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Bye Bye Zeal Otic

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So this is the short I personally cannot handle the occlusion feeling , not to mention that these aids will not stay in my ear canal my ears were sore for days from this , also the tap to turn up or down is not too friendly my audiologist did not have much information on the new Zeal they are somewhat water proof as I dropped one in the pool on vacation at 5 ft deep they were there for some time too much prosecco here to be honest my husband pulled the aid from the bottom amazingly it was still working so Bravo for that !

I do wish that the aids would work , I have decided to go back to the Oticon intent 70 Rin a Baby Blue :joy::face_with_spiral_eyes: sure hope the post helps others please feel free to ask any questions also ! Shanie

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@Shanie said:

Rin a Baby Blue BTE

I’m a confused.

The Zeal is meant for mild to moderate hearing loss, but OP doesn’t fit that profile, so why would an recommend a hearing aid that doesn’t align with the ? (I read that, with molds, it can go up to 75dB but that is still not in range for the OP).

OP also mentions the Intent 70 (there are only levels 1, 2, 3, 4) and the Intent does not come in version. Typos?

And yes, any person with good low frequency hearing is expected to have the occlusion effect with // hearing aids.

The Oticon Zeal, like most modern hearing aids, is rated IP68, meaning it can handle being submerged in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes (and 5 feet is even more than that), so it’s pretty impressive that it kept working after that adventure.

@Shanie said:

I do wish that the aids would work

What was your hearing like using the Zeals? Did you have any clarity of speech? Or were you not able to give the hearing side of the Zesls a fair trial because of the physical fitting issues you experienced?

So I have been using the zeals for a couple of weeks yes clarity is very good I’m hearing birds, frogs , crickets .. which at times I could but for some reason speech was good but as I mentioned my fitting is not they keep popping out of my ears they come with a I’m sure I am messing with them because of the occlusion effect. When I go to speak, especially on a microphone, it’s very difficult. I feel like I’m having an out of body experience very weird. I’m not sure what you’re talking about with the Oticon intent as they come in aWhen I go to speak, especially on a microphone, it’s very difficult. I feel like I’m having a outer body experience very weird. I’m not sure what you’re talking about with the Oticon intent as they come in a 70

In reply to @Shanie

IMO any aid that’s completely in the canal you run the risk of the aids moving. As your jaw moves when eating and talk the aid moves around in the canal.

With standard or you will need a mould. You mentioned you got occlusions from the Zeals you will need a vent in the mould to prevent the occlusions.

Your hearing loss is very similar to mine. Before you spend big $$$ on new aids, have a think about the next step in your hearing journey. Talk to your about getting an evaluation done for ’s. Just because you have an evaluation it does not commit you to going ahead and having the surgery done. Do some research into CI’s. All it does is give you another option if/when your aids don’t support you anymore. Good luck to you.

@Deaf_piper said:

With standard BTE or RIC you will need a mould. You mentioned you got occlusions from the Zeals you will need a vent in the mould to prevent the occlusions.

The Zeal , like the Silk, is mainly designed to use domes (unlike other ,) but they can be fitted with molds . One reason: these aids are for mild to moderate loss ( see fitting range below). Even with custom molds , they will not work for the OP.

I’m the chart below : the black box is what can be fitted with domes. The grey area outside the black box is the additional range you can get with a sealed mold . After 1.5Khz, the ops is out of range of the chart below

IMG_0731

IMHO, might be the right choice. An ear mold with a vent might solved the occlusion effect. Trial Xceed , Naida or Verit BTE with ear mold + a vent.

I’ve had a similar huge problem with the Zeals (coming from 2 different sets of Oticon ). They won’t stay in my ear. When they are seated, I love the sound quality and especially the different modes e.g. turn off noise suppression so I can listen to music.

But, I’ve had to upsize the domes so much (while waiting for custom molds) that it is both incredibly occlusive and in the case of my right ear - PAINFUL.

Oticon has redone my molds eight (8!) times. My audiologist has been great, each time sending notes back, but while they improved them the first couple of times, they just got worse and ironically, my eight set was the worst of all - we sent the best set back along with instructions and they sent them back with the new set that simply fell out of my ear.

Oticon custom molding cannot be trusted to work on the zeal it seems. We even sent pics of the zeal molds vs my old oticon IIC, explaining simply, the speaker needs to be deeper in the canal to match the IIC. NO LUCK.

I’m ready to switch off to something else. I really like the Zeal sound quality, and ability to switch modes. I’m ready to degrade aesthetics for the ability to switch from normal speech to listening modes, but I’m not sure where to go next. Luckily my audiologist is on-board and very helpful. She is as dissatisfied with Oticon’s response as I am.

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