ReSound Omnias with M&RIE Receivers

Simple! Yes, it is the higher frequencies that I am having trouble with. Much better than when I first got them. My brain seems to be adapting as tenkan suggests. I may still need a bit more adjustment on the higher end, but we’ll see by the time my follow-up appt comes on the 22nd.

I’m a bit taken aback since I’ve had ~ 5 prs of aids over 20 years and haven’t had this phenomenon occur.

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Can you say something about your view of the M& pros and cons? I have M&RIE for the first time and not sure what I might be gaining or losing with them. I can still go back to plain RIE in the next month or so.

don’t you feel the Pina effect? like directionality of the sound

Nothing obvious. The most I can say is they just feel more comfortable and natural, high frequency issues aside.

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Yes, I’m wondering about that as well. However, with the new settings, I’m happy to have the aids set at normal volume. They sound great. With the last setting with more gain at the highest ends, I needed to turn the volume down and bit to help with distortion. so it may not be a question of my brain needing to adjust after all.
I also wear an Osia BAHA when I’m not playing music, and that restores my high end hearing very very well. So my brain may have already made the adjustment.

My Costco audiologists (not HISes) both say that none of their customers liked M&RIE - most (90%) disliked them, but a few really loved their M&RIEs.

I read ReSound’s white paper on M&RIE, and I wasn’t impressed with their test method or the number of subjects (150, IIRC - too few IMO).

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I am not using M&RIE yet, but requested the online supplier to mail a pair, which I’ll test w/ my local audiologist back-to-back with the standard receiver and will upgrade on this forum. However, what I mentioned in the previous my text, the data available online revealed that only 10% of the M&RIE users decided not to use the third microphone as a part of their Resound receiver. Sure enough M&RIE receiver is more bulky and probably is not as convenient for users with smaller or shorter ear canal and smaller pinna on the top of not matching particular hearing loss needs (steep slopped audiogram toward middle and high frequencies region).

I’m senior HA user as many on this forum and nothing to do not have financial interest in marketing Resound vs. competition. Simply the local hearing loss office tested first Omnia for my hearing loss and I went with Omnia 9 in the very end of last year. Assuming Omnia 9 the hearing specialist picked for my testing this model not accidentally?

For some people (including me) it’s a weird sound perception, as in it was harder to tell certain sound sources, a slight delay/echo as well, I never got used to them and went straight back to my MP.

Thanks. I don’t seem to be experiencing that kind of thing. I do like the feeling of openness. Kind of like the outdoor program I had on the Prezas.

The fitter only gave me the standard program saying that its adaptability has changed for the better. I insisted on the music program. When I go back, I will ask for the speech in noise program to get the wide-narrow field adjustment in the app. Not sure if I will need the outdoor program yet. Have to get into some windy walking to see!

She also wanted to start me on the “new user” setting even though my Prezas were set for “experienced” and I’ve had aids for 20 years. We’ll change that for sure. Maybe it’s just some help in adapting to the new aids.

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According to the 2021 M&RIE announcement, researchers also found the following benefits of using M&RIE:

  • 57% better localization² – a measure that increases over time as the brain re-familiarizes and re-trains itself to take advantage of the subtleties of sound channeled via the pinna
  • 15dB increase in wind-noise protection without reducing gain³ and 33% better sound quality ratings when listening in mildly windy conditions compared to traditional mic placement⁴
  • 95% of people rated phone placement as easy for non-streamed phone calls⁵
  • 9 out of 10 listeners prefer M&RIE for natural sound quality³

GN is said to have made recent improvements in their fitting software, making it easier set users up with ReSound ONE and M&RIE technology.

According to the announcement, researchers also found the following benefits of using M&RIE:

  • 57% better localization² – a measure that increases over time as the brain re-familiarizes and re-trains itself to take advantage of the subtleties of sound channeled via the pinna
  • 15dB increase in wind-noise protection without reducing gain³ and 33% better sound quality ratings when listening in mildly windy conditions compared to traditional mic placement⁴
  • 95% of people rated phone placement as easy for non-streamed phone calls⁵
  • 9 out of 10 listeners prefer M&RIE for natural sound quality³

GN is said to have made recent improvements in their fitting software, making it easier set users up with ReSound ONE and M&RIE technology.

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Yeah I’d take that with a pinch of salt please, that’s just hype/blurb from the marketing department working overtime, for those that have used the M&RIE and use the one’s I can say more “nonsense”

The number of test subjects by itself doesn’t mean anything. The amount of scatter (variation, error) in the test group and the control group determines how many test subjects you need to draw a valid conclusion. And the distance between the mean of each group vs. the scatter within each group in outcome.

In the extreme, you could have five subjects in each group (let’s say mice to be nice). You give the drug to five mice. They all die. You give a placebo to five other mice. They all live. There’s a high probability that the drug is highly toxic to mice. You probably don’t need 150 mice in each group to prove that. If, instead, two die in the drug group and one dies in the control group, now you’re in a situation where you need more numbers.

If ReSound has good statisticians, they made the group large enough to get statistically valid results and there should be p value somewhere in their whitepaper. If the p-value were 0.05, that means one time out of 20, the observed results could be due to random fluctuation. If the p-value were 0.01, only one time in 100 could random fluctuation explain the results.

But you don’t just pick a number like 150 and say, “I don’t think that was large enough.” That’s not statistics. It’s just a gut feeling.

I love the M&RIE installed on my Jabras! I added them a few weeks ago!

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You’ve tried both! Can you say anything about the difference?

I’m afraid I can’t offer much specific response :frowning: I don’t have a live-in partner, someone I talk with all the time. My experience is just being out and about on errands and 3-daily-miles-of-urban-walking-exercise, talking with neighbors, shop keepers, and friends. And a bit of streaming. From that–I’d say I generally hear better and more clearly than before I had the 3rd mic installed. Notably, I now can hear my laptop (Macbook) audio very clearly, as I could not do before w/o some kind of boost. I use the Outdoor setting successfully at the waterfront (some wind) when walking with my son–formerly, I relied on an external mic.

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AND last evening I chose to watch a ‘tv episode’ on my iPad instead of the tv. The streaming audio to my ears didn’t want to work/connect on both sides, so I switched to ‘normal’ thru-the-air audio and heard very well using my M&RIE/HAs. This on my Jabra EP20s.

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Is really Bluetooth LE & auracast available for Costco Jabra 20 offering?
Because of this Resound Nexia new feature probably many will get their next HA from Costco for less than ReSound Nexia itself.

In this regard, my 2nd audiologist I went to for fitting M&RIE receivers had the audacity to offer me an upgrade from my current ReSound Omnia 9 (previous top model) to Nexia for above $7K. This audiologist business driven by excessive profits on expense of the senior pocket need to be regulated as well. It’s a shame that these hearing aids businesses are using the unexplainable lack of Medicare coverage to push their profits above the limits.

I can attached to demo how well M&RIE receivers works with Resound Omnia 9 deeper in my canals. However please provide with step-by-step instruction how I can attach a photo?