Oticon intent 1 - newbie struggling in noisy environments

Wow, it never occurred to me that I could/should adjust the EQ to suit an environment. I’ll experiment a bit more with that. My audiologist never really suggested that which seems strange now that I think of it. Cheers for the tip!

I was surprised too how well that worked, but the principle is that I also found the noise very loud, so I tried reducing the each part of the equalizer and the only one that helped was the high. Increasing low and mid didn’t help for example.

I’m parroting what I’ve read here from the pros, so I might have it totally wrong, but… OP has good low-frequency hearing, and the goal would be to prevent upward spread of masking.

@e1405 said:

Since the Intents have four program slots, you could dedicate one to each of the main fitting formulas—NAL-NL1, NAL-NL2, VAC+, and DSL v5. Once you determine which works best for you, you can fine-tune it, and those slots can then be used for the standard programs (such as Lecture, Speech in Noise, MyMusic, etc.).

After some googling of the fitting formulas I can see what your mean and will give that a go! Glad the intents have been a positive experience for you. And interesting you only use one other program for listening environments other than music. That would certainly keep things simple which seems quite appealing right now!

I have to chime in, I wore the INTENT1 aids since they were made available to the Veterans Administration. I loved to overall sound of the INTENT1 aids. But in really noisy environments they didn’t help me. The SpeechBoost helped some, but for me the equalizer wasn’t helpful. My hearing loss isn’t the normal hearing loss of most people. I was issues the Phonak Spheres, not the Spheres Ultra, and it had made so much of a difference for me. The INTENT1 aids are superior in less noisy environments. The Spheres are superior in extremely noisy environments.

What I am saying is my personal opinion and experience and doesn’t mean it would be the same for anyone else.

@Gerhard_R said:

you should try a noise reduction program, not a general one, you should reduce 5-8khz in that program excessively. focus on strong 1-4khz. also use big compression between soft and mid in that area.

play around with sound intelligence setting and sudden loudness settings.

Keep in might that you can set gain for a specific program. in much back round noise high frequency gain usually muffles much you should reduce it.

you also have the app, with equalizer and voice boost.

you also have the option to use a roger on with edumic + roger X

Wow Gerhard, cheers for that. You’ve made me realise that I need to educate myself more with the jargon and options available to me. I will endeavor to do this and follow your advice time permitting!

May I ask if anyone uses the double domes in ultra noisy environments and has had success? Have you gotten used to the occlusion? Cheers.

To add to the great information others provided, I’d like to add that time may help.

Some situations where I could not understand people started sounding much better after some time. It takes the brain a while to adapt. It’s hearing lots of things that it has not heard in a long time.

Then, after some time passes, adjustments by the audiologist will provide even more clarity. In some months, you may want more adjustments for even more clarity.

Paul

Yep, I can relate to that.

To answer your other question, I use a custom mold, I didn’t like the domes because the sound was leaking too much, but I have a moderate to severe hearing loss (I still need to put my audiogram here). Not sure what’s the best for you, to be honest.

Something I will frequently recommend in louder environments is reducing volume. The thinking here is that in loud environments volume is not the problem, so if you can reduce overall hearing aid volume you can maintain your prescription but without so much muscle behind it. Particularly since you are likely open-fit based on your audiogram, ambient noise will be coming through the eartips anyway, so if you can get the hearing aids out of the way (somewhat) it can help.

So I’ve read the majority of responses here and I just have one question. Were you tested for your ability to function in noise? There are a few different noise tests that can be run to identify ability to function in noise. Personally I like the Q-SIN. My point being sometimes it’s more processing of our brain than the the instruments. They give a signal to the brain but how well can it use it varies especially in noise. There are people with normal hearing that don’t function well in noise so not knowing this is like shooting in the dark. JMHO

I certainly understand the tendency to become a home-body when one cannot understand others. Not implying any age on your part, but many seniors tend to become isolated and one of the main driving factors is lack of clarity in hearing. Why attend if one can’t understand? Family gatherings were of great dread to me. (Lots of people. Lots of simultaneous conversations.)

Perhaps try “acclimatizing” to your new devices or recent re-programming by going to places of little or no importance. Actively listen to others. Hopefully that will jump start your path to success.

A crowded grocery store is a great place to listen- but not care. Lectures at the local library or college might be helpful. Anywhere where people, preferably many at once, are speaking, will help. Slowly but surely, the ears, brain and hearing devices will start playing well together.

And, believe it or not, I found that watching television with the closed captioning, volume and hearing aids all turned on helped. Our natural ability to read lips while listening and reading the captions was very helpful for me to train my brain as the aids helped me hear the sounds. I also started listening to languages I do not understand with the hearing aids on. Soon, many spoken things became recognizable as words and phrases instead of just sounds.

I hope one or more of these helps you to perfect hearing and comfort around others!
Paul