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What difference do higher-power receivers make?

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I have Oticon More 1 with 85dB receivers. Sometimes, especially when I’m conversing with a soft-voiced female in an unfamiliar environment, I will bump the volume up by a couple of notches and it will help.

If I bump up the volume by three or four notches the sound becomes overwhelming. Not distorted exactly, but unpleasant and uncomfortable, like the volume of the whole world has been over-amplified.

I know Oticon makes a higher-powered receiver, I think a 105 one. Might a 105 dB receiver produce more volume (and hopefully better speech comprehension) without that overwhelming sensation?

I know that in audio sound reinforcement a higher-powered amplifier will produce a cleaner and more pleasing sound than will a lower-powered amp at the same volume because the higher-powered amp doesn’t have to work as hard. Is it the same principle with HAs? Or is a higher-power receiver only called for when a patient’s hearing loss is such that more volume is needed to provide more boost for a profound loss? Hope this question makes sense. Thank you.

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Have you tried using the Oticon phone app?
There should be functions for reduction of background noise, increase soft sounds, change the microphone directional? These are available in my Myphonak app for example.

I don’t know but I’m doubtful. You’re well within the fitting range for the 85 receiver. Looking at data sheets the 85 dB receivers can give about 50 dB of gain in your worst frequencies. I doubt you could tolerate more than 30, maybe 35 dB of gain. If you wanted to try a more powerful receiver, I’d suggest the 100 dB one instead. The 105 dB requires it’s own custom mold. There are other advantages of lower powered receivers that um-bongo has mentioned. One that I remember is that they have a higher frequency range (up to 8000Hz or higher, versus ~5000 Hz for very high powered receivers)
I suspect the “overwhelming sound” is that you’ve reached your limit of volume that you readily tolerate.

Also, some ppl can’t wear Oticon’s 100/105 receivers because of small ear canals.

You may find some relevant info on this thread, Um_bongo has some info about power receivers towards the end of the thread

Jabra Enhance Pro on order. Would appreciate input
I went to a Costco hearing center over the weekend and had a hearing test done. Hopefully I attached my audiogram correctly. Based on these results, they suggested some Jabra Enhance Pro RIC hearing aids with HP3 receivers and an earmold for the right ear. Based on my use scenarios I went with the battery type 13 model. For my hearing loss, should these potentially be a good fit? I’m trying to do online research to become a little less ignorant but still have a long way to go. I’d apprecia…

No, absolutely not.

There’s a good recent debate on the 85dB vs the 100dB. Have a look; especially in terms of ‘clarity’.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I suspected that higher-power receivers would not help but I thought it was worth asking. I did learn some interesting stuff by reading the material that was referenced in this thread.

I was reminded that increasing the volume is going to start causing some distortion at some point, especially in my left ear that has an acoustic neuroma. I actually tried using the Oticon On app to adjust the volume on only one at a time to see if it increased speech clarity.

My usual test is to play two YouTube videos simultaneously: one with busy restaurant noise and the other of a woman giving a TED talk. I adjust the volume so that I comprehend about 30-50% of the woman’s words. Increasing the volume on my right HA only didn’t help much if at all. I thought that turning down my left HA might have helped just a tiny bit, but it very well could have been my imagination. I’ll try the same test in the real world next time I get a chance.

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