The rollercoaster continues!

Hey all,

For those of you who have read my previous posts this first paragraph is a bit of review.

I recently started wearing hearing aids again after not wearing them for 6 years after my hearing loss had progressed to moderatly severe-severe in my right ear and severe-profound in my left. Last week things changed and there was a sudden drop in my hearing. I now have a profound loss in both ears and I am not responding at all to high frequencies.

I have been wearing Phonak Savia Arts for the past two months and since the decrease in my hearing they have been doing much. my right ear is a bit better and I am getting a bit of speech but nothing I can make sense out of. My audiologist emailed me today and said she ordered me a Phonak Naida. I looked at the website for it (Naída Phonak - Home) and I am really hoping it helps. If it doesn't I am also looking into a CI. The aid should come in at the beginning of next week, and I am so excited to try it! This is going to be one long week for me!

Does anyone hear use or know anything about the Phonak Naida? What do some of you with profound loss use? I am curiouse!

-Jenny

I have a severe-profound loss in my right ear, and I wear Phonak's Supero. In 2004, when I got it, it was the most powerful one from Phonak and that was what I needed, more power and more gain (my previous Phonak digital, the Claro, was completely maxed out and we couldn't make more adjustments on it). Supero 413AZ's maximum gain is up to 81 dB, Supero 412 86 dB, Naida 85 dB... wow! the Supero 413AZ (which is what I wear) works great for me, even though I am very highly dependent on visual support to make sense of what is said... But I can still hear what's going on around me. And I have a friend who has severe-profound loss in both ears and she wears the Supero 412 (she just recently got them) and she's really happy with them. Hopefully the Naida works out for you.

Just looking at the Naida's.... oh now I want one! More programming options. Windblock? I think that would be nice to have! Too bad I can't afford a new hearing aid, and my file at Vocational Rehab has been closed.

Thanks, now you've got me wanting this hearing aid.

haha i was just looking at the naida too, i def like the new colors (zebra print looks pretty cool to me) my ha i have now only has 58 max gain in db and im at bout a 45ish db loss rite now...jeese..hopefully it doesn't go down anytime soon! lol

my Supero is at 81 or 82 dB gain, which is a big improvement from the Claro. But with the Naida, there's just more features on it, that I think I could benefit from, features the Supero doesn't even have. The wind block, that would be awesome. SoundFlow, SoundRecover, Real Ear Sound? Amazing how many changes and improvements are added to new hearing aids over the years.

This hearing aid is making me rethink the implant, at least hold off on the implant for a while longer (I don't even want to deal with the frequent traveling to another state for the whole process).

and aww it's 11, guess I'll have to share this new hearing aid with my mom tomorrow.

Ya wind block sounds awesome! I hate the wind, what a horrible sound. I hate when it's very windy, you can't talk to anybody cuz its too loud. Specially on the phone.
My HA has audiozoom, what is that? does it come with any program auto or is it a seperate program i have to ask my audi to put on?

My HA has AudioZoom too. Supposedly it's supposed to zoom in on the voice in front of you or something like that. I don't know. My friend, when she had her programmable hearing aids, it had an AZ option on it, and she would use it so she could "zoom" in on a voice she wants to hear. Hers was a separate option though. On mine, it's just... there? I don't know!

I got my mom looking at the new hearing aid, and I think she's excited. After looking at the info, I've been rethinking the implant option. I don't want to implant my GOOD ear, there's still enough hearing that I think this hearing aid would be just perfect. And I don't even know if I can implant my left ear, how much ossification is there? Ah who knows.

I was at the hospital last night because my left ear felt hot and my tinnitus had changed once again. They don't know why, and don't think it was anything to be worried about but with everything going on I wanted to be careful! Also, if it was something and I hadn't gotten it check out I didn't want do deal with the wrath of my audie .

