Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Frequency shifting - possible to get used to?

This topic is closed.

38 replies2.7k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic

Yeah Jim, that’s a bummer! Only thing that’s going to increase your speed would be satellite broadband! Here, nowadays we have FTTC; Fibre To The Cabinet, then for me, the last hundred yards or so comes down copper… UK government is now rolling out FTTP; Fibre To The Premises, with that a few hundred mbpc will be the order of the day, although that will take years to rollout … I consider myself very fortunate to now have an excellent line speed, prior to the new cabinet going in it was slow, around 3 1/2mb, I couldn’t be bothered hacking my router again, I did put in an ADSL filter plate though. Cheers Kev :wink:

I have the previous version Phonak, the Belong series. I have several dead spots above 3K (and overall moderate sloping to profound loss) so we tried Sound Recover. It was OK at the default setting, but better and better as we adjusted it.

Right now I have it set all the way to max. At first there were some strange sounding things and some weird tones, especially in music.

But now, everything sounds better and I am able to understand more. It gets my loss down into the 40-90 range, where hearing aids can actually help, and avoids the dead spots.

I think a lot of pros are skeptical of there being improvements in speech understanding, and there are some studies that don’t show great benefits. Maybe some pros can tell us what they think.

I’m sure I benefit from Sound Recover (Phonak’s version of ) and I plan to keep it cranked to max.

there is also the problem of fitting the "attack /release speeds to fit your capability to understand.
I had phonaks sound recover software & never got a good frequency transfer. I think the conflict with attack/release speeds resulting in distortions.
my questions is what companies have the ability to fine tune the attack /release at the different areas of hearing spectrum? I tried phonaks/ resounds & cant get good fit.
I am looking for HA software that has max variable tuning for attack/release at different frequencies…
any one know?

Hi Tea, good to see your posts again! I had the same experience you describe. When I first got hearing aids, I heard some sounds I thought were static when people were speaking. I couldn’t understand how two brand new hearing aids could both be broken! I kept using them, and to my surprise some weeks later I realized belatedly that I was no longer hearing static. I was hearing the letter “s.” The brain is amazingly adaptable! Good luck with your new model hearing aids and hearing during university work.

In reply to @SpudGunner

@SpudGunner said:

I’m having a lot of trouble getting that course to play for me … I live in the country and don’t have super internet, but I’ve taken at least 8 audiology online courses with no problems.

Any suggestions about how I can improve this?

I have high speed internet but I didn’t want to sit through the 5 hour class so I just downloaded the course handouts (3 PDF files) and skimmed through the 2 presentation files to pick out the interesting stuff I wanted to see. That way I can skip a lot of overhead stuff that I don’t want to spend time on.

In reply to @cohen

This is similar to cochlear implants. Could be more or less though.
Like hearing aids, it’s all about teaching the very adaptable brain how to listen.

When I first used technology it was very different. The sounds were absolutely strange but in the middle of these sounds were a few things I recognized, like kitchen buzzers, birds and turn signals in vehicles. These sounds are what kept me going to continue learning all these new sounds. Eventually they became speech.

Frequency lowering technology is pretty amazing. If you have forgotten your high frequencies, it takes time to relearn them. Be patient, it will come.

In reply to @Don

Thanks, Don. My first reaction was the music sounded horrendous, but I quickly got used to how music sounded. Still not sure about the sound of speech, or some speech sounds in some voices. I think this might take a while to adjust to… But very reassuring to hear that you have gotten used to it!

In reply to @cohen

I really find the frequency shifting fascinating and seeing the posts here saying that people have adjusted to it makes me hope that the plasticity of the brain is eventually going to solve the problem for me too. I know what I get here is anecdotal evidence, but frankly Phonak isn’t doing much better in their white paper about Sound Recover. And, if the best they can do in terms of finding support for their own technology is a few studies with N around 10, then it seems like it’s a bit hit and miss. Still, I’m very motivated to make this work and I’m currently practicing by listening to pod casts with people I know (that is, well-known voices) as a means of trying to get used to how frequency shifting makes things sound.

Tea, you may want to look up the work of Joshua Alexander at Purdue University. He has a Master Class on Frequency Shifting on Audiology Online. He also has a something called a “sound shaper fitting assistant,” I hope this link works:
https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~alexan14/SoundShaperAssist2_0.html20

I realized that most shift even very high frequencies down when using compression (e.g., Phonak). Let me be practical about my ability to process sound: I was not able to hear even 6kHz when I was in my 20s. Why in the world would I expect any auditory cortex of mine would be capable of making sense of 11kHz now?? Alexander’s approach is to NOT compress everything, but to leave some frequencies inaudible. I’ve done the experiment. I am working with audibility in a limited range of frequencies by how I am programming Sound Recover 2 in my Phonak aids. And I am hearing both better and more comfortably. I’m not saying this would work for you. Hearing is far to personal to extrapolate. I’m just mentioning a counterintuitive way of improving hearing that works for some folks. I hope it’s a helpful perspective as you assess your specific situation and choices. Sincerely, Barb

I’m in the same situation, but worse, despite frequency shifting F and S I cannot hear, I have to guess out of the context or hearing people have to write it down for me. I really prefer sign language, tactile sign language due to my deafblindness. Sign language interpreter/ DeafBlind Assistance is a must.

In reply to @dirk_g

Have no idea what your health insurance coverage is like in Berlin, but looking at your , I’d guess you’d benefit from a Cochlear Implant evaluation.

Thanks,

Your hearing is questionably worse than mine before getting ’s. I could not hear sound from about 2000 hertz up and just wasn’t enough to overcome this deficit.

Your aids have Sound Recover 2, do you know if they are set as aggressive as possible for you? The Sound Recover 2 settings need to be adjusted to lower numbers to bring your S and F sounds into your hearing range.

Have you had a cochlear implant evaluation?

Good luck

I stay deaf, I cannot get because they cannot get in with the Electrons into my Cochlea. I’m fine being deaf, I am mostly among Deaf/ DeafBlind People, anyway. I have Interpreter/ DeafBlind Assitance.

Yeah @dirk_g, I worked years ago with 2 Deaf Blind clients, as a Communicator Guide, in the UK we use (Deaf/Blind Manual), we sign on the hands, I am almost certain you will do likewise, it will be different signs though…. I was always happiest working with the Deaf/Blind, they were just a joy to work with, full of life and full of fun, although I shouldn’t have been, I was always amazed how their other senses were were so highly raised, especially smell and touch, my clients would recognise me immediately when I was several feet away, I suppose my aftershave was helpful, but their memory was so sharp. Good luck in your journey, cheers Kev.

Thank you, my “Journey” what you call it, is going well so far. I have Support, if I need it. I use Sign Language in my residual Centralvision, and tactile Sign Language in DeafBlind club, or on some Ocassions like Convents or so when Pandemic is low, finally. Sure DGS (Deutsche Gebärdensprache) German Sign Language is different. Than is Lorm Alpahabet on Fingers, Thumb, Side of the Hand or in the Handpalm…

Related discussions