What is really helping me now is getting encouraging messages from people like you. Thanks CV!
I produce a ton of ear wax and despite changing wax guards frequently need a lot of cleanings. I have a local shop and this helps tremendously. In the end having a provider that’s closer by is certainly a concern for upkeep reasons. In your case, a difference of fifty miles or a hundred might be a problem. But a provider who’s willing to work with you during the initial fitting and adjustments is crucial. Having an pricey HA that isn’t adjusted correctly is like having a cheap aid.
Thanks, Jeffrey. I’m a waxy one as well. I’ll remember what you say.
The exact shape and design of domes or molds can make a difference, too. With ReSound domes, perhaps because the dome could be more easily deformed on pushing it into my ear, I often found some wax in the receiver openings (but, AFAIK, it never made it through the wax guards as the receiver screens always looked as clean as could be on changing wax guards). Upon getting molds that are pretty rigid silicone with the receiver openings positioned on the upper end of the overall OVAL 0 end shape, there is almost always no wax at all in the receiver openings on the inside of the mold and the receiver itself is recessed some distance (~4 mm) down the bore in the mold - so even if wax got into the opening in the mold (very rare), it’s almost never gotten to the receiver itself. So one might be able to control a wax problem or not depending on the shape and size of the mold and the relative position of the receiver openings on the inside of the mold. In my limited experiences, domes are more of a problem in keeping receivers free from wax - but then they are inexpensive compared to a custom mold - but if my experience can be generalized and you have to travel a lot to get your HA’s professionally cleaned or refurbished, molds might pay for themselves if they help to keep your receivers clear from wax as well as improving the listening (and in my case, comfort experience).
Whoa! There’s too much here I don’t know. At Costco my tech never mentioned “wax guards” for my Resounds. I noticed the dome tube ends sometimes looking clogged and I futilely brushed them with a tiny brush he supplied. And twice I took them in and he cleaned them by a procedure I did not see. This cleaning did improve the HA’s. But he never mentioned wax guards . I asked him if I might dip the tube ends in hydrogen peroxide, and he said “No, just bring them to me.” I have no idea about wax getting into the receiver; I don’t know how to check for that. Now that I’m 100 miles from the nearest Costco, I’ll be seeking a local audiologist and a a better brand of HA’s. It seems I better ask any new audiologist I get about “wax guards.” Can you give me more information?
Costco just gave me a few wax guard “sticks” with some instruction on how to replace them. Here is a video. They also gave me a card of the click dome/sleeve things and said to come back for more any time I needed them.
Thank for that, Sierra.
Sierra, you mentioned to ask the audiologist if he/she “adjusts the gain to match the target.” You say, “Some measure (to meet insurance obligations) but do not adjust.” Does this mean to adjust something in the receiver once it’s in my ear, to match a goal from the manufacturer? I don’t understand.
Richard,this is the thing I found about new hearing aids…there’s a lot more to them than I thought. With my first single aid I just stuck it in my ear and thought I was done. My new aids perform much better but it took a good amount of adjustments (and cleaning!) to reach that level of improvement. Oh, and I had a music program set up for them too which helps me immeasurably while playing music–both my own and while listening. All of this was new to me and required visits to my provider to dial in. This is why a provider being near-ish by is very helpful. But others’ experience could be different!
Interesting and helpful. What do you mean by a music program? Would it play Chopin directly into your ears? If you play guitar, does it pipe your own playing directly to you?
I’m not going to try and talk you out of moving on from Costco, since you have audis nearby and Costco is now several hundred miles away. But some expectations-adjustment may be helpful.
As Consumer Reports suggests, there may not be much difference between brands in terms of reliability. Costco’s aids are built by other companies and are not less reliable generally to aids sold by others, as reported to CR by users. As you’ve discovered, eyeglasses may be termed plug-n-play where hearing aids are more plug-n-pray. Not that a miracle is needed, but aids need a lot more ongoing attention than eyeglasses.
Today’s digital hearing aids have very limited life expectancy. Even with the cleanings and adjustment, in my experience, the mean average life expectancy is about five years before replacement will likely be needed, so that’s part of the reason yours may be feeling over-the-hump to you. Three year-old aids often start needing repairs such as new receivers. Some people get a few more years beyond five. Others get fewer. Audis don’t tell you that when you’re shopping.
So if you do move to a private audiologist, have a price point in mind that makes sense to you within that five-year timeframe. I personally wouldn’t go top-of-the-line for just this reason; it may still only last five years with no better bang-for-the-buck in terms of reliability, but if your budget’s not as price sensitive and the top-line tech makes sense to you, you can do that. The higher price of top-line models reflects newer technology more than better reliability, generally speaking.
Not every hearing aid needs wax guards. Many receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) models or variants do; many BTE aids do not, because wax is unlikely to get up to the receiver, if you clean your tubes and domes every night or as needed, but BTE’s may need tubes and domes changed every few months. (These are cheap.)
Even with wax guards if you have aids that benefit from them, yes, you do need cleaning and adjustments, but there’s one other thing I didn’t see you mention that can reduce the need for repairs: use an electric hearing aid dehumidifier/dryer every night. It might add a year to hearing aid expectancy and reduce the need for new receivers. Some audis include them bundled with new aids because it saves them work. If not they’re available in the $50-$100 range as at amazon.
Good luck. Happy shopping.
