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Hearing aid fitting: In desperate need of improvements?

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I had similar situation when I got my 1st aids 3 years ago. I had a dispenser set them up, came back multiple times for tweaks, and was finally told that I should seek out someone else to help me further. I have a tough hearing loss (reverse slope) however. I did just that and found an audi that has been much more helpful. I appreciated the dispenser’s honesty.

@Matt2962 said:

I need to rant a bit about this subject because I’m currently super-frustrated that after 5 years fine tuning and enjoying my Phonak Marvels when it comes to having a new hearing aid fitted (yes, the famous Spheres), it seems everything goes backwards and you are forced to start again from scratch with no end in sight.

LOL!!! Seriously, I had to pInCh! myself to make sure I myself had not written this entire post of yours. Word for word. Sentiment for sentiment. Rant for rant! You came to the right place to let us know … exactly how it feels to walk in our shoes.

SO TRUE! I’ve worn aids for 35 yrs, and not ONCE - ever! - have the new ones sounded even tolerable on the day I pick them up. For the first 25 yrs, I’d always go in to the audi with high expectations, excited, hopeful! Only to have ALL that dashed and - as you say - start ALL over from scratch to see how to get the aids to make the world sound the way I want to hear it. , tone tests, word comprehension be DANGED. It boils down to a highly individual and nuanced set of preferences for how we want to hear speech, music, ambient noise.

It shouldn’t be rocket science, and I honestly believe that our audis/fitters have our “best interest” at heart, but they don’t hear through our ears! And it is an exhaustive, tedious and time-consuming process to reinvent this wheel over and over.

Like you, I’d gotten my Phonak Marvel aids to their optimal listening level only after about 2 yrs of appt’s sprinkled throughout the calendar. Then I got the newer Phonak Lumity Life aids. All the yada yada tests done (by law, audis have to do a hearing test every year or two), and the end result on the day I picked them up? DISASTER. I actually laughed about it, cuz I am a jaded realist by now and know the drill.

However! I had a brain-fart. If we can copy/paste text in a spreadsheet, maybe we can copy/paste the entire set-up from an old pair of Phonaks to a new pair. My audi got on the phone with Phonak Tech Support and they walked her through the process. That ONE app’t got me to about 95% optimal. Fine adjustments in the past year have brought me to the best quality hearing I’ve ever had with aids.

So ask your audi. I think you can copy/paste the settings from your Marvels right over to the Spheres and be that much further along in the final settings. Please keep us posted on your progress!

In reply to @user715

@user715 said:

I have some older relatives that have HAs but both cheaped-out and one won’t wear them because they don’t help, and the other will but only socially and still doesn’t get much benefit from them. A 3rd with 50% comprehension and severe loss won’t spend the money on entry level models.

All in their 80s, it’s not only about the money.

Not trying to be disingenuous here, but you’ve actually captured the whole issue there.

“It’s not only about the money, except when it is……”

So, that’s three experiences, all pretty negative in the ‘hearing aids don’t work’ category. Fortunately you’ve sought another path, but you could’ve easily been steered by the prevailing opinions around you.

Some of the above is definitely the fault of the industry, despite all of the you-tube channels and other ‘influencing’ going on, your average 80y/o isn’t getting the best messaging about their hearing.

Guys… When you press the button for a tone that wasn’t there you aren’t making your hearing loss falsely look better. We KNOW there was no tone. You don’t get credit for pressing a button at nothing, we just ignore it.

That’s a relief, me thinking I am going to be under prescribed because my was incorrect.

In reply to @Um_bongo

@Um_bongo said:

Some of the above is definitely the fault of the industry, despite all of the you-tube channels and other ‘influencing’ going on, your average 80y/o isn’t getting the best messaging about their hearing.

Messaging is one thing, but it’s got to be near impossible to reach the older candidates as they’re not that much online to be influenced. Sure, the audiologist/ offices are full of leaflets and education… but patients need to be self motivated to come in.

I think good communication between patient and audiologist is vital for a good fitting

Matt, I totally agree! Perhaps post the question about transferring settings to the group that programs their own aids. Somewhere on this forum one can find people who do their own programming, have taught themselves and can assist you in doing the same.

