As a bicycle user I don’t wear my HAs when cycling as the wind noise is too loud and my HAs do not have any wind noise reduction feature.
I have found that the primary use of my ears on my bicycle is for traffic coming up behind me, so the “assistive hearing device” I have added to my bicycle is a good quality rear vision mirror. This works better than my hearing as I can see traffic behind me that is quite far away.
One of those situations where a viable solution takes a different form than being directly related to hearing.
Garmin sells an radar device with gps monitor to warn you of vehicle traffic behind you.
I have problems with my left ear. Diagnosis is hearing recruitment. I get too much volume and it is static-crackly city which makes word recognition very hard. I finished trialing the Phonak Paradise p90 312 and turned them back. I have been trialing the Widex moment 440 and they are better for me so I bought a pair. Easy to switch out with Truhearing. First you need an app that is user friendly so you can change the programs and use split volume to turn down the left ear volume or have your audiologist do it in the program software. Your hearing test may show that you need a certain level of volume to hear properly but they can’t really measure your problem with a hearing test so the left should be helping the right but the right should be predominant. Focus on the better ear. In your left ear use a double closed dome to reduce noise coming directly to you ear. The right can be single dome or tulip. They do not have to be the same. I have tried the Widex that I just bought previously but the audiologist did not get my recruitment and kept trying to set the gain on the left side too high. They looked at the audio gram instead of listening to me. So I turned them back. I have a great audiologist now. The Widex has a good app but the Phonak app has problems. It is slow and the recent update caused more problems. But you can still create your own programs with it to adapt to some of your needs. The Audi can turn down that left side in all of your installed programs or just the ones you specify. You need more throw rugs and soft shoes. I had floors like that once. Good luck.
I’m the only deaf person in my family but me, my Dad and my brother all use this little gadget.
Have a Google. I’ll only Google to show you the links.
“Garmin back light radar”
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Fitting HAs without REM is akin to building a music instrument without tuning it, or building a house according to some blueprints without taking on-situ measurements. You are not going to get the best results.
The frequency response of a cavity is highly dependent on its geometry, and every ear canal is different, there is not such a thing as “the average ear canal” used by the estimation formulas. If you are lucky, you may get something somewhat close to your targets (the frequency amplification you need according to your audiogram and a fitting formula), if not it will be wildly different, but without measurements it is impossible to hit those targets.
Custom molds are necessary to get a fixed geometry, domes move around all the time and even the REM microphone cable makes them move so you cannot do a good REM with those.
REM is the calibration or tuning of your hearing aids.
You see many coments about REM because
- REM has to be well done (see issues with domes), not all audis know how to perform it correctly
- REM is just a good starting point. It may be the ending point for some, but others may need more adjustments (REM is based on the audiogram, but the audiogram doesn’t correlate with some hearing loss conditions meaning there is more to hearing loss than a fixed tone audiogram)
- The audi needs to choose the fitting formula too (usually NAL-NL2 and sometimes proprietary)
Further below, you say you have performed best practices with your ENT???
Has your ENT given you custom molds ?
Has your ENT performed REM ?
Has your ENT performed a WRS test ?
Has your ENT performed a SIN test ?
As @Blacky said, forget about any audi who doesn’t follow best practices
Dr. Cliff youtube channel is a great resource to learn about these things.
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Just to provide an additional experience: I went back to an older aid as my own backup (a Phonak NAIDA Q50) after 3+ years with the newer ones (Phonak NAIDA B90 + Cros B) and the difference was night and day.
I needed less than a day to get comfortable with them.
Paul
First off sorry you’re not happy, I’m sure it costed you alot!
Did you ever Test the Oticon More??
And what others did you test before getting the p90’s?
I did not say that I performed best practices with my ENT. I said that “I had everything on this list (Blacky’s list) done by my ENT.” Those tests you mentioned were not on Blacky’s list.
It is not helpful when you used questions as a hammer to make a point. I respond well to helpful suggestions but not to interrogations.
I did not test other manufacturers devices. The P90s were recommended by the first audiologist I saw but I simply couldn’t afford them and that is the reason I bought mine online…
This is really interesting information. I have always been told that moulded earpieces won’t work for people who don’t have lower frequency hearing loss, but when I use closed domes I get better responses than an open dome. I’m finding open domes are giving me hyperacusis because I have two young kids who shout quite loud. I’m almost convinced after reading your post that a moulded fit with REM fitting is the way to go. I’m going to book in with my audi and ask about getting a proper moulded fit done and then do a REM fitting. I’m obsessed with audiology since getting my hearing aid, I’d love to study it at university and start up my own practice. Anyway, thank you for this great info.