But don’t use one if you get Li-ion battery-powered HA’s.
I agree with that advice, but if richard is going for long-term reliability, my suggestion would be to steer clear of rechargeable aids for now. Partly because the rechargeable batteries shouldn’t be in a dryer, which is worth using for the health of the aids generally, and partly because the rechargeable batteries themselves are likely to need replacement within a few years of daily use. Lithium ion batteries only last for a certain number of charge cycles and a certain number of years. It’s very likely well lower than 5 * 365 charge cycles. Ability to hold a charge drops off sharply for lithium ion after a few years and then vanishes at some point, as we see in our cell phones and laptops.
Eventually we’ll all be on rechargeable aids, but we’re not there yet. The technology is new and not for everybody. (Early cell phone models needed 10 hours to recharge and then were good for 30 minutes of talk time /heh.)
Li-ion battery technology is not exactly new. Cell phones have been using Li-ion batteries since the early 2000’s.
The critical unknown factor is how good a Li-ion battery do they put in various HA’s? Apple is just about the most transparent company in the world when it comes to the longevity of their battery-powered products. They define “maxium cycle count” as the point by which one’s battery capacity will be reduced to 80% of brand new. It varies according to their products. Currently they advise a high-end Mac Book Pro will have a maximum cycle count of 1,000 effective complete cycles and an iPhone 500.
Hopefully, HA OEM’s use the quality of battery available in a Mac Book Pro. My Quattro’s have a battery usage of 30 hours. I only have to go through the equivalent of a full-charge cycle every 2 days. That’s 365 days per year divided by 2 days per charge cycle = 183 charge cycles per year. 1,000 maximum charge cycles divided by 183 charge cycles per year = 5.6 years. And even then, I’ll still be at 80% capacity. 30 hours original capacity x 80% = 24 hour charge capacity. If the batteries continued to degrade at the same charge cycle rate, in another 5.6 years, I’d be at 24 hours x 80% or ~19 hours charge capacity.
By not fully charging and discharging a Li-ion battery, you can approximately AT LEAST DOUBLE the number of charge cycles until whatever your limit is. That’s what I’m doing with my Quattro’s. I don’t need a 30-hour charge capacity per day. I only partially recharge them each day (going through a 20% to 30% charge twice a day (I take a hearing aid break after 7 to 8 hours wearing). Am going between ~30% charge and 60% charged. So based on that, if I wanted to wear the Quattro’s that long, I will presumably be able to get closer to 10 years life expectancy out of my Li-ion batteries, computed using generally accepted performance factors for top-of-the-line Li-ion batteries currently in use and assuming that ReSound went with a high-quality battery in its “premium plus” HA’s, for which it charges a fortune at suggested retail price if you go to a private provider.
Maybe someday ReSound, Phonak, and others will include the “smarts” in their smartphone app at least to effective battery cycle count that Apple does. I hope so.
P.S. Notice in the Apple link how the longevity of its Li-ion batteries has improved with time, from a maximum cycle count of only about 300 in 2007 or so to a 1,000 “maximum” cycle count in the 2016 to 2018 time range for its really high-end Mac Books.
P.S. If you don’t treat your Li-ion battery “good,” you’re not going to get the advertised maximum cycle count out of it. That means, amongst other things, staying within the suggested high and low operating temperature limits. One of the worst things that you can do for a laptop is operate it on AC, having the device get hot while the battery is at a ~100% charge state. I happen to have Windows laptops that are old enough to have removable, replaceable batteries. When I operate them on AC (almost all the time), I remove the batteries but hook the laptops up to a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). For my HA’s because the battery pack charger case is highly portable, I just make sure to charge them, to the extent that I do, in a cooler part of the house.
Here’s a pretty encyclopedic link:
https://www.hearinginsider.com/wax-traps
P.S. Here is Phonak’s recommended care instructions for a HA. Notice, for those that like to cook their HA’s in a dryer, that Phonak advises against heating HA’s!
https://www.phonak.com/us/en/support/faq/daily-usage/cleaning-and-care.html
The computer program combined with the prescriptive method, like NAL-NL2, determines what sound level vs frequency correction you need. The computer attempts to compensate for your fitting type, such as open, closed, vent size in a mold. However it can’t really estimate other than to the typical average, what your specific ear canal does. So at the end of the day it the computer estimate of actual sound level in the ear with your HA in place and measured between the HA and the ear drum is likely to be off. Best fitting practice is to measure the actual sound level (REM), and then adjust to bring the real sound level in line with the prescriptive target.
So the REM is an important feature, and I should find an audiologist who performs it. Thanks!
My thoughts are that if an audiologist does not do the REM and adjust to the results, they are cutting corners. If they cut corners there, are they cutting corners elsewhere? The Costco standard is to do the REM and adjust to it. If you want better than Costco results, you do not want to regress from the Costco level.
Noted. Thanks, Sierra.
I would agree. Wax melts. I am convinced the cheapest and safest hearing aid dryer just uses passive activated alumina like Hal-Hen does. No heat or plug in required. I’m new at this but I’ve gone nearly 3 months with the Hal-Hen with no indication of a need for regeneration. The silica gel beads are just as blue as they were when I bought it. From experience on dryers for electric power transformers, silica gel turns blue to clear and then to pink. From what I have seen so far it may be 6 months or more before I have to regenerate (dry out) the activated alumina.