Oticon Alta2/Nera2/Ria2

I have had hearing loss for 10+ years. I would say it is “moderate”. I’m fine in 1 on 1 situations, but seemingly deaf in situations with lots of background noise. I do not believe I lip read, my audiologist believes I may not be aware of it. I found that I have done a lot of filling in the blanks. Ex. “I woke up and walked the {unintelligible} today”… i would fill in the blank in my head as to what was most logical word (“dog” in this example). I can’t say I’ve ever consciously read lips.

I believe that my audiologist programmed in 2 settings, the first one I’m assuming is the default, the second one is the “forward mic” -only settings. I"m finding that the first one seems to be the best.

Assuming your audiologist didn’t tweak things manually, what you probably have is the “General” program on P1 and the “Conversation in Noise” program on P2. By default, the general program has Tri-mode automatic mics (it will automatically switch the mics from surround to directional modes when the situation calls for it. Specifics of the noise reduction, compression speed, etc., depend on your answers to the fitting questions. “Conversation in Noise” has fixed directional microphones, aggressive noise reduction, and compression rates designed to optimize speech even at the expense of naturalness.

In my experience the Conversation in Noise program does work — it improves my speech-in-noise threshold by 5 dB from +2.5 to -2.5 — but it should only be used in noisy situations. In everyday situations and even in light noise it makes my comprehension much worse.

This is all interesting-- I am hearing folks all around me sometimes better than people in front, but 3 of my programs are the tinnitus sounds. I wonder if next time I see the audi, I should ask to change one of those settings to hear better in noise.

I’m getting the Oticon Alta Pro 2 TI miniRITE tomorrow. This is all so new to me but the more i read the more sense it makes. I think once I get a few weeks behind me some of these situations will make more sense.

I’ve had the Alta Pro 2 TI miniRITE for 10 days now. I’m new to hearing aids so I don’t have a comparison. I guess I got lucky and got these at the right time since these are the new releases. I have 4 programs right now. 1. is general listening 2. is to decrease sudden loud sounds (I work in psych hospital with kids and they can scream for hours at times) 3. is for listening in meetings 4. is for tinnitus and I have the ocean sounds. I’ve found I toggle between 1 and 2 during the day and go to 4 at home when winding down. The program 2 is one that I really like and works well in restaurants (psych hospitals) and when driving.

Driving has been difficult because of all the sounds from the cars and road. Anyone have any suggestions in regards to that. I go back to my audi next week for my first follow up.

I’m to the point now where most sounds are loud but comfortable. Still getting used to my own voice at times and the sounds of chewing (I have misphonia so that is a bit of a struggle).

@itodd said:

I’ve had the Alta Pro 2 TI miniRITE for 10 days now. I’m new to hearing aids so I don’t have a comparison. I guess I got lucky and got these at the right time since these are the new releases. I have 4 programs right now. 1. is general listening 2. is to decrease sudden loud sounds (I work in psych hospital with kids and they can scream for hours at times) 3. is for listening in meetings 4. is for tinnitus and I have the ocean sounds. I’ve found I toggle between 1 and 2 during the day and go to 4 at home when winding down. The program 2 is one that I really like and works well in restaurants (psych hospitals) and when driving.

Driving has been difficult because of all the sounds from the cars and road. Anyone have any suggestions in regards to that. I go back to my audi next week for my first follow up.

I’m to the point now where most sounds are loud but comfortable. Still getting used to my own voice at times and the sounds of chewing (I have misphonia so that is a bit of a struggle).

They have been out a little while now. New Oticon product is sitting on the horizon for initial release late spring.

Stick to it. Research shows that it can take an average of 4 months to get accustomed to all of those new sounds, and an average of 2 months before you achieve your best speech clarity improvement. Your AuD will probably address some of those things at your appointment, but as long as you are able to wear your devices full time, you are doing great!