I live in an area where the wind blows a lot (Boise, ID area). The wind drives me crazy. I’m wearing Phonak Lumity 90Rs with the wind attenuation turned all the way up and I still have to mute them when I’m out in the wind. My question is this: do ITE hearing aids provide more relief from wind noise than BTE hearing aids if they are both from the same line. I’m thinking of trying the new Starkey Genesis line and want to try the right form factor. Thanks.
My experience says no, I had even worse issues with ITE aids, but again the technology wasn’t as good then either.
Ear Gear
Qwertyuiopasdfghj
I’m not trying to promote any hearing aid brand/model over any other ones here. It’s just that you mentioned you want to try another brand due to your wind noise issue. I just want to throw it out there that recently, Oticon introduced a new Wind & Handling Stabilizer feature (along with its new Sudden Sound Stabilizer feature) in their latest model, the Real. It seems like these new technologies were also added to the Philips 9040 new model recently available from Costco at much lower price than the Real, which is mostly only available through the traditional audi/HCP channel. Philips licenses hearing aid technologies from William Demant, the parent company of Oticon, and they sell their hearing aids at Costco for a very attractive price ($1600 for a pair).
I don’t have any personal experience with these new technologies or with the Phonak wind handling technology, so I’m not promoting one over the other or anything like that. Just want to throw it out there so you’re aware in case you want to try these newly introduced technologies out from Oticon, since you mentioned that you’re thinking about trying out other aids brands/models with specific wind handling technologies.
I agree with @cvkemp that the form factor like ITE vs RIC/BTE types probably would make less of a difference than the technology specifically designed for wind handling. But that’s just my personal opinion, because I’ve worn both form factors myself and also don’t notice a difference in performance when it comes to wind handling.
1 Like
I’m brand new to hearing aids… wearing a pair of Signia Styletto AX7’s RIC for about two weeks now. They have a feature that Signia calls “eWindScreen”, which is supposed to do all sorts of fancy stuff to reduce the annoyance of wind noise.
Like Boise, here in SE Arizona the wind blows A LOT! When I go walking outside with these hearing aids on, the wind noise across the microphone holes on the top of the the instruments can become unbearable to listen to. The noise can block out anything else. It’s bad enough that I wondered if the eWindScreen feature was even enabled, so I went back to my audiologist and verified that indeed it was. So I guess it’s probably worse without eWindScreen and noise is just a fact of life when wearing hearing aids in strong wind.
I’ve learned that if the wind is over about 10mph and I still want to wear my hearing aids outside, then I just have to turn the microphone volume down to zero (or maybe slightly above).
I’m aware there are little foam socks you can buy to stretch over the hearing aid instruments to cover the microphone holes, but I’d rather just temporarily use the volume control to keep my hearing aids “naked”. 
John L.
One suggestion is the jabra at Costco. However - and this is a big one - it depends on your hearing loss. If it’s not too bad (I don’t remember the exact range, but moderate loss) and you can get the mrie then it’s terrific. I can walk, or ride, and hear no wind at all. It’s terrific.
go to gear for ears and buy little nylon sleeves that go over HA
Protective Hearing Aid Covers for Every Type of Hearing Instrument (gearforears.com)
1 Like
I have two sets of these for my Starkey Evov. Use them all of the time. Helps to keep the HAs clean as well.
Twist the seam towards the outside (away from head) if you will need to use the buttons before putting on the HAs.
During my Phonak trial, the wind noise was unbearable despite having the top model that should handle it. I have Widex and experience much less wind annoyance than with Phonaks.
I can’t hear any wind (even Force 10 storm) with my Phonaks and never have.
I can hear wind noise with Oticons now.