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How to Self Program Starkey HA's

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I hope this helps people so they don’t have to struggle with this as I did:
Self Programming Starkey Hearing Aids

I currently have Wi series Hearing Aids from Starkey. I bought them used and have had them replaced 2 times over the years for problems like taking them for a swim. I verified the serial numbers when I bought them to make sure they were not stolen. Now the warranties are direct to me, but programming them costs me $200 or more each time and that’s only for 1 programming session. Thus my foray into self-programming, necessity, the Mother of invention.

I got the Inspire software from the Starkey Pro site. The patient database allows one to back up copies of their programs. I believe the following links still work. I had an older version of Inspire and was able to upgrade it with the Starkey upgrade utility in the software.
https://patientbase.starkeyhearingtechnologies.com/1104
https://starkeypro.com/public/starkeysoftwaredownload/1292

Figure out what cables and flex strip you need to attache to the Hi-Pro.
This should help:
https://starkeypro.com/pdfs/government/Boots_and_Cables_Programming_Guide.pdf729
http://www.starkeyhearingtechnologies.com/inspirehelp/en/InspireOSCablesAndConnectorsStarkey.pdf407
I was fortunate to find these cables on Ebay. $20 for each purple cable.

I got the Hi-pro knock off on www.aliexpress.com195 specifying “hi-pro hearing” on the search line and paid $169. (price seems to keep increasing)

After getting up my courage some months after buying the Hi-pro knockoff, I finally hooked the cable to the hearing aids. That was really the most difficult part. Coordinating the pins within the hearing aid with the cables.

Starkey’s newest software works with Windows 10. When I ran the Inspire software it saw the Hi-pro knockoff as verified by Inspire.

Inspire identified my hearing aids correctly.

Inspire is made for dummies on one level and for real pros on the other. Your first time programming your aids, merely enter your hearing test results and Inspire will auto program the hearing aids.

I was able to easily program my Wi110 switch for whatever 4 modes I wanted. Theater, Car, Outside, etc….

After running the HA’s for a while you can fine tune the hearing aids with simple to use English language options like “too tinny”, Too soft, etc…

Best of luck,
Allen Moretsky

22 people in this conversation13 min readJump to latest

Hi,

I have Starkey muse ha’s and I also have a hi-pro, purple cables and the software. I really haven’t done too much to it yet as I’m waiting for a book with ha programming tips.

How was the sound after you did the initial programming steps? Did you reset your hearing aids back to factory before you started?

Just looking for info before I dive in. Fortunately, I have 4 programs available so I’ve only been messing with my program #2 and seeing what happens. My other 3 programs are the same as when I got them. I like that I can save the sessions at any point or return to any earlier session. It makes life easier.

In reply to @RussF

Hi Russ,
The sound after my one foray into programming was much better than what had been on the ’s. One of the reasons for that is that I had replaced the HA tubes/speakers from 40 to 50 and never re-programmed because of the expense of going to a Dispenser. I’m easy to please and so am satisfied with the defaults. Once you plug in your numbers manually to the software, the software will walk you through the steps. My HA’s are a bit older, WI110’s. Your Muse probably have more capabilities. I have not been back to re-visit or further adjust the HA’s.
I did not re-set back to factory settings.
I also saved previous sessions, but what I have now is far superior to what was programmed prior.
Tell me about the book you sent for. The software can be daunting if you stay from the suggested settings. It would be nice to understand the verbage better and perhaps try some other settings. Check out the video I just posted. When I watched it I was impressed with the fact that Starkey software programs differently depending on whether the user has had HA’s for a while or is a new user.
Please post any tips. I was really afraid that I’d screw up my HA’s, but it went very well.

  • Allen

Hi Allen,

I have watched the video you mentioned above. I actually watched a couple because they had basically the same thing for 2016, 2015, etc. and I had watched one before I saw the year thing. The software is pretty well setup, but like you mentioned, once you get away from the initial settings, there are other parts where it seems to become quite difficult or at least harder to understand.
The book I bought is Hearing Aids by Dillon Harvey. Should have it in a day or two. I bought an older used version from ebay for $19.00 because the new one is about 80-90 dollars and I figured there probably wasn’t a whole lot of difference. I don’t need all the information, just enough to point me in the right direction. It has gotten good reviews from Audiologists in that section of this forum, so we’ll see. I don’t want to do too much till I get it and at least thumb through the book.
I will let you know what I think of it as soon as I get it.

