I’m using Sennheiser SET840-TV RF Stereo TV Assistive Listening System which I paid less than $200 for, so I don’t consider it high-end. The prices for the Surflink I’ve seen quoted in this forum are much higher, more than double in some cases.
Of course the Senhheiser does not offer the convenience of streaming the audio through my aids, but that’s not necessarily a deal breaker with me. Given the choice, I’d much rather have the sound quality.
Please keep me posted on your findings!
Diane
Personally, I’ve played around with the Surflink for many hours and had some great results. But if it’s not working for you, you know that the ‘mark 2’ will still be able to interface with the Wi, whenever that shows up.
I completely agree with you on the remote. I think they are a horrible idea, and the only benefit I can see with it in this case is that it comes free with the Surflink and you can use it to adjust the aids for TV, if that helps.
That annoying crackle you get when the aids are going out of range if the Surflink can be avoided by having the aids set to NOT auto-stream from the Surflink and manually turning the streaming on or off via the remote.
All that said, if you are getting great results with the Sennheiser system, so be it. Sennheiser is right up there with Bose in my mind when it comes to quality hearing devices.
The low voice issue should be adjustable too, in the programming software it’s the blue line, and it needs to be raised.
I totally agree with your comment about hearing aid accessories. Personally, I only use them when essential.
Finally, the telecoil thing should be a simple fix. It can be set in memory four to auto detect. If you have a phone that is not playing ball a tiny magnet can be attached to the phone to kick the hearing aids into telephone mode. Starkey offer these, and your hearing professional can order them for you, for free. But really if your phone has a decent telecoil in it, you shouldn’t need to.
Oh and I know I said finally, but one last thing. When your hearing professional is asking you to experiment with the remote, always make sure they exit the programming software, and the ‘shark fin’ (that’s the device that talks to the aids while you are in the office) is not blinking blue and orange. If the aids are talking either to the hearing professional’s computer or the Surflink, it can make use of the remote more difficult or impossible. As long as this interference is not present, there should be no need to hold it at funny angles 
Just some thoughts. Glad to hear that the hearing side is doing well at least!
I was waiting for you to weigh-in on these issues; welcome back!
I feel bad being so negative about the Surflink, since initially all I read about it in this forum was so positive. After I posted my experiences with it, I was relieved to learn I was not alone in my opinion. Can’t please everyone, I guess!
What is “Mark 2”? That sounds intriguing!
I’m not sure my telecoil is working. Not having that feature in my previous aids, I didn’t know what to expect. I’m inclined to think I would hear a signal when it’s engaged, but I have not heard that yet. Still, yesterday I was able to carry a lengthy conversation withmy husband on the landline phone while he was waiting for his flight home without asking him to repeat anything, so maybe it is working. I’m disappointed to learn my iPhone doesn’t have a telecoil; maybe the new one coming out later this year will.
I return for a follow-up tomorrow. I will definitely ask my specialist to adjust the blue line and will return the Surflink & remote. No more funny angles! I wonder what the customers were thinking when they saw me dancing with the remote last week?
All in all, I’m pleased with my W16’s and as I become more comfortable with them, it will only get better. Starkey has a superior product. They really do put my old Pure 700’s to shame.
Glad you’re back!
Diane
Thanks!
Well logically, this is the first Surflink available, got to assume there will be a new version sooner or later. I don’t have any inside information on that though.
The telecoil should beep at you when it engages, ask your hearing professional to show you that.
Thanks again. Got to run, busy day ahead. Nice to see you’re doing well.
Hi All,
I just returned my WIs due to what interestingly sounds like the same problem as Joesan had - the right hearing aid lost abot 90% of volume. I can only barely hear the beeps when it changes programs.
Before it lost power, the Audie adjusted the HAs and I tried the WIs again in noise but they did not work well.
That said, the sound is very natural and very good in quiet. And the telecoil works really well. Speaking of beeps, when you switch the WIs to telecoil program, they make a littel musical sound, different than the standard program change. I like the remote.
I have not tried BT. If my Audie wants, I will go back in two weeks when the rep is in town and a repaired hearing aid is available.
Sorry to learn you’re having so many problems. I hope they will be resolved when the rep comes to town.
I’m not having any volume issues, but my hearing problem is the exact opposite of yours. I hear really well in noisy environments, not so well in quiet ones.
