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Best Hearing Aid Manufacturer?

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I do think it would be appropriate for you to suggest that Texans that can’t get adequate hearing care in Texas emigrate (even illegally) to the UK so they can get better hearing care. :smiley:

The NHS does provide free service to illegals, right?

Hoping technology gets better soon, cause now I am working in a dangerous environment and need a working aid at all times. Just want to find one before warm weather hits. The current aid is a Phonak Nadia, I like it but do have some echo or reverb issues as well as the sweating issues. I change the filters and use a aid dryer. The reverb sound is not so bad but noticeable in quieter environments.
Heard of the Siemens Aquarius Ha being waterproof and watched a video of it being submerged 6 meters underwater and still working. Problem is they don’t make a high output aid.
My hearing loss is gone is right ear and about 25% hearing in left ear.

In reply to @TambourineMan

@TambourineMan said:

I do think it would be appropriate for you to suggest that Texans that can’t get adequate hearing care in Texas emigrate (even illegally) to the UK so they can get better hearing care. :smiley:

The NHS does provide free service to illegals, right?

This discussion is clearly over. But yes, the NHS does provide service to illegals, because health care is a human right.

So for the price of a round trip ticket to the UK I could get free ?

This should be a sticky.

(I suppose unless I got frequent flyer miles, the return trips for fittings at the audi could get a little expensive.)

Edited

You wouldn’t visit a shop in the high street, you would visit a hospital. They would fit you with one hearing aid.

You need to be registered with a doctor to access the system, which requires a UK address. The Doctor refers you to an consultant/Audiology department - which may take around four months. Audiology tests your hearing, takes an impression(if needed) and then fits an aid.

Unless you can prove that you have a clinical requirement for a non-standard product, you’ll end up with something like a GN Resound I-Fit.

The whole process takes around six-months and there’s no real method of circumventing the system, though there is a move (in England) to providing hearing aids through ‘any qualified provider’ on the high-street to cut the costs of delivery.

@Um_bongo said:

…though there is a move (in England) to providing hearing aids through ‘any qualified provider’ on the high-street to cut the costs of delivery.

I remember back in the olden days how the industry was hoping for this.

It strikes me they could be a lot more efficient if all the straightforward cases of adults with no special or unusual medical issues should be farmed out to the private sector with a voucher, saving the hospital for the kids, cochlea implants, and highly unusual cases.

The extra influx to the private sector could reduce prices, and those wanting to top up their voucher with some cash could choose to upgrade to something with a higher success rate.

In reply to @RP14

@RP14 said:

Hoping technology gets better soon, cause now I am working in a dangerous environment and need a working aid at all times. Just want to find one before warm weather hits. The current aid is a Phonak Nadia, I like it but do have some echo or reverb issues as well as the sweating issues. I change the filters and use a aid dryer. The reverb sound is not so bad but noticeable in quieter environments.
Heard of the Siemens Aquarius Ha being waterproof and watched a video of it being submerged 6 meters underwater and still working. Problem is they don’t make a high output aid.
My hearing loss is gone is right ear and about 25% hearing in left ear.

Starkey have recently (last summer) gone for a double nano coating which protects against moisture AND oils/wax. It’s standard on all their aids, including the more powerful ones.

Here’s a video of me showing it working on some tissue paper.

Most manufacturers have some kind of single coat nano technology these days, but few have dual layer, and it’s the second layer that is going to resist sweat.

In reply to @Um_bongo

I think hotels have addresses, but if not can I use yours?

Four months to get an audi appointment? ??? It only took a day or so to get mine here (and that was because I was picky and wanted first thing in the morning or last of the day so as to minimize time out of the office)- but I suppose the quick service was because they wanted to sell me some and because Romneycare did not dictate that MA health insurance pay for HAs otherwise the wait would have been more equivalent to the UK.

How long to get a doctor appointment? (I’d like to get these before I’m 6 feet under.)

A “free” vacation in the UK is just what I need.

Edited

It’s down to the individual hospital and your referral via .

One aid only :wink:

Or you could walk into my shop and out today with a set of demo aids on.

Edited

if you are considering pairing those up with the SurfLink and remote be sure you try before you buy. the very annoying deal with the remote is it has to be centered at arms lenght and maybe it will change both ears. if not and you try again one ear will be a step ahead of the other. then you need to switch the remote to do just one or hit the home key several times. your best best is to just get in the habit of doing one then the other. there will be a delay before the ears sync with the surflink and unless you are looking directly at it it won’t sync with both and then around the block you go again.

good luck

what was your final recap of the Phonak Nadia S CRT’s that you were trying?

