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Moving on from Oticons to, maybe Jabra

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0New viewer, so apologies offered if not following accepted protocol…

I have been an Oticon user (Minirites) for some years, always using open domes, now at replacement stage. I have mild-moderate loss. I researched, went to Costco, and had them set me up with a pair of Jabra Pro 30s, also with open domes at my insistence. I have specified that I want a disposable battery model. (For those who can’t understand that, kindly spare me the sales job efforts WRT rechargeables; I have schedule/access requirements as well as personal preferences.) That was interesting because so far as I can find, no one except the lowest-priced will even admit to having a disposable battery product, including Jabra. And if you do an internet search you can’t even get a list of manufacturers who make a disposable-batt product - yet Costco sold me a set of Pro 30s that take the #13 batteries, and they claim they are still a current model.
But my question - - -
I had no problems with the Oticons in terms of feedback, with open domes since I detest a lack of outside environment sound input. These Jabras whistle like crazy with the open domes. I asked for a subsequent adjustment which mainly seemed to be dropping the high end, from what the hearing measurements had indicated, by 2 db for the startup “default” setting.
After that I took them home but they still whistle a lot. I’m thinking of having them lower the high end another 3db and see what happens. I’m not sure what each click up or down roughly amounts to in terms of db level, but even dropping the level down 3 clicks from the default still leaves feedback singing. I had been told before this that Oticons upped or lowered volume by about 1 db for each click, but in any case I never had feedback with them even when I upped them 4 or 5 clicks from default.
The Costco audiologist (very fine fellow and seems competent) said that Jabras tend to have more high end than others. But if adding another drop of 3 db doesn’t work, I’m wondering what is going on?
I’d appreciate advice on the issue, and thanks to someone who might provide same.

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Edited

Feedback occurs when the sound produced by the receiver (inside the ear) reaches the hearing aid microphones. This is a physical issue.

Hearing aids have algorithms that can manage occasional feedback. They achieve this by shifting the sound from one frequency to another or by clipping the sound (reducing the gain). This can result in distortion and sound issues, which is why I mentioned “occasional.” The aggressiveness of these feedback managers varies among different brands., which affect the naturalness of the sound.

The optimal way to fix this is by addressing the root cause: The sound leak. If a ship has a hole , you either plug the hole or push the water out manually. You are asking for the second option.

Why didn’t this happen with your Oticons vs your Jabras:

1.- Your hearing may have changed and now it needs more amplification.

2.- They use different type of open domes. Oticon has a dome called OpenBass which is better with feedback than most manufacturers open domes. You can ask for OpenBass domes and see if the fitter is willing to try them.

3.- The prescription formula may be different and one may prescribe more gain than the other at a certain frequency.

Lowering the gain for controlling feedback is not advisable. Your prescribed gains are calculated to enhance your hearing. Reducing the gains diminishes the effectiveness of the aids. It’s unlikely that 2dB reduction will eliminate chronic feedback.

So that’s whats going on. The answer is fix the leak by using more occluded domes.

If you share your , people can provide more feedback .

@OcramSagev said:

Feedback occurs when the sound produced by the receiver (inside the ear) reaches the hearing aid microphones. This is a physical issue.

Hearing aids have algorithms that can manage occasional feedback. They achieve this by shifting the sound from one frequency to another or by clipping the sound (reducing the gain). This can result in distortion and sound issues, which is why I mentioned “occasional.” The aggressiveness of these feedback managers varies among different brands., which affect the naturalness of the sound.

The optimal way to fix this is by addressing the root cause: The sound leak. If a ship has a hole , you either plug the hole or push the water out manually. You are asking for the second option.

Why didn’t this happen with your Oticons vs your Jabras:

1.- Your hearing may have changed and now it needs more amplification.

2.- They use different type of open domes. Oticon has a dome called OpenBass which is better with feedback than most manufacturers open domes. You can ask for OpenBass domes and see if the fitter is willing to try them.

3.- The prescription formula may be different and one may prescribe more gain than the other at a certain frequency.

Lowering the gain for controlling feedback is not advisable. Your prescribed gains are calculated to enhance your hearing. Reducing the gains diminishes the effectiveness of the aids. It’s unlikely that 2dB reduction will eliminate chronic feedback.

So that’s whats going on. The answer is fix the leak by using more occluded domes.

