French speakers ? Sure!
But what about English listeners?
It doesn’t say if they surveyed French people or English.
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Hi @Bimodal_user. I have titanium molds with quite a large vent. I was plagued by itchy ears, as well as occlusion, so the large molds are an attempt to deal with that. Before these, we tried both acrylic and silicone molds. And yes indeed, I have UP receivers on both ears. My WRS scores are 20%R and 64%L. My audiologist did not do binaural WRS. I have been assessed at the hospital and I am a candidate for Cochlear Implant in the L ear. I am delaying proceeding with that because I play clarinet and bass clarinet in concert and jazz bands; music is very important to me, and I understand may be lost post-implant.
You are correct that it is difficult to fit me - if we get to target with REM, then I get quite a lot of distortion in the R ear. So we work on getting the L ear as good as we can, and then use the R ear to add as much sound as we can before it gets distorted.
Since I started looking to replace my old hearing aids (over 2 years ago now), I have trialled Phonak Lumity, Widex Moment Sheer, Oticon Real, Resound Omnia, Signia Pure Charge & Go, Starkey Genesis, Resound Nexia, Oticon Intent, and finally Phonak Sphere. At one point, I believe we did talk briefly about a BTE, but dismissed it due to size. I think I have finally reached the end of my audiologist’s almost infinite patience, and have settled (somewhat unhappily) on the Spheres because they seemed to have the best switching between music and speech in the auto program. I have had them since last November, and we have tweaked them 6 or 7 times since then.
I really only weighed in here because there’s been lots of enthusiasm shown for the Phonak Spheres, and I think it’s important to let people know that they may not be life-changing for everyone.
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I have both these as additional programmes, and rarely use Auto (I have music as Startup)
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I used Music as a start up during part of the first year I had my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s. I hadn’t figured that my issue was setup was bad.
Couple of years later (just over 3 years) I attended a wonderful concert. During the intro the sound was beautiful! I checked. It was the first time audtosense 4 had picked Music!
Interesting. Could you provide the photos with different angles to get a visual of the vent? The occlusion effect in your case is quite surprising, unless you have very small ear canals and cannot place the shells deep enough to reach the bony part of the ear canal. UP receivers are big and quite difficult to be placed deeply, especially with acrylic and silicone, because they require thicker earmold wall for robustness.
I am a non-professional musician and play in the classical guitar things like “Cavatina”, “Evocation” Jose Luiz Merlin or introduction of “Cafe” from “Histoire du Tango” by Astor Piazzolla - I intentionally enumerate very melodic and lyrical pieces, not rhythmical, because rhytms are reflected very accurate almost from activation (start using of CI), because CI have less (or no) problem with temporal issues than spectral.
For majority of my life I relied only by my right ear (left 100% deaf). Some time after receiving implant I rehabilitate with custom silicone plug for my better ear with about max 40 dB average attenuation:
Initially:
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With a plug on the better ear only, without the sound processor of the CI system: can play back remembered pieces from memory, of course much quieter and therefore less pleasant.
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With plug on better ear, CI on and having an advantage in sound power: I was (at the time, not now) confused by the incompatibility of frequencies and can’t play even mechanically well-remembered (by fingers) songs.
Now I do not have the problem mentioned. I can play pieces not only with plugs in my better ear, but also with HA. Of course, binaural hearing is much better. I am no more confused by CI input (Cochlear Nucleus 8 and internal part: CI24RE Contour Advance).
Keep in mind that I am not person who has a professinal music job. Getting used to CI takes time. In your situation, I would choose the poorer ear to be implanted.
However, while I am not a fan of procrastination when it comes to hearing aid/cochlear implant decisions, sometimes waiting can be a good thing…
It’s because Cochlear (and probably Advanced Bionics) test now new coding strategy (FMS vs. currently used ACE, at least in Cochlear CI) and new internal devices of CI system. This coding strategy can help to achieve quicker and better frequency spectral resolution. It is probably a matter of less than a year - two.
To be continued…
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I’m not trying to invalidate your thinking, but you should definitely go for power HAs, like Naidas, to get the full benefit.
I don’t understand the fear of size, especially if you’re a professional musician, perhaps because I use the sound processor, which is quite large, larger than every power BTE HA. These sound processors are use even by children with little ears.
From my experience:
I got the Sphere 90 with power dome and M receiver - it’s no better than my old Paradise 90-RT with imperfect (a bit loose) earmold with 1mm vent and P receiver.