I don’t have a Surflink or any remote to try with the Wi 110’s.

My initial comparison is that the Wi 100’s compare equivalently to the Naida CRTs, but I cut the initial fitting short as it was approaching 2 hours and I sensed I was messing up their appointment schedule for the rest of the day (we had to address some issues with the Phonaks first which took some time). They are certainly better than the Oticon Agil Pros.

So I think the volume was set to loud on the Wi 110’s (even though they were set to target level 1).

Also the domes don’t have any holes in them and my ears feel occluded, but I did not want to just change them to ones with holes as we briefly tried those and there was feedback and it would have meant hooking them back up and running the feedback manager again and I did not want to take the time.

I still have the CRTs and will be doing some more trialing now that some issues have been further addressed. And I will be doing some A - B comparisons.

So far I have only used the Wi 110’s in my car and my office which are very quiet. My external hard drive fan is much louder with the Wi 110’s but sound more like my brain thinks it should - more of a whoosh than a sssssssh.

My voice sounds like I am shouting but others say I am talking in a normal level so I think this is a volume control or dome without holes issue.

I will be going out to dinner with my wife probably this weekend to try a restaurant setting and will try out the TV and some music tonight.

A decision between the Naidas and the Agil Pros was a no brainer. I think picking between the Naidas and the Wi 110’s will be more difficult and will require more extensive comparisons in noisier environments. I am glad i followed ZCT’s advice and am trying the Wi 110’s.

@TambourineMan said:

I don’t have a Surflink or any remote to try with the Wi 110’s.

My initial comparison is that the Wi 100’s compare equivalently to the Naida CRTs, but I cut the initial fitting short as it was approaching 2 hours and I sensed I was messing up their appointment schedule for the rest of the day (we had to address some issues with the Phonaks first which took some time). They are certainly better than the Oticon Agil Pros.

So I think the volume was set to loud on the Wi 110’s (even though they were set to target level 1).

Also the domes don’t have any holes in them and my ears feel occluded, but I did not want to just change them to ones with holes as we briefly tried those and there was feedback and it would have meant hooking them back up and running the feedback manager again and I did not want to take the time.

I still have the CRTs and will be doing some more trialing now that some issues have been further addressed. And I will be doing some A - B comparisons.

So far I have only used the Wi 110’s in my car and my office which are very quiet. My external hard drive fan is much louder with the Wi 110’s but sound more like my brain thinks it should - more of a whoosh than a sssssssh.

My voice sounds like I am shouting but others say I am talking in a normal level so I think this is a volume control or dome without holes issue.

I will be going out to dinner with my wife probably this weekend to try a restaurant setting and will try out the TV and some music tonight.

A decision between the Naidas and the Agil Pros was a no brainer. I think picking between the Naidas and the Wi 110’s will be more difficult and will require more extensive comparisons in noisier environments. I am glad i followed ZCT’s advice and am trying the Wi 110’s.

I have to say, with those readings you MUST have an bud on these aids or they will not perform correctly.

Switching buds from closed to open, actually requires some electronic adjustments so the hearing aids know what’s going on, and you want to run the feedback manager again, but all that should be done in but a few minutes.

As for fan and other noises, you can always bump the environmental noise control up some, and with the right dome on, you’ll do better anyway.

I can’t imagine why they opted for a closed fitting with only a 10dB loss in the lows. That’s what is messing your voice up, and some other sounds too.

In reply to @ZCT

@ZCT said:

I have to say, with those audiogram readings you MUST have an open fit bud on these aids or they will not perform correctly.

Switching buds from closed to open, actually requires some electronic adjustments so the hearing aids know what’s going on, and you want to run the feedback manager again, but all that should be done in but a few minutes.

As for fan and other noises, you can always bump the environmental noise control up some, and with the right dome on, you’ll do better anyway.

I can’t imagine why they opted for a closed fitting with only a 10dB loss in the lows. That’s what is messing your voice up, and some other sounds too.

I agree that your buds being switched should eliminate the issue of your voice.

