Widex SmartRIC aids now out

Strange experience tonight. I was able to look at the programming using the Compass GPS software and my Noah usb interface. I didn’t see anything abnormal although my audi used a Widex fitting instead of NA2 NAL. When I put them back in they were not overpowering loud like before. Played my guitar and the Universal program is pretty darn good. The music program starts feeding back immediately like the Pure Sound unless I set the high freq down and bass all the way up in the EQ. I did not touch a thing but they are totally different right now and my guitar sounds really good. I need to play with a group but that won’t happen for 3 weeks so I’m not returning them just yet…there is hope, lol.

You brought back thoughts I’ve had for a while. I’ve had 3 sets of Phonaks. Surely it should be easy to get the new hearing aids fitted well if we’ve had hearing aids before. My experience has been that getting new replacement hearing aids is extremely stressful. My dispensing audi worked very hard, unsuccessfully for a year and a half.

Still playing around with mine this morning. These new domes are very different for me and it’s a very long sleeve with some large vents at the very tip but no occlusion I can sense which is good. They are not round but sort of oval shaped but soft and conforma and pretty long. I’m not going to touch them to see if they are staying in today but the right one feels a bit loose so maybe I need something larger. Sharp sounds like dishes are still an issue for me but then again it was with the Philips. If anything speech doesn’t seem to pop out today like I felt it was yesterday. And maybe that’s a good thing to NOT their existence or amplification?

Puresound speech is a bit better than Universal for speech, but lots of feedback with that setting right away. But I can pick up and play what was an overly bright acoustic guitar and it sound very good so that’s some major progress and that’s in the Universal mode too. I have a week to observe before I see the audi again.

I think the domes are too small, especially for the right ear. I pushed them in just as far as they would go about 2 hrs ago and the right one is way out now with left about the half the movement of the right. These are those long vented sleeve dome that are long and oval shaped but very soft. I’ll have to get the audi to upsize me I guess. I’ve been inserting domes for 2 years now so I know it isn’t my technique.

I was playing my guitar tonight and it sounded OK but I kept hearing some distortion from the mp3 I was playing alone with, One Headlight by the Wallflowers. Tried all the programs with eq set to min treble, lower mids and max bass. I found that the distortion I was hearing from the MP3 totally went away with PureSound mode. Guitar sounded even better but…very easy to get feedback in the Puresound mode. Maybe if the gains were down more it might really work well for music for me. Even pushing my moving domes in didn’t cut out the tendency to feed back at times…very touchy.

My first thought seeing this picture is the receiver is not pushed all the way in.

The receiver does stick out the end of these particular domes by about 1-2mm but they are snapped into place and completely bottomed out. The dome wall is very thin and easily crushes or distorts unlike the thicker Philips/oticon open bass domes on my Philips ha. I can see why they won’t stay in.

My audi was out today on bereavement, mother died. But the assistant put on the large sleeve domes and also gave me a set of tulip domes to try this weekend. So far the larger size is staying in and I feel a bit plugged up but at least I can test them out. I’m going to CostCo this morning to have my Philips 9030 set to this new audiogram and REM done for free. So far there are pros and cons about both hearing aids and I have some time to decide. I wish the 9050’s were available now to try but Costco only has the 9040’s which handle noise a lot better, I’m told, than the 9030’s.

When changing the ear piece type, it’s best practice to rerun the sensogram & feedback test to ensure the best acoustic performance. A slight change in fit can change how it sounds so needs recalibrating.

Yes and I have an appointment with the audi for next week but he was out today. At least the domes are not sliding out of my ear now and will probably work fit wise.

I’m having trouble with Oticon Bass Dome-Double Vent (will be fine and then seems to turn sideways blocking vents and causing occlusion) and wanted to try another brand to see if they might work better. Does anyone know if the Widex Instant Round ear-tip will work with Oticon receiver?

So far I’m really impressed with music even in just the universal mode. My Costco fitter gave me some 9040 loaners set up to Nal/na2 and rem with the same audio gram. No matter how I eq’d the Philips I could not make them sound as natural as the widex. I tried many electric and acoustic guitars and went back and forth swapping ha. Widex wins hands down for music. I don’t think the issue is gain alone.

But not sure I hear better with the Widex. The Philips sound louder and more clear but uncomfortable as well. The Widex sound a bit muted to me and maybe that is open bass domes vs vented sleeve? Less hair noise with Philips.

I think there is some sort of damage to my left ear. Both brands have issues with noise in that ear that leads to distortion and a sort of bacon frying sound.

The larger sleeve dome is staying put but I can see the vents in the end easily get plugged with wax. I have not tried the tulips yet. Still have feedback in music and pure sound modes. Pure sound does appear to eliminate some distortion I hear in certain parts of mp3 rock/pop music so that near zero delay does so something for me. Lots of tweaking of eq to find which program is optimal for live guitar playing but Widex is a clear winner over the Philips, not even close.

I had the same experience and found the open bass worked much better and no feedback for me.

Fit on the ear is pretty critical to good outcomes and very individual. Some people will take the first dome tried like cinderella’s glass slipper, but for others it’s a more frustrating process to get the fit just right. Your loss is a tough one for fit, because those highs really would love a custom tip, but your ear canal may or may not accommodate it without occlusion. That said, I’ve had some nice fits from Widex, which is weird because I’ve had a lot of completely junk custom fits from Signia. I haven’t tried a signia custom tip since they merged, however.