Trialing Oticon Intent vs OPN

Hearing Aids
#1

I have had Oticon OPNs for 5 years (and the Intiga before that) and am now trialing the Intents. Last year I briefly demoed the new Reals and thought the improvement was significant but financially couldn’t do it. Now, with the Intents, I immediately heard an improvement in speech clarity. I have used them around in stores and on errands but I haven’t had a chance to try them in a really noisy environment yet but this weekend will do so.

I have noticed improvements in the handling of sudden loud noises (the dog barking) and annoying noises (water running while doing dishes). My kids sometimes mumble and I can understand them much better, when they are in the same room or across the house.

The Intents stream directly to my phone (a Moto phone that I think uses BT LE) which is new, before now I have had to use the streamer to stream and didn’t bother with it. It’s not great for my phone battery but hearing phone calls with both ears, especially work calls with clients, is worth it.

I enjoy music, both pop and classical, and take violin and cello lessons as an adult. I immediately noticed a big change, not for the better, in the sound of the Music program at my music lessons and also just listening to the radio. After a quick look online, seeing the complaints about the new Music program, I changed the EQ a bit and it is much improved.

All in all, the improvement is so significant that I almost feel like it’s cheating. I can hear clearly and understand so much better with the Intents compared to the OPN or no hearing aids (I don’t always wear them around the house).

They’re expensive, and my current OPNs work fine. But the Intents are such an improvement I’m going to figure out how to afford them.

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#2

Thank you for posting this information. I have had the original OPn’s for six and a half years and, although I am not consciously aware of any pronounced deficiencies in their performance, I can’t help but be curious about the newer technology and wonder if I should be thinking about up-dating to the Intents.

#3

I’m about 3 months into my new Intents and have pretty much the same observations. I came to them from about 2 months with the Real units, and before that about 4-5 years with OPN.

I am curious how you were able to adjust EQ on the music program, unless you mean fiddling with the settings in the app. Personally, I find what I have in the music program slightly over-emphasizing vocals. I play a instrument, but do not sing, so I am more interested in how my instrument sounds in the mix coming to the monitors off the sound board. I find the general setting to be just fine for that. If there is a way to fiddle with the Music program to allow me to use that, I’d be interested in knowing how.

#4

Try the “sound equalizer” in the Companion App (not to be confused with the “streaming equalizer”).

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#5

I found that “sound equalizer” thing and will fiddle around with it a bit. thanks for pointing it out.

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#6

I hear you about the cost of Oticon…I’m in Canada and the top ones (the Real I think) are $8500 :frowning: My hearing loss was SSHL (January) and I’m using a 9-year old pair on Oticon that my father-in-law gave me, he rarely used them. They’re still working, but have no bells and whistles. I just can’t pay that kind of $$, but I think those are the best. I’m testing a pair of Costco Phillips and…well, they’re not going to work out.

#7

Thanks for you input, Sara.
I think you should make note of which bands you tweaked with the app EQ, and ask your audi to make the changes in the Genie2 fitting software, so it’ll be saved to you HAs, and the database.
Good luck!

I’d advise you take the same steps I recommended to @Sara_Smile.

Welcome to the forum @Kelly3 !!
You probably need some further adjustments on the Philips HAs.
They are generally very highly regarded, and in may ways similar to Oticon.The 9040 is similar to the Real.
The Phiips version which is most similar to the Intents is the 9050, which is not yet available at Costco.
A lot of users are playing the lottery, and buying the 9040 model with the hope the 9050 will be released before their 180 day trial period ends, and they can exchange them.
The savings you’ll get at Costco with a properly fit product, will be very much improved over the old Oticons, and worth the investment.

#8

Update after a week: The improvement in speech clarity is really significant. The unimprovement in music is really significant.

I have fiddled with the EQ, moving Bass down and Mid and/or Treble up. When playing my violin at home (as an amateur and hobbyist, not as a professional), the sound of it has improved from bad to bearable. Last night, out of desperation, I put my OPNs on while playing the violin and the sound became beautiful again. (I know putting the old HAs back on during a trial is probably a No-No.)