It’s good to hear that things went well on your initial programming. That gives me a bit more confidence. :slight_smile:

Hi, I use Halo 2 I1600 hearing aids and will soon read out the set-up of hearing aids using a Trulink programmer and the Inspire software 2018 and would like to learn how I can perform a fine tuning (basic set-up by hearing care professional is done) independently. Does anybody have any personal experience here and could give me support?

I can’t get into a lot of details but you had your programed by your Audiologist so you will need to record the test and current settings into the Patientbase. After Trulink has connected to your HAs by selecting "Read Device Settings" and then Start"
Disconnect Trulink and you will have the option to record settings in to your database. This way you can always get back to where you started from.

xoff

Now you can connect again.
On the right side under Pre Fitting select "Inspire online" and scroll down to "What’s new in Inspire X" “Latest Quick Tips” in the Training Corner you will find “Patient Adjustment Guide” pick the one for your HAs and start from there.

Explore the rest of the settings and options

Have fun.

Hi Flatfish, Thank you very much, that’s the starting point that I thought was important to not lose the base set-up. Could you give me a brief explanation of how I can restore the original settings in the hearing aid profiles after adjustment if necessary. With these quick guides, I would be very well prepared to familiarize myself with the possibilities of fine adjustments via Inspire. Many Thanks

Asked and answered many times. Use the search magnifying glass. For example;

Here (member archive), and Here, and Here.

Test it first with different session names before you make any changes.

Edited

Load

From that screen Pick Load Previous Session and it gets you in the PatientBase
Note on the inspire program after you made any changes it will reflect immediately in the so you can hear how you changed it. I will not go through a SAFE function, the change will remain in your HAs. When you disconnect from the Trulink it will give you an option to safe those settings to the PatientBase if you want but the HAs will not automatically go back to the previous settings.

Thank you again, now I feel well prepared, have also found the training videos in the Inspire software environment. As soon as I receive the TruLink Programmer, I will try my best and know now that nothing bad can happen if I follow your basic statements.

Edited

In reply to @Flatfish

@Flatfish said:

Note on the inspire program after you made any changes it will reflect immediately in the HA so you can hear how you changed it. I will not go through a SAFE function, the change will remain in your HAs. When you disconnect from the Trulink it will give you an option to safe those settings to the PatientBase if you want but the HAs will not automatically go back to the previous settings.

Are you sure? I don’t have Inspire loaded, but in general, at End/Save time you get a choice to save to Database, Save to Hearing instruments, Save to both, or Save to none.

Yes the fitting changes are reflected in the hearing instruments as you make changes during the fitting. However, if you don’t save those changes into the hearing instruments at the End/Save step then your hearing instruments revert back to the previous settings.

Otherwise what would be the point in saving to hearing instruments?

It’s very easy to test.

  1. Make one small change to the gain in one of your frequencies.
  2. Write it down so you don’t forget it.
  3. Don’t save anything at the End/Save step

Start over, use Read Device Settings. You small change should be gone and it should revert back to the original setting before your small change.

Edited

When you start you choose hearing instrument or database session;

c0

At Save time you can save to database session AND hearing instruments or neither;

c1

At Save time if you click NO, or cancel, or if your computer dies, Inspire should not inadvertently save the changes to your hearing instruments. That would be a big whoops! You can test this real easy as stated above.

Edited

I am on Inspire X 2018.xxxx Maybe there is a difference.
on the first picture I just selected read device settings and increased the 2500HZ from 89 to 97 on the loud (heavy black line)

Capture

I then Disconnected Surflink (Picture in previous post with the red arrow on the X)
Now My are disconnected from Surflink.
Under Save Fitting I selected No

Capture4

I now reconnected again and selected Read Device Settings and that’s what I get. It Remembered the settings without me saving them.
I don’t think it’s good since if you want to go back before you made changes you have to go back to the patientBase and retrieve the settings.

But the text in the SAVE FITTING box is pretty clear now.

Capture2

Yikes, I am surprised that it saves whatever you were tinkering with. Are the changes still there after you open/close the battery doors on the hearing aids.

Yes the changes are still there after open/closing the battery doors. I just tested it to make 100% sure.

I have been programing my for a while now and have not found another way. At first I was looking for the save button and could not find one so finally figured out that it automatically saved the adjustments to the device (HAs) as the Save Fitting Window spells out.

What ever change you made automatically saved in taht saving option only for storing session data on computer. And not on ha you have to manually restore old session data into ha

Hi Guys… I’m in trouble. Just two days ago the link was working. Now it’s not… I think it was removed permanently. Does anyone have a copy laying around for the inspire x? I greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

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