I agree, Phonak does have too many chargers and it’s confusing.
Good lord, Amazon just listed the Phonak Charger Ease for $175.
I received quite a surprise from the VA in the mail today. Two boxes of 80 batteries for my hearing aids. The audiologist must have ordered them for my Marvels. Hopefully, once I get the Lumity aids I won’t have much need for batteries.
I realize the VA supplies batteries, I was shocked to receive them unsolicited.
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There is an order form that they shipped with the batteries. When you run low, just follow the directions on the card and they will send another 6 month supply.
Dan
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I did receive the order form, however once I receive the Lumitys I hope there isn’t a need for me to go back to the M90s that use the batteries.
May I give you advice from my experience. Keep your M90s at a backup you never know if and when you may need them.
I am never without backup set of aids. And when I travel I care my backup aids along with everything I need for both sets of sets of my aids. And yes it has come in handy. My VA Audiologist keeps both of my sets of aids updated and adjusted.
The same goes for my glasses I never travel without my backups.
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I’ll keep the M90s as a backup. I just hope I don’t have to use them often or much.
I’m currently in my V70s which are backup to my M90s because the m90s are at Phonak.
I keep an extra pair of glasses in the car and I travel with an extra pair of contacts and glasses.
I’ve never needed to use the backup pair of aids on a trip, but I have the glasses.
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When I went to pickup my P90’s, I brought my M90’s along.
They were sent to Denver, refurbished, and showed up on my doorstep about two weeks later. They are my reserve/backups.
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This is fun. I keep a stash of wax guards, domes (several types), and I have a backup of stash of receivers. I had receivers go bad several times with my Marvels, and went without one or the other for up to two weeks. Fortunately, with Phonak, there is no difference between models. The size and power is on the dome end of the receiver. Most cleaning kits have a small took with a stiff wire at the end. On a Phonak up where the receiver plugs in, on either side is a little hole, use the wire to push in (just a little bit), you will see a small white piece of plastic sticking out of the other side. Snap the old receiver wire out, snap new wire in, push little plastic thingy back in. Bingo. You can get receivers on Amazon for a bunch. I got 2 lefts, and 2 rights for about 70 bucks total on Ebay.
Mine are “4.0 2L and 2R”. (Paradise/Lumity Life do not have the little locking pins, they just snap in/out.)
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I thought I’d add another datapoint to this thread. I’m a first time hearing aid use with moderate (?) hearing loss and higher frequencies. Mostly, when there is any amount of noise, I can see my wife’s lips moving but can’t tell what she’s saying. Also I have 24x7 tinnitus that presents as a very high frequency squeal and multi-high freq buzz. That’s annoying for sure.
I visited the VA 3 years ago about these issues and they did hearing tests in a quiet room and determined I was fine, for now. Testing in January showed somewhat worse high freq loss, and the new audiologist recommended HA to help with the tinnitus and wife speech issues. Ordered me HA’s and told me to come back in a month.
A come in this morning to find that they ordered me Phonak Lumity 90 Lifes which I’ve seen is a very good aid. They did ONE automated beeping test to eliminate feedback from within the Phonak software and that’s it. Sent me home. Took all of 30 minutes start to finish.
I will say, I do hear cymbals and stuff in music again which is nice. I can hear most stuff fine since my lower hearing is ‘quite good’ according to them. But…
I’m very disappointed in the fitting visit. No follow up visit for adjustments even though I asked about one. Seem like they think the defaults are ‘good enough’. You’d think they’d do at least some post fitting tests.
I’ll keep a list of issues and call them back to see what they say. At least the HA and supplies are ‘free’. Free for the low, low, price of 20 years of service that is.
I hope your VA does a better job on fittings and adjustments. Too bad I can’t just tweak the annoying stuff at home. I’m at IT person, screaming servers have a lot to do with my hearing loss I’m sure. I’m already hitting roadblocks in the app that are provider settings only. Sigh.
