Hearing aid fitting: In desperate need of improvements?

You’re not alone… I need to see a state-approved doctor whenever I need new HAs. Last time I asked one of those: “How often do you find that people who had been hearing-impaired for decades, like me, suddenly recover their hearing and become non-eligible for subsidies?” He said: “Never seen that in my career; these repeated examinations are a total waste of time and money.” Amen to that.

Matt,
I understand the whole frustration thing- and this is the tip of the iceberg. I could go on: friends who refuse to accept you have a hearing problem, and mumble/gabble words/or cover their mouths etc.
Deafness is bloody frustrating.
But on the positive side, I have moved to Spheres and the performance in noise is so much better. It isn’t quite the magical solution I expected from the hype, but miraculously I can now understand someone speaking in the pub. I was starting to crawl into a lonely hole of despair, thinking that social life was impossible, and Spheres have given me a life line.
My settings were more or less moved across, but as my hearing continues to decline year after year I always have another test and see the graph fall south again.
I could easily scream and shout at times- but I suspect most of the frustration is simply caused by our condition. I don’t think anyone truly understands how frustrating and isolating deafness is until they experience it for themselves. I try to look on the bright side: my hearing now will be better than it is next year- so I try to live for the moment, or I’d be a sobbing suicidal wreck…
Enjoy the Spheres whilst you can- and pray the technology continues to improve.

Fitting satisfaction? I blame NAL-NAL-2 and any other formula. Just give me appropriate compensation for lost frequencies without overemphasizing upper midrange, please.

Without even needing to read it. Everyone in phonak should have custom molds and find the right non woke provider. Ty

@qak said:

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.

Yes, these tests can be very uncomfortable, but they are a necessary standard to assess your hearing, especially before considering eligibility for a CI. For example, 0% on the WRS in quiet is also important information. And these infos can be compared later during the e.g. hearing rehabilitation.

I have the same issues. I went from Phonak to Rexton Reach and was disappointed in the settings. But I have had this issue for years, so I invested in my own equipment to set the hearing aids. It was a big learning curve to really understand how to set the aids and I probably had at least 10 self-programming sessions to get it right. I didn’t want to go this route. It’s an investment in time and money (not that much money compared to the cost of the aids), but still, I wish I could simply buy the aids, get them set so I could really use them and be satisfied.

Bottom line, it’s like buying stereo equipment 20 years ago. You had to mess with the controls to get the sounds you like.

I am not trying to encourage you to buy the equipment, but that is the route I took. Getting the hardware is easy on Amazon (called Noahlink) but the software is a little harder. It’s on this web site, but you will need to search for it and also ask to get access to the programming software and THEN reading more posts on programming and manuals on how to program the aids. A big investment in time, but I had to drive 30 miles each way to get adjusted. For me, self-programming was the solution.

@Ryan_Conklin said:

and find the right non woke provider. Ty

wtf

…

Thanks for the empathy!
Just been for appt number 3(?). The audi tried to match my marvel settings as much as possible and this time I haven’t immediately switched them off and put them back in their case, so there is hope… but what a slog…

Kudos to everyone who self-programs, its a great option to have.
But frankly I am very time poor and whatever spare time i do have I would prefer to invest elsewhere.
The flip side is that I would be more than happy to pay more for a better service and solve the problem through that means… but finding a better service is nigh on impossible it seems in the UK with ~60% of the market tied up between 2 chains competing on price not service.

I agree with the post above, and I agree with the title.

The problem to me is that the whole process seems to be poorly regulated, at least in the U.K. I have had 2 bad experiences in the U.K. recently, with 2 providers, and I have realised (yes, people could have told me this) that it is the case of penny wise pound foolish.

You are not going to get a set of premium aids, fitted to a REM quality standard, for £3,500, unless you are very very lucky in my view. @kevels55 has an amazing audiologist with boots. I have not been so lucky.

From what I have seen, you need to be spending £5,500 upwards.

Okay, so I have this dawn of realisation and epiphany. Who do I entrust my money to? It is not immediately obvious. There are a mix of local independents, some that share premises with an optician, there are specialist hearing aid national chains such as hidden hearing or hearlogic, and of course there is Specsavers and Boots. Aside from the national chains, the others tend to have opaque pricing and want you to make an appointment. The majority of them don’t mention anything about audiological best practice or REM, or if they do there are scant details, just a promise of 4 to 5 years of aftercare.

After filtering the websites of all of these I eventually narrow down who would be suitable to 3 outfits that are realistically within my local reach. One near me, claims to follow audiological/occupational best practice, but only seems to only specialise in Starkey. That leaves 2 outfits in Cambridge that do fit the bill, so they are out there. But to me it is worrying that there are up to 10 to 15 outfits that do not do REM, or have opaque pricing and do not seem to advertise anything about audiological best practice.

In terms of the 2 Cambridge outfits, I probably need to pay £6,000 for a premium Phonak or Oticon aid with REM. Theoretically I can afford it, but not without incurring some debt. I have to weigh up if the benefits of the upgrade are worth it. At the moment, probably not.

Personally, I believe that all outfits should achieve some kind of certification that clearly sets out the level of service that they provide and at the very minimum offer REM. And clearly explain their charging structures. Obviously the point about REM is more controversial, as there are competent audiologists who say they can program without this. But I have now, on 3 occasions had sub standard fits in the last 10 years which have resulted in disappointment, embarrassment and ultimately a loss of faith. Of course, I should have paid more, and gone to higher quality establishments, but at the time I wasn’t to know. People on this forum are still going to Specsavers and other high street chains, obviously because of price considerations. I have decided to steer clear.

@Ryan_Conklin Please don’t create multiple accounts. We consider this sockpuppeting and a misuse of the forum.

When they cut up millions dollars contracts over pronouns I will tell people they cut up million dollar contracts over pronouns. Simple dimple

you guys are the ones struggling Im here to help

I want to keep this one I didnt even realize I was doing it.