As far as the extrernal hard drive fan noise, I’ll get on my soapbox for a brief moment. Unless it is so loud to you that it interferes with understanding speech or other noises, you probably don’t need it adjusted for. The fact that it sounds more natural to you is a good indicator, obviously. My point here is that, I hear the fans of some of my electronics and other surrounding noises. I don’t think we need to eliminate these environmental noises unless they are interfering with speech understanding, are annoying to the patient, or sound unnatural. If our goal is to get you hearing as normal as possible given your loss, then hearing some environmental noises is natural. Obviously if it is troublesome, then your audi can adjust for it at your next appt.

Good luck!

dr.amy

I am not sure if by buds you mean the little black (silicone, I think) domes that fit on the receiver, or something else.

I do have a pair of them that have holes in them and may try them but when I briefly tried them in the audis offcie and put my hands on my ears I got feedback. (I have found that part of the problem with feeling like my ears are blocked is that I think I am putting the dome/receiver too far in my canal which makes an iar tight seal.)

I just didn’t have time to have the the hooked back up and to have the feedback manager run again and any changes made at this visit. In the interests of time, we just put the domes without holes back in. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

As for the fan noise, as expressed elsewhere my preference is not to chang the HAs, but rather to change my environment to reposition (or otherwise quiet down) things that make noise that may become annoying. I was merely commenting on the difference between the Phonaks and the Starkeys. I also want to give my brain some time to adjust to hearing a lot fo new noises.

BTW: I swung by Walmart and they don’t carry Omegas. Will a Timex do?

@TambourineMan said:

I am not sure if by buds you mean the little black (silicone, I think) domes that fit on the receiver, or something else.
…
BTW: I swung by Walmart and they don’t carry Omegas. Will a Timex do?

Yes, that’s what I mean by buds. You should not just change between the ones with holes and the ones without holes by yourself. The software needs to be told which you have on, and then aids then calibrated to that correctly along with proper initialization. Again, this is minutes not hours, so it’s no biggie. And with your loss, you shouldn’t really have to change for years once it is set right.

Dr. Amy is right on the environmental noises. You are supposed to hear them, and when you first start wearing aids it is totally okay to hear them. Right now I hear the A/C in my hotel suite, my fridge, and the fan on my laptop, and some other really faint noise. All these sounds would be vastly quieter for someone with your hearing condition, and putting hearing aids in would make them all a lot more pronounced. But just like I am doing, I wasn’t really much aware of any of these sounds until I stopped and thought about what was going on in the room I am in. The brain automatically filters extraneous noise all the time, but when you first put in hearing aids it makes the sounds ‘abnormal’ to you, and the brain kind of has to relearn what stuff sounds like again so it can learn how to ignore it.

As for the Timex, I’ll pass. Thanks though :wink:

In reply to @TambourineMan

@TambourineMan said:

I am not sure if by buds you mean the little black (silicone, I think) domes that fit on the receiver, or something else.

I do have a pair of them that have holes in them and may try them but when I briefly tried them in the audis offcie and put my hands on my ears I got feedback. (I have found that part of the problem with feeling like my ears are blocked is that I think I am putting the dome/receiver too far in my canal which makes an iar tight seal.)

I just didn’t have time to have the the HAs hooked back up and to have the feedback manager run again and any changes made at this visit. In the interests of time, we just put the domes without holes back in. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

As for the fan noise, as expressed elsewhere my preference is not to chang the HAs, but rather to change my environment to reposition (or otherwise quiet down) things that make noise that may become annoying. I was merely commenting on the difference between the Phonaks and the Starkeys. I also want to give my brain some time to adjust to hearing a lot fo new noises.

BTW: I swung by Walmart and they don’t carry Omegas. Will a Timex do?

I was more explaining this for the readers of the post, to affirm why your strategy is helpful. :smiley:

dr.amy

In reply to @ZCT

@ZCT said:

This discussion is clearly over. But yes, the NHS does provide service to illegals, because health care is a human right.

Undocumented immigrants (or visitors), even. :slight_smile:

Canada, so close and yet … so far! The new I want would cost me a 1/3 of my net income. So much for Obamacare.

In reply to @ZCT

@ZCT said:

Dr. Amy is right on the environmental noises. You are supposed to hear them, and when you first start wearing aids it is totally okay to hear them.

When I got digital , I was freaked out for about a week. The sound of water dripping from the faucet, the warning beep of a bus on the street, when the window was open. ZOMGWHAT?WHAT? WHATDAT?

I don’t know how you hearing people can stand it! Well, other than a lifetime of tuning out that nonsense with your brain.

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