Starkey Hearing Aids Frustrating

At this point I haven’t but I’ll keep tabs on it. The domes I have don’t appear to be vented and see to fit well.

That’s interesting. I definitely agree it has more to do with the fitting (read: audiologist) than the brand I got a pair of top-line Oticon ITE a few years back and they were laughably bad. People were shaking their fists at me in frustration that I could not understand them I then got some Starkeys in the same form factor and they work much better. I can’t believe the Oticon’s are actually bad tech. Two different audie’s tried, but I don’t think either really cared much about doing a good job. Anything beyond “first fit” was too much for them I think. The reason I was excited about the Oticon’s is that you could have a different fitting rationale in each program. No luck getting an audiologist engaged in that comparison.

People often blame the hearing aids, but most of the time the real issue lies in the programming.

Feedback happens when sound from the ear canal leaks out and reaches the hearing aid’s microphones—it’s just simple physics. To fix this:

(1) Use a more sealed dome to prevent leaks.
(2) Decrease the gains in the hearing aid: Less gain will decrease the amount of sound that reaches the microphone. This can have an impact on your hearing.
(3) If the hearing loss is of the ski-slope type: Use frequency shifting.

If you’ve been using your Oticons for 10 years, your audiogram has probably changed and so has the programming.

I don’t agree with the idea that “more adjustments can be and probably would be made by me.” I think it’s best to visit the audiologist as many times as needed until the units are properly programmed for you.

While some aids handle feedback better than others, the real issue often comes down to the sealing of the dome or mold.

I won’t disagree with the audiologist being partly at fault but I had no problems with the Oticons initially except for the device that paired it with the TV. Where my prior Oticons worked beautifully the newer ones were frustrating. The suggestion was made to swap the manufacturer and knowing nothing I went along with it. I’m sorry I did now.

I will press to see if I can get something else, and possibly even someone who can spend a bit more time with me figuring things out. I never felt rushed at the VA at all. Whoever was helping me have always been helpful and patient.

patchelect, keep the faith! OcramSagev has nailed the most likely issues that need addressing here! It may sound like mumbo-jumbo jargon, but take his list to your audi and go through each item.

I, for one, SWEAR by effective custom molds! It took 15 years of poorly-fitting, leaky-squeaky gooshy silicone tips to convince me: TRY something else! I am highly allergic to nearly all materials used for molds, but struck GOLD with a roughed-up titanium mold. ROUGHED-UP key factor. These grippy molds stay put alllllll day long. The impressions were perfect, and the final manufacturing of them flawless. So they fit comfy and snug. UNVENTED domes are NOT good. Even for my level of loss, I got vents to enable some of the moisture building up in my ear canals to escape. Keeps ears from getting itchy, too.

If you look at my audiogram, you’ll see there’s not much margin to work with. I managed to take my gain up a NOTCH, but if your Starkeys are over-compensating here, you’ll get feedback.

My only other suggestion is to have Feedback Management (not sure what it’s called in Starkey) run again on both aids. Ideally, this would be done AFTER you get better domes: vented, comfy fit & grippy.

I wore aids for 6 mos that had really annoying feedback in the LEFT aid only. Turns out, my audi needed to run Feedback Management on that aid and it was fixed. Perhaps she’d overlooked it at my session? I also walked away without her “disconnecting” the aids from Target. Got about a mile from the clinic and the aids squeeled like a Maserati going 200 mph. Luckily, she was trying to call me on the phone and let me know to GIT RIGHT BACK HERE!

Keep us posted on your follow-ups. You say your audi is patient and HEARS ya, so that is a huge factor in your ultimate satifaction right there.

Starkey is on the opposite end of the “spectrum” from Oticon. I fit both. They need to go to a 50 gain receiver’, change from the ESTAT formula (Starkey’s go to.) and change to the NAL-NL2 formula and change to experience level 1 and possibly increase the mid level frequencies. This should get the Starkeys to a more “Oticon” sound. After 10 years in Oticon I would never try the Starkeys because their formulas are on opposite ends of the spectrum.. Starkey is in my opinion the best thing on the market currently. I fit Starkey, Resound, Oticon and Phonak. Background noise is the biggest improvement with the Edge and the Omega. Starkey has the best battery life and connectivity to bluetooth items. Way better than the other brands. I fit based on the slope of the loss. Starkey great for good lows and bad highs. Then Resound if a little more low frequency loss then Phonak if more lows needed and finally Oticon if the loss is a flat loss. Starkey is more finesse and Oticon more power. You get used to the power with Oticon and then go to Starkey and it almost never works. The person that fit you can program them more toward the Oticon sound if they know how to program.

Hey all, I am considering new heharing aids as I have some persistant issues withy my wides moments and the warranty is expiring soon. How does starkey do with speech clarity in loud or complex settings such as a sporting event, or open air restaurant? Can the new omega AI do hands free calling, is there a Do it yourself option available like with with Phonak if you get the target software?

Thanks for this. I’ll try your inputs at the VA on my next visit.

Inside the MyStarkey app you can hit the Edge mode Icon and it immediately analyzes the environment you are in based on the audiogram stored in the aids, it adjusts the responses for the current environment. There is a custom program option inside the app as well. You can create as many as you would like. Inside the iPhones settings (accessibility: Hearing Devices: Nikos Hearing Aids) if you scroll to the bottom there is a start Live Listen option. Once you press that it turns your iPhone into a Remote Microphone. Some customers of mine use this and they say it works great. It turns the microphones in the aids off which eliminates a lot of the background noise. They place the phone close to their spouse and it allows them to hear in noise. Be sure and hit END live listen to turn it off when finished. A customer of mine called and said his aids were making so much noise he couldn’t stand it. I asked him where he had been and he said lunch with his wife. I knew he used this feature. I asked him where his phone was and he said in his pocket. I asked him what else was in his in his pocket and he said a big wad of keys. I then told him to hit the end live listen and he hung up without saying it was left on. He was getting the full effect of his keys rattling around on his phone!

Thanks for the suggestion!

This may be an unfair question, BUT if you look at my audiogram (generally flat at -55 db with a high end drop off) what if the recently released hearing aids would you recommend for me?

Omega AI Edge+ issue with speech in loud noise. When I'm in a noisy environment in which the loud noise source is not from a lot of speech like you find in most restaurants, but from natural sources - in these cases, a rushing stream near tables in an out door restaurant or winds blowing through a grove of trees (but not on the hearing aids), it seems that noise reduction in both Automatic and Edge+ really take out the nature noise as long as there is no speech involved. When I begin to speak or the person across the table begins to talk, the over all volume is suddenly raised. This, in itself, is "jolting", but all sounds, including the loud nature sounds are increased to the point that the wind through the trees becomes uncomfortably loud and masks any conversation . Its almost as if the DNN had not been trained on this situation and is totally out of its element.