Thank you Xonic83. I have gotten Widex Moment Smart Rics and I’m mostly pleased with them. They have better sound for my piano than the ReSounds or Oticons I tried. I’m not as thrilled with them for birding (the ReSounds were better at picking up bird sounds above 7000Hz), but I’m coming to accept that I can’t have everything!
I appreciate everyone’s responses here–this is a great community–but I’m not able to reply to all. It’s great to have so many different insights and opinions.
Hi all - my first post here. I have mild to moderate loss, (I don’t have my test results scanned - sorry). I am a musician (in an excellent men’s choir, I play guitar and I enjoy hearing music very much), and I am an avid birder. I do suffer from mild tinitus, but I did not feel like my hearing was so bad that I needed hearing aides. I did start to feel like I was losing the higher pitch birds, and I wanted to avoid the cognitive decline I saw in my father who could never get used to wearing hearing aides.
So I spent a crazy amount of money and I got the Oticon intent 1 minirite. These were the only ones that would allow significant boost at 10KHz. And they do work! I am still not sure they help that much in regular conversation, but they definitely help reduce the tinnitus and hear birds.
I had them professionally adjusted and they created custom programs for Music (no noise cancellation, but not ramped up on the higher pitches), Birding (again no noise cancellation but ramped up the higher pitches significantly), and two Everyday programs - one with high pitches ramped up and one without. When the high pitches are ramped up, I get significant feedback when I place my hand near my ear. That said, in the woods out birding - they are truly bionic ears. I have a very well trained ear for birding after 40 years of training and constant practice, and I know I hear birds better than many due to that. That said, I suddenly could hear the blackburnian warbler and brown creeper - both of which I was not hearing much without the hearing aides.
For Music, I did find the higher pitch ramp up allowed me to hear more sounds of the audience (paper rattling, foot shuffling, clothing moving) then of music - so they eliminated the super high pitch ramping (which also eliminates the feedback), and I do find I enjoy music better. Note that if I use the everyday program - which has “ processing” to eliminate extraneous noise - it does create annoying interference. But the Music program works beautifully. I can still hear music well without the hearing aides, but with the right program, I do enjoy using them.
Part of my motivation is to keep my brain trained for hearing those high pitches so that it is not annoying. So I do wear them all the time. In really loud settings (in crowded areas and at arena concerts), I will shut them off completely (not removing them) and I find that preferable. When off, I will hear better when removing them.
I will also add that I don’t find myself playing with the settings a lot. I can quickly change the settings by pressing the button on the hearing aide. I love that very few people ever notice that I am even wearing them.
I was wondering if I had wasted a lot of money on these, and I am researching a second pair for my Mom. After reading this - I am pretty happy with my investment. I’ve had them a bit over 8 months now, and I am very used to them, LOVE them for birding, and like them well enough for music (both with the custom programs). My tinnitus is changing and I will need to get things tweaked, but I am very happy and consider my money well spent. I do think the custom programming was worth it - something not possible if you buy them from Costco (and I say that with the knowledge that Costco is probably the best place to buy great hearing aides without spending insane amounts of money).
I was wondering if I had wasted a lot of money on these
If you are happy and they work for you, you didn’t waste your money. Money well spent.
Why do you say “. I do think the custom programming was worth it - something not possible if you buy them from Costco”? . Costco has professionals that do exactly this when you purchase an aid from them - they sell prescription aids that are custom programmed for the hearing loss of the patient.
Thanks for this post vadhopper. I wasn’t aware that any would boost sounds at 10kHz but I’m glad to know the technology is there. I heard a Brown Creeper just a few days ago and was pleased that I could hear it (you can see from my that my high frequency hearing ability is minimal), but I was not able to locate a Golden-crowned Kinglet this morning that Merlin said was in the vicinity. It sounds like you got the right pair of hearing aids for you.
I’m very pleased with my Widex HAs for music, primarily because the “Pure” setting allows me to hear overtones without distorting the sound of the piano. I don’t think they’re as capable for birding, and I hope the next time I’m looking for new HAs there will be just the right pair (and right audiologist) to make both of my greatest aural challenges easier.
I stand corrected - and I appreciate that correction, OcramSagev. My Mom wants to go to them to get her next pair, and I was hesitant, but now I think I may try them out.
I was very impressed with my audiologist - and not so impressed with another audiologist at the same audiology practice, who stepped into give me my hearing aids when mine was not available. I later went back to my primary audiologist, and she fixed everything perfectly. As I result, I know a quality audiologist matters - especially for hearing aids that work best when tuned. The Oticon Intent are best when tuned. Most of the expensive ones are. But I am assuming they are not quality at Costco - which is not such a great assumption!
The availability of the boost at 10kHz was why I bought the Oticon Intent. I have found that I can generally hear better than Merlin (I hear birds further away that Merlin does not pick up), and it was Merlin’s picking up brown creepers (when I could not) that made me spend all that money! I have to admit that I probably did not spend enough time researching other options, but I have been continuing my research and 8 months later - I am still happy. The investment was worth it.
San Francisco