I went to see my audie this afternoon to quickly adjust the programming on my current aids to see if it would help at all. I had emailed her while I was at the hospital to let her know what was going on, so she asked right away. She decided she wanted to do a quick hearing test on my left ear to see if it had dropped anymore. She said she was just going to do a tone test with the headphones. So I get into the booth and she starts to test my right ear. I gave her a funny look through the window and she made the motion of pressing the button (the one you have to press if you can hear the tones). I resigned myself to the testing and she tested both my right and left ear. She came in after that and said that it had dropped and then made me do a bone conducted test. That had also dropped. She then did more bone conducted testing with the other ear being masked. By this point I had accused her of lying about only doing a quick tone test with the headphones I was expecting it though, that's what she always does haha. I hate the testing and she knows it LOL It's her way to get me into the booth I think!

After the tone testing she wanted to try some speech discrimination. We hadn't done that in a while and I knew it was going to be bad. She knew it was going to be bad too, but we tried anyway. Last time I did a speech discrim test I got 84% at 105db. This was before the new loss. I got 0% today. It was frustrating.

I am a very good speech reader though so the bad speech discrim isn't that big of a deal. It is but you know what I mean.

Anyway that is todays update! I shall keep you all posted! I can't wait to try the new aids!!!!!! One week!

ahh hope your hearing doesn't drop some more!

Hey all!

Going to see my family doctor today. I need her to sign some forms for me. I am applying for a Hearing Ear Dog. My audie thinks it's a good idea. Anyway I haven't seen or spoken with my family doctor about the drop yet, and she is a bit inept. She is a first year resident and doesn't understand ANYTHING about hearing (or anything else really) I hope she doesn't fight me on signing the forms. It was like pulling teeth to get her to sign my Assistive Devices Plan forms. She wanted an ENT to tell her I needed new hearing aids, not my audie. Frustrating! I have seen an ENT already this time though so hopefully there won't be a fight. I will let you know!

Hey all,

My audie sent me an email and my appointment to get my new aids is next Monday at 2:00pm. We were hoping for something this week but my audie has never worked with these aids before and I am super picky about the programming so she wants a rep to come to my appointment to help her. Though I don't know how picky I can be about the programming...guess it depends on what sound I get from the aids!!

Kinda bummed about having to wait a week...oh wel.

picky? haha I didn't know one can be so picky about the programming...

I'm pretty sure my audiologist won't have any experience with the Naida's.... I don't think he did with my other Phonak digitals, but he was willing to learn, has called Phonak a few times for suggestions/tips/help, etc. And he listens to what I want, don't want, and messes around with the different settings, then talks away so I could get a listen, then make more adjustments as necessary and yada yada yada. I think he has fun playing with the different settings on the computer, trying this and that and seeing if I like what I hear, etc. yeah. His laptops do have the tendency to crash while my hearing aid's hooked up though... twice it's happened with the Supero, which was rather odd. And that was just last summer too!

Yeah my audie does the same thing. She has only been working for a year or so though. She is very younge, fresh out of school. She just wants to make this process go a bit faster for my sake I think. If having a rep there will make future progamming, and the initial programming a little easier for her I am all for the idea. She is an AMAZING audiologist, I know I say this a lot, but she doesn't have the experience that some might. She is willing to learn, and work with me though so even though it might take longer with her I would trade her for a different audie any day!

JennyB said:

Yeah my audie does the same thing. She has only been working for a year or so though. She is very younge, fresh out of school. She just wants to make this process go a bit faster for my sake I think. If having a rep there will make future progamming, and the initial programming a little easier for her I am all for the idea. She is an AMAZING audiologist, I know I say this a lot, but she doesn't have the experience that some might. She is willing to learn, and work with me though so even though it might take longer with her I would trade her for a different audie any day!

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I am sure that your audiologist knows you are excited about the whole thing and these very high power aids usually only involved about less than 10% of all the aids sold by audiologists so it is hard to gain experience in a reasonable amount of time with this class of aids. So it is good that she ask a company rep to come and that will increase your chance to get a good fitting. I am very curious about the Wind Block feature on these aids and how well they block the wind without effecting anything else. I have heard both plus and minus on these aids but that should not stop you from seeking the "holy Grail" of hearing aids.

