Dr Cliff. It takes how long to program hearing aids?

What did you use to close off the ear cup?

The dB meter has a soft foam ball that fits over the microphone and was quite effective in closing off the ear cup.

I love these threads. Let’s imagine nobody has ever thought about this stuff before……

20 characters to make the forum software happy

@AudioSonicAU said:

There’s a reason for us passing a rigorous State Medical exam, written and practical…So we don’t HURT or INJURE a Patients hearing…

I’ve been self programming for over a year. I just had my hearing checked and there was no change. So I’m not buying it.

@orgullodemexico said:

I suppose with the large room, tall ceilings, the attorney’s voice was going everywhere except to my HAs.

That absolutely has an effect. I show dogs, and when a show is held in a large metal building with high ceilings, there’s no doubt at all that it has a very negative effect on my hearing, and I mean in normal one on one conversations.

Great thread, I must have missed it earlier in the year.

Another self programmer here. Why did I become one? Well, in October 2022, I was given UK NHS Marvel M70s, by a fully qualified Audiologist.

1. She didn’t bother using a sound booth
2. She suggested closed domes. I queried it as I normally had full moulds. She said “these hearing aids are so much better now”.
3. When the moulds arrived, she didn’t do any of the Target tests re feedback, or an Audiogram direct.

My speech recognition in any social situation was really bad, although streaming was ok.

I returned where a 2nd fully trained Audiologist attempted to do REM, but it wouldn’t connect. I returned a 3rd time to someone, who I doubt was an Audiologist, but she did increase a couple of G50 gains, this helped slightly.

I bought Private after that, and got a very good fit on P90s. He’s since cancelled his Phonak account, so I can’t get adjustments done there.

I use Phonak Adaptive Digital, as it seems to use a fair amount of compression, to limit loud bangs and noises.

@Neville said:

I’m sorry. Those sorts of patient experiences make me shrivel up inside.

Instant Red Flag.

Sadly, I went to Boots (UK), to get some vented deep impressions. I showed him my Audiogram direct, and he said he could only supply fully occluded moulds. Another red flag, so I left. Only afterwards, realised he’d looked at my UCL line, not my loss! Still a red flag, as Boots is Phonak owned and he should have been familiar with the screen.

I’ve since found a local Audiologist, who will work on all manufacturers, whether purchased from them, or not. I’ve yet to use their programming, but they make excellent moulds (I collect 2 pairs today).

Time to Rethink the Hearing Aid Model from bundled models into Pay Per Visit model. Many patients are still locked into prescription-based hearing aid models that charge high upfront fees. These bundled models often give the illusion of full support, but in reality, it is not even close to that. Since your appointments are already paid for in advance, there’s less immediate financial incentive for hearing aid assistants or audiologists to actively engage with you or encourage regular visits. Once the premium bundle is sold, providers may shift focus to onboarding new customers who haven’t yet purchased a plan. You might receive fewer proactive follow-ups or personalized check-ins because the system views you as “already covered.”

I am lousy at maths but managed an in-situ hearing test and made adjustments to certain settings! The software also has a kind of AI sound troubleshooter to suggest alterations and in which frequencies which you authorise & roll back if not beneficial!
I do feel however that it is better to work with a pre-set REMd base and make tweaks rather than go in with a fresh start!

@Um_bongo said:

spaceship made from 32 million components delivered by the cheapest supplier

You better compare the next door audiologist with the cheapest spaceship supplier. Because both, the crappy audiologist and the cheapest spaceship supplier, technically deliver the product. Cheap is risky but incompetence is worse..

I definitely prefer to fit my hearing aid myself rather that leave the audiologist’s office with poor sound quality, distortion, soreness in my ear and reduced hearing clarity with a visit resulted in a noticeably worse hearing aid fit compared to the previous adjustment.

No audiologist, no cry — because when you take control, you learn every twist and turn of your device. You troubleshoot the squeals, fine-tune the settings, and find your own perfect fit.

So here’s to the self-starters, the budget-conscious (best hearing aids for less), the fearless troubleshooters — sometimes, you just gotta do it yourself, and no audiologist? No problem.

@Um_bongo said:

I’m happy that you’re able to pilot your own Spaceship, but the plural of your lived anecdote isn’t ‘Data’ or even generally representative outside of your own peculiar circumstances.

@cyprus said:

I definitely prefer to fit my hearing aid myself rather that leave the audiologist’s office with poor sound quality, distortion, soreness in my ear and reduced hearing clarity with a visit resulted in a noticeably worse hearing aid fit compared to the previous adjustment.

Did I not make that point as clearly as I could (sample size= 1)?

Happy for you to program your own aids to get the best out of them. I can nominally ‘fix’ an S-Class Mercedes with the right scanner, some tools and rudimentary electromechanical skills, but I mainly choose to use a mechanic.

@Um_bongo said:

I can nominally ‘fix’ an S-Class Mercedes with the right scanner, some tools and rudimentary electromechanical skills, but I mainly choose to use a mechanic.

You don’t fix the S-Class primarily because you have little interest in doing so. Some of us just have an interest in fitting our own hearing aids. Of course you could probably get to a particular result much faster than I could because you fully understand the probable results of each action. I only know if something I do makes things better or worse but not always why. If I had the ability to clearly express the problem (which I don’t) and if I had an audiologist that was able to spend several hours with me I probably would not have dove into DIY. When I told my very good audiologist that I was going to attempt DIY she said, just call or email me if you have problems. She was very supportive.

Don’t get me wrong I’m greatly interested in fixing it, but I recognise the value in handing it over to a mechanic to deal with many of its issues.

The point I was (probably badly) labouring is that outside of some very motivated users - like the ones one this forum - the desire to look under the hood is pretty minuscule. I can count on one hand the number of people who’ve been fitted in my practice in the last 20 years who’ve asked to ‘homebrew’ their own fitting or tweaks to my initial fit.

The other poster was suggesting that overhauling the whole industry model was necessary: but we don’t see that ‘on the ground’.