Yesterday I met a friend for lunch in a noisy restaurant and did fine. After lunch I stopped by my husband’s quiet office and had trouble hearing him. It puzzled me at first as to why I’m able to hear him at home better than I can in his office, but then it came to me, there’s more noise at home, especially if the TV’s on and our two goofy great danes are clowning around.
I hear a hissing sound with the telecoil. Don’t know what that’s about. I’m glad that’s working well for you.
I go for another follow-up tomorrow, so adjustments will have to be made.
Please continue to keep us posted!
Diane
…250/500/1K/2K/4K/8K
Right: 55/ 40/ 55/ 45/ 25/ 75
Left: 60/ 50/ 50/ 55/ 40/ 85
SRT: Right: 40dB Left: 40dB
Unaided Discrimination:
Right: 80% Level: 70dB
Left: 88% Level: 70dB
It’s been 3 months since I first trialed my Silvertone W16’s, so I thought I would provide an update and request some advice. For the most part, I am satisfied with their performance. Background noises are just that, in the background where they belong, not competing with conversation as was the case with my previous aids. They are so comfortable I find my self checking throughout the day that I’m wearing them.
Now for the issues I have with them:
It is impossible for me to understand a conversation on a speakerphone. I hear everything echo-like and find myself repeating the words being said in an attempt to understand them. Not a pleasant way to carry on a conversation, so I try to avoid this scenario. However, when family calls, my husband switches the phone to speakerphone and then quietly tells me what he senses I don’t understand. Most times I grab an extension if we receive a call on our landline phone. If we receive a call on either of our iPhones, I’m out of luck.
We have Clarity cordless phones at home and I utilize the soundboost (without using the speakerphone); however, this particular phone was for mild to moderate hearing loss and I’m on the high end of having a moderate loss. My hearing aid specialist applied for a hearing impaired phone for me (in Texas, we’re entitled to a free phone) that should make talking on the phone easier (I believe the phone is made by Clearsound). Still, it would be nice for my aids to help me in this regard.
I remember reading Starkey was coming out with a bluetooth device. If anyone has an update on this please let me know. I’d love to be able to use my iPhone as a phone again.
Using the hands-free option in my car via my iPhone is pretty comfortable, since I utilize the car audio controls to adjust the sound.
I don’t see the benefits of a telecoil. My aids are set for the telecoil on memory 4. Perhaps if it would kick in automatically might work out better for me. Most times I forget to go to Memory 4 and when I do I don’t hear a difference.
Words coming from a device (phone, TV) are harder for me to decipher than a face-to-face conversation with someone. It’s as if I’m in a huge, non-insulated area where the sound bounces off the walls. I’m hoping either an adjustment or switching the domes will help.
I have an appointment with my hearing aid specialist on Tuesday, July 19. If anyone (perhaps owners of this aid who have had similar experiences or audis/specialists who have made these adjustments) has advice for me as to what I can suggest her to address as far as adjustments are concerned, I would appreciate it. I would love to enjoy a phone conversation again!
…250/500/1K/2K/4K/8K
Right: 55/ 40/ 55/ 45/ 25/ 75
Left: 60/ 50/ 50/ 55/ 40/ 85
SRT: Right: 40dB Left: 40dB
Unaided Discrimination:
Right: 80% Level: 70dB
Left: 88% Level: 70dB
Moderate rising to mild at 4 kHz then dropping to severe sensorineural hearing loss for the right ear.
Left shows moderately-severe rising to mild at 4 kHz then sloping to severe sensorineural hearing loss.
You just hit two items where these aids really do excel. I was just working with a patient this week; a hearing aid veteran. We walked into a shop with competing background music, noise, people, and we had a normal chat, he was astonished. Hadn’t heard like that in over a decade he said.
I got to tell you, I had an iPhone for years, and I often had issues with the call quality, and that’s with normal hearing. It’s one of the reasons I got rid of mine recently.
I think if the telecoil in memory four is set correctly to activate automatically, when you put a phone for the hard of hearing near it, you should hear a little beep to indicate that the hearing aid has detected the phone. I’d work with your specialist until you can recreate that in her office. Telecoil should be very clear because it is a direct transmission from the phone, not using the microphones of the hearing aids.
Another alternative would be to create a memory setting just for speakerphone phone calls. This could be custom designed by the specialist, while actually practicing with a real phone, until you hear well. The frequency range of a phone call is of course not the same as real life.