In your case is this the same audiologist that programmed you previous versions? Has your hearing curve changed much since last pair?

My audiologist first let me experience the aid programmed to my settings (as they came brand new from the factory, I believe), these were Phonaks. Then did her usual tweaking, which was pretty much transferred from the last pair’s settings, with final fitting more customized to any changes in my hearing profile since the previous . It is my understanding they push up the gain as much as possible, to just before one gets feedback.

Let me say the initial settings were not adequate, I definitely needed the tweaking!

That combined with a well made custom earmold that is as far down the canal as possible is the ticket fo those of us that have greater need for correction.

I have not made the effort to learn to program, but honestly it is probably worth it, especially if you plan on moving and/or are no longer able to see the same audi.

Best!

When l got my Starkey hearing aids in 2007, l went back for adjustments eleven times during the first year. I now have Phonak aids and l am an user. I make my adjustments however do l really need to pay $250 dollars for Real Ear Measurements? can make it worse or not. I got new skeleton earmolds hard shell. I hated the soft silicone as it irritates my ear skin.

I couldn’t agree more! I mean they’ve managed to create airplane simulators, virtual reality experiences that mimic entire cities, and advanced medical robots for surgeries, but no one’s figured out a sound booth simulator by 2024? With all the tech we have, it seems like a no brainer to have a setup in audiologists’ offices that mimics real world environments so people can test and fine tune their hearing aids more effectively.

Yes, the technology for measuring hearing loss is still in the dark ages. It is but a starting point as you have found in the past. I’m waiting for Sphere to become available in my location to migrate from Paradise, so can’t provide any real world feedback. As a long term self programmer my halfpence worth.
Firstly though you are jumping 3 generations of aids, you hearing, even if the shows little change, will also be 3 generations of real world decline. So don’t expect too much upside.
Secondly, I do understand your audiologist not carrying over the adjustments from your old aids, but should have been aware from those where your issues lie when adjusting after first fit. Past configuration, especially 6+years down the line don’t provide a turnkey installation now.
Thirdly, Phonak do provide a suite of test environment sounds to be used in situational adjustments. I have found them next to useless.
The supposed gold standard is real ear testing. I’ve yet to find an audiologist that does that, or even had the facility.
Frustrating, but you will of necessity need to go through the same laborious process as previously.
Last……. NHS or private?

I think we should all relax in the booth. Punching a few decibels over or under your weight isn’t really that relevant for how well your will work in the end. For comparison, I find the experience when staring at letters for glasses far more stressful- get a bit of extra moisture in your eyes, a slight blur, and your assisted vision is out of focus for the next few years.

But if your Marvels get replaced by Spheres, and they work with the same thingies inside your ears (same acoustic properties/feedback), restarting the fitting process from scratch just sounds crazy. Can’t your audiologist just copy all the basic numbers from Target, re-enter those for the Sphere and take things from there?

For me it is 80% the Audi and 20% the aids. I’ve been wearing aids for getting on for 26 years now and I’ve tried a few models, makes and the NHS too. Between the models there has never really been that much of a difference, between the Audis, well its chalk and cheese. Finding someone that gets you, understands what you want, what you are trying to say, doesn’t mind when you tweak a little and works with you to get the best environment for you is the worth it to me. No point having the best tech if you don’t get the best out of it.

I’m being fitted next week for Spheres, moving from KS10s. I found a good Phonak Audi that took me on a journey with the KS10s and this time now that he has convinced me what he can do I will be buying the spheres directly from him. Sure I could get them cheaper but the value doesn’t come from how much they cost it comes from the lifetime experience I get from them. I know if I need tweaks he will fit me, consult with me remotely and even program remotely.

He doesn’t mind if I tinker a little too and that is always worth its weight in gold to me.

Hi, and there I was thinking it was just me hallucinating sounds! Also I am never sure whether I am hearing my tinnitus or the actual sound.

I’m putting in a claim to get government funded aids. My loss is about 80dB average.
Despite my loss, part of the assessment involves unaided hearing, I have to ‘listen’ to a speaker play some speech. So I’m sit there looking at a speaker because I can’t hear any of it. Quite depressing and I feel embarrassed and demeaned.

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