This is way back when Dr Fabry worked for Phonak - this is HR 2005 april. The point of this
is not to discredit Starkey, but to simply state that while they are a good company and sure have fine products, they are not the most advance. It is not true that only because they have it is evidence based. I have personally met Dr Fabry, while he did dispute
wireless instruments he did finally admit- that wireless streaming and VC coordination where an advantage. Currently this are not on starkey instrument, therefore starkey
is in fact lacking of many features. Sure they will come soon with something, but most companies are going into a second generation wireless, Lets hope they could catch up
and raise the bar
You need to log on 60hrs in order for VC learning to work. The chances for it to get it wrong are slim. Remember, Phonak had VC learning a long long time ago with the Savia if Im not mistaken. The new GN instruments have a nice way for you to fine tune VC.
Provided you find the right candidate, The unitron YUU and pasport are really trainable instruments, not only you can train for VC but also you can tweak the instruments to
provide more clarity or more confort. They work very well.
Siemens is also having now a trainable frequency response aids, I dont fit siemens so
I can tell you details about this.
The point of this, Trainable HI should be part of any high end instrument, it is an industry standart. Probably starkey will have in a future. If im not mistaken,
this is something develop by NAL so you know it is evidence base.
Broadly speaking the multi-band directional instruments with the adaptive directionality can beamform on specific speech sources in an environment while creating nulls at various noise sources. If it’s done properly, it’s also possible to rotate the speech/noise around the wearer and get the aid to track them while maintaining the SNR levels.
Negatively the dominant speech in the room might not be the one you want to hear.
In all honesty Starkey may be paying Gus Mueller to go around the World in an attempt to shore up support for their products, but they are way behind the curve in terms of the technology. Put another way if you subscribe to a technology ‘ranking’ they currently sit somewhere behind Bernafon and Unitron. Also IMHO, their current market share is mainly a legacy from their early ITE success and dispensers being unwilling to change to new products. AND dealing with feedback shouldn’t be major positive for a product, it should be par for the course.
If you want to take something back to corporate, tell the R+D people to go away and ‘Invent’ something rather than just ‘innovating’. If you’d spent the cash on that instead of all the light shows and dancing girls you’d have a viable product and proper market share. (It’s called a ‘strategy’ BTW)
But clearly dealing with feedback ISNT par for the course, even for most high end instruments. Thats why people sing the praises of their feedback management. I agree with the technology (wireless) aspects being behind. But for most patients, wireless connectivity isnt what they are looking for. They are looking for a HI that helps them hear and doesnt squeal all the time.
People who crave or need wireless technology obviously choose another product line. But wireless technology isnt a must have for many people.
dr. amy
It is true that most people are not seeking for a wireless solution, but the TV solution
with a wireless enable product is a very very popular solution now a days. Im looking forward to see how the GN alera would work. They are surely raising the bar!
And the IRIS by Starkey. Conveniently being released at the same time :rolleyes:
I love the slick design of Resounds Live RIE!
dr. amy
… Lets hope it does work, it will be nice to see the bar raise. I hope it is not like the T2
correct me if im wrong but the limitation is due to sampling right, for 10,000hz to ocurr you need to sample up to 20,000hz (niquist rule right). It is not a matter of speaker.
The actual constrain im guess is aceptable battery consumption right.
Some one correct me if im wrong
Your sampling rate should always be twice the highest desired frequency. This is called the Nyquist frequency or theorem. This isn’t the primary limiting factor in modern hearing aids.
As hearing aids go. All hearing aids include a programmed high-frequency roll off that is usually done for the purpose of battery life, or noise, or comfort; a number of reasons really. Often you can bypass this by simply increasing the high frequency gains.
The reality is that most hearing aids have extended bandwidth receivers, the primary limitations are feedback cancellation, earcanal acoustics, and some other mechanical characteristics of the hearing aid.
I must agree with you that people are looking for a tv solution.
The GN alera may work well with tv because it will be the 2.4 ghz. However, with GN we’re still limited to their extremely poor feedback management system, their computer chip that is at least 5 years old, and their software that looks like a little kid drew the graphs with a crayon.
I must say that I’ve had more trouble with ReSound than any other manufacturer. Siemens is right behind, then Sonic, Unitron, Phonak, and Starkey.
Facts, Jabra is the #1 company for headsets in the work. They know a thing or 2 about
bluetooth. Im sure they could come up with something awesome.
Is Jabra working with Resound or something?
the GN group owns Otometrics, Beltone, Intertone and Gn resound and Jabra.
Lets not forget Otometrics do make Noahlink and the AVS system which runs
using bluetooth. Jabra is the #1 king when it comes to bluetooth headset- they know
a thing or 2
It is true that it is not all good when it comes to GN, they have been consitently loosing
money and market share. It is difficult to believe given the profit margins.
GN needs to be credited for what it is. They have come up with the trully open fit
instrument - the GN air. Most of the instruments now are very similar to that.
In the past 3yrs, they come up with a few interesting concepts. This is a step up
in the profession we all love. Natural directionality seem to work, and it has some interesting papers on it. Their new remote microphone instrument seem to be a great
idea. For that I praise them…
I’ve done it. CIC’s with a 70 gain receiver…no feedback at all. Patient actually asked me to turn it down. Patient in his 30’s…lifetime BTE user. LOVES LOVES LOVES his CIC’s I did for him.
Fortunately his ear was big enough to make the CIC so that the large receiver would fit in the shell.
Agree with everything you are saying. And i actually love Starkey products along with Oticon.
Phonaks can…it can limit the output of the hearing aid thus not giving you amplification to areas in your loss that require it…for the sake of keeping the feedback from happening.
I really like Phonak but only for certain losses and patients.
Sorry for the late response. I haven’t looked at this thread or ages. I have probably fit about 200 aids with SoundRecover since its release and it works wonders in most cases. In milder losses with tinnitus at 6-8Khz I tend to turn it off, but on in by far the most popular setting with my clients.
That’s really a big problem. What can solve that?
What aids are better in Phonak in this and don’t affect speech clarity?
phonaks are one of the best aids out there… But also siemens, Oticon seem to have
very good technology.
Phonak has been betting on frequency compression which works well for some people.
I would say with out a doubt phonak have the best power and super power aids out there