Oticon, Phonak or ...... high frequency loss

@deisman

Interesting.

My Paradise P90s have “Speech in Car” and “Comfort in Echo”. I find these are both similar to “Speech in Noise”. I only ever use them if my default “Music” doesn’t work. It just shows that we are all different in what we desire from our hearing aids. For me, I want speech, but not at the expense of natural sounds. I’m getting there.

I fully agree, that for anything more demanding than moderate hearing loss (especially in high frequencies), domes are dreadful, and don’t give you enough headroom to dial in high frequency gain. I have custom slimtips, which are like “open c.shells”, and the receiver isn’t fully enclosed. I get the gain I need, whereas domes don’t provide the necessary gain, without high feedback suppression taking away the said gain. Power domes just give me occlusion, and I just don’t like them.

I like my Phonak hearing aids, but they need very careful programming to get the best out of them, especially for high frequency loss. Every “first fit” has been unacceptable.

Peter

I have the same hearing aids, with closed domes.
Your post gives me hope.
It’s been a long time coming.

I have Automatic as base, with adjustments to mid and high frequencies. Quick fit. Programs are Speech in loud noise, Speech in noise, Speech in car, Restaurant, Music. My car is a Jeep and it’s noisy; my home is in the flightpath of Toronto Airport with aircraft 1000 feet up. My porch is noisy!

Past I tried Music as base with the dispensing audiologist. I also had a mask program that boosted mid and high frequencies. His setup never worked. He did a quick-fit…after erasing my hearing aids.

Sincerely
David

@PeterH

High Frequency Loss…
Along the way I used “Music” as the default program.
No autosense for me because I had issues.

Fast forward…
After almost 2 years with defective hearing aids, I had a hearing test done by the firm I go to now. They took my workman’s comp hearing aids and made them work.
I had a new hearing test done. Audiogram is above on this message. Difference is 10 dB to 20 dB depending on the frequency. He also boosted mids and highs.
Old description? Moderate to Severe, according to the dispensing audiologist.
New! Severe to Profound.

So for me setup is key. I needed an expert. The dispensing audiologist was not an expert. I had about 10 hearing aid tests done in the almost two years I was in his care. The last one showed my hearing had improved! Go figure…

@DaveL
If you’ve gone severe/profound, standard closed (2 holes) domes just won’t cut it. I have slim tips in my Severe, and I would suggest they are a minimum for your loss. In fact, my Audiologist suggested for my loss that C.Shells would be best

Peter

Yes, still loving the c shells and yes you’re hearing aid “consultant” is equally important. So we’re all susceptible to the weakest link theory.
The aid, the mould, the programming, the consultant and you the wearer can all affect a successful outcome.