You can already get a bluetooth device. But the issue is that it is a neckloop, which is a bit old fashioned. It works great though. Soon Starkey is going to release a device that does the same thing, but without a neckloop. I honestly have not checked on if there is a firm date for that. I suspect in the next few months, based on the last conversation I had about it.
In the past whenever I have had issues with phone conversations, I have actually set up a real phone in the office, and worked with the aids until the patient can hear them well. Maybe you can go down that route with your specialist.
Thanks for the quick reply, ZCT! I will take a copy of your post to my hearing aid specialist so we can try your suggestions.
During the last visit I had with my Hearing Aid Specialist a month or two ago, we did practice a bit with the phone in her office. Guess we’ll try that again. I do not hear a tone when the telecoil kicks in, so an adjustment is necessary.
I can’t give up my iPhone (at least until the new one comes out in Sept./Oct.) so I’ll just have to struggle on. I’m aware there are other BT options out there, but I prefer to wait for the latest/greatest Starkey offering. A neck loop would bring back unpleasant memories of using the Siemens TEK.
I have to believe my problem hearing the TV/speakerphone clearly is one of two things: Either I’m expecting too much from hearing aids or they’re not adjusted correctly.
I know I’m capable of hearing the TV correctly, since I’m able to do so using the Sennheiser listening device. I failed miserably using the Surflink, since that was streaming through the aids and, of course, the Sennheiser does not (though I wear my aids with the Sennheiser device).
I’m not giving up! The good outweighs the bad as far as these aids are concerned. I’m confident we’ll find a satisfactory solution to my issues.
Browsing through our local paper, I notice an ad from New Sound Hearing Aid Centers, the place where I trialed Audibel Ranges earlier this year, stating the following:
“With our unique fitting system, you can even program your own Range hearing aids. Just move your finger around the sound map, find the sound you like and set it!”
I realize the Audi there wasn’t too knowledgeable to my type of hearing loss, which is why I returned the Ranges and chose the Silvertones (same aid, MUCH better Hearing Aid Specialist), but what is she talking about?
Is Starkey now allowing us to program our own aids?
What’s a sound map?
Can anyone enlighten me on this?
I really don’t want to go back to New Sound to find out, but my curiosity is getting the better of me!
They are talking about Sound Point. That’s the deal where IN THEIR OFFICE they can give you an iPad and you can trace your finger around it as the aids adjust themselves via their Inspire programming software. A user will hear sound changing in their aids as they move their finger around much like an Etch A Sketch. When they like the sound they tap the screen, they can then return to these presets and compare them one with another later. When they have selected something they like, they can select their new sound and the hearing professional can enter this program into the aid.
It’s basically a fine tuning tool to use if a patient is not 100% happy with the sound. For example, you could practice using the phone and use this tool to adjust the aids until you hear better, and then lock in the programming changes.
At this time, and forever if Starkey is to be believed, there are NO plans to make this adjustment stand alone outside of the office. It is only an in office tool. And it will work on Silvertone just like Audibel.
Thanks for the info. This seems a bit gimmicky to me, but if it works, great!
This afternoon I went to have my aids adjusted and to my horror, there was a different office assistant and hearing aid specialist. They could not find my file folder, but he was able to find me in the computer through my aids. I felt as if I entered the Twilight Zone! I did not see the Surflink Programmer on the desk and I inquired about it and he told me the other specialist had taken it. I was beginning to think this was not going to end well and for a split second considered leaving, but decided to give him a chance.
I explained to the specialist I had an unusual hearing loss, mostly in the low frequencies. He hooked up my aids to his PC and ran some tests, asking me to let him know when I heard some tones. Well, I didn’t hear them! It took awhile until I did. This happened four different times. I was getting concerned, but eventually I was able to hear the tones. As he got to the higher frequencies, I could hear them much sooner.
He reprogrammed my aids and then showed me on his PC how the WI’s continually adjust what I’m hearing. That was really interesting to see. These babies are really working hard!
Anyway, we put the batteries back in and these adjustments really made a difference! He told me I was missing some of the frequencies with the way the aids were set before he made the changes. Guess he didn’t need the Surflink Programmer after all!
There was such a marked improvement over the way I heard him talking when I first walked in, I did not tell him about my inability to hear through a speakerphone. If it continues despite the reprogramming, I can always return for a follow-up.
There is such a difference I feel as if I had been hearing half of what I should have been hearing.
The real test will be when my low-voice, fast-talking husband gets home. However it turns out, I’m optimistic that I’m on the right track.
Thanks again for your help these past few months!