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Oticon Intent with Earmolds

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Edited

Just fitted with the Oticon Intent with Ear molds and I can tell this is going to be a challenge. I can hear everything, every click of my iPad keys, turn signals and birds. Comprehension in conversations and TV viewing has improved dramatically. But my own voice volume and sound is very disconcerting. The audiologist says this will become normal in just a couple of days, but I’m a bit skeptical. Did I make a mistake in switching to ear molds. My previous was the Jabari enhanced pro from Costco without the era molds.

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I have always preferred ear molds, I started out with in the ear aids. I had one set of aids with domes and before the first month was up I asked for ear molds or another set of in the ear aids. The sound is just so much better.
You will get use to the sounds over a week or so and will not pay attention to the sounds unless you want to hear them.

I can never get used to occlusion. I have small vents in my molds. Totally occluded, and not fitting deep, i cant comment while someone is talking because it would totally overpower them. Its like i can talk or hear, walk or hear, eat or hear.

There is an adjustment to lower that for you. I have very small vents and either i have gotten use to it or my audiologist has adjusted it out for me.

@cjb4 said:

my own voice volume and sound is very disconcerting. The audiologist says this will become normal in just a couple of days

That was my experience.

@cjb4 said:

Did I make a mistake in switching to ear molds

Absolutely not!
Looking at your , it’s pretty obvious, especially your left ear.
Give it a chance.

Thanks for asking Conndor, It has been a mixed bag.On the plus side hearing and comprehension are much improved. Restaurant conversations are surprisingly much more tolerable. I am starting to get used to my own voice, but not completely. Music streamed from my iPhone is great, really surprised. The negatives; the ears molds are still uncomfortable (may need to have them redone). The iPhone app is wonky and often won’t connect. Apparently the Intent still doesn’t have a travel charger which is a pain since I travel frequently.
Overall positive.

@cjb4 said:

The negatives; the ears molds are still uncomfortable (may need to have them redone)

Did you get the digital scan, or the gunk in the ears?
If you got the gunk, the key to proper fit is to keep your mouth slightly open while the stuff sets, as the ear canal will be relaxed.
Also, you can get miracell30 to sooth your ears. Just put a drop on each mold before insertion.

@cjb4 said:

Apparently the Intent still doesn’t have a travel charger which is a pain since I travel frequently.

The SmartCharger should be available soon.

Thanks Flashb1024,
The gunk not the scan. I didn’t know there iwas a scan method. I’ll try the drops just ordered.
I assume the smart charger for other Oticon doesn’t work with the Intent?
Question: Can program buttons be set up for different hearings situations(music, noise reduction, etc.? It isn’t obvious from the iPhone app.
Thanks

The new smart charger is going to be using contact charging as opposed to the more and real which used induction charging so they cannot be interchanged.
The intent uses a whole new charging system.
As far as programs go you’ll have four program slots available:
P1 will be your general program.
P2 through P4 can be programmed for any of the other available programs. You can discuss with your audiologist what you want to have such as music, speech in noise, comfort, lecture.
You’ll be able to cycle through the various programs using the switches on the hearing aids themselves as well as the companion app.
If you get the oticon connect clip, you’ll be able to use that as a remote control and volume adjustment as well as a , and to make it even better, It can be connected to computers and tablets until everything is Bluetooth Le audio compatible.

A brief update. Ear molds were redone but continued to be painful so they were removed. Hearing and comprehension almost as good. The sound of my own voice and chewing sounds much better. I think I will go without ear molds for a while.
In the interim the left started malfunctioning and had to be returned and replaced.
Found a reasonably priced connect clip and will see if it adds functionality.
Overall the optic on Intent is a much better HA for my hearing loss.
Cjb4

Just 3 more days and i get my intents with custom ear molds…I cant wait!!

I have had ha in past…20 years ago for about 6 months…1 ear (miracle ear…back then just made everything loud so stopped wearing them)…and 10 years ago with a Siemens (1 ear)…they never seemed to help so after research and self educating for the current prospects I realized how badly they were fitted in basically all ways that mattered from actual fit to wrong domes, wire size…to receiver power and ear balance (1 instead of 2) it was not even close to what i needed. I also only had one ear done thinking I could save some money being my right ear wasn’t that bad…(at the time)…I couldn’t have been any more wrong about that…(my bad on that part…but I had no idea)

What a difference a proper device and both ears makes…I’m still in awe and don’t even have my personalized set yet…I’m just so excited.

One thing I have learned from all of this over the past 35 years…A good audiologist makes all differences in the world…for those out there that try their very best to help people rather than sell something…THANK YOU!! you do make a difference!

Probably not the proper place for my excitement and thank you…but I’m am going with the oticon intent and will post my new beginnings here.

@von said:

Probably not the proper place for my excitement and thank you…but I’m am going with the oticon intent and will post my new beginnings here.

This is the perfect place to share your excitement! There are so many good people here with hearing aids who have had their own experiences they have shared excitement about. Congratulations!!

Well I’m on day 5 with my Intents. Wow…what a difference, and I’m not even “tweaked yet”. I go back in 2 weeks after taking them out for a test drive. We will do the rem then and any other testing / tweaking required.

To be honest, I don’t know what needs to be tweaked thou. My place of work is loud, but I need it loud to know how loud I need to talk, if that makes sense. I had no idea the reason why I had to repeat myself so much (I’m considered a soft talker) was because I wasn’t talking loud…because in my head…I didn’t need to…now that I can hear…holly…crap….its loud in here (about 78 db) with spikes into high 80’s. No wonder nobody could hear me talk, so now I talk over the sound I can hear and now people hear me. Who knew they had hearing problems too…lol. But if it’s too much or I need a break I can always turn them down. I feel sorry for those hearing muggles with good hearing…lol. They can’t do that.