You can call back to ask for as many adjustments as needed, as someone that has been getting aids from the VA for 18+years you need to be proactive about your needs. If you need extras ask, if you aren’t satisfied with the aids in the first 6 months from when they are ordered say so. I suggest you keep a journal of what is and isn’t working. Explain it as good as you can. And also understand it can take from a few days to a few months to get used to the aids, so be patient, but also be proactive about your needs and desires.
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Oh, but you certainly can!
You’ll need Phonak Target software and a Noahlink Wireless USB device to connect your HAs to your PC.
At the Top Left side of the main forum page go to All Categories, click on the drop down & go to the "Hearing Aid Self-Fitting DIY section.
It’s all there.
Users @pvc and @tenkan are always willing to help!
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I have been getting my aids from the VA for 18 years, and I will advise one thing he better check with the VA before do DIY adjustments to a set of aids from the VA. I don’t know the true regulations but I have heard of veterans be refusing repairs and adjustments when it was found out their aids were messed with out side of the VA clinics.
Chuck, can you find out? The answer might be interesting. I’m guessing there are plenty here that would be interested in the answer. Asking for a “friend”. LOL
Thanks,
Dan
Before seeing your audiologist again, you can try a temporary adjustment of your hearing aid with the app myPhonk.
The latest version of myPhonak has many useful features.
It depends on your clinic, your audiologist, and the director of your audiology clinic. I can view my settings in the clinic with my audiologist watching over me and even suggest changes, and I have made minor adjustments in the office but my audiologist has the final say and must approve of that change before they are saved to the aids permanently.
My VA Audiologist doesn’t mind at all. However, if you return for future adjustments you should tell about your changes because they will find out anyway. Why? Because the DateTimestamp in the hearing aids will not match the DateTimestamp on the VA’s computer. Even if you revert back to a copy of the VA’s original settings it will not match the DateTimestamp on the VA’s computer.
They will most likely revert back to their latest version of the settings from their computer. After all, who should they trust? Their own settings that were also professionally measured with REM? Or your rookie settings?
If you need to make up excuses for changing their settings you can say the VA settings work fine except that you like to adjust the additional accessory settings on the TV Adapter or Cellphone.
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That is why I don’t mine making the changes with my audiologist there to supervise and to finalize the changes then the changes become official.
Also since my retirement in 2014 I no longer own anything with Microsoft Windows or even capable of running it in virtual. Even as a retired IT Professional, when I retired I really retired and didn’t want to ever have to deal with Windows again.
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Good point, Chuck, but I’m not sure there are any regulations.
My original audi that programmed my OPN S & More’s agreed that I could “tweak” my aids.
Unfortunately she left the VA clinic here, and I continued to DIY.
When Oticon released F/W version 1.1.0 which intro’d MYMusic, I jumped at the opportunity to upgrade.
A few months later, I called for an appointment for a routine adjustment, just to see what they could do to improve MYMusic.
I informed the tech on the phone, that I had upgraded, and would they be able to program them due to being 6 months behind Oticon and not having the current Genie 2 software. She said, that was a good question, bring them in and we’ll find out.
Well they could not connect to my updated aids, and the audi had the Chief of Audiology come into the booth.
I explained that I DIY’d, and she said OK. Let’s call Oticon, and see what can be done.
Now,the Oticon rep was very upset that a patient was doing DIY on their product, but the only recourse would be to send the aids back to have F/W rolled back.
Bottom line was, the Chief said Oticon is crazy, let’s get you set up with Community Care, so a qualified Oticon audi that has up to date Genie 2 softwae can assist you.
So the VA were very cooperative, and had zero issues with me doing DIY.
Hey @pvc you think it might be my fault Oticon put Genie 2 behind a paywall LOL!
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The VA contract between Oticon and the VA only gives the VA the latest Gene2 at the start of the new contract that is something that has been a sore point with me and also my audiologist. The only updates provided within the contract period or bug fixes. And major firmware updates that change features only at the beginning of the contract. The other thing is that the VA isn’t allowed to change out the rechargeable batteries which also sucks. It isn’t fair that a Veteran has to lose the use of their aids when the batteries need replacing when it could be changed in the clinic. Even our small clinic has a trained technician.
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