I have a current 45 day trial from a local vender of widex moment sheer 440, $5500. His fitting has been basic, and after getting used to them, weren’t a bad starting point, but are still far from great. I hav done some minimal tweaks in Compass GPS, and I’m getting there though. That trial runs out in 4 days. Then I found a highly recommended online seller with remote fitting, same make/model $3500, so I ordered for a 60 day trial, thinking, “why not save 2k?”. We fit those yesterday (I’ll call them Pair B), and the only unusual thing about the fitting is that sensogram showed better hearing than my last audiogram. We didn’t compare to the initial Pair A sensogram, but will do so today. Anyway, The problem I’m having is that Pair B has distortion that Pair A doesn’t have. The wires are longer in Pair B - could that be it?I wish I could merge the settings of A and B, and save the $$, but i guess I’d rather use the more accurate sensogram regardless, and perhaps THAT’s the culprit. what else could be going on? thanks
You can save your settings from PairA and use those exact settings for PairB.
Here’s a link to → How to read DIY School PDF files
Suggested DIY School help files;
- 02 How to Program Your Hearing Aids
Specifically;
The size-longer wires (assuming they are the same/correct power) may not be the correct size/length but that shouldn’t matter and can be corrected later. Caveat: There are different power levels in addition to different size/lengths.
Thanks for this. I can see the merit in doing this, however, at the same time that would wipe out a solid sensogram (from Pair B) with a “questionable” sensogram from pair A - although that’s more subjective experience than factual. As a side point, it’s odd to me that an audiogram is even used, when a senosogram wipes the audiogram in favor of the sensogram…also Pair B might be more accurate in the sensogram - it’s more recent, for example, and something else could be at play making the distortion happen? Does wire length make a difference and where the HA sits behind your ear? Pair B as longer wires.
Nothing gets wiped out. It’s a new fitting session. You can revert back to previous fitting session if needed.
Sensogram? A more generic term is in-situ. Whether you prescribe your hearing aid settings from an Audiogram or from in-situ where you click when you hear beeps in your hearing aids are just two methods of accomplishing the same thing.
Either is entering your hearing loss (for each frequency and for each ear) as a basis for prescribing your settings.
Yes, aside from being uncomfortable it can somewhat alter how you hear sounds.
exactly - making me wonder why they bother ever entering an audiogram if it’s going to be replaced with an “in-situ” anyway
Audiograms are hardly ever replaced by in-Situ. It’s usually just us DIYers who do that (use in-Situ).
Your Audi has a sound booth for measuring each frequency for each ear to generate an audiogram, then use that as a basis for you hearing loss. Then some/Most Audi’s do REM/Real Ear Measurement to adjust/refine the settings measured in your ear canals.
Maybe you could temporarily swap the receivers. I haven’t done it on Widex. Here’s how you do it on Oticon. Here’s a link → Oticon Receivers
Though you will have to be very/very careful not to mix-up left-HA/Right-HA and also Left-Wire/Right-Wire. The all look alike when separated!! So you will need to keep track of 8-pieces and not mix them up.
ETA: Widex Receiver Replacement - YouTube Though I’m unsure about HA models?
Your hearing loss can be measured using using one of two methods below;
- Sound booth measurements (for each frequency and for each ear)
- in-Situ measurements (for each frequency and for each ear)
Next, one of the above is used as a basis to prescribe your (settings/First fit/amount of gain).
Additionally, your settings could be refined using REM/Real Ear Measurement. But that’s not important for this discussion.
That’s it! Your settings have been prescribed. The initial measurements (audiogram/in-Situ) are no longer needed. The initial measurements are no longer used. Your settings can be tweaked ad infinitum. But your hearing aid settings are no longer related to the initial frequency measurements.
Though, you can always start over. For example; from a newer version of frequency measurements.
Ah, that’s interesting. So the initial audiogram or in-situ isn’t relevant except for an initial fitting. tweaking, necessarily deviates from the “prescription” for comfort and translation of desired hearing. Correct?
I think I had heard that not staying with the prescription (regardless of which type of test result those came from) meant you’re not address the loss accurately, and therefor could experience hearing/brain “atrophy” in those areas. An audiologist once mentioned something to this affect.
Tweaking is not meant to deviate from the “prescription”. It’s meant to enhance. And, it is not necessarily for “all” situations. For example is could be specifically for speech in loud noise, wind noise, etc.
The fitter decides how much to keep, stray, enhance, or ignore the “prescription”.
I can’t say what your wild monkey brain will do? But yes, it needs to adapt to the sounds presented. This is why ppl who are new to hearing aids (meaning they are shocked by loud sounds which are actually normal) are setup with volumes that are gradually increased over a period of time.
PVC, at the risk of overthinking this, I want to make sure I understand something. If an online HA fitter wants your latest audiogram prior to sending out, then sends you hearing aids based on that, and THEN, at fitting session #1 (online and remote) proceeds to do an in-situ (called sensogram in widex speek), it makes the initial audiogram moot. My guess is that this is done this way, in this type of sale, so that the hearing aids have some semblence of usability right out of the box when they arrive, and settings are then “refined” and built upon in that first session, with the in-situ. Is that a correct statement?
So really, a self programmer doesn’t need an audiologist to do hearing tests for initial fittings. It’s simply open fitting software, choose the domes, do an in-situ, and tweak away. Also a correct statement?
Thank you
There is no open software.
Yes, DIYers don’t need an Audi for the basic mechanics. But don’t discount other valuable services. REM for example.
No one needs to perform in-situ measurements for you. You do it yourself. But Yes, in-situ replaces your previous settings (including wiping out REM, if any).
Typo - I meant “It’s simply you opening the fitting software, then choosing the domes…” etc
Thanks.
PVC, since you and @tenkan are helping me out, I’ll ask in this thread. Without anyone telling me how to replace wax guards (or to clean in general), I attempted to clean out my wax guards with the provided pick tools on a couple of occasions. I read somewhere today that this can damage the HAs. I wasn’t particularly aggressive about it, I just inserted the pick thingy into the wax guard hole until it met resistance, and swished it around to try to pull wax out. Only found out today that they should be changed once a month or more (fitter has never mentioned it, or even what they are).
I wonder if this might explain some of the volume difference between the otherwise identical pairs of hearing aids - one pair that has been trialed for about 6 weeks now, and the other pair (same make model) that seems louder and has only been worn a few times, and didn’t seem at all the same, despite having identical settings loaded. what are the chances I damaged something trying to clean a disposable wax guard?
just gonna respond to my own thread for anyone else that needs to read this. I replaced the wax guards on my widex moment sheers, and see that it’s near impossible to damage anything beneath or behind them, because each wax guard contains a “trap” at its bottom (like a kitchen sink) to prevent debris (AND any cleaning tool) from traveling past it to where it might damage something.
thanks - great general cleaning info, and a great example of how much the search tool provides too - interesting that my HAP doesn’t provide basic info like a forum can. Another check mark for DIY. Thank God for this forum, and thank you pvc