Oticon intent 1 - newbie struggling in noisy environments

@Bruno_Marques said:

To answer your other question, I use a custom mold, I didn’t like the domes because the sound was leaking too much, but I have a moderate to severe hearing loss (I still need to put my audiogram here). Not sure what’s the best for you, to be honest.

Do you get occlusion with the custom molds Bruno? If so, is that something you got used to over time?

@PJB12 said:

Perhaps try “acclimatizing” to your new devices or recent re-programming by going to places of little or no importance. Actively listen to others. Hopefully that will jump start your path to success.

Brilliant advice Paul cheers for that. Yeah, no-pressure environments where there’s nothing really at stake by listening without getting involved are the go. I’ve had this idea it has to be all or nothing with social interaction but ‘listen-but not care’ environments as you say would be valuable places to condition my brain to my aids. I’ll try the tv closed captioning option as well!

I don’t experience occlusion effect, it’s not a fully closed mold, I have a 0.8mm vent, which keeps sound trapped enough for me to hear the low frequency sounds well, but not experience occlusion.

But according to this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U97QreFexVU12, your experience would be very different compared to mine.

Hello. Good idea to adjust in the app however, the app is not accessible for visually impaired users who use screen readers like VoiceOver. I also have had some issues in loud environments.

ADHD can also be an effect of problems in noise. I have it as well but find Im just losing focus so just refocus and it helps. So many factors and also as we age the brain tends to slow down but the environment doesn’t. So you may be someone that needs a remote microphone to function in noise. Good luck though

These tests don’t replicate real-world conditions very well, unfortunately.

There are indeed people with normal hearing that don’t function well in noise, Hearing aids that remove most of the noise, which some (like the Phonak Audeo Infinio) are beginning to be able to do, would be effective for them, wouldn’t they?

This may be a conundrum for people with moderate hearing loss. You have pretty good hearing – and although your hearing dips in the voice range, it recovers for high-frequency sounds! Although I have the Reals, not the Intents, my experience is that even high-end hearing aids don’t help much with speech in noise (and thus I question their utility, since I can hear quite well without them in low-noise environments).

Until now. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is at least one hearing aid that represents a significant advance and outperforms the Intents by a significant margin: the Phonak Audéo Infinio Sphere (see the ratings on hearingtracker).

It really depends on a multitude of things. sometimes just amplification works other times amplification is of no value. It is not always cut and dry so you have to try different methods with hopes that one thing works. I’ve even had people with moderate losses do exceptionally in noise with no amplification. It’s why I call the medical field trial and error as we are all different and what works for one doesn’t for others. But love these kinds of questions it keeps me sharp and thinking.

Have a great Christmas

@happymach said:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are several hearing aids using deep neural networks that outperform the Intents significantly

I wear the Intents, and they work well for me in noisy environments, given my hearing loss. Some of us do get excellent results with them. Their strong “audio resolution” helps my brain separate and focus on what matters within a complex soundscape. That said, no hearing aid can overcome the fundamental limits of physics when the signal-to-noise ratio is working against us.

I had a transcendent moment this past week when I watched a movie in another language that I’ve studied. I can recognize far more words written than spoken. But this time I had my new TV streamer going, which is like hearing the way I did as a kid again, so clear and immediate. I realized I could hear all those words, recognize those words I know in writing, but could never pick up on before. My brain needed that level of clarity to map the meaning to the sound. Very exciting.

@e1405 said:

I wear the Intents, and they work well for me in noisy environments, given my hearing loss. Some of us do get excellent results with them. Their strong “audio resolution” helps my brain separate and focus on what matters within a complex soundscape.

Are you able to reasonably hear people over background music and loud talking? Like say a vinyl bar?

Sure, but all hearing aids are not equal. I watched a few more Dr. Cliff videos this evening. While I sometimes find that his videos can resemble infomercials, I was struck by one where he states categorically that the Phonak Audeo Infinio Sphere is better at separating speech from noise (with recordings as evidence) than any hearing aid in the seven years since he’s been testing them. Hearingtracker also rated them much higher than the Intents.

I personally would not buy Intents if the objective is the best speech in noise performance currently available.

I have noticed that my hearing loss seems to be less severe than many in these forums. Is it possible that purchasing the intents or another brand is overkill given the state of my hearing?

No. People with more profound hearing loss need more powerful receivers.

It’s not the power level of the aid that matters here, as the Intent is available with receivers that fit mild/moderate loss up to custom receivers suitable for severe/profound loss. Even if you have a mild/moderate loss you still need a good aid capable of filtering noise, of which the Intents are. Of course, people are pointing out that Phonak is ahead currently. However, it might be that your own hearing in noise is better than your audiogram would suggest, or worse. The advice as always on this forum is to trial the aids, with a competent audiologist, and with real ear measurements performed if possible.