I have high frequency loss in my left ear. The Audiologist said it would not benefit me for a in that ear, so he prescribed a Cross Over which transmits sounds from my left ear over to the right ear. I have a HA in my right ear. I’m pleased with the Cross Over.
Question: Any comments on a Cross Over aid, like it or not?
Does anyone have a HA instead of a Cross Over with loss of high frequency and if so, does it help?
Hey @cjpines,
Do you happen to know any specifics of your hearing loss? Perhaps an ? (Graph with O and X symbols). There are various degrees of high frequency hearing losses and the outcomes for treating these hearing losses also varies (depending on each individual’s unique hearing loss). Generally or hearing aids (what you referred to as cross over) are reserved for when a person has no usable/aidable hearing in one ear and therefore we cannot aid the hearing in that ear. Generally high frequency hearing losses do not fall into this category. But I would need to know more about your hearing loss to speak any further.
Indeed @cjpines. You’ve been here a while. How about entering in your on this site? (not just an uploaded image) That way the experts offering their input have something to work with.
This is a little more complicated than I anticipated. There is not a perfect solution here. I can tell you that if I saw you in clinic I would try a hearing aid in both ears to begin with. Even though you do not have any usable high frequency hearing in the left ear you have alot of low frequency hearing that can be aided and used to its full potential. Even though it might not add alot to your ability to understand speech directly - it can help with feeling “balanced” and will improve your ability to tell where sounds are coming from which can improve hearing in noise. When you are in noise, a very important cue from our brain is the ability to hear from both sides. Even in the realm of speech understanding your left ear would still be able to pick up alot of sound - when you combine this with your right ear then the improvement can be significant. Hearing is not additive; for example if you understood 10% of speech with your left ear and 40 percent with your right ear we would not expect you to get 50% when you listen from both sides; it is more likely that you would improve much more than that. In the world of sound, even a small improvement can result in a huge functional improvement. Especially when you add in other cues from the real world such as speechreading/lip reading, using context to help.
There is a hierarchy when it comes to using sound. Best case scenario is you are able to comprehend what you are hearing (e.g. understand what someone has said). Below comprehension on the hierarchy is discrimination - the ability to be able to determine what the sound is or discriminate between two competing sounds. Below that is sound awareness - the ability to be aware that a sound is present even if you aren’t able to discriminate what it is. Even if the hearing aid in your left ear was marginal in its improvement for speech understanding it should help with your ability to discriminate and be aware of certain sounds.
With 12% word recognition our expectations for comprehension in your left ear are poor - this is most likely why the Audiologist recommended a because in his/her opinion they did not believe there is benefit to be gained. This is a possibility; but I would not make this conclusion without trying because th decision to abandon an ear is a very significant decision. Your hearing in your left ear will never be as good as your right ear due to the nature of your hearing loss, but there is alot of usable/aidable hearing in your left ear to at least TRY and work with (i.e. a trial with two hearing aids). Moving to a CROS/ system is your way of telling your body that you no longer are interested in keeping your left ear active/healthy and there is a high risk of the auditory pathways/nerves wearing away.
I would not recommend a CROS/BiCROS system unless I knew you had an accurate trial of two hearing aids and we determined that you were receiving no benefit form the left ear.
If the Audiologist you saw is not interested in trying two hearing aids with you and only wants to go to a CROS/BiCROS then I would find an Audiologist who is interested in trying. The outcome with hearing aids is unknown because there are so many aspects of your hearing loss that cannot be determined from an . It is also going to take quite a bit of time, most likely, for your to adapt and use the hearing in both ears to their fullest potential, especially the left. If you go in with the mindset that this is rehabilitation and it is going to take time then you’ll be better prepared to tackle this process.
Your advice and expertise is amazing. I’m contacting my Audi requesting a H/A for my left ear after my new hearing test April 30th. He should get back to me soon. I will take your advice and see another Audi if his recommendation says no.
