Trialing Phonak Marvel M70

Hearing Aids
#1

Hey fellow HA users.
I’m trialing my ever first HA’s and I’m having a hard time seeing a benefit to understanding speech better.
Yes everything is louder and I can hear people speaking like 4 meters away which I can’t do without them but I don’t still understand what people say at all.
I’ve kinda tuned a program for office environment which sounds the best but I still can’t understand my colleagues from 3 meters away.
The Autosense 3.0 program doesn’t do much so in every different situation I’m trying to find a comfortable setting on the app.
Like going to tram, coming off the tram being on streets, in office , in cinema.
It’s a bit exhausting changing and tuning the bass and treble and middles to find some suitable program. ughhh :S
Is it just very wrongly programmed or this is how it will be always.

Thanks!

#2

What are your word recognition scores? They should be on your audiogram. If your word recognition scores are low, it could take quite awhile for your brain to make sense of certain sounds again. You might want to Google Speech Banana for reference.

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#3

As mentioned, word recognition might take time.

I am not familiar with Marvel B70 aids. Could they be M70 aids?

Good luck.

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#4

I don’t have actually any word recognition test on my audiogram.
We tried to do it once with my audiologist some time ago.
But that was done in another country with a language I speak as A2
According to the speech banana I should be able to hear speech in general right?

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#5

Ok, glad to hear that! :slight_smile: I know I gotta just stick it out for 6 months or so.
I’m just testing Marvel 70 I guess they just called 70 not B70 maybe the B70 is the IICs.
And then I wanna test the Signia Nx series as well.

#6

Are these your first hearing aids?

Lay your audiogram across the speech banana. It will explain why you are having difficulties with speech. Pending on how long you have gone without hearing these sounds it may take longer to re-learn these sounds as mentioned earlier.

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#7

So if you lay your audiogram across the speech banana, without hearing aids you were hearing the sounds below the lines: so for the left ear, everything below 50dB hardly anything) and for the right ear approximately everything below 40dB–you hear some, but still missing a lot.

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#8

I think he meant Bolero M70. Phonak’s designation gets confusing with separate words for form (Audeo, Bolero, Naida, etc.) and for processor which sometimes gets a letter designation: V, B (Beyond?) and M(Marvel) for example.

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#9

Word Recognition Scores are important to consider.

I would also recommend getting a Speech-In-Noise test done as well. “Going to the tram, coming off the tram, being on the streets” are all examples of noisy environments. Look for a provider that will offers Speech-In-Noise evaluations to have better expectations with your first set of HA’s.

#10

I can relate. Got a pair of M90’s and I’m still not happy with them. They make everybody sound like they are on helium and they also distort speech as well. Been back to audi at least 5 times now and he’s saying that’s the best he can do. I’ve had to suggest he up the low and mid’s to help…why did I have to think of that? I’m gonna program my own…I’m an IT guy so I’m not afraid of trying stuff. Your brain may adapt but it won’t adapt to garbage in…no matter what anybody tells you. Make the audi change setting for you. You’ll pay good money for those aids so make’em earn their money…!

#11

I can relate to your problem also as I trialed M70s for 30 days in December. But my situation is quite different as my hearing loss is much worse as you will see if you compare audiograms.

II started wearing hearing aids nearly forty years ago (I’m 78 now) and I’ve gone through quite a few makes and models. My previous most successful fitting was with the Phonak Naida model, which I have worn for the past 11 years.

With the new M70s my speech recognition score in quiet was double what it was with the Naidas, but only marginally better with background noise. Nevertheless I have trouble understanding conversations unless I’m near to and facing the speaker. But these hearing aids are definitely the best I’ve ever tried.

I took them back to the audiologist on Tuesday because my trial period was up. These were the rechargeable model which I don’t want. The audiologist is trying to get me a pair that uses the 13A battery, but they won’t be available until next month.

In your case, there is probably room for improvement in the settings, but as others have said, there is a learning period when you first start using hearing aids. On the other hand, you might want to ask to try a different brand. My audi had me try several different aids that were supposed to be better than the Phonak Naida over the past few years, but they were all worse for me. He said that each manufacturer’s aids have different characteristics and apparently I have a natural preference for Phonak.

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