Ooops typo! I said I would trade my audie for another audie any day...I meant to say I wouldn't hahaha oops!

yeah I am all for her having a company rep in. As long as she is willing to learn, I am willing to be her test subject hahaha.

I think that with the nature of the company she works for, she doesn't see many people with profound loss. It is one of those larger companies like 'ListenUP Canada' that has a whole bunch of clinics that advertise, offer 'complimentary hearing tests', you can book an appointment online...so on and so forth. I have a feeling she sees mostly older individuals. I have never run into anyone under 60 in her cinic, and I am there a lot hahaha. I get that I am not her average client, being 18 and having a profound loss, and she has limited work experience so things will take longer.

That being said I have also been living in silence for 2 weeks and I am getting anxiouse to try these new aids!

My speech is also really starting to change (or so I have been told) so I would rather be hearing SOMETHING again sooner rather than later. I don't know what to expect from these aids. I will be happy with a little bit of environmental noise, and some muffled speech. I don't have high expectations.

Zebra print HA?! *goes and looks*

The HA I want to get is the Oticon Epoq. Very expensive but my mom says if VR only pays part of it, she will pay the rest. It will give me the best range of coverage which is what I need for interpreting. Unfortunately it only comes in really boring colors - white, gray, beige, and black!

My mom told me that my dad AND grandparents will help pay for the Naida hearing aid too. oooo! Sweet. If they want to help, I'll accept their help! That's what family is for, right? Then in June, I can show my dad and stepmom the new hearing aid and hopefully it does work better than the Supero with the SoundRecover and such.

and as for WindBlock... buhaha when I told my deaf friend (who recently got the Supero hearing aids, she used to interpret for me for many years at school) about being excited for the WindBlock feature (cause I live in Wyoming, the windy state)... she looked at me and said "I'm surprised you didn't know of Wind Block before, I've always requested for a wind filter covering on my hearing aid mics." whaaaa? I had no idea there was a filter for the microphone of the hearing aid just for the wind. wow.

I'm still trying to decide.. red, or zebra? hmm... I should do Zebra, I can do the earmold in any color... yeah, lets go for a nice jazzy hearing aid! No more beige, no more brown (my Supero is brown to blend in with the hair, meh)... and I've done purple Phonak's when I was a kid, which was so neat (I always like looking through the purple see-through plastic casing of the hearing aid, just to see what was INSIDE the HA). And I can continue with red earmolds, or get another colored mold. Not a prob! I should probably have a new mold made too... The one I have now, I've had since last summer and I've had to trim it down and file it to smooth out the sharp/rough bits. haha.

2 more days, 2 more days...

I'm so jealous! I will probably ask to get the Epoq in white/orchid or white/light blue. I will probably have open fit though, so no cool earmold for me.

Hmm....I don't know what color my Naidas are going be LOL...I am assuming they will be beige. That is what I have always had. My audie ordered them for me without asking so I would assume that they will be beige lol.

Also, I have an appointment with another ENT tomorrow, and hopefully I will get some kind of explination as to of why this has happened. If not its not that big of a deal, doesn't change anything. But it would be nice to know...I am nervouse! Can't even sleep...hopefully I will know SOMETHING tomorrow!!!

It is one of those larger companies like 'ListenUP Canada' that has a whole bunch of clinics that advertise, offer 'complimentary hearing tests', you can book an appointment online...so on and so forth. I have a feeling she sees mostly older individuals. I have never run into anyone under 60 in her cinic

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Oh baiscly a Canadian version of Beltone and Miricle Ear?
Is there any way at all that you could get to see someone who is experianced with young dhh folks? I think a big part of the problem, is that your audi is more of a Beltone style audi, rather then a real audi. Maybe a good idea might be to contact a school for the Deaf, or your province's hoh organization. They might have some suggestions as to good audis to see.