Much appreciation in the detailed answer you gave me. I’ll keep you posted.
I had my hearing test April 30th and it’s the same as my last one 3 1/2 years ago. I asked my Audi about trying a in my left ear which has no high frequency and I wear a Cross. He said it would not help at all.
Four years ago I was wearing two HA’s for five years. When I knew I needed another test and new aids, this is when the new Audi discovered the left HA was not doing anything for me.
So here I am thinking I may get another opinion.
I also am trying a Roger Pen for meetings and noisy places. Do you know about this?
I also am trying a Roger Pen for meetings and noisy places. Do you know about this?
I’ve used the Roger Pen for around 2 years. I’ve just bought the new Roger Select Microphone and the improvement is huge! I’m very impressed with how I am hearing.
Hey @cjpines,
That is unfortunate that your audiologist doesn’t want to try a hearing aid in the left ear. There is definitely grounds for that opinion but I’m always hesitant to abandon an ear unless we know you aren’t getting any functional improvement out of it. So I would suggest finding an audiologist who is willing to try a bilateral hearing aid fitting.
Roger Systems are wonderful for improving speech in noise. The Roger Pen or EasyPen has been around for a while and I’ve had alot of success with them. If you are also wanting to use it in meetings then I would suggest looking at the new Roger Select which is just in the process of coming out - I believe it is available for order in Canada next week, not sure about the USA. You can read about it here - https://www.phonak.com/ca/en/hearing-aids/accessories/roger-select.html63 . For one on one the Pen and Select are both going to work the same, but for meetings then the Select has alot of advantages as it can be placed on the table and it will beam form automatically or you can lock it into a certain beam. There is also a new Roger Table Mic coming out for meetings that is very beneficial as well. For smaller meetings when everyone is within about 6’ of the microphone then the Roger Select is a better choice - but Roger Table Mic can be put into an array so you can have multiple of them on the table to create a multi talker network (great for larger meetings but increases the cost). But the table mics cannot be used for anything else. The Roger Pen and Select can be worn by someone else which make it ideal for one-on-one.
Thanks for all this information. Not sure about the Roger Select here in Calif, but will check it out.
Well, it won’t hurt to try another Audi for left ear aid. At least I can try it out for a time without paying for it, on trial, and hope I would know by then if it will work for me.
I was interested in the Roger Pen because you can wear it around your neck and I think you can put it on a table, but it may not reach everyone unless you point it towards that person I think. I was also interested to find out if it works in a grocery stores, banks, retail, so I can hear the clerks. Most of them speak too fast or to low even if I’m two feet away.
I couldn’t find out with Roger Select if you can pin it onto your shirt.
I’ve decided I’m going to take my hearing aid test to another Audi for an opinion. Thank you again.
Roger Pen and Select can both be worn around the neck and can both sit on the table. However, the pen will be in omnidirectional mode when on the table (i.e. picks up sound from all sides equally). The Select can automatically beam form to the loudest talker or can be locked into a beam if you only want to hear certain people around the table. So this is where the Select functions above and beyond the pen. The only think the Select can’t do that the Pen can is be used as an interview mic. So you could hold it when talking to people and point in in their direction. If you don’t think you would ever use it as the “interview” mic then I’d get the Select because it has so many more features.
Again - I’ve never used the Select but the webinars I’ve attended and the idea behind should work fantastic if used properly.
Hi there, I have a question for you. First I haven’t seen another audiologist yet, I’m working on testing a Roger Pen with my current audiologist, but I will find another audi soon.
My question, when I use my headphones for TV I can hear every word with my left ear, but my says I have 12% hearing – a loss of high frequency and I now wear a cross as you know. Is it because the headphones have more of a higher microphone level that a hearing aid?
I’m not sure what you mean by 12% hearing. 12% speech recognition? Perhaps the test was done at a lower volume than you listen with your headphones? Really don’t know.
