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I am getting a new hearing aid soon, thoughts?

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Hi, I’ve never posted before but am getting a new aid shortly. I have been wearing aids since the mid-90s and absolutely need one these days. I have a congenital nerve disorder called CMT and believe that is the cause of my significant hearing loss over the years. The technology these days is amazing and I’ve experienced the advancements over my time with aids. I currently have a Phonak Naida M that uses a battery which has never been a problem. It was a nice step up 4.5 years ago from my previous Phonak. I don’t expect to much of an improvement and don’t know what the audiologist will recommend but suspect it will be a later model Phonak. So I am curious what experienced people think or recommend. I would personally prefer one with an accessible battery but from some research it seems like the most advanced are rechargeable. Thoughts on that. I wear only one as my left ear is so bad having one for it wouldn’t make much difference. I will keep the current one for backup. My BCBS covers a new aid every 5 years. The last one I am wearing has started having Bluetooth problems and I really like the capability which is driving me to get it replaced asap. Does anyone have thoughts or experience with these new enabled aids? Thanks for any assistance with getting a new aid.

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Since you have been wearing Phonak it is probably a good idea to stay with them. I wear the Sphere 90 and love them but I don’t have any experience with the Nadia. I am sure that you will get some helpful replies. Welcome to the forum!

@RKoenn53 said:

I don’t expect to much of an improvement

You did not post your , so I’m not sure what you are calling a significant hearing loss. If you are in the severe to profound range, the Naida Lumity should be a giant leap forward for you. It also comes in disposable 675 batteries.
Best wishes,

Dan

I also wear the Sphere 90 and I’m very happy with them, but I cannot compare with previous Phonak models as I used Resound aids before. All my previous aids had disposable batteries, I had some concerns when moving to the Sphere since it’s only available with rechargable batteries, but all my concerns have completely disappeared, as it is the case for most people using them. I recommend that you read several threads on this forum about this topic, you will learn a lot as I have :slightly_smiling_face: , for example this one: https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/people-really-should-stop-complaining-about-the-infinio-spheres-battery-life/96617 or this one: https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/disposable-batteries/88996.
You also mention that your left ear is very bad, have you considered a cochlear implant? I have no experience at all with cochlear implants and cannot help you with that, perhaps it would be useful if you uploaded your to your profile, I’m sure many people in this forum could give you good advice.

I read that one type is particularly noted for affecting the auditory nerves and it is the one I have. Funny thing is my mother, who had CMT very badly starting in her teens, never had a problem with hearing. However we moved to FL from OH in 1959 when I was very young because even in her 20s she was having trouble walking and didn’t want to live in snow because of it. I didn’t have mobility issues until into my 40s but now have major problems walking. Also she had it bad in her hands but I don’t seem to have any hand effects. It is a very strange disorder. I hope your problems from it are limited.

I don’t know how old you are but it is possible you may never experience any or significant effects. I am the oldest of my mother’s 4 children and the youngest is my sister 10 years younger. We have two brothers in between and they have no effects while we started experiencing some in our 40s. Mine became very troublesome starting around 60 and now I wear lower leg braces but still have great difficulty walking. Me and my sister resemble our mom while our brothers look more like our dad which makes sense. Anyway, you hopefully will never have significant and maybe no real effects.

I’m 30 btw lol
I do have some but never anything like my mom’s (except for being OLD AND COLD!)

I also hope soon to get new hearings aids . I am well over due . Reading all this good things gives me hope the last pair I had for ten years they suck screams in my ears . Miracle ear not very good . Do I waiting on my test and look at d so ome new technology stuff

Hello RK. I’ve been wearing aids for 7 years. Previously I had a Sign product with batteries which was a decent solution. For the past three years I’ve had ReSound One hearing aids with rechargeable batteries. The ReSound has been a wonderful upgrade, with the BlueTooth connectivity you like in you Phonak. They have been absolutely trouble-free for three years, with good adjustability via an easy to use phone app. I’m an active person and they get lots of use, lots of sweat, lots of dust, and I’m not the most respectful of users. My hearing loss is in the moderate range but I’ve lost lots of voice discrimination capability in the high rage. These aids have been an excellent help. They tend to run a little “tinny” as those are the ranges that y audiogiologist programmed to amplify, so I don’t appreciate radio broadcast or streaming audio while wearing my aids very much because they “flatten” the sound. The rechargeable batteries are absolutely the way to go, and I have never had either of my aids go dead even after a full 18 hour day of use. The ease of just plopping the aids in the charger at night, and popping them out in the morning is a wonderful feature. I would never go back to batteries!

My mini-complaints?

Due to the ranges of frequency that is being “boosted” for me, when I am in a crowded space, especially indoors, I hear WAY too well in the frequencies that all the buildings utilities run on, so I hear fan noise a lot more than I like. Silverware being handles in restaurants, dropped in prep drawers, sliding across marble tables, etc–all of those hard, metallic, clanky sounds that we normally don’t pay attention to, I hear in too much detail. The available app adjustments for “restaurant”, or “focus on speech” have an impact, but also come with downsides too.

Second, in an outdoor setting, I hear wind noise BIG TIME, if it’s not a still day. Particularly if the wind is gusting enough to push your hair around. The wind noise is something that I wish could be better filtered BEFORE it gets to the aides amplifiers. But I know this is an issue with all hearing aids, good, bad or indifferent.

I trialed the Widex 440 SMARTRic for three week and also liked the great deal…the pricing on them ended up being not what I wanted to pay…but they were a great set of “ears” too.

Hope this helps.

I went to my office yesterday and met with the doctor and the audiologist. I had the hearing test and my hearing has stepped down a bit since my test their 4+ years ago. After discussing aids and I mentioned the Sphere and my research she recommended the Nadia Lumity L-UP. It is two gernerations newer than my current 5 year old Naida. She said patients who have done similar were very pleased and felt it was better than their previous aids. She did not recommend the Sphere because of the ear piece/speaker which she said wouldn’t sound as natural. The Lumity has processing built in to keep background noise low so I will see. I should be getting it fairly quickly once they get approval from BCBS on Monday. Actually the long pole is a new ear mold, 2 weeks typically, but she said if they get BCBS approval maybe next week using my present ear mold which would be nice.

Both the doctor and audiologist asked if I want to consider a cochlear implant for my left ear. I’m not sure if it would work for a person with CMT as that affects the nerve itself. Both said also considering the length of time my left ear has been unstimulated the nerve might not respond. I remember when getting my first hearing aid 30+ years ago the audiologist saying the nerve not being stimulated makes things worse over time. I’m not ready for something that significant at this point and age but will keep it in mind.

@RKoenn53 said:

The Lumity has processing built in to keep background noise low so I will see.

I agree on this comment, I found my Phonak Naida Paradise UP to be so muted with background noise even with all features turned off.

I felt deaf with them. I now wear Oticon Xceed 1 UP and can hear better. Just a note, I mainly use my as awareness, not for speech.

In reply to @javbike

So I finally almost at the last stage of getting new hearing aids Kaiser has been great molds got made Tuesday 3 weeks I will have new ones looking forward to them thanks for all the support

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