At my violin lesson this morning, I told my teacher about the new HAs and the new bad Music program. I played some scales with the new HAs and switched to the old HAs that I had brought along. She could hear a difference. She said my tone with the new HAs was clear but harsh. And my tone with the old HAs was sweeter. This is what I hear too, with the Intents my violin sounds harsh and with the OPNs my violin sounds sweeter and more beautiful. The auditory feedback loop seems to encourage bowing more sweetly with the OPNs than it does with the Intents. What we hear is what we play. I had no idea that what I hear is what someone else hears, too, when I play.

I will ask my audiologist to tinker with the settings of the Intents to improve the Music program and make it like the OPNs. I’ll bring my violin along, too, for testing. I’ve seen various suggestions and possibilities to make it work. Or, as a last resort, I could use the OPNs as my “music ears” and use the Intents for my “everyday” ears. Would that be a crazy idea?

#9

You could ask your audiologist to copy (manually) the music program from your OPN to your Intents. I’ve done that from OPN to More, and from More to Intent, and the music programs sound very similar. I notice a bit more of “resolution” with the Intents though.

#10

Can they do that? That sounds excellent!

#11

The way @e1405 suggested would be the way I would do it, too, as long as you’re a lucky few who have the OPN available. Just copy every single gain value in the whole Fine Tuning section for the legacy built-in Music program to overwrite the gain values in your MyMusic program with the OPN values, and leave all the other settings the same.

It’s just a shame that Oticon took away the legacy built-in Music program and replaced it with the MyMusic program. They should have made both of them available for people to choose from.

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#12

Sara, I will follow your journey with the Intents with great interest. Although I haven’t played an instrument for years, I am a classically-trained amateur and love both classical music and jazz. If moving on from my OPn’s were to result in a pronounced degradation in my musical enjoyment, I would be inclined to hold on the OPn’s for as long as possible. On the other hand, if you come up with a solution to the problem, I would be much more willing to consider an up-grade to the Intents.

#13

Thanks for your reply. I better get back to the audiologist at Costco and keep trying.

#14

The biggest problem is that my voice is too loud, like it’s too amplified in my ears. Of course when we were setting them up I was stressing that, and she turned them down. I need to turn them down to zero when we left and did some shopping in the store…wow. Every rustle, every wheel of every cart was too loud, everyone’s voice, etc. I turned them down minus 2, I think. I know everyone says your brain has to relearn, etc, but I’ve only had this loss since last October and sure know that that is NOT how things should sound. Having said that, in the audiologist’s room, after the initial set-up, her voice and my husband’s voices sounded very natural. But holy-moly, when I left that room…yikes.

#15

I tried that, and so did the Oticon rep who came to the VA audiolgy center when I complained about MyMusic.
The problem is, as I’ve explained before, the MyMusic program utilizes it’s own unique fitting rationale, and doesn’t allow you to copy every gain value as they interact within the bandwidth allowed by the program itself.

You have to create a “Custom” Music program using VAC+ or DSL v5, and copy your gains from the Legacy Music program.
I believe @e1405 uses DSL v5, and I have, as well.
Just turn off More Sound Intelligence NNS, DNN , and set the Directionality settings to Fixed Omni.
In Automatics, turn off all settings.

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#16

That’s the big problem, because everything always sounds great in a totally insulated test room.
Explain your issues to the fitter, it may take multiple visits to tune them, but be persistent.

Without a copy of your audiogram, it’s hard to guess what your loss is. Can you post it on your Profile page? It’s very helpful to be able to better assist you.

EDIT spelling

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#17

Thanks for clarifying the part in bold above, @flashb1024 . It makes a lot of sense. I stand corrected about changing the gain values of the MyMusic program. Like you said, one should create a new program using VAC+ or one of the other available standard rationale (seems like DSL v5 is the preferred one so far) and copy the legacy Music program gains into there.

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#18

I will take all of these suggestions to my visit with the audiologist next week and get a new Custom Music program worked out. I appreciate all of this information. Fingers crossed.

#19

Yeah, don’t stop “fiddling around” until you are satisfied! :grin: (Couldn’t resist the double entendre opportunity)

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#23

Ok, this is the correct way to input your audiogram:
At top of forum page, click on “Forum”, and select “My Hearing Tests”

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You’ll be asked to log in, and you can input your readings there.
Your audiogram link will appear below your avatar.