Considerable Difficulty Outside & Restaurants and Speaking with People

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27 replies2.3k viewsLast reply Sep 23, 2023

@alan1 said:

What you are saying is very concerning. How can “recruitment” be managed?

No clear-cut answers but some options might include:

Noise generator hearing aid to treat tinnitus if it is hyperacusis rather than recruitment
Lower amplification in noisy restaurant type situations, combined with . [If you have an iPhone the “Live Listen” feature is a simple but effective version of a remote microhpone]
High end hearing aids which can be programmed to address specific frequency ranges- such as Phonak Lumity or Paradise or Starkey Genesis

brec

Sep 21, 2023

In reply to @PeterH

@PeterH said:

I don’t use the Automatic programme any more (which switches settings by guessing your environment), as I find it gets it wrong too often, and takes away sounds I want to hear.

As a late-model Phonak wearer and fitter this post piqued my interest! I will investigate compression of high frequencies. Meanwhile, I’m curious about which programs, er, programmes, you do use?

1Bluejay

Sep 22, 2023

In reply to @Volusiano

@Volusiano said:

Phonak seems to have come up with a new solution to solve this “blinder” issue with their Speech Sensor technology, which will detect where speech comes from and automatically adjust the width of the beam forming accordingly

I do find that the new Phonak Lumity Life aids seem to help focus on speech even when I don’t have them in the dedicated “Speech in Loud Noise” program, but there are places where truly NOTHING works: like in the back seat of a car trying to hear what folks are saying up front. Even in that dedicated program, it lowers ALL volume down too much to grasp what’s being said. I’m hoping that if I keep the Roger V2 device on me, I could whip it out of my purse, point it at the speakers and go from there.

I’m on the road right now, so the Roger is in the hotel in it’s cradle. I’ve tried it out in restaurants, but not in that back-seat scenario yet.

PeterH

North West UK

Sep 22, 2023

In reply to @brec

@brec
P90s: I have the music programme as default, and comfort on echo as a 2nd setting. Autosense 4 is the 3rd setting. In all streaming settings (I’ve reduced the settings that are directional or reduce noise/wind/whistle)
M70s: Music as default, Speech in Noise 2nd, Autosense 3 3rd. Same with streaming as above.

Peter

PeterH

North West UK

Sep 22, 2023

In reply to @1Bluejay

@1Bluejay
I’m going to play around with the Speech in Car setting as I’ve just had my 3rd midlife crisis and bought a BMW Convertible. My wife tells me she doesn’t expect me to live until 126, so I may be getting too old for it

Windblock will be the key here, but I expect it to be a double edged sword, in removing both wind, and speech frequencies. We shall see

Peter

cohen

Boston, MA

Sep 22, 2023

I really empathize with your struggle to hear. I do a reasonable job hearing in absolute quiet. But any background noise really makes it hard for me to understand speech. And if that background noise IS human speech, I lose comprehension of the speech I’m trying to focus on. This happens even with Phonak hearing aids set to very tight beamforming. The assistive listening device I use, a Roger Pen, helps a lot. I use frequency shifting algorithms so some content from high frequencies becomes audible. Finally, earmolds with smaller vents than recommended by the prescription recommends help because the smaller vents block out more ambient sound. I hope this information is helpful.