Widex Super 440

the FM+Dex is mono not stereo

I have used the widex super 220 for about 1 month. Due to incorrect fitting, I am getting feedback and the hearing aid sometime turn on/off. My audiologist will be changing the mould, wire etc.
First Imperresion: The super are much better then my previous siemens intuis sp dir hearing aids.
Using M-dex the mobile phone voice is heard in both ears. The mdex range is not good, as i have to keep it at about mouth level. What I donot understand is the mono and stereo difference. Since I am hearing the mobile phone wirelessly to both ear, even if the sound is mono it is heard in both ears. So what is the benefit of a stereo streaming.

Kashif

@kashif said:

I have used the widex super 220 for about 1 month. Due to incorrect fitting, I am getting feedback and the hearing aid sometime turn on/off. My audiologist will be changing the mould, wire etc.
First Imperresion: The super are much better then my previous siemens intuis sp dir hearing aids.
Using M-dex the mobile phone voice is heard in both ears. The mdex range is not good, as i have to keep it at about mouth level. What I donot understand is the mono and stereo difference. Since I am hearing the mobile phone wirelessly to both ear, even if the sound is mono it is heard in both ears. So what is the benefit of a stereo streaming.

Kashif

Thanks for the review

I will make my humble attempt to explain the difference between mono streaming and stereo streaming. apologies if im not entire spot on but i believe i have captured the essence of it.

When sound is recorded…high quality recording typically places microphones at different parts of the room to the capture the full scope of sounds and also directions the sound is coming from.

In mono streaming - what they do is they combine all the sounds onto the one channel. You still get all the sounds but you lose the directionality. This is sometimes called one channel streaming. This is not to be confused with monaural hearing which is hearing via one ear.

In Stereo streaming, stereo surround or hi fedelity quality. (and not to be confused with binaural listening which is hearing in both ears)…the audio system is making full use of the sounds available. It is using 2 channels - it sends the sounds received by one microphone during the recording to one ear and the sounds sent by another microphone to the other ear. The result means you might hear the drums stronger in one ear and the guitar or piano stronger on the other ear. Like if you were standing in the middle of an orchestra and you had the percussionist on one side of the room and the violinist on the other side of the room. You would expect the sounds to vary on how close or far away they are from you and where they are playing from relative to your location.

So in sum - mono captures everything but puts it onto one stream. People find this quality sounds missing something. Sometimes described as a bit flat or dead.

Stereo splits the recording onto two streams. Leading to a more realistic listening experience or more lively.

I spoke with them about this: they run two channels all the time, just with the M-Dex requiring one in each direction for phone use, they had to configure it as they have. In fairness stereo separation is pointless on a phone signal as it usually comes from one mic source at the other end. Music ought to be stereo really, but the configuration was chosen to put the decent phone signal to both ears.

Point of reference: it’s not about quality at all, its about running separate channels of sound to give you a R/L localisation. As I’ve mentioned before, if you listen to the Beatles it sounds really peculiar as lots of their stuff has the drums way over to one side: if you aren’t getting that channel, the mix is really odd.

Thanks for the explanation

I wanted to opt for these as my back up pair but I got the message from a local office that they’re “$6550-6800 depending on the ear molds, etc.” No way in Hell I can afford that. Wish there were a more moderate purchase that still produces great results.

Laura

what fm band does the super 440 uses to connect to mdex or is it a secret or some other communication software?

kashif

@leviathan said:

Hi Um Bongo

Your explanation for the M-Dex is perfectly sound and its understandable why Widex have chosen to do it this way.

However - the new FM+Dex system is also mono and does not require phone capability. So I’m a little baffled why Widex have neglected to make this device stereo…

I would most like to know the reasoning…so if you get the chance to speak to Widex, I would be most interested.

It’s just a limitation of the M-Dex. It went along the lines that if you want to send two channels you double the time window and halve the quality. When you are performing proper real time duplex with a phone signal, delays sound like echoes, especially with your own voice. This doesn’t matter with th the tv-Dex as 15usec is equivalent to about 9feet from the TV, so the voice and the audio ‘hit’ about the same point.

The same is true of the Fm system, the need to have real time audio outweighs ( in their opinion) the need to have stereo streaming.

Forgive my recollection of this, but we were speaking in the bar

After using the super 220, I am testing the super 440. the noise cancellation is much better and I hear speech much clearer than the super 220. So the more channels are needed for clearity.

kashif

After testing the super 440 for 2 weeks, I have replaced it with super 220 again.

The feedback test was done again on super 220. I feel that it is about same in quality as compare to super 440. The main thing is to do the feedback test in-situ. That is mould should be pressed against the ear to complete the test. Now I am feeling that there is more background noise. After adjusting the background noise, the super 220 is feeling ok.

regards
kashif

I just got back from my visit with my audi - I did another hearing exam, and the results were on par with the results from the last hearing aid dispenser. She doesn’t feel I’d need the Widex super and recommends the Widex Fusion. I hear great things about this hearing aid so I’m going to plan to purchase these in the fall…looking forward to hearing the difference. The great thing is she changed the settings on my current hearing aids and I’m absolutely loving the improvement in sound. The right person doing the programming does make a world of difference.

After using super 220 today, I have to focus more to listen to someone. While using the widex super 440, I hear much better and have to focus much less as compared to widex super 220.

My hearing loss is severe to profound.

I posted elsewhere about these, unfortunately, I may be stuck with them since the eval is over. I am not happy, couple things:

1. way too sensitive to moisture, weird sounds occur, then go away after a night in the HA drier, wax guard needs changing at times so you have to carry them around with you, a few times an aid stopped working until I replaced the guard
2. speech in noise is really terrible for me, I have a significant loss as you can see from my sig., I do miles better with the Naida BTE in a noisy restaurant
3. I get that same limiter overwhelmed experience if I go somewhere that is loud, like a bar with a band, even if outside
4. the MDEX works fantastic for me, bluetooth to phone flawless and clarity is very good. Others can hear me well. The connection from MDEX to aids needs work though, if you move your head one way or the other, distancing one aid from the MDEX the sound drops out of that aid, needs work there. The unit itself is a bit too big. The directional thing didn’t do much for me at all.
5. music sounds pretty good, I am a semi pro guitarist and brought my instrument with me each time to tune the music program, its tedious but well worth the effort.

all in all, I’d say the poor speech discrimination is a deal breaker for me…going to look at the Naida RITE

Any thoughts on this appreciated…I am suspecting the software isn’t too great and/or my audie isn’t schooled enough in it, not sure about that.