I recently upgraded firmware to get me from an S Series 5 CIC to the S Series 9 IQ CIC. An observation made by my normal hearing family is that they believe that I hear speech better than they do in a noisy environment ! They have to ask me to repeat what I said instead of the usual other way around.
The T2 has never reliably worked on my hearing aids in a high ambient noise environment. The new firmware may have improved the performance of the T2 slightly, but I still have to pay attention to see that both hearing aids are on the same programme at one time. But seeing that I seldom have to switch programmes or change the volume, this is no big problem for me. The previous problem of spurious switching between programmes appears to have been solved .
I never like nor appreciate statements like “we have unlock nanotechnology”, “ours is best in class”, “we dont have it because it is not evidence based”, “it is multicore procesor”. But once you ask what do you use nano technology for or how is it going to benefit my clients never got a real answer. For example in regards to their “evidence based” it seems once they have it is now evidence based- case in point “wireless technology”/ Funny how they dont have for example VC learning when we know this
was developed by NAL (right)- which had tons of research behind it.
Sure they have some nice products, no dispute, some interesting ideas, t2 (which seem not to work well) and the sweep technology. But it is that marketing type of things that
personally bugs me.
I agree whole-heartedly with you. But from my perspective, there is NO hearing aid manufacturer on the PLANET that doesn’t do the exact same thing. Although they do have a site for all their white papers.
Certainly if I found a manufacturer that was all “deliver” and no “hype” - they’d be my new fav!
I do, however appreciate a forum such as this for free exchange of these differing ideas. It keeps us professioanls more informed and gives a different perspective to what we do every day - so thanks xbulder
I am a new hearing aid user (~2 weeks) and decided to go with a Starkey S Series IQ 9 CIC. I am happy with the hearing aid so far, but I’m not sure my audiologist is being very thorough. For the initial fitting he simply adjusted the user “experience level” in the Inspire software to reduce the “tinniness” of the sound (changed me to novice). I knew he would have to activate the T2 feature, so I had him figure out how to do that… overall I find it works well, except in a lot of noise, which was expected.
My main question though, is that he got the hearing aid without out any memory for custom programs… and I am wondering what I’m missing out on? I can’t seem to find out what the benefits are of custom programs from Starkey documentation. For example, when I’m listening to music in my apartment at night, and don’t want to disturb the neighbors, might I get better sound quality with a separate program that reduced the canceling of background noise?
I have the series 11 - it has four program memories an audiologist can program. I believe the default is to only have 1 program active. But your audiologist should be able to easily add in 3 more (or however many series 9 supports). My #1 program is general purpose. #2 is for crowds, and it helps me when I perform music. #3 is for watching movies, TV, etc - it opens up more frequencies and I believe does not attempt to reduce background noise. #4 is for restaurant situations. These are programs Starkey provides - and which numeric slot each program occupies is your choice. Your audiologist can certainly modify them, or create new ones. You can also have a different volume level set for each program - so you could choose the music/TV/theater programs and have the volume set higher if you don’t want to use T2 for that.
Bottom line is, activating all the program memories and having your audi let you try different ones is an excellent way of finding the settings that are right for you. And from what I could see when my Audi was adding the programs, it is a very easy, quick thing to do.
I know this is an old gripe, but I wish Starkey and other manufacturers would make some version of their software available to end users. The notion of attempting to communicate to my audi what I am hearing, and having her translate that into terms she can understand for the software is a terribly inefficient process. I did ask my audi if there was any way I could get a copy of the Starkey software, and was greeted with a firm “no”. With available program memories, an end user can use one of the programs as a sort of sandbox to experiment with different settings, then have the audi see what is working. I can see myself in a noisy setting with a laptop making adjustments.
I did try America Hears a few years ago and was very impressed with the software and what it enabled me to do. I was less impressed with the quality of their aids, which is why I did not go that route this time.
I second that Xbulder! When I started researching different brands I could not believe the hype! And as a consumer, it really turned me off. Made me wonder what they were trying to hide. What bothers me is it is often the older segment of our population who need hearing aids, and the current older generation (which includes me) did not grow up with a lot of technology. So much of that hype is simply mind numbing crapola. In fact, sometimes I wonder if the manufacturers are more into technology for technology’s sake. Thank god for the local audi who can translate the hype into something we can comprehend.
John, absolutely feel the same way about wanting to have the software given to my Audi… especially since he does not seem to be much into using all of the features himself. Even some kind of simplified “idiot-proof” version would be a benefit.
I did not know that Starkey provided default programs, that should help simplify. I was told however that the memory options were not just unlocked by the firmware, but would require a hardware change as well. Can anyone confirm? It strikes me as a little strange, because I never saw hearing aids priced with and without custom program memory.
all the models in that Starkey line come with the availability of 4 programs. if your audi didn’t order the aid that way - then it’s really his/her own fault. they actually come defaulted with 4 programs.
A question for the Audi’s here. I have noticed I get a “Vibrato Effect” when listening to a musical note with my Starkeys. By “Vibrato”, I mean the note rapidly changes frequency. It seems to happen above a certain pitch - it is most noticeable when I whistle. I go back to see my Audi this week and will ask her about it. I noticed this before during my trial period, and casually mentioned it, but we never pursued it.
I hear this on all programs, and regardless if I am wearing one aid or two. Other aids I have worn (Oticon Agil Pros, Siemens Centra Lifes) did not do this.
it’s the feedback canceller… it happens with the newer siemens aids as well… you can adjust it in the software to make it less aggresive (but you might get real feedback)
Thanks so much Burra! I visited my Audi today and explained the situation to her. She made a minor adjustment. Now I have minimal feedback, and the vibrato is gone!
Oops! Just visited my Audi again. She said she had made a mistake. The Starkey 11 IQ’s are actually the same price as the Agils - around $6200. HOWEVER, she said that since she was new to the Starkeys, and that I was sort of a guinea pig, she was not going the change the price she charged me! Wow - what a great person to do business with!
I am brand new to hearing aids. I finally got fed up and saw the audiologist. She’s recommend Phonak Audeo Smart V and Starkey IQ9. I liked the sound of the Starkey’s better, so am contemplating them. My hearing tested as follows:
L R
250-0 250-0
500-25 500-0
1000-45 1000-45
2000-65 2000-45
>2000-65 >2000-50
Is Starkey a quality and reliable brand?
Any idea how long they last? At $4400 a pair I don’t want to do this too often.
Any opinion on Costco? Their house brand is $2K per pair.
I am trying the Starkey Power Plus 110 BTE X-series and I love it so far. Its very nice and an improvement over my Starkey Destiny 1200 hearing aids. I did not like the Phonak Naidas at all so I am trying these now. One thing I noticed is that the music causes a weird raspiness to the voice or beats and I wonder if that is called “vibrato”
As for the bluetooth or wireless connection to cell phones, it is not available yet for the BTE until June 1st so I am excited about the prospect of using that. Phonaks and Oticons both have nice bluetooth connection but the Oticons had better bluetooth but their hearing aids had terrible feedback in the Chili SP9.
Oticon feedback canceller needs to have a serious improvement, as we approach the new
generation of higher end instruments, I hope this is something they correct…
