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Sibilance in Widex Unique 440 Fusions

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I am new to hearing aids and to the practices of audiologists.

I just finished testing for one week my very first pair, Audibel A4, which had about 45 minutes of seemingly careful back and forth adjustments by the audiologist. I was generally happy with them, but I didn’t know what to listen for.

From a different audiologist, without a break, I’ve just started testing some Widex Unique 440s that had about 20 minutes of tuning during a rushed fit-you-in type appointment.

With the Audibels, it took two days to tolerate my own voice. With the Widex, it has taken only a few hours. I believe this more a function of my own brain and not the aids, themselves.

I understand about the brain getting used to my own voice and to other sounds. However, my engineer’s knowledge of sound systems leads me to think that sibilance is a systems issue more than it is a hearing issue. Only the Widexes have a sibilance problem, and I consider it a severe problem. Many but not all voices sound very much like an old radio that has not been tuned in exactly. It is unacceptably annoying, and I had to remove them to listen to the news.

The loaner Audibels were set for automatic volume adjustment with manual adjustment denied. At the appointment, I thought this very odd, but yet I never felt the need to adjust it during the week. Contrastingly, the Widexes were issued with 8 volume settings available. In the lowest setting, I hear very little sibilance, but the aid is not doing enough for me at that setting.

I ask this group to share knowledge and experience with sibilance. Is it likely that, for me, the Audibels are just a better choice than the Widexes? Is it more likely that just not enough time was spent in the short Widex fitting appointment to get rid of sibilance? Over time, doe one accommodate for sibilance such that it is not heard at all? Does anyone know the strategy for getting rid of sibilance when tuning hearing aids? The frequencies that it usually occurs, 3K to 8K, is where I need the boost, and just lowering those frequencies would be a waste.

Hz 250 500 1K 1.5K 2K 3K 4K 6K 8K
L 20 20 20 30 45 75 90 95 95
R 20 15 20 25 35 65 85 85 80

6 people in this conversation7 min readJump to latest

I have a Widex Beyond, which is simply the Widex Unique Fusion 440 with iPhone connectivity. I do not experience what you describe. I would venture to guess, given your high frequency loss, you are simply hearing sounds you have long missed, and will need to retrain you brain, so to speak. The Widex is highly tuneable. You may want to try the programming mode where you have 3 steps instead of 8 steps on the “volume control”, it will impact a lot more features than the 8 step control. You also can have the programmer shift the overall mode more towards “comfort” and see if that helps. Some technical resources for you: Introducing the New Widex UNIQUE: Because Every Situation is Unique14

So you, like the audiologist, believe that even severe sibilance with be accommodated for in time. Is there anyone on the forum who from their own experience can comment on this?

I know it is obvious to conclude and has been written elsewhere that the Widex Beyond is just a Unique with extra connectivity, but their output graphs do differ, with the Beyond having a significant kick up after 8K that the Unique lacks. See http://webfiles.widex.com/WebFiles/9%20502%203790%20001%2002.pdf9 and http://webfiles.widex.com/WebFiles/9%20502%204077%20001%2002.pdf5, respectively for the Unique and Beyond with the same P receiver. So what, I suppose; can any over 40 male actually hear the high?

If I get Widex, I plan on the Beyonds, but they weren’t available for demonstration.

Thank you for your input, Jeff.

Edited

I have 45 years experience wearing hearing aids. Not enough? Every single time I get a new hearing aid, I have to retrain myself to their sound. It takes me 4-6 weeks. I make no decisions inside that time frame on new devices.

Those output graphs are substantially similar, the “kick” is minor, likely not even statistically significant.

@TRY said:

Only the Widexes have a sibilance problem, and I consider it a severe problem. Many but not all voices sound very much like an old radio that has not been tuned in exactly. It is unacceptably annoying, and I had to remove them to listen to the news.

I would suggest checking with your Widex audiologist to see if he or she turned on Audibility Extender. This feature transposes high frequency speech sounds into a lower frequency area where your hearing is better. A setting that is too strong may produce a hissing or lispy sound quality.

My own 2-cents’ worth: TRY - you nailed the exact impression I had when I tried out the Widex Unique a few months ago (before finally deciding the Oticon Opn miniRITEs were the BEST for me). What you call “sibilance” I call “Public Address System” sound quality. I absolutely LOATHED that characteristic on the Widex. Not only did human speech sound thin, tinny, and almost whistle-like with the “s”, “f” etc., but music? Forget it! I literally had some Pink Floyd on our hi fi at home and couldn’t even recognize what song was playing.

I felt that my aud-guy did as good a job as he could (?) setting up the frequency channels, but I just didn’t like the sound quality at all. (That said, the Resound aids I tried for about 10 min shortly after were even WORSE.)

I’m not sure if the sibilance you’re experiencing with these Unique’s is a function of settings or the aids themselves. If you are not happy with the sound quality - keep looking! I wanted a rich sound with adequate midrange and bass, but also high freq’s for speech clarity. I also wanted aids that would let me enjoy music as much as I do with my 4-yr old Oticon Agil Pro (completely different case, as these sit IN the ear). I think the Oticon Opn was as good as it gets for now. I’ve still had to work harder to understand speech in noisy environments, but at least 90% of the rest of my life is great with these aids.

I also wanted to switch from a hard case aid IN the ear to a softer dome + wire - and that meant the mic sits behind my ear. Not a perfect world for hearing natural sound, but definitely more comfortable throughout the day.

Be persistent! You’re paying good money for these aids, and you deserve to get THE BEST model & make for your listening preferences. Let us know what works out for you.

Hi, I am trying the Widex unique 440s . I found them very “light” sounding so gave added some base but sounds very robotic & can’t hear speech very well. Not sure if I need to take base back off and change programme type?

Edited

When we were dialing in my Beyond’s, at one point the audiologist pushed the “audibility” vs “comfort” setting too far towards the audibility end and it sounded exactly as described - like listening to a PA system. More towards “comfort” sounded better, but I could not pick speech out as well. I ended up one tick up from the middle, towards the “audibility” side and at this point, I am considering this the best aid I have owned to date. We changed no other settings on the aid, did not touch the audibility extender, for example.

That’s really helpful, thank you. I am seeing audiologist tomorrow and have got this to show him. I will update you again with how it goes. They are fine when connected directly to phone so would seem to be programming issue so hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.

Hi, I gave up as the single microphone did not work for me so hoping to try the again. I may try the 330 as this is what I am used to. Does the beyond mean you are always connected to your phone? The aids I just tried meant I got text message alerts straight into my ears & when I played music on my phone it changed to the music programme automatically which doesn’t work for me when out running as all the traffic becomes louder.

Edited

The Beyond does not play text message alerts, just phone ringing, and this can be turned on or off, as well as default music settings. does not always have to be on, you can turn BT off.

Ok thanks and can this be turned off via remote or would it need to be by phone? I tried to change my phone settings with the 440 ’s but still kept changing my programmes automatically and getting text messages in my ears. I don’t always want to carry my phone with me. When I got a text message etc my settings would then reset back to normal, very frustrating when turned down etc.

I have got an android phone so not sure if that is the issue? Everytime I unlocked it the programme would change to music & then keep changing between the two so was rather frustrating. I looked at settings on phone but only way I could see to get round it was switch off Bluetooth connection but it just made it really annoying for example if out walking & got text would go to music programme & keep changing which was very disorientating.

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