I’m about to select my first set of hearing aids at age 56. Here are my criteria, which appear to point me in the direction of a very narrow category (Custom ). My audiologist commented that she had heard of variable experiences of the newer Customs by ReSound. Does anyone have any recent experience with this category of products?
I think streaming generally with aids is troublesome because tge only place for Bluetooth antennas is inside your ears. Any particular reason you are not considering aids, possibly with custom molds?
w/custom molds would be my next choice. My initial consideration for mostly comes from a concern about microphonics with eyeglasses and secureness with strenuous physical activity.
Also, I’d like to know more about people’s experiences with microphone-in-ear vs. other options when it comes to natural directionality.
gives manufacturer a little more space to work with and they often come with more features. with custom mold is pretty secure and hasn’t been an issue for me with glasses. Doesn’t sound like discreetness is an issue, but I find nobody notices my hearing aids. They were much more likely to notice my issues with hearing.
I wore Phonak aids for about 4 years. Before that I also wore aids. I was told by the audiologist there is an anciliary benefit to custom aids because the pinna is exposed and the microphone is facing forward. The additional benefit from this is an increase to the signal to noise ratio. The signal to noise ratio is a measure of how strong the signal is in relation to background noise.
For CIC devices my understanding is that because of the physical limitations i.e. space - it is not possible to construct a device with twin microphones. This is what facilitates directionality as a sine wave subtraction takes place. However wearing a CIC exposes more of the pinna so there is a compensatory effect with the directionality.
However ITC devices do have twin microphones and from memory deliver the greatest signal to noise ratio and hence are the most directional out of the custom aids. When compared to a I believe the numbers are similar, but I could stand to be corrected. The problem is that RIC hearing aids usually come out 1 or 2 years before their custom counterparts and may have superior technology in terms of processing and directionality.
This was the case when I switched to RIC aids and was initially worried hat I would lose the benefit of custom directionality. However this was not the case as the directionality of my KS10s (white label Phonak) is pretty good. Also - as I say - it was a next generation device. Usually there are signal to noise improvements in any new generation of devices.
With respect to your general enquiry, I believe you should get pretty strong performance with Resound ITC anyway. You have a mild to moderate loss - so there should be no power issues. Connectivity should be very good. If you were worried about brand I believe Starkey have a great reputation for custom.
Custom rechargeables are available from Resound, Starkey, Signia and I believe within the year from Phonak. They are all BIG. (Customs generally seem to come in two flavours these days: small and de-featured, or big). My patients who don’t care about size/visibility are very happy in the custom rechargeables, and many people have been switching back to customs of late because of masks. Rechargeability seems slightly twitchier than products; you just have to be very sure it’s placed correctly into the charger.
I’ve heard very little anecdote about the Customs by ReSound from the field.
Does anyone here have any experiences to report, either from the user or hearing aid professional viewpoint? Steaming quality, connectivity, speech comprehension, outgoing phone audio quality?
Anyone? I haven’t read one substantive user review or comment online on the Customs by Resound. They’ve been out in the U.S. since June 2022, if I understand correctly.
Kaiser will give me a 45-day trial with whatever I initially choose. Are these worth my while, or should I start with something else?
@mikehoopes Why not give it a try. If these ’s have the options you would like them to have. These aids are not long enough on the market to have a big audience. Being out does not mean are available… Resound makes good HA’s is one of the well known mfgs on the market. You don’t have anything to lose have you. Good luck and keep the community informed.
Having Bluetooth and maybe a vent if needed in a discreet means you’ll need a bigger ear canal yourself, otherwise they won’t able to fit it all in the HA.
Some people say they can’t have ITE/ Aids due to size of ear canal especially if they want Bluetooth as well.
Update: I’m 11 days into my experience with Widex Moment 440 sRIC, on the audiologist’s recommendation at the Kaiser Hearing Center in Santa Clara, N. California. She felt that this configuration was better for my mild/moderate ski slope loss curve, with round open instant-fit domes.
The fitting was set to Experienced (100% of target), as my next appointment would be in 5 weeks.
So far, I think this was the right decision, and it seems to me that the Widex approach does match well with what I’m looking for from . The streaming aspect was better de-prioritized (I’ll defer to the APP2 for that), and I haven’t had much issue with the mics , outside of a minor quibble with near-field speaker music listening and tweeter directivity.
The actual perception of sound placement is excellent in the Moments, so that’s not an issue - their “Digital Pinna” processing works quite well for me.
Campbell/San Jose, CA
NL