I am (still) trialling Phonak Paradise P90-312 RICs. After several attempts, I now have custom cShell molds that fit but I still find that the perceived sound quality slowly gets worse as the day goes on. The sound becomes more muffled with less clarity and a touch more occlusion. I will use a brush to clear the vent and this does seem to improve things (but only slightly).
I wonder if condensation may be building up in the vent which reduces the effective vent size thus increasing the occlusion effect slightly. And if it builds up there, maybe it builds up elsewhere affecting the sound crispness.
Or could it just be my brain trying to adjust?
Has anyone found similar issues and worked out what could be causing that?
A completely unprofessional opinion: You have a pretty significant loss. I suspect your brain just gets tired of working so hard as the day goes on. What are your word recognition scores like? Have you considered being evaluated for a cochlear implant?
I am in UK and no formal WRS has been done but I did struggle when one was done a few years back.
The strange thing is that I do not get this issue with my old aids (ITE Phonak Savias) which are 8 years old. I am trying these new aids so I donât experience a period with no aids when they finally fail.
I havenât considered CI as my old aids do a decent (but not perfect) job and hope new ones would be as least as good.
Yes, I do found these new aids hard work. Maybe I am too impatient. I donât use anything to remove condensation so would like to rule that out as a possibility if people think its unlikely.
Is it still the case that the Savias were better or is it that from memory? If youâve tried them recently and theyâre still better, Iâd share with audiologist. It might be a programming issue. Iâve never heard of condensation causing that kind of problem but I guess itâs possible?
I try the Paradise for as long as I can but I end up back with the Savias, either because I start to feel isolated not hearing what I could previously or I have an important situation which needs them. They are instantly better.
I self program (created a custom program which I tweak). I have recently copied the gain numbers and Sound Recover settings from my old Savias to the Paradise via Target. This helped a little as it came closer to the sound from my Savias. But I suspect that the Program Options are what are actually making the difference. These are not directly transferrable so I have made guesses.
Plus my Savias are on fitting formula âAdaptive Phonak Digital 2.0â whereas my Savias are on âAdaptive Phonak Digitalâ. I donât know if that can explain things. I thought that this basically turns your Audiogram into an initial fitting, so once done it no longer plays a part, But maybe it does much more.
You might get more help from the self programming section of the forum. Further thoughts. Just because you copied the gain numbers doesnât mean youâre getting equal gain. I would think the program options would make a difference only in certain situations. Are the Savias better in all situations? Did you self program the Savias? If so, how did you find optimum settings? Iâd suggest similar technique with Paradise rather than trying to copy settings.
Why do you say that? Surely those number represent the dB gain applied to sounds at those particular frequencies/loudness, so donât see why they should be significantly different if the acoustics are the same or close (ITE half shell Savia with 2mm vent and custom cShell with 2mm vent for RIC created using same mold (saved by Phonak from 8 years ago)).
You are right and in certain circumstances the Paradise have done a good job (sitting outside a noisy cafe was one place where they were good). Getting the âCalm Situationâ optimal is my primary concern as that is what I expect to use most of the time. Then I plan to improve the others.
Yep. That was done via a custom program and gentle gradual tweaks and is how I have been doing it. The âcopy/pasteâ was simply done to see if that could give me a better starting point.
Regarding equal gain. My understanding is that every situation is different and that is the reason we do REM (Real Ear Measurement) where we guarantee that weâre getting the prescribed gain to the ear. If youâre fine experimenting, it might be interesting to try the DSL-V5 fitting formula or perhaps NAL-NL2 just to see what you think.
Gain is gain, that is true but the newer aids probably have different compression rates and knee points that can dramatically change the sound you hear.
I recommend giving Audiogram Direct and feedback testing a try. What acoustics are you using?
I also agree that this needs to be in the DIY forum, better help there.
I have rerun AudiogramDirect and feedback testing. The resulting audiogram was slightly different as my hearing appeared not so bad in the lower frequencies with the 2mm vented custom molds (as opposed to when the audi did the audiogram in the soundproof booth). That will effectively reduce gain for lower frequencies when auto fitted.
Regarding compression, I also tried to align the cut-off frequency and compression ratio as far as I could in the SR2 tab. But I have no idea how the different HAs will use this.
Not sure what you menat by âWhat acoustics are you using?â
As the original question was about condensation, I will re-open this in the DIY forum.
This is a long shot. Theyâve been discontinued where I am, but is there any chance that your cShells use the old smartguard wax filter? They were awful for this.
Now that is interesting as yes, they do use the old smartguard wax filter (the one on the end of the thin sticks). And to add to that, one of my old Savias does not have the waxguard anymore as the metal cup that holds it fell off and it is now waxguardless. I donât have that issue with the Savias.
If that is the case, then I am not sure what the solution is. Maybe I could remove the waxguard and not replace it to see if that makes a difference. They are currently still on trial
The cerushields are also on long sticks, but donât have the same issue. If you really do have the smartguards, have them swapped out for the cerushields.
