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Bose self-fitting hearing aids are finally here (Bose SoundControl™)

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In reply to @tenkan

I suspect many people with high frequency losses don’t like the sound when high frequencies are restored and are happy doing without. I don’t think that’s wise, but it may explain situations like this.

Yeah could be the case, have to agree it wouldn’t be suitable to do this.

@danhuddleston said:

So, it is a NO for most people on this forum?

Certainly seems to be. Not many people with mild loss around on the forum.

There is a front vs everywhere setting for directional vs omni … but I don’t remember seeing a slider for reducing background noise specifically.

If these are like the Hearphones, there is no noise cancelling for live speech–only directional microphones.

In reply to @MDB

Don’t count me in that camp. I have high frequency loss, and want it restored as much as possible. There’s nothing like that xylophone piece in “Love the One You’re With,” and it’s one of the things I loved hearing again when I first got aids years ago.

What causes you to suspect that many people with high frequency loss won’t like the sound when it’s restored?

On the Hearphones, the World Volume definitely works for outside noise, whether streaming or not. I’m not sure about the SoundControls. It probably wouldn’t be as effective for those, just because of the way they fit, but for the Hearphones, the World Volume and mute were amazingly good.

Guess we can agree to disagree. I trialed the Hearphones and couldn’t figure out how to reduce noise for speech other than with directional mics. I called Bose and they said then noise reduction worked only with streaming. Perhaps we’re talking about different things.

World volume is not a noise reduction control, but it does change volume, pitch, and compression …

In reply to @jay_man2

There are a lot of complaints on here about sound quaility with new hearing aids. “Sounds like a cheap transistor radio.” “Too sharp.” certain sounds being too loud “sounds like a computer” “sounds like everybody breathed helium.” I think most of these are related to getting high frequency sounds restored that people hadn’t heard in a long time.

Yeah, you just have to push through and let your brain adjust.

@MDB said:

I think most of these are related to getting high frequency sounds restored that people hadn’t heard in a long time.

Hearing aid companies know about this too, which is why they typically provide less high pitch amplification than needed. If the audiologist goes with the hearing aid manufacturer’s recommended settings, people are typically more satisfied, but also receive less benefit… ultimately, it reduces return rate, and this means more units sold, and happy shareholders… some of the companies provide auto-acclimatization features that gradually increase the highs over time, but these features must be activated by the audiologist, and often aren’t… this is why are so critical… you simply can’t trust the manufacturer to give you the best possible outcome. Interestingly, Bose found that people adjusted themselves up over time to eventually give themselves amplification that was similar to what REMs would have achieved, so I do hold out hope that empowering users with simplified controls like “world volume” (which actually allows powerful self-customization behind the curtain) will lead to acceptable or even good outcomes for the users of these products… of course, as has been discussed, most of the folks in this forum will be out of range for Bose, but maybe these types of controls will find their way into medical models. I’m all for it.

Edited

Any idea why a company would restrict sales to only 5 states?

And an odd choice of states . . . Two immediately adjacent states (the Carolinas), Texas makes a third state from the same region, the South.
Montana has a tiny population, so why bother? No states from either the Midwest or anywhere west of the Rockies.

For those who are curious about the 5th state, it’s Massachusetts.

I don’t know. Guessing it’s related to state regulations? They have the green light to sell direct from the , but not sure what things are like state by state.

Interesting thought. I was guessing they had certain test marketing demographics in mind, but yours makes more sense.

My order arrived Thursday night, so I’ve had 2 days with them. doesn’t eliminate feedback at my settings, so I don’t think I’ll be keeping them. Customer support is very good, so I’ll give them a shot at helping me, but I don’t think there’s much they can do. I’ll post details when I have more time.

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