Hi, Marvel came after Belong then Paradise so you may have trouble finding some.
did you get to see Steven Bright by any chance?
No, I never had a chance. Funnily enough, my parents lives in Pembrokeshire (not far off from Carmarthenshire) and I live in Chepstow. Trying to find the best way, finding the right Hearing aid for my needs.
I understand what you are saying. You have had success with Oticon. I have seen many anecdotal reports of people having success after switching from Phonak, including myself.
However, the Xceeds are a superpower aid. You can compare them to the Intents if you want, but the Intents will not work for Sara. They may work for the other gentleman with high frequency loss. Yes, the Intents are newer, but I found the Xceeds superb.
As for an in general comparison of Phonak v Oticon, my issue has been the fitting process. I am having success with the Intents but I could not get REM for the Phonaks. Better switching with Oticon? I see what you mean - I think you mean there is more annoying switching with Autosense.
A lot of people are waiting for an Oticon DNN superpower version. Including @Lostdeaf
2 Likes
Yes, I do. But every day my hope gets less and less. Oticon is in no hurry. In two years, they have released only one Intent (Own SI is a junk) . There are no new accessories. If they repeat their plan, then there will be medium power hearing aids, then ones for childrens. There were no superpower devices on the Real and More formats. Phonak makes superpower devices on every platform. So Phonak remains the last manufacturer of superpower aids. It seems that the whole industry is being blown away.
2 Likes
When I got my CI’s my speech understanding in each ear were less than 10%. Most of the speech frequencies were pretty much gone.
As far as the CI’s they have been life changing. I can have a conversation with someone looking at their eyes rather than their mouth or even from another room.
Yesterday evening we ate dinner at a very crowded Mexican restaurant. It was off the chart loud. There were challenging times but most of the time I could hear and understand the conversations. Actually everyone at the table struggled. We talked about it later.
This is just my opinion but these SP aids you have now are a great fit for your loss. If you have a fitter that makes you happy you are doing great.
1 Like
I think the Intents may be possible for you. You can only trial them and see. With frequency lowering you may not need so much gain and output in the higher frequencies. For me the power is more than sufficient.
Make sure you get the 105dB custom receivers. I was fitted with 100dB receivers and they blew after a week.
If they are not powerful enough I would recommend the Phonak Naida Lumity or Oticon Xceed.
3 Likes
Thanks so much for the supportive comments. So far, I can get by with power aids, except for restaurants, where I just pass notes. Good to know if things get worse, CIs are a good option. //Steve
1 Like
My friend a few years ago went private for hearing aids and paid for them.
She knew she had a progressive hearing loss so bought the Phonak Naida B90 UP even tho she had a moderate loss and was at the top of the fitting range for those hearing aids.
She didn’t want to pay out for more hearing aids in a few years.
She now has a severe loss and is still very happy with the Phonak Naida B90 UP despite no Bluetooth. She has embraced Sign Language so doesn’t always wear her hearing aids and is not interested in Bluetooth.
1 Like
Did you consider Naida PR?
1 Like
Yes, I have tried the Naida PR which I think is the same as Phonak Lumity SP, which is a power aid and I love it. Now I plan to try Oticon Xceed which is a UP aid. It’s probably a little more than I need, but it’s worth a try.
//Steve
1 Like
Oticon Xceed has both version, SP and UP. SP has almost same power as UP, but it has much less size.
1 Like
UP has more power than SP. UP can go down to 120 dB but SP I believe it’s 105 dB max on the audiogram.
Got it wrong. It’s 110 dB max.
I can’t add a picture of the fitting range as I always get an error when I try and add pictures on this forum.
1 Like
Naida PR is suitable for someone who has a mild loss. It’s suitable for mild to moderately severe.
Naida SP is moderate to 110 dB max.
1 Like
10 decibels of difference is not worth such a difference in size.
From a theoretical standpoint, a 10 dB difference means subjectively twice the loudness, as a rule of thumb. However, whether that gives someone benefits depends on the severity of their hearing loss.
This is the fitting range of my Naida Lumity L90 SPs. It is much reduced with thin tubes and slimtips.
Peter
1 Like
10db is 10x more power. We don’t perceive it that way, but it costs that much more in battery, circuit design, etc.
There are people looking for every edge they can get. If you need it, it is worth it.
If you are borderline between one power level and the next one down, the one above might not be reasonable for consideration.
WH
2 Likes
That’s it—10 dB more:
- 10x increase in power
- ~2x increase in subjective perception of loudness
In my case (but with gain, not MPO), 5-10 dB difference in 6000 Hz dramatically improves my “s” sound audibility (as well as proper length of wire, but that’s another story).
Speaking of MPO, increasing that parameter (but still within the safety margin) can improve speech-in-noise understanding, because many parts of speech have even 15 dB more than the environment.
1 Like
My loss has progressed to profound. I previously has Phonak with domes, but had lots of problems the company rep couldn’t solve. Along with them taking 18 months to solve a battery issue with a new version, I chose to go with the Oticon Intent 1.
The default fitting was with ear molds. That was a mistake. They made and remade them 3 times and I lost one HA during that process because they kept falling out. They were about to remake another one because of a sound issue and since they had to send it off they fitted just a dome. WOW, it was MUCH better, so she changed out the other side also. The dome she put on was not comfortable, so I changed it out with domes I previously had with the Phonak. I think they are the largest they had and were double dome and fully closed. I has to cut the edges of the large dome because they were too blocking, but the difference now from the ear molds is night and day.
I would say the Oticon Intents are fully capable of handling profound loss and I know ear molds are the go to fitting for profound, but the domes work a LOT better for me. The extended frequency response of the Oticons has a drawback. They tried to set them to compensate for my high freq loss. At over 100db, it isn’t going to happen and all that did was to create pain, because I couldn’t hear it anyway. After totally cutting it off above about 4k, it was fine.
These are rechargable and I wear them all day, about 16 hrs. When I take them off they still have about 50% charge left. The only drawback is the battery replacement must be done by Oticon. But after 3 years, it may be time for new ones.
1 Like
Your high frequency loss is profound, the other frequencies are not. It is not surprising that a closed mould was causing problems. I found that with double domes the quality of the lower frequencies was better, but they blew for me because I am down 85dBs in the mids. Anyway, good luck, I am glad you have found a solution.