Siemens Vibe or ReSound Be

I tried the vibes for a week. My ears started bleeding from the friction caused by them. Took 10 days to heal. So… they must fit you perfectly or don’t buy them. Otherwise they’re middle of the road, HA’s.

Dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment, I’ve tried for a few days but I can’t really notice the improvement, my audiologist told me that for a new user, its actually takes weeks or months for me to notice the improvement…

how u think of the vibe in terms of the function wise ?

any BE user out there ?

I wear a be and also have fitted several.
The biggest risk is damaging them by sticking your finger nail into the wrong slot when opening the battery door. Result: side panel ripped off.
The mike extension however seems fine … not sure about the concerns reported there …
I do however tend to fit single units not pairs, as people can find the telephone feedback whistle a bit too much.

As for the Vibe … well, take a good look at one and wear one and also change the battery (!!!) before deciding. I feel the Vibe is really for young people with precise fingers and good eyes!
Also IIRC the Vibe can only handle very mild losses.

@EnglishDispenser said:

I wear a be and also have fitted several.
The biggest risk is damaging them by sticking your finger nail into the wrong slot when opening the battery door. Result: side panel ripped off.
The mike extension however seems fine … not sure about the concerns reported there …
I do however tend to fit single units not pairs, as people can find the telephone feedback whistle a bit too much.

As for the Vibe … well, take a good look at one and wear one and also change the battery (!!!) before deciding. I feel the Vibe is really for young people with precise fingers and good eyes!
Also IIRC the Vibe can only handle very mild losses.

Curious: is your sense of directionality as good with the Be as it would be with a multi-mic aid? Does the placement in the outer ear obviate the need for two mics? Or does the RITE by its very nature make that unnecessary?

Also, for speech in noisy places, is the directional BTE better, since you can selectively amplify sound coming from a narrow angle in front of you?

Thanks for the technical lesson!

I have a mild HF loss which is a ‘nuisance’ rather than a ‘handicap’.

Directionality isn’t an issue, so I can’t really comment on that.

Also, the ‘be’ is an odd design so I think that we would need to look at manufacturers data re directionality…

I’ve been wearing two Be’s for almost 2 mo’s - my first aids and I love their directional pickup. I would say they are significantly better than the bte directional mike set up as far as focusing on sound coming from infront of you.

That is comparing them to the delta 6000.

The deltas had a lovely sound, probably all in all a better sound than the be’s, but I just loved the way the be’s seemed to channel in sound from infront of me.

For example, I was in a group situation when I was trying the deltas. I was talking in a group of 4 people standing in a circle and strggling to hear because there was another talker in a group behind us with a loud voice and he was completely drowning out our converstaion (for me). The same situation with the be’s, and I can still hear the guy behind, but his volume is cut by like 50% and the conversation in front of me is dominant - muey bueno.

THe be’s arn’t perfect, but for me the scenerio above was the deciding factor. They just sounded more like real hearing.

I am sure there are programs you can adjust to improve this situation w/the bte and I admit I only had them for a month and didn’t perhaps get as many adjustments as I could, but I was impressed with how ‘close’ the be’s were - right out of the box.

There downfall so far is they were uncomfortable for the first few weeks. They are one size fits all. One of my ears got a little red and sore so I immediately quit wearing it for a day, and eased back into it a few hours at a time. I understand for many users this would be very inconvienient if it affects your job etc. After 1 month, it seems my ears have ‘toughened up’ in the contact spots, kind of like breaking in some new shoes, and now I have no comfort issues. (a plus for the deltas is they felt awesome from day one, didn’t know they were there - )

another issue was phones. I have a corded landline AT&T no problems, but my $100 Nokia cell phone was AWFUL. Absolutely awful. I just switched to the G1 from T Mobile and am please to say it gets an 8/10 with the aid. I almost have to move it around to FIND a bad spot that is very nice.

@erben said:

Since you have unlimited access to hearing aids, and presumably cost is not an issue, what led you to the Be in particular? Apart from the door hinge, what do you think of the build quality? Someone on another board wrote that the Be provides only “a little bit of high end grunt”. Do you agree?

The sheer convenience is what got me … discreet with nothing above the ear!

Also, I work by myself so can’t easily take safe impressions of my own ear … not that any sort of in-the-ear would be suitable anyway.

Build quality is not bad for something so small.

The main problem is losing the thing … put it down anywhere and you spend ages trying to find it again! You will certainly need loss insurance!

I’m not sure about the ‘grunt’ available … my loss is mild so I’m not ‘pushing’ the aid.

I suppose I should put it on a test box to check its output … err, maybe not … how would I wire it up???

I know this was directed at the English dispenser but I’ll throw in my $.02

I think the English Dispenser post on HOHA too right? If not please forgive me but I read someone’s post there about the hinge and while I have had no problems with mine I see that flap and have been diligent about getting the right one - it’s pretty easy if you are looking at it but if you are doing it by touch only I can see how you could pop the wrong side.

I also follow someone elses advice to replace batteries etc over a soft towel on your counter. It’s not if you will drop them - it’s when…

As far as the fitting range, that is going to be user dependent.

For example - There are a couple of hundred different cars out there but if a critic doesn’t like the FIT does that necs mean Honda shouldn’t make it?

@erben said:

So, let’s say you have RITE aids and you’re in a restaurant next to a loud person, plus there is kitchen noise behind you. Will the directionality of the BTEs allow you to selectively increase the relative volume of your companion(s) and even with the inflow from teh open ear, thus improve comfort and comprehension?

technically if your aid has multiband direcctional microphones,
you can cancel several sound sources. That said, you could cancel x number of sound sources simult.

Hi All,
Thanks for all the feedbacks from you guys…attached are my audiogram.Please note that the blue line audiogram was from my left ear while red was from my right.

Based on the result, is it true that I only needed only hearing aid for my left ear ?

Also, based on the result, is the Siemens Vibe a good choice for hearing problem ?

After giving up on the Vibes, I bought the Pure 500 RIC. A cleaner sound, and pocket remote. Better.

DaveLep

@ojp said:

Hi All,
Thanks for all the feedbacks from you guys…attached are my audiogram.Please note that the blue line audiogram was from my left ear while red was from my right.

Based on the result, is it true that I only needed only hearing aid for my left ear ?

Also, based on the result, is the Siemens Vibe a good choice for hearing problem ?

Anyone able to help to advice me with the above ? I’m totally confuse and wish to make a right decision in gettin the aid. I’m also considering resound be as the alternate solution for me but i’m not sure which is the better aid, BE or Vibe ?

Feel free to throw in your suggestion for my case. Thanks in advance.