I’ll have to ask my audi about them when I see her soon for a left ear mold remake. An Internet search for “ReSound M&RIE receiver filter” doesn’t come up with any hits for me. Thanks if you can provide the official product name and product ID#. Did your audi say how often ReSound recommends changing the filters? Once a month?

One would think there’d be something in the user manual on the need to change the filter or at least periodically visit your HCP to have it done.

So, how do you like your M&RIE receivers, @Ureout? My audi gave me lots of volume in my default All-Around program setting. Especially with an NAL-NL2 fit, I’ve always found it a bit loud (she said it was two notches up from ReSound’s recommended volume for an Audiogram+ fit (9 instead of 7 in the Smart 3D app) and I find with M&RIE receivers, I’m more prone to get feedback if I don’t have my molds in just right. So, a volume setting of 7 is more comfortable, still works great on hearing my soft-spoken wife, and avoids feedback.

#39

ReSound Pro for HCPs: How to Replace the M&RIE mic protection filter:

One commenter asks where to buy the filters online?

Another commenter replies, “Ha! Good luck on ordering replacements of these. It’s the one consumable from these aids that’s super hard to get online.”

One site online: 7.90 Euro for 8, ReSound M&RIE Microphone Protection Filter (8 pcs.) | MySecondEar

#40

Jim, my audi had no idea that the MRIE had a filter on the end until talking with Resound Rep. it just looks like a little cover over mic. according to the site you posted with the video, the filters go for a little over $1 a piece much better than Resound price… I haven’t seen any info. on how often filters should be replaced?? I think Monday I will give Resound a call for more info.

I like the MRIE’s but still getting used to them i had been waiting on new silicone replacement molds that just came in yesterday 1 of my old molds had a split in it and had to use the vent hole to hold receiver wire

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#41

The stupid thing about the filters is, apparently, they are designed only to be changed by the HCP, given that the video is supposedly for ReSound Pros. Perhaps ReSound decided the filters weren’t really needed and would be an additional complication to selling HA’s, at least with M&RIE receivers. My mics are recessed several mm into the mold openings by which the receivers are inserted. So, yes, stuff floating in the air might get there, but not stuff dropping straight down. Stuff floating in the air is always a hazard for clogging the mics on the HA body, and they don’t have any special protection other than being recessed a mm or two in the mic openings.

As can be seen from this enlarged screenshot taken from a post further up in this thread, there is something like a little plastic cover with tiny holes in it at the location of the M&RIE mic. The hole, if it’s the mic, is so incredibly small I can’t see much getting into it. As long as the M&RIE mics pass the thumb-rubbing-against-nails test, I will assume that the mics are functioning OK. My audi, in general, has taken a very positive attitude against anything failing, like me trying to bend the receiver wires whatever way I want: “Go ahead and do it. You’re covered by your warranty…” (?!)

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captured from post ReSound Omnias with M&RIE Receivers - #7 by jim_lewis

#42

My MRIE don’t have any filters, maybe the design was modified.

#43

I had white filters on my jabra 10 until the last checkin at Costco 2 weeks ago. I recently cleaned my aids and noticed no white filter on either aid. Apparently my fitter removed them.

I’ll ask on my next check in. Poor communication I think.

#44

I just received my new Jabra enhance pro 10s from Costco last Thursday. They don’t have any white dots on the M&MIEs. I’m guessing they’ve been done away with. I’m scheduled back this Thursday for a checkup so I’ll also ask about it.

#45

i just finished talking to Resound Tech support about the MRIE filter… they have never made a MRIE receiver without the little white microphone filter guard in the base of receiver… so if all you see is a black whole it’s because it has come off… I asked about pricing and they only sell their products to Audi’s and wouldn’t give me a price …

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#46

My audi just switched me from #3 wire length M&RIE receivers to #4’s. The #3’s didn’t have the white filters on the receiver ends as she provided them to me. My new #4’s did. I relayed what I learned about the filters from this thread and the $200 for 50 filters price officially from ReSound, but my audi showed zero interest in looking into the deal with changing filters. Perhaps that’s why it’s hard to find out about the filters and get them if other HCPs have the same enthusiasm for supporting them, i.e., an extra nuisance taking up appointment space to change out filters that could be filled with other customers…?