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Getting new Oticon Real1 aids from VA

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I am definitely impressed with the speech clarity, I can finally hear and understand my stepson, who speaks very very softly. I don’t have to strain to hear his very soft voice.

I received my Real1 aids this morning with Oto therm ear molds. Right away I have noticed much better speech clarity. I have always had to strain to hear and understand my very soft spoken stepson but with the Real1 aids I can hear and understand him without as much of a strain. After leaving the we went to Sam’s Club and I wasn’t bothered by the noise that I normally in counter. The first thing I noticed was no noise echo, and I didn’t have any issues understanding my wife and others around me. According to my audiologist some of the improvement is due to the much tighter fitting ear molds. But Real1 aids have removed what I always thought was very sharp high pitched sounds. I haven’t been to a noisy restaurant or to our church services yet I am looking forward to see f there is a difference in the sound of our electronic organ that always had such a high pitch sound to me.

Went to our Church’s Men’s Breakfast this morning, the Fellowship hall was full of mostly men all talking and I was able to carry on a conversation with some of my friends without any issues, I did have the aids in Speech Recovery mode, but I was blessedly surprised at how well I could understand what was being said. The experience was better than with my More1 aids. After the meal we had a meeting and a special speaker, a lady from the local newspaper, even though she was somewhat soft spoken I didn’t have any issues with getting the overall message, sure there were words I didn’t understand but I could as they say put two and two together and understand the message.

Notes about new Real1 aids
• Speech clarity is much better,
• Ear molds stay in place, not noticing any slipping
• The aids seems to elevate speech above music and background noise
• Streaming audiobooks sounds great, even female voices
• Not noticing any wind noise
• I have noticed some connectivity issues with the companion app, but the aids do stay connected to the Samsung Galaxy S23 phone
• With my Samsung Galaxy S23 phone, with my aids renaming Real aids, More aids I can have both set of aids paired to my phone, note I use the companion app with the Real Aids and the beta version of companion with the More aids.
• I can have 2 different connect clips paired to my Fire Tablet
•

All I know is that they are listed in the ’s government order form. I was surprised that I real got them because in the order form it says 85db receivers or less. I wear the 105 receivers. They look similar to my acrylic ear molds on my More aids but they have a little softer feel to them, and they don’t slip at all.

Interesting, I’m looking at the order form right now and I also noticed the 85db cap.
Good to know that you have them working well in your 105’s.
I have the 105s with the acrylic which causes a little discomfort.
I’m going to pass your info to my Audi, see what she can do, thank you.

Edited

Yes the same way as with my acrylic ear molds on my More aids. They just have a softer feel and they don’t slip

At the church service this morning, I set my Real1 aids to speech boost with the app. For the first time I was able to really hear the choir’s voices and understand the words of the songs, the electronic organ and piano playing was at a level below the voices, something I have not experienced even with the More1 aids. I only have the default program, no extra programs are set up.
The other thing I am noticing is that when in a very quiet environment my aids are eliminating background noise to the point that my tinnitus is noticeable, again something that I didn’t notice with the More1 aids.
I am able to hear soft spoken people male and female that I haven’t been able to truly understand before. While I could hear my wife from the kitchen which is behind me when I am in my recliner when wearing the More1 aids when she was raising her voice to get my attention, with the Real1 aids I can hear her even when she was at her desk in the far corner of the kitchen talking on the phone.
Even without the speech boost voices seem louder than background noise and music, even when listening to the TV without the TV adapter.
I know some are saying they aren’t seeing much improvement with the Real aids over the More aids, but I am, as my wife has pointed out it maybe that they are new to me, but I don’t think that is it at this time.

@cvkemp said:

I know some are saying they aren’t seeing much improvement with the Real aids over the More aids, but I am, as my wife has pointed out it maybe that they are new to me, but I don’t think that is it at this time.

Whatever secret sauce they baked into the new Polaris processor must be really effective for your hearing loss.
It really helps that your audi knows how to make Genie do her thing!
Thx for the update.

That all is done by the hearing technician at the clinic I use. Every time I go in for an appointment my aids are completely cleaned and a full diagnostic is run on them.

For my fellow veterans that use the clinics, this isn’t so much hearing but VA information:

Ladies and gentlemen, I just got home from an appointment at the VA low vision clinic. I have to say wow and awesome, I didn’t know I could outright ask for so much. I have known for a while that I can get what I needed for my hearing because hearing loss is my disability, but I just found out that I can get what I need as long as I request it and can show it will make my life better for my vision needs. I had in the past at the eye clinic been told that prescription sunglasses weren’t available, but I was told this morning that I can and will get prescription sunglasses. We also talked about my hobby of pencil art mostly coloring in coloring books. Well I am getting color adjustable lamps and magnifing lamp for my work desk. And I am getting yellow lense glasses for night time driving. So I am blown away by the generosity of the VA, the only throw back was that I had to drive to the Little Rock regional offices to be seen for my vision, it would not be a bad drive if it weren’t for the road work that has been ongoing for the almost 6 years I have been in this area.

@cvkemp said:

So I am blown away by the generosity of the VA

Yes, it’s amazing what they’ll offer.
I have a condition called Essential Tremor ( I wont go into specifics), and inquired about a device which was approved by the , but not Medicare, and costs $3500.00.
My referred me to Neurology, and the Dr. approved the device no questions asked!
BTW, it didn’t work for me, and the said “It’s yours, dont return it”.
When I went to occupational thereapy, for orientation on the device, I mentioned to the therapist my love of bicycling, which I can no longer do due to being on anticoagulants.
They offered me a fully loaded trike, if I wanted to pursue the sport.

So, yeah, they are there for us, just ask!

The is awesome, now! Not so much years ago. I am a patient in the VA caregiver program and every time I see or hear from them they are asking me what I need. Haven’t really asked for anything from them yet but I see I probably will in the foreseeable future. I have a remote and 3 streaming devices they gladly provided. All I had to do was ask via email. They were mailed directly to my home. I see potential mobility issues in my future. Will be interesting to see what they offer for that.

@lgbuck62 said:

Not so much years ago

Yes, it was a far different look years back. They used to act like anything issued to you was from their own pocket. Now (since 9/11) it is all about “Thank you for your service” and “How can we help you?”
Time changes attitudes. It is just a happy happenstance that this turn of the wheel is making so many veterans lives better.
Regards,
Dan

I wore my More1 aids to a meeting this evening while the speech understanding was good it just wasn’t as clear and not as good of a clarity as the Real1 aids. I wore the More1 aids because I wanted to have a comparison between the More1 and the Real1 aids.

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