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Hearing aid single processing time delays

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I just tried a Jabra hearing aid at Costco. It’s the one with a normal battery as opposed to a rechargeable battery version. I thought the sound quality was pretty good, but the major problem I experienced was a slight time delay from when I was speaking till I heard my own voice in the hearing aid. That real can mess up one’s ability to speak. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about a delay using some other device that picks up my voice and streams it back to the hearing aid. I’m also not talking about how my own voice sounds slightly different hearing it from the hearing aid as opposed to how it sounds to me without a hearing aid. I believe the delay is due to the signal processing time of the hearing aid itself. I was also told that there was no way for the hearing aid to correct this phenomenon. Just for the recorded, I was previous using a Oticon OPN 3 and it didn’t have this problem.

So, here’s my questions:
1.) are other people noticing this? And if so, does it eventual become not so troubling?
2.) Is there any place that spec’s out the different manufacturer hearing aid as to the time delay due to signal processing?
3.) Any recommendations on new hearing aid technologies that don’t seem to have this problem?

6 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest

Are you new to hearing aids?
I have been wearing aids for 20 years, when I first got my first set of aids I noticed what seemed like a delay
But as I got use to wearing aids I no longer notice any delay. I was told it was a process that our brains go through to adjust to tje aids. I am not saying you are hearing a delay just my experience.

Yeah some people notice it more then others, it’s definitely something you can get used to its only your own voice and not others.
Some manufacturers offer more detailed information in their published white paper’s.
To your last question you’d need to look into Widex “pure sound” ZeroDelay technology.

I’ve been lambasted for bringing this issue up. I expect the same will happen in this thread.

For me, processing times was a non-negotiable, red flag, performance issue as I was trying different models. I researched it and processing times are an inherent part of digital hearing aid technology. The importance of the delays are gonna be a mix of personal preference, prescriptive correction, dome type, etc. The oft cited standard of if it’s ~10ms or less it’s negligible just doesn’t apply to everyone, and perception of it can change over time (mine did). There’s also the trade-off what benefits the delay is adding to the hearing experience, spech source locating, noise attenuation, etc.

The only brand that seems to be targeting this issue is Widex with 0.5ms and 2.5ms delays in programs. Closer to and even over 10ms is common. hearing aids can be well over 10ms.

Again, not Earth shattering or objectively decisive data as it’s up to wearers to experience these and decide for themselves what works best for them.

In reply to @user715

Again i have been wearing digital aids for 20 years and I definitely don’t notice it. At first I did when I got my first set of aids. But I don’t any more. As a retired IT professional and electronics engineer i know there is a delay and it cannot be completely removed. But our brains adapt.

Gee, 2.5 to 10 millisecond delay! Sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond.
A decade or two ago, I could understand such slow processing, but modern (Digital Signal Processing) should be much faster. Heck, it has to be faster for microphone aiming.

I found this article: Hearing Aid Delay | Hearing Health & Technology Matters11 It directly speaks to the issue of time delay and gives data based on clinical studies. One chart in that article states that 90% of the subjects found that 10 ms delay as objectionable. I didn’t see any discussion on whether over time if subject’s objection declined. So the article doesn’t directly speak to all my concerns.

By the way, I have been wearing hearing aids for about 7 years. My first and only pair hearing aids never had this issue when I first started using them. What I trying to discern is whether this is something I should expect or are they some brands out that do a better job. So far from this discussion, it seems like that’s the case, with perhaps the exception Widex Pure Sound. It would be great if I could read a study that showed something like 90% oi the subjects got use to a 10ms delay in 2 weeks or less.

I have been wearing aids 20 years. The first month of the first set of aids was the best and worst experience of my long hearimg aid life. I was hearing better but I was hearing my own voice louder too. But I didn’t give up and I wore my aids all day every day. And I haven’t every noticed a delay that was noticeable. And I have been reading lips so long I can’t remember when I wasn’t reading lips.
I personally believe this is a total none issue.

Of all the issues I’ve had and have with hearing aids this is not one of them.
I’ve tried, Evolv, Genesis, Nexia and an now trialing Genesis Edge .
Never noticed it.
Warble and occlusion are my biggest bugaboos.

Same I’ve tried just about them all ( except for the very latest) and never had this, one thing tho I’ve noticed that some people refer to this as echo, this is with open domes as well, are you using open?

Tenkan, That’s an interesting thought. The Costco audiologist just configure the hearing aid that I was testing so I don’t know if it was with open domes. They certainly looked quite a bit different from the domes I was using with my Oticon OPN 3 aids. To be honest I didn’t know that there are different types of domes other than they come in different sizes and have different degrees of hardness. All I was told was that this issue was something that couldn’t be adjusted. Great suggestion as to another avenue to investigate.

Thanks to everyone who helped on this issue. I finally made it back to Costco to try the hearing aid again. Tenkan was right about the dome style making a difference. Costco had let me try the Jabra hearing aid with a opened dome type and when I tried it with a type the feedback the issue I was experiencing greatly declined. I described the problem as a time delay issue, but in reading things on the internet about dome types, some people describe the isssue as echoing. So based on this experience I now have learned that dome type can make a difference. Besides tyring the Jabra, I also tried the Phillips. When I compared the two, the Phillips brand did not have this issue, using a double open dome type so I went for the Phillip brand. My previous hearing aids used a double dome type.

Again thanks to everyone who responded. I found this site to be very helpful in troubleshooting hearing aid issues.

In reply to @cvkemp

@cvkemp said:

our brains adapt.

We’re all different and our situations are different. The amount of adaptation and degree is personal, both in-brain, fitting, and prescriptive correction. I can still hear, and it’s annoying, the 2.5ms delay of non PureSound mode. If I had far worse hearing and more occlusive fitting, I couldn’t hear the delay at all.

Yes we are a individuals and learn differently. But yez our brains adapt. I have been wearing aids 20 years. At first with my first aids I could actually read a person’s lips before I heard them speak. But that was early digital aids and not the top tier technology. I still read lips but I no longer notice them before or after what i read on their lips. And it irritates me to no end when the video and audio is out of sync.

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