Analogue to digital struggles

Hi @dhoz, as for clarity, it is a bit of a misconception regarding more severe/profound losses, perhaps our “Holy Grail”, we crave it! Unfortunately, we might get clarity in perfect conditions, but not in the more challenging acoustic situations… Adapting to digital aids is a challenge, and I am afraid the hearing aid manufacturers will not regress, and go back to analogue, so sorry to say, adapt you must. One of my friends in the profound threshold, with a conductive loss, I have known her for 40 odd years, anyway she clung on to her old analogue BAHA aids, and refused many offers of new digital BAHA’s as she hated how digital sounded, but eventually they had become unrepairable, so out of any other options she was forced to go digital, and now she is fine… As you can see by my audiogram I am also in the severe/profound threshold, I have worn possibly 15 to 20 different sets of aids in the last 30 odd years, mostly Phonak and Oticon, both analogue & digital, I am on my 4th set of Phonak Naida’s, I have the latest Naida Paradise BTE UP with custom silicon molds, and twin walled tubing, apparently the twin walled tubing helps with feedback, and gives me another 5db of gain… These are brilliant aids, the very best I have ever owned, Bluetooth connections are rock solid, I can pair with up to 8 different devices, 2 simultaneously. Phonak TV connector is a wonderful piece of kit, I have 2, 1 on my iMac, and 1 on my TV, the sound is pristine. As for clarity, I can hear the birds again when I am out and about walking, I can also hear the kitchen clock ticking away from approximately 10 feet away… Phone calls are a breeze via Bluetooth to my iPhone x. I have only had these Naida’s for 5 weeks, and because of Covid, I have yet to try them out in a more challenging environment… Hopefully they will be fine. Good Luck, Cheers Kev.

Hello, no I’m not streaming anything on them. It’s mostly just my daughters voices that I’m struggling with, I’ll ask the audi if she can make softer voices louder. If I can understand my daughters then the rest of the issues I’ll learn to live with. Thanks so much for your input, it is so helpful!

Hi Kev, thank you so much for your comment it is incredibly helpful! I have screenshotted it and will show my audi the suggestions on this forum. I have always had phonak aids (analogue) and haven’t yet tried any digital phonaks. I will ask the audi about using the streaming option as well, I haven’t a clue if mine have that option yet! Good luck with your new Phonaks, hopefully they work well when you try them out in public when the situation permits. Thanks again

You are most welcome @dhoz I would say, if you have been using Phonak analogue BTE’s in the past, then adapting to the Phonak digital BTE’s aids should be easier…. They are a bit larger as they have the 675 batteries, which will last approximately 12 to 14 days with moderate streaming, TBVH I no longer notice their size, the sound is much richer, and crisper with BTE’s as opposed to RIC’s, perhaps you could trial the Phonak Naida Paradise and see how you get on? Let us know how you progress. Good luck, cheers Kev.

Thanks Kev, you’ve been an awesome support. I had normal hearing at birth but by time I was 4 my parents noticed the TV getting louder etc and I was diagnosed with a moderate loss. Could get by ok without hearing aids for a few years but then the loss progressed to the severe range by time I was in my early teen years. It plateaued for a couple of decades and just in the last couple of years it has slightly deteriorated again. I’m very lucky to have learnt to talk before losing my hearing and I’m quite the chatterbox and also very loud, as my family love to remind me audiobooks are an absolute fantastic idea, I hadn’t considered that! You’re a wealth of knowledge it’s great you can self program your hearing aids if need be, I’m so used to doing my own adjustments on the analogue so it’s a bit frustrating having to wait for audiologist appointments to get adjustments on the digitals.

Thank you for the very kind comments I get a lot of satisfaction from hopefully pointing folks in the right direction, if I can? I previously worked as a specialist support worker for the Deaf and HOH, also as a Deaf Awareness Tutor, so I have retained some knowledge from those days, but nothing beats personal experience, and over the years, I made many mistakes through ignorance! Knowledge is a powerful thing if handled correctly…… For my sins, I now work with Criminal Justice, I take the bad boys and girls out to work in the community, it can be both challenging and rewarding in equal measure, and ultimately sometimes very frustrating, but I do get the occasional success story, which in turn gives me such a high! Cheers Kev.