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Just two quick points:
Blacky’s referenced webpage returned a 404 error on me so I could not see that list.
Questions or bulleted list, they inform you what’s the minimum that needs to be done, according to the best of my knowledge, and that if you have not done that then it is unlikely that you’ll get the best results, which is the point to be made.
@paulpuente , it is up to you how you take it. Respond well or not well if you will, it is your life, your ears, and your own decisions. I wish you the best of luck with whatever way you choose to follow.
If you read my answers to other posts in this thread you would understand why I cannot have all of those tests done. If not, I will reiterate the key points. I had my ears examined and tested by a physician who was very competent and thorough. I discussed the results with a licensed audiologist who made recommendations to improve my hearing. I could not afford the costs that he quoted. I consulted others and found the same prices. Call it a fixed price cartel if you will but we don’t have discounters like those in the States and UK. My solution to my unique circumstances was to purchase online and have the tuning done by remote support. Obviously there are tests that cannot be done remotely. I looked for audiologists who would do these tests in their offices even though I didn’t buy my aids from them. I could not find any.
Do you still believe that your bullet point list is helpful given my unique circumstances?
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It is not a fixed-price cartel but everyone has to earn a living. As we are not experts in HA, we have to provide a fee to them for their service. Of course, there is saying " Over the next hill there will be another higher mountain". No right or wrong. Used Google to check it out if you want the cheapest HA in the world! I have just done that but still not the cheapest. Someone in this Blog mentioned slightly cheaper.
You have to have some technical knowledge on how to handle the HA yourself and some help from the Audiologist. You still need an Audi to fine-tune the HA or you want to learn DIY with the help of the master in this forum.
I have the same thinking as you - Remote support on certain features of the HA but the remote support I faced does not function/support (cross borders). HCP or the manufacturer has no answer at the moment. I am using local Audi for support in fine-tuning. In the digital world, this should not happen. The HCP/software should be able to access our HA and fine-tune it via real time-face to face communication.
Hopefully, the world is flat…
Perhaps my first post was way too long, but my circumstances were exactly the same as yours. This is to say that I understand you… “I feel your pain”, Bill Clinton would say ;-P.
I’m a Spanish guy; in Spain I found a price cartel.
I bought a pair of Marvel M90 online in Cyprus (2800€ instead of 6000), tried with an audi in Spain and failed miserably, then went the DIY route to get some mild improvements.
I moved to Belgium. Another price cartel and bad audis in general.
Ended up with an audi in France, it happens that in France there is no price cartel.
Is my bullet point list useful? Well, circumstances change all the time, more so if we want! If you didn’t know about those things before, then yes, I think it’s already helpful (in the way of information/knowledge). Perhaps in a few months time circumstances will change and you can get more use from it.
Do you like visiting places? Tourism? If you can afford a couple of trips to Brussels (175€ both ways from Zurich), or to Lyon, or a week of holidays, then you can also have a French audiologist…
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OK, that got MY attention! Granted, I’m a flatliner, but my audi told me with my hearing loss (everything from low to high freqs) I should be an excellent candidate for custom molded tips!! She was amazed I’ve done so well (with no feedback to speak of) with the traditional double-domes readily available at Amazon.
For me, the custom molded silicon tips seemed to make all sound (speech, ambient, music) very flat, crackly and awful - so I’m back to my cheap ol’ double domes.
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I found your reply very interesting. I too have severe to profound high frequency loss. I haven’t found aids to be very useful. The high frequency sounds produced by things such as walking across old wooden floors, and especially water from a faucet hitting the sink, are almost unbearable. I sympathize with the OP. I practically gave up on using aids. Even now, I don’t wear them all that much. I have an app on my phone called “Spectroid” that is an audio frequency spectrum analyzer. I opened it, placed the phone above my kitchen sink, and turned the water on. There was a lot of high level “grass” in the 2 to 5 KHz range in the resulting display. Now, I know why those sounds are unpleasant. That region is shifted down into a region where I hear reasonably well. Those sounds are not what I would normally hear from a faucet, so they become very unpleasant to me. Everyone says that I will get used to it. Not so. I have gotten used to the sibilance and lisping I get with Sound Recover. My advice to the OP is to do the best you can with your aids. Regardless of what everyone says, you don’t have to wear them all the time.
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