Analogs vs Digitals

@Sash88uk said:

Amazing what others have to say, as I don’t feel my doctors ever explained in depth what it is, just a case of putting up with it

There is user on the forum @MeBPatB who has had eardrum replacement, maybe he could provide some useful information about his experiences?

@Sash88uk said:

I will ask them about this, sometimes I do find myself taking the antihistamine at times just to ease some pressure as I suffer with allergies in hayfever season and forever have nasal issues since young too, so maybe all connected with pressure in the tubes etc,

It is quite possible, because in the nasopharynx, the entrances to the Eustachian tubes are very narrow, making them prone to blockage by swollen mucosal tissue during allergy.

See illustrations:

I’ve just looked at y digital hearing aids they gave me last time which I was supposed to wear now and again to adjust, and they are called Phonak Eterna (311 dAZ), didn’t like them, everything sounded very low and sounded like sounds in front of me was miles away, very strange.

Are you familiar with Phonak Eterna, these are the ones I was given to wear, I did not like them one bit, the sounds was very low, and any sounds close to me sounded very far away of that makes sense, it was bizarre.

Are you familiar with Phonak Eterna, these are the ones I was given to wear, I did not like them one bit, the sounds was very low, and any sounds close to me sounded very far away of that makes sense, it was bizarre.

Yes it was around 2008 I got the Phonak Eterna

Indeed. Measuring Real Ear Aided Response (element of REM) near eardrum would provide much useful information.

I think you should redo your tonal audiogram, especially the bone conduction part. This type of audiogram would tell you a lot about your cochlear function. If your cochlea is working well, there may be other medical (ENT) problems that can be resolved, such as eardrum reconstruction, and you may no longer need hearing aids,

@Sash88uk said:

At the moment it might be difficult as I seem to have some middle ear issue the last few months

Just like I said above.

That’s probably the (intra-syllabic) fast attack and release times you’re hearing in the non Widex product. Widex used to have slow release times which helped the timbre of the sound for lots of wearers. People used to hate moving to a different manufacturer once they’d had a Widex.

The newer product ranges sound different too.

Phonak goes out of their way to push their stuff to the Paediatric services, which is good in that it means that children get fitted some decent hearing aids (and might stay customers for life).

No not had that done…the only thing they’ve ever suggested for me, was to have a procedure called Myringoplasty, but this was purely to prevent more infections and nothing else, they never got my hopes up it would improve hearing. I didn’t end up having the procedure done because they said it wouldn’t improve my hearing, so didn’t see the point, plus was risks of facial damage.
Since then I don’t think they can do the procedure now if I decided because the perforation is bigger since last time and still exposed.

@Sash88uk said:

they’ve ever suggested for me, was to have a procedure called Myringoplasty, but this was purely to prevent more infections and nothing else, they never got my hopes up it would improve hearing.

In which year was it?

This was back in 2004 I think when I was 15.

From since I was young in the 90s I was going regularly every 6 months until 2010 ,since then anytime I went it was just a check up and hearing test, then they pretty much discharged me as there’s “not much else to do” and I don’t go to ENT anymore. I just go every 6 months to have ear cleaned out with a nurse. I’m now 36

Also noticed how difficult it is to get the right setting when doing hearing tests and fitting in the soundproof rooms, it’s ridiculous, because you think the hearing aid fittting went well until I stepped outside and everything became more apparent

I can understand both the artificial sound and the dismissive audiologist. I wear digital but have a spare of analog for when my digital are being repaired and the sound still strikes me as artificial with the digita. I have gone to some dismissive audioligists and have kept searching for one that I was comfortable with. I also didn’t like the programs on the phone so asked my audiologist to install the programs so that I can press a button on the hearing aid for phone, directional microphone and volume. The advantage of digital is telephone conversation and being able to use my tv connector to hear music and radio more clearly.

I think the problem is we’re now in a world where you only have the option of several varients of the same thing, that thing being digital. they all sound much of a muchness and I think most audi’s, even if they recognise that digitals do sound artificial, don’t have an option to do much about it beyond setting the hearing aid to sound as analogue as possible. Having tried to do that on many occasions, you can only go so far. I guess the only thing to keep in mind, is that digitals will only get better and better now and the younger generations usingHA’s now will likely not know the behavior of analogues and so for them, the newer tech will hopefully sound much improved, every time a new version comes along.

This is the thing too, I don’t like all this pressing buttons for certain settings, I just want to wear a hearing aid and sounds same like my analogue, it’s that simple and despite the inventions the world makes, they fail to make a simple hearing aid to sound linear and amplified. I don’t like the Audiologist, I’ve never had a good experience when I’ve gone all those years, I come out upset and disappointed again. So I’m lucky for now that my analogues still work….for now