On Tuesday I received titanium earmold mistakenly with AOV vent and M receiver - still no better than Paradise, because feedback treshold in 2-4 kHz range is too low in my DIY Target.
Conclusions? Even the best hearing aid is of no use if it can’t deliver the basics, such as achieving prescription targets and hearing in quiet.
(this statement does not include the cochlear dead frequencies as in your right ear due to distortions)
RICs could be a problem for you, because UP receiver is probably too big to be deep in you ear canal to achieve bony part, therefore you have occlusion effect, which pushes your audiologist to enlarge the vent, but a the cost of less gain in high frequencies because of decreased feedback threshold. Paragraph 22.
I don’t want to force you, there is full freedom of choice, but if I were you:
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I would choose BTE like Naida UP 90 (Infinio lineup soon),
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request about earmold with very small or no vent, but deeply placed (reaching bony part, few mm after 2nd bend of ear canal) which may relieve problem of occlusion. BTE don’t have big UP receiver in canal, so small ear canal size is less a problem.
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Phonak Naidas has double receiver, which could provide better sound quality.
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More reliable directivity from BTEs due to stable position on auricle.
I recommend this course where the speakers give an example of a patient with a small ear canal and how the problem could be solved simply by using a BTE earmold instead of an RIC earmold. You can register and log in for free:
Earmold Acoustics, Size Does Matter! | 33947 | Earmolds and Ear Course 33947
I think it’s worth to change your mind, because I thing Sphere RIC is waste of money for you. However, I don’t have intention to push. There is freedom and there is your money, not mine.
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@PeterH - I find I do not discriminate speech well in a music program, nor hear music well in a speech program. I do a lot of things where there’s speech that alternates with music. At band, I need to hear music around me (and myself), but also the band leader speaking. I was going crazy switching back and forth between programs. Lifewise, when I take a music course there’s the need to hear the professor and listen to music samples. Somehow, the auto programs on the other aids did not work well for me, and constantly switching manual programs wasn’t convenient.
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I appreciate your information on how you adapted to music with your CI. I’m also not a professional musician, but playing music is an important part of my life, and I understand it can take up to 4 years of rehab to get back a sense of pitch and timbre. I’m just not ready to do that right now.
I also appreciate your suggestions about a Naida or other BTE rather than an RIC. I must confess that I’m even finding the Sphere a little larger behind my ear than I like (especially as a glasses wearer), so I’m not ready to consider an even larger BTE. Perhaps I’m being too stubborn. I will save your suggestions for consideration at another time, maybe when I’m not being so pig-headed. Thanks for your thoughtful suggestions .
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Allright. You’re welcome. I think it may take time to sort things out. Simply I would be considered Naida if Sphere with P receiver wouldn’t hit the desired range of REM target. However I have rather bigger auricle and have very thin temples and temple tips (perhaps it’s a solution?). I have no problem even with sunglasses with thicker frame.
Thanks for titanium cShell photos. I see they have a smooth surface. What is their retention in your ears? Do they not slip off the ear? My first try is with the rough surface:
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There is a nerdy, humorous comparison with the F-35:
- S-shaped duct
- Diverterless Supersonic Inlet (marked by red arrows).
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The amount of time you have spent looking at a F-35 to make that immediate correlation when you saw the cshells, is a little scary/fascinating lol. My best friend makes me listen about that mess when he talks about war thunder 
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I haven’t played any games for a few years, and I am rather anti-war (but “si vis pacem para bellum”), to the degree that my friend was annoyed during 2020 lockdown that I didn’t want to go with him to war (as ally) in “Civilisation 6”, but yes, I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to airplanes.
Quora forum is quite a mine of knowledge about that.
I am annoyed and tired of having problems with the fitting of my hearing aid, so I react a bit whimsically, I know.
Earlier there was a problem with customs duties; now there is a problem with an inappropriate vent despite my accurate request, it turned out that the HCP with which I established the execution of REM, doesn’t have Target software, etc.
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Sorry for the delay in responding - no I haven’t had any problem with them slipping out of my ear.
On another subject, I was shocked to discover that, when I suggested the wires might be too long, it required having the molds remade just to change the wires. Another month-long wait!
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Yes, this is a drawback of cShells compared to SlimTips. However, the reliability of ear canal sealing seems greater with the former.
I am still waiting for my remake of titanium cShell shown above due to too long wire, too weak receiver, too large vent and too short removal filament 
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I got mine in about a week…c-shells are great. Changing wax guards with nerve damaged hands…I’m worried.
Wrong. I have Slim Tips