Oticon Real

You would think so, but if you have worn aids as long as I have then you know that there was years that there wasn’t any type of noise reduction at all. I did really see any noisy environment help in the aids I got in 2014 with the Oticon Alta Pros and that was just very small amount of reduction. And wind noise reduction was a small amount in the OPN1 aids and no noticeable difference in the OPNS1 aids. I have noticed a lot of improvements with the More1 aids in wind noise but that also reduced my capacity to understand speech.

@SpudGunner said:

And Oticon is trumpeting they’re so great for doing it at this juncture?

For me, the sudden noise issue was much worse on the Oticon More than in previous aids. Perhaps it was a programming adjustment issue.

I have no idea how my Opn 1’s were set. They were the first pair of hearing aids that I owned, I knew very little, and settings were handled by the audiologist.

What strikes me in reading the white papers is that the manufacturer compares the new generation of hearing aids to their own immediately past generation and to 2 other “major manufacturers”. When Oticon makes that statement would appear to be that they’re talking about Phonak and Widex - or another of the Big 6. But are they? They could be using the term loosely and talking about a couple of their own Demant subsidiaries. We don’t know.

But what we do know is that their hype about the knew generation is telling us that they now consider the previous generation deficient in what is now an area of improvement. And yet if I go back and read the marketing hype from the previous generation, just a few years ago, no such deficiencies were stated or even implied. Back then, they had the answer to everything.

When I was new to hearing aids 7 years ago, it was exciting to see the breakthroughs, to see all of the progress that had been made over what my mother had worn. But now after having lived through several generations of the “latest & greatest”, I feel like I’ve seen this movie before.

Interestingly, Oticon doesn’t mention AI anywhere in its white papers on the Real. Lots of mentions of DNN. And yet AI was the big buzz word with the More just a few years ago. Now that so many companies are also touting AI, that term no longer distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

I’m not attempting to pick on Oticon because the same practice is used by all of the other companies as well. It’s just that this is a thread about an Oticon product, and I have an interest in them because I like their approach and might again buy one of their products. It’s just that the exaggerations are disillusioning, and our impairments make us such a vulnerable population to exploit.

@billgem said:

It’s just that the exaggerations are disillusioning, and our impairments make us such a vulnerable population to exploit

@billgem: I agree 100% with your sentiments, Bill. As you know, I’m a big Oticon fan, more because of their design philosophy than anything. But I resent the fact that I had to pay a $1,500 premium to get the features that I needed in a hearing aid, because they intentionally crippled the More3.

And I resent that I was deprived of my preferred choice of a disposable battery version of the device when it was introduced.

Hype, hype, hype. Hype and greed, even though my More1s are great HAs, I think Oticon’s business practices suck!

It isn’t only Oticon, unfortunately it is just the way almost all corporations are nowadays. And the corporations that have stock holders seem more interested in returning money to the stock holders and paying CEOs outrageous salaries and bonuses.

@cvkemp said:

It isn’t only Oticon, unfortunately it is just the way almost all corporations are nowadays

@cvkemp: I hear ya, Chuck, but it annoys me that I entrusted my hearing (and essentially my quality of life) to Oticon, but - as you rightly point out - they don’t put my hearing at the very top of their priority list, it seems.

Profits trump everything else!

Addendum But I’m actually waiting open-mindedly (as I can be, anyway) for the field reports on the Real come in. Maybe it’s not all hype?

I am extremely blessed as I don’t have to pay anything for my aids and all extras, sure I served my country to get it but I volunteered to serve. I still have to pay for my wife’s medical care, insurance and prescriptions. I also have to have insurance for my dental care.

@billgem said:

But now after having lived through several generations of the “latest & greatest”, I feel like I’ve seen this movie before.

@prodigyplace said:

Wait until you have been through 20 years of hype.

I’ve been wearing aids since the early 90s. I had a set of analog BTE aids for the first decade (no clue the brand) that were great till they kicked the bucket.

At the time my audi swore up and down that these new digital Siemens CIC aids were amazing and they’d be a huge step forward compared to my old analog aids.

They were utterly awful. Good amplification and sound processing in quiet environments, but totally useless in anything that wasn’t quiet. HVAC vent within 10 feet of you? Good luck hearing anything but the sound of a jet engine in your ear. Dinner at a restaurant? Better hope you’re good at reading lips otherwise you’re just straight up SOL.

I had those for about 7 years and finally replaced them with a mini-RITE model whose brand I’m drawing a blank on. Those were hyped as the next best thing since sliced bread, and while a definite improvement over the Siemens, weren’t great. And then I went Starkey, then I think I went Starkey CIC, then Oticon, and now Phonak for the past few years.

Each one has been hyped as the second coming, and each has had distinct, noticeable flaws. It’s just the way the industry works.

@cvkemp said:

I have been reading about hospitals charging Covid patients that had to be placed in ICU over a million dollars for a stay in the ICU and hospital.

I read about the family of a young girl who had been working through the process to get her a kidney transplant for almost 2 years. As the opportunity got close they refused to treat her because she was unvaccinated.

@cvkemp said:

I was raised in a time that vaccines were a health necessity, I still feel that being vaccinated is very important

Yep and still is, man the whole experience has been draining, but all of us who’ve been fully vaccinated (Min 3 shots) are not dying at any rate like the unvaccinated, just as @kevels55 stated it’s been very mild symptoms, this whole thing really affected the ability for everyone trying to get appointment’s to their audiology clinics, I still can’t believe the lame excuses used by the health sector to refuse essential services to a lot of people, hopefully a lesson learnt on how “not” to behave in a pandemic.

@SpudGunner said:

That’s the part of this rollout that has me flummoxed - I just assumed that all the makers would have addressed this issue a looong time ago. And Oticon is trumpeting they’re so great for doing it at this juncture?

Below is a screenshot about Wind Noise Management for the OPN back then. You would think that by what is said in this marketing material, they’ve had the issue licked already. But that’s far from the truth.

I think if you’re at walking pace and there’s wind blowing by your ears, maybe it helps a little. But if you’re on a bike or a motorcycle (without wearing a helmet that covers your ears), then the rustling wind through your ears cannot be adequately managed by their Wind Noise Management feature.

I would be particularly interested in anyone with the Oticon Real and maybe used to wear either the OPN or OPN S or More to share their experience specifically on Wind and also on the Sudden Sound. Remember, Oticon did have the old Transient Noise Management, just as they had the Wind Noise Management, so it’d be very curious to find out if these 2 new features outperform what they had by leap and bound or not.

@billgem said:

I’m not attempting to pick on Oticon because the same practice is used by all of the other companies as well.

Each time a new model from any manufacturer is released, they make it sound like the answer to my prayers. It’s like a tv shopping channel. “You’ll be making delicious cakes and desserts in minutes!”.

@billgem said:

My current hearing devices are Whisper hearing aids.

@prodigyplace said:

Good to hear from you.

I was intrigued by them but had some concerns so I called them. It appears they already, at that time, missed their claim if releasing an update at least every 6 months. They claim updates to keep you functioning with the current technology but refused to include replacing hardware with their newer tech. I also had concerns about their business viability.

EDIT. They now only claim software upgrades.

Those are legitimate concerns. I tend to be an early adopter of new technology and not just in hearing aids, but I know that there are always risks with startups. I guess that I’m willing to accept the risks to support and encourage the innovation.