I have only had 2 other models/brands to compare by (miracle ear and siemens over past 20 years, but stopped wearing anything 10 years ago) but I have to say…wow! What a difference. I’m sure this isn’t really a fair comparison being those other two brands where old tech. But this excitement of quality is more about the lack of quality care I have had up to now…and…two ears are defiantly better than one being I always just had one hearing aid in the past to try to save money…omg…it is so worth the money to have two…if you need two…

• The head phones over ears works like a charm…no special tweaks or setting needed…I absolutely love it…games I have played prior now have new excitement in the true surround sounds I was missing out on.

• Tv adapter….omg!! ty ty ty ty!!! I don’t even know where to begin on that one…absolutely love it! And I don’t need head phones (it was like a ritual to watch tv getting my head phones out…taking them off to get up…putting them back on…it was a pain in the but, rinse and repeat every time I get up)…that part alone is incredible, just turn on the tv and your good to go…but I love how that if I’m streaming the tv…I can either keep the ha off or low volume for the surrounding sound while watch tv with direct streaming…so that annoying loud fan can be eliminated while you submerge into the deep quality sound of the movie you’re watching with no back ground distractions…omg…so nice! And.!!! I don’t need closed captions!!!

• SpeechBooster….works…works…works…love it….done!

• Streaming…so far not a issue…I love it.(I have galaxays24)

Its has been a roller coaster of emotions over the last decade and more so the last two years knowing my only good right ear was failing to fill the void of the dead left. I was in the process of thinking that I should start learning singe langue and or lip reading thinking there was no hope and at some point I will need to learn it. To my utter amazement, not just over all, but even being able to hear out of my left at all just blows me away!

Best decision I have ever made…Oticon are great…I love them…I don’t know how they compare to others out there…but so far I have nothing but good things to say.

I have been wearing my INTENT1 aids for just over 3 weeks, and just now getting use to them enough to spot minor tweaking that could help me. I have been wearing aids for 20 years and Oticon aids for 14 years. With each generation of Oticon aids i have noticed improvement but from my Real1 aids to my INTENT1 aids it is like they skipped a generation.

Ya, I’m still green in the hearing department, so I don’t even know what tweaks I need yet. lol…I just discovered the microwave in the shop actually beeps… I made a list of areas of concern prior to getting any ha…and so far…the Oticons have check each area with flying colors.

I do find myself on the fence with turning down the aids to* silent the back grounds. But without giving up too much at the same time.

I’m hoping the rem will fix/fine tune…in short…if I turn the down a couple clicks back ground is less intrusive…and voice are more clear…but…at a lower volume. this is why I like the speech booster…it really does work well in that very situation.

I don’t understand thou…why she didn’t do rem first, she intentionally waiting to the second sitting to do…I will ask her why. But wondering if the first fitting was just set up for me to get used to them and why rem as first setting wasn’t needed till my mind learns to hear again.

Any thoughts?

Ask your audiologist to do speech in noise testing to find where to set your aids for better comfortable for speech in noisy environments. The INTENT aids have amazing capability to help with that.
I don’t understand why isn’t done either, that is the first thing my audiologist does.

In reply to @von

@von said:

I don’t understand thou…why she didn’t do rem first, she intentionally waiting to the second sitting to do…I will ask her why. But wondering if the first fitting was just set up for me to get used to them and why rem as first setting wasn’t needed till my mind learns to hear again.

Any thoughts?

Usually would reveal that the whole system underperforms more or less (more with folks with a larger than normal ear canal as well), so usually (but not all the times), REM adjustments tend to be boosting the real ear gain values in various frequencies upward to meet the target gain values. So MAYBE your doesn’t want you to get overwhelmed by a combination of new hearing aids and up-to-target gains instead.

Usually an HCP might perform REM before releasing the hearing aids to the clients, unless it’s a trial period and the HCP doesn’t want to extend the effort to do REM unless the client decides to buy them. But then many patients might find the new volume level overwhelming, and they have to utilize the acclimatization setting in the hearing aids to start out with a lower volume in the first phase, then up to a higher level in phase two (maybe a week or two later), then finally up to default volume level in phase 3.

So another guess would be that instead of doing REM first then having to setup the acclimatization process up for you, by not doing REM first, your HCP does it this way so that the acclimatization setup can be avoided, and when REM adjustments are done 2 weeks later (usually with more gains more often than less gains), then you will have already been acclimatized with the lower gain volume and now are ready with the higher gains from the REM adjustments.

All of this is a guess, of course. There’s nothing wrong with doing REM right away, nor with waiting for 2 weeks to do it, as long as it’s done eventually in due time. Maybe your HCP didn’t have time to do REM in that appointment so decided to do it in the next appointment.

Edited

Volusiano…I was thinking same thing as well. Being she does fully intend to do rem I wasn’t concerned and didn’t ask. at that time, I was more excited about having them in the first place.

cvkemp…she did do some sample speeches in noise environments samples and asked me what I like better…a…or b…I think more so a general set up to get me started. she did mention more speech test when I go back…as well as the rem.

In the meanwhile…im trying to take notes of areas of trouble so that I can bring to her. other than loud work noises. I really don’t have much to say…but…I’m not sure of myself at this point…what I’m missing or not…what needs to go down or up so I’m completely relying on my hcp to get me where I should be.

I guess once I have more hearing experience can see where tweaks are needed.

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