Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Best solution for unilateral hearing loss

This topic is closed.

21 replies16.6k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
8 people in this conversation8 min readJump to latest

I lost all usable hearing in my right ear and the high frequencies in the left last winter due to a viral infection. I trialed an Oticon Delta, an Oticon Dual and a Phonak Smart V with Bicros. Although I thought that the Dual had the better overall sound quality, I selected the Phonak Bicros because of the head shadow problem with the single aid. I considered a single aid with an transmitter. but rejected the idea without a trial because it seemed too cumbersome to deal with a handheld transmitter on a routine basis. I’m not an expert by any means, but cannot see why two conventional aids would be an advantage. Some of the features of the higher end aids would probably not be usable and I would think the cost would be higher. The Pros need to jump in here with real information if I’m wrong in this. Vic

I would say there is a 3rd and 4th option not mentioned:

  1. A TransEar. It looks very much like a small but the earmold portion rests in the bony portion of the ear canal on the deaf side. It uses bone conduction to transmit the sound to the better side. The ear with normal hearing doesn’t have to wear a receiver at all, a unit is only worn on the side without hearing. http://www.transear.com/

  2. This one uses the same principle of bone conduction to transmit the sound from the dead side to the side with normal hearing but it is accomplished via a Bone-Anchored-Hearing-Aid () which is not considered a hearing aid at all by insurance standards and may be covered by insurance. It does require surgery. A housing is surgically implanted in the mastoid bone and the BAHA is snapped in/out of this housing. They were initially designed (I believe) for individuals who could not wear a hearing aid (no ear canal, chronically draining ear, etc.) but has been used in more recent years for single-sided deafness. You can try the BAHA by using a headband to see if it is something that would work for you before undergoing any permanent solutions. You can go to this site Cochlear Americas | Hear Now And Always | Cochlear Implants to find a clinic in your area that is a provider of BAHA devices. I fit 2 of these about 5 years ago and the patients really loved them.

As for the Phonak system, it can be used with any of the Spice platform ’s, not just the very high-end products. I have fit 3 of these and although they do work marvelously, the battery life is abominable…only 2 days in most cases. For people who have used older CROS/Bi-CROS systems in the past, the switch to the far smaller device with more noise reduction features on it is worth the additional cost in batteries/year…but for some it may not be.

I would go with the Phonak Audeo S Smart V with the (don’t waste your money on the IX since you lose some features like zoomcontrol while using the CROS). You can balance the mics between the CROS and the Audeo to ensure equal volume coming from both sides. Also, your better ear will benefit from the sound recover. Another thing, the hook that comes with CROS doesn’t work too well so ask your audiologist/hearing aid specialist to attach a receiver to it. The CROS will stay in the ear better and be more comfortable.

@doubledown said:

Thanks for the tip. didn’t realized bone conduction could be used to send sounds to the ear on the opposite side.

Most people don’t. Honestly, until a colleague pointed it out to me as an option for single-sided deafness I didn’t think of it either.

@doubledown said:

I believe the general consensus on this board is that the cross link with the a spice aid without the stereozoom or zoom control option is the best bang for buck option. This is because stereozoom and zoom control is not supported by the cross link device so you would be paying for a premium aid with features you would never be able to use.

Yes I would probably avoid the highest technology since the StereoZoom is not an option, there has to be hearing for the StereoZoom to work. The transmitter unit is only that, a transmitter.

@doubledown said:

But still using 2 spice aids may resolve the battery issue. I believe the big downside is that head shadowing would not be automatically handled but has to be done so manually using zoom control.

The battery will drain with the /Bi-CROS option within 48 hours for the transmitter. If you select an aid with a size 13 battery (traditional or Full-shell ) as the receiver/hearing aid then you will get probably 3-4 days, maybe 5 out of the battery. If you select a that matches the transmitter unit then you will still only get about 48 hours.

I believe the software does take into account some head-shadowing effects, however, you will be hearing everything in your good ear so it will all seem like it’s coming from that side, even if it is being transmitted from the poor ear slightly before the good ear hears it on it’s own.

@doubledown said:

Does anybody know if zoom control will turn off the mic on the aid receiving the sounds from the opposite of the head? or will it combine the sound from the mic along with the sound from the other aid? if it combines the sound then isn’t zoom control just like cros link? what if the aid was kept in zoom control at all times?

The transmitter will continue to transmit a signal when the Hearing Aid is in a directional mode so you will be hearing input from both sides. I would not keep a hearing aid in directional mode all the time.

@doubledown said:

Looks like phonak has 2 new cros solutions. CROS H20 and CROS 13. So basically both solutions uses 13 batteries to deal with the 2-3 day battery life of the old cros solutions that used 312 batteries. The h2o has the added benefit of water resistance. The h2o appears to be the bte version and the cros 13 is the ite version of the devise. Stereozoom and zoom control is still not an option.

http://www.phonakpro.com/content/dam/phonak/gc_hq/b2b/en/products/hearing_instruments/product_families/phonak_cros/_documents/Product_Information_Phonak_CROS_027-1075.pdf

Stereozoom is not an option because this feature uses mapping and a transmitter isn’t a hearing aid…even if it was it’s not true binaural hearing since the one good ear is the only one hearing - monaural listening. Stereozoom (and I would think any circuit that uses binaural processing of some sort) requires binaural hearing.

@DocAudio said:

Stereozoom is not an option because this feature uses binaural mapping and a CROS transmitter isn’t a hearing aid…even if it was it’s not true binaural hearing since the one good ear is the only one hearing - monaural listening. Stereozoom (and I would think any circuit that uses binaural processing of some sort) requires binaural hearing.

you are correct, hearing is required to take maximum advantage of these binaural features.

The problem doesn’t lie in the hearing aid…it lies in the brain.

Someone with unilateral hearing loss can only hear on one side. hearing requires the ability to hear with both ears…regardless of what electronic manipulations you do with the tech.

I can guarantee you that if there was a way for a hearing aid manufacturer to restore a sensation of binaural hearing for someone with only one functioning ear…they would be ALL OVER that…

All the advanced tech in the world doesn’t make up for the fact that the wearer is still only hearing everything from one side. Binaural , which is what StereoZoom is, REQUIRES 2 functional ears. Binaural hearing, by definition, is hearing with 2 ears…a transmitter - even if it had directional functionality - doesn’t give the person binaural hearing or the ability to use a binaural amplification system.

But I’ll tell ya what…because now I feel the need to know exactly why it won’t work. I’ll contact my rep and have her talk to the engineers about why it doesn’t/can’t work and post the response on here so we can all be a little more knowledgeable about it.

I predict that the cros unit will have 2 microphones and support adaptive beamforming, so a user could potentially hear very close to as well as somebody with 2 usable ears.

Hey doubledown, as our resident expert’s expert I’m sure you can explain the difference between beamforming and spacial speechfocus. Dumb ol’ me looks at them and thinks they sound like the same thing with different PR descriptions. Awaiting your help.

Like I said, they are very similar. Every audiologist/fitter here has disagreed with what you keep repeating. They are wrong and you are the expert?

As to my attitude, maybe you are right. But, even when I had perfect hearing, I’ve had problems suffering fools gracefully.

Related discussions