If you share your audiogram, people can provide more feedback

I appreciate your reply.
I’m going to try to see if I can locate an for the Oticons for comparison. I do have an audiogram copy/printout from the Costco tests on the Jabras. But without something on the Oticons to compare, it would be just guesswork about what might have changed in the prescription formula.
I can say however, that the Oticons were still doing the job even if their Rx is “behind the times” compared to that put into the Jabras based on the latest Costco testing. I am wondering, if the out-of-date curve of the Oticons worked, why not duplicate that and ignore the new audiogram anda still be using open domes? Now that’s just theoretical, but I’m asking myself if my hearing “worked” without feedback in the Oticons, shouldn’t I be able to get at least the same working hearing out of the Jabras?
I mentioned the downward “clicks” merely to indicate the lowering of volume as a rough test, even though that’s not the way to fix things. Without changing the invoked Jabra curve, the percentage of feedback (by which I mean a lesser amount of it for the same given physical environment and sound input) should result, but it didn’t.
The mention of the actual 2db decrease in the “default” made after the original setup of the Jabras was only effected by the technician in the high end, and not the overall volume level. That did help some but not in a major way.
BTW, I already tried my Oticon (same 8mm size) open domes on the new Jabras, and that didn’t change anything; they sound and act just like the Jabra 8mm open domes (as well as looking the same other than color). I also happened to have some Oticon 8mm OpenBass domes and tried those, with no difference so far as feedback is concerned. If Jabra has some “OpenBass” domes I’d be glad to try those; perhaps I can ask him as you suggested.
My central point here is that I’m not very wild about increasing occlusion just to get a new set of hearing aids with open domes to work without feedback reasonably like my earlier hearing aids with open domes. It seems 2 isn’t equaling 2, technical arguments aside.
If I have the specialist at Costco set up his curve as he did originally, then test by lowering the various boosted frequencies to see which one or ones may be causing the feedback, would that be a reasonable experiment? I could then calculate a decision about what I might sacrifice in the new Jabra settings to avoid feedback while getting at least the hearing assistance my Oticons have been providing. That’s all I had hoped for to begin with. I just didn’t want to spend $3-4 thousand on a new set of Oticons when hopefully I could get the same basic hearing assistance with $1699 for Jabras.

Not sure you got the understanding of what’s going on, hard to make any sense of what you think is the way to fix this very simple issue, feedback is feedback as has been mentioned, this doesn’t have anything to do with your “old” Oticon models, so first off leave them out of the equation for now, it’s agreed that you shouldn’t in most cases have to go for occlusion just to fix this, so don’t over think it all, you haven’t posted your audogram so it’s hard to say what’s suitable, your fitter needs to reset your ReSound
(Jabra) and then run the feedback test in SmartFit, feedback can acur in both high and low frequency, so this needs to be sorted by your fitter at Costco, very simple to rectify by them, Oticon and ReSound work quite differently so your not going to get them sounding the same anyway.
So to cap it all off, sound (at certain frequencies will be causing feedback) is leaking out past the open domes, you need to have further adjustments and new feedback test done to help reduce this, posting your audogram will help with advice from others, cheers

I wore Oticon aids for about 15 years but in December 2025 I switched to Phonak Spheres and I have never been happier. It has given me something I was missing, being able to understand speech in noisy environments. I am also much less stressed to the point that it shows in my blood pressure as I no longer need blood pressure medicine.

In reply to @tenkan

OK, I looked at the printed from Costco. That’s all I have right now, but here’s a summary of the 7 frequencies as tested by them:

250 10 db loss on right, 5 db on left

500 35 right, 18 left

1k 50 right, 20 left

2k 60 right, 65 left

4k 80 right, 70 left

8k 85 right, 75 left

So based on that, where would you think I have to start?
Open Dome - - - Unlikely

Tulip - - - What the audi wants to try

Double Vent - - - ???

Bass Double Vent - - - ???

Or ???

Edited

You are definitely not in the fitting range of open domes. Not even close and this is why you are getting feedback .

Open domes are for mild to moderate hearing loss. Your loss is in the moderate to severe loss.

You can review the document below: it shows the different types of domes /sleeves and their fitting ranges . Compare this to your .

13512_164938889.pdf (995.1 KB)

Thanks for the link; educational. I will try the Tulips at the followup appointment and hope for the best.

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