John! You took the words out of my mouth. Digital to me is like nails on a chalkboard. I will end up mentally insane if I cannot get my hands on an analogue. Can I ask what you’re using now and how it’s sounding for you?

Also, $$$$. They are reputed to be pricey.

WH

I don’t know … it depends on what you’re comparing them against. If you have the mindset that without features like bluetooth, etc, they shouldn’t be compared with models that DO have those features, then perhaps they are pricey. They are about half the price for top-of-the-line Phonak or Oticon models, but that “half the price” is an annual cost with these. So at the end of the 2nd year you’re paying money in to it that you probably wouldn’t have to otherwise.

I’m way too new to this game to know how often most end up buying new devices…

I gave up with the Unitron, they were a cruddy, cheap pair of digitals and while some sounds were similar to what I used to hear when I had “normal” hearing, I still struggled with female and childrens voices and the echo and warble with some sounds. I got some Signia Motion 5px bte a couple years ago and they are far superior. I had them adjusted a few times and they were good although still sounded unnatural with a lot of sounds and I had trouble understanding the kids a lot. I got sick of not being able to hear my kids in the back seat when I was driving and they were talking to me so asked Audi to adjust them again, whatever she did has made it so much worse so I went online, found an analogue the same as I’ve always used and haven’t looked back. I’ve now been house/bedbound for the last 9-10 months with an autoimmune flare so haven’t the strength to go back to the Audi and get the Signia Motions re adjusted (some days I can barely stand let alone drive and sit through an appointment!), so it’s just easier with analogue because I can adjust it myself! As I recover, I’m interested in seeing what else Signia have to offer as the technology has hopefully improved since I got the Motions. I’ve also found that the more special features “bells and whistles” , the less clarity I have - just my ecperience-. I understand everyone’s hearing loss is different and even between my 2 ears with relatively similar test results-one ear only distinguishes 65% of speech and the other is 90% with the hearing test headphones on. The “bad” ear even makes sounds very guttural and scratchy whereas my good one has great clarity. It’s very strange!! The Unitrons were I think around the $3000aud each price range and the motions $5000aud each, but I was accepted into the government hearing services program which is awesome but I don’t get to choose my devices

Yeah, the 25-page justification was long. But if you can prove you have trialled various (other HA’s) and justify that HA (a) give you better clarity/speech understanding (or/and find a more expensive brand to test and tell them, that actual one you want is cheaper).

FYI, My Audi is Connect Hearing, My NDIS Support is Baptist Care.

Another suggestion (but it sounds you have been in longer than me), If you haven’t done your review yet. Check your goals (this can help define your plan), make sure they to suggest that you want to be able to better conversations (socially, work related, etc.) and then in Assistive technology Assessment paperwork, make sure you point to how (the HA’s you want) improve your goals.

My hearing challenges do not really compare to yours. But—I have found that if you plan to try Phonak that it is better to use an audiologist very familiar with their software. If your present fitter is merely going to ‘order in’ that would make me nervous. There is science and there is art. Both are necessary ingredients.

@VinceJ. I have used Connect Hearing for nearly 20 years and they know Target inside out (Phonak is their primary device of choice), always do REM. Because I am now in Tas, Connect is not, I am now with Specsavers, I am finding them even better (they even know I have Target and would like to DIY fine tune and fully support me). Both tick all your boxes.

I’m not sure how it works, but I think soft touch labs is selling custom molded K-amps. I dont know if they will be loud enough or not. K-amps are analog hearing aids.

Maybe try experimenting with a few different fitting algorithms on the digital hearing aids. I never wore analog but, having worn DSL pediatric most of my life I recently tried NAL and it was very confusing.