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How much of a difference/what should I expect to hear?

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Oticon Bass domes, single vs double vent. Using in my left ear on an 85 db receiver. Not sure I hear any difference. Should I and what frequencies?

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You need to give more details. Are you wearing hearing aids in both ears? Or just the left one?

Are you a brand new user or experienced user?

What hearing aids are you wearing?

What is your expectation from wearing hearing aids?

Hi Volusiano,
I have been wearing for 6 years. This, OPN1s, are second set, about 7 months. My hearing is influenced by Meniere’s Disease and has worsened on the past several years. My right ear is mostly effected with speech discrimination very low in that ear. Right ear has 105 db receiver with closed power dome. Right ear mainly provides some spatial support to my hearing. Left ear is 85 db receiver with Bass dome. I purchased them online and was given single and double vented Bass domes as well as open domes to try. I have stayed with the Bass domes for the past 7 months, but cannot determine what the difference in hearing is with either, hence my original question. As to what I expect. I would like to have a set of aids that give me as close a hearing experience to what I had when a young man. I know that perfection is impossible, just trying to understand what the sound difference should be with the diff domes.

Although you will never get the original hearing you had back, you should expect to be able to hear sounds you can’t hear without hearing aids, and understand speech when you have your hearing aids on.

It seems like you have the correct dome fittings to your ears, and your receivers’ sizes seem more than adequate for your hearing loss.

Thank you, Volusiano, for taking the time to reply. To make sure that my assumption is correct, I should not hear, then, any difference between the single and double vented Bass domes?

OK, I finally understand your real question. I originally thought it was not well worded because I never expected that kind of question because i just assumed that nobody would ask this type of question. But it is very clear now that I understand that the context of the question is pretty much black and white the way it was worded.

The answer is no, there should be no difference in the amplified sound if you wear a bass dome with single vent, vs wearing a bass dome with double vent. The difference of an extra vent simply means that you may feel a little less occluded with the extra vent.

In terms of programming in a bass dome with single vent vs a bass dome with double vent, Genie 2 may take into consideration the extra vent and perhaps modify the amplification slightly to make up for the leakage due to the extra vent. But you’re talking about a very small vent here so whatever slight difference Genie 2 may prescribe the amplification for you is probably not noticeable to you at all.

Now if you’re talking about an open dome vs a bass dome, then you may notice a bigger difference, with the open dome maybe sounding tinnier. But between the single vent vs double vent bass dome, you probably won’t notice much difference at all.

Volusiano, thanks again for the attention you paid to my question. I appreciate the understanding you provided. I have had a strange experience with the new OPN1s. They came supposedly programmed to my , but I have found that they work for me with the equivalent of 5 clicks down in volume. I tried them at the originally set volume, but could not tolerate and came to believe that my base hearing levels were adjusting down (my losing hearing capability). I have Genie 2 and Hi-Pro and have made an initial reduction in volume after saving the original program. Need to spend more time reading here to increase my proficiency. Thanks again.

I suggest that you try the in-situ audiometry in Genie 2 and re-prescribe your OPNs to the in-situ result instead of using the original result. This hopefully will give you a much more accurate prescription based and calibrated specifically to your actual OPNs and your current hearing, and will give you a more appropriate level of amplification.

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