Soooo happy. I love my new hearing aid!!!!

So far, the move back to analog has been all kinds of awesome for me. Keep in mind that I have been wearing analog my whole life. I've been trying to get used to digital since 2003 with (what I now know are) very mixed results. Nothing ever sounded 100% right, but I would never have known this had I not put on my old analog aid the other week after my GN ReSound Canta 7 went bust.

Here's what I've been able to enjoy so far:

1. Everything (highs, mids, lows (if there are any as part of the sound) are soooooo crisp and clear. Nothing is blocked by dumb noise reduction programs.

2. I no longer have to use captions on the TV.

3. It does everything my old analog did...and more. It's louder, making things that much clearer. No distortion occurs.

4. Haven't tried it in a restaurant yet, but with echoey environments and the noisy environments I've been in, everything is soooo clear.

5. Music is phenomenal, e.g. while using headphones, I can hear cheers + whistles from the audience that I never heard with my digitals. I can also hear each execution of an "s" or "f" sound over head phones with no problem.

6. I'm sure my speech understanding just shot up to 100% from 85%, which is what it was according to the last audiogram taken while I was wearing my GN ReSound Canta 7 digital aid.

7. I no longer have to open the damned battery door to turn off the hearing aid. I have a switch. I actually have a freaking SWITCH!! YAY!

8. No more constant trips to the audiologist's office in order to update the software programming to adjust the sound quality of the hearing aid. The sound is 100% accurate right from the start.

Yeah I'm not going back to digital anytime soon. I haven't been this happy in a very long time.

Yay, I am happy for you, enjoy!

I followed your other thread where you said you were having troubles with the new HA... I'm not an expert in that field at all so I left the thread open to others to help you.

I'm glad to read that your problem seems to be lifted now! Which of course is good news!

So happy for you!

JL

Glad to hear that, Hope it contiunes to help you.

im glad you like your hearing aid!

Thanks everyone. OMG...in noisy environments like in a restaurant I can TOTALLY hear speech clearly. I went to lunch today (chinese food) and I could hear the cashier perfectly without lipreading. This is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! That is a wild thought, no wonder you are so excited!

Well it just goes to prove that the "most cutting edge technology" isn't the best for everyone.
I LOVE my digitals.....but I agree with you.......I hate having to open and shut the battery door to turn it off and on.

Dang, you're lucky. I wish I was in your shoes because I need new hearing aid SO BAD!

Good to hear you're happy.

I just wanted to say wow! Ive shown my dad this and will be showing my audiologist this as well. What analog HA are you currently wearing? I might need to have a trial with the same HA you are wearing if you are getting such amazing results! You weren't hearing your best with the digital since some of the features are worse than useless. I feel the same, look how bad im hearing at 2000Hz, just 65db aided! I have 10db worse hearing from 1000Hz to 2000Hz, yet im hearing 25db worse aided? My digitals are probably blocking some of the gains in the higher frequencies as they did for you.

In about two weeks, they will be reprogrammed and hopefully I hear all that I can, else im going to have to try analogs. What brand and model do you have? Should I try your brand or go for the Oticon Sumo(analog version) Thanks for sharing your HA experience, me and others can learn what HAs will work to let us hear better as they did for you.

deafdyke said:

Well it just goes to prove that the "most cutting edge technology" isn't the best for everyone.
I LOVE my digitals.....but I agree with you.......I hate having to open and shut the battery door to turn it off and on.

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My hearing aids turn on and off by opening the battery doors too. It's such a pain. I broke one battery door by doing this while the HA was still on my ear. So now when I take them off at night I first switch them to the 'T' programme, so as not to disturb the rest of my family with the whistling. Yesterday morning when I put one HA in my ear I realised that I had left it on all night, I must have been really sleepy the night before. If I keep doing this I'm going to waste an awful lot of batteries!!

I had same issue with battery door, I often had sailing crew mates waking me up saying that my HA is keeping them up. The HA slides freely in one wooden pocket and often when it hits one side the battery door closes. Since then I just take the battery out. But now i have analogue in one ear it got "proper" switch and CI in other ear.

@deafdude1 - The Unitron US80-PP is the model I'm using.

I should point out as well that it all depends on how one hears. I'm used to the linear processing of an analog hearing aid and so it's the best hearing aid for me (and it's why I'm getting such awesome results). Using the same hearing aid with someone that's not used to it could lead to opposite results. Digital processing just didn't provide the optimum benefits for me.

It's like putting a square peg in a round hole - some experimentation with different "round pegs" if you will may be needed to attain desired results.

Phi4Sius

I believe that analog is working better for you not because you were "used" to it but by the kind of hearing loss you have. You said that you have been trying digital aids since 2003 if I read you correctly. That tells me no amount of training is going to help you to get more benefits from digital aids. The one benefit that I have heard from digital aids is better noise reduction in certain situations. However I like analog much better in quiet and for music.

@john57 - You're correct about me trying digital since '03.

However, for me, analog helps me in all situations rather than just quiet and with music. Although, I can see what you mean re: quiet situations and music. Both are significantly better. Analog seems to be helping me in all different situations, including in noise. Go figure.

I have Unitron too... to compesate the low frequency with CI. Works well even i can hardly hear out of it... I often forget if it's on or off!! I only wear it when i am out and about.

Phi4Sius said:

@deafdude1 - The Unitron US80-PP is the model I'm using.

I should point out as well that it all depends on how one hears. I'm used to the linear processing of an analog hearing aid and so it's the best hearing aid for me (and it's why I'm getting such awesome results). Using the same hearing aid with someone that's not used to it could lead to opposite results. Digital processing just didn't provide the optimum benefits for me.

It's like putting a square peg in a round hole - some experimentation with different "round pegs" if you will may be needed to attain desired results.

Click to expand...

I looked up your HA and it's great in high frequencies, about 10db more gain than my HAs but 10db worse in low frequencies. I can ask my audie about those HAs but the Oticon Sumo sounds like a much better bet since it has so much low frequency gains. I might not have enough residual high frequency hearing to benefit from your HAs. How useful is 80db gain at 2000Hz with a 120db loss? Probably not much, as my audiologist considers a loss of 120+ db to be useless and can't be touched by any HA.

I sure hope my audie can reprogram my Phonak Naida HA so im not missing out on any sounds like you were. Thanks again for your reply.

overthepond said:

I have Unitron too... to compesate the low frequency with CI. Works well even i can hardly hear out of it... I often forget if it's on or off!! I only wear it when i am out and about.

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Oticon Sumo has an analog version with great low frequency gains, have you tried that yet? You aren't getting enough power if you can hardly even tell if your HA is on or off! Would you have prefered a CI in the other ear instead?

The one huge plus that I love abt digitals is that there's NO feedback!
But yeah....some of the features of digitals are freaking ANNOYING! I wonder if it's b/c they are designed mostly for old people or formally hearing people who want something that will appromitate what hearies hear. Like I think many people who've been dhh since childhood have adapted well to what analog aids can deliver.

Deafdude... would love to have 2nd CI but NICE guidelines in UK only allows one per Adult, Stimiulatious bilateral for little ones.

We cannot just choose HA's in UK they only provide whats on NHS so we have to put up with what we have got. I do get enough power with HA but if i turn it up it physically hurts my ear.

My best friend had phonak super front plus all her life (she's 31) and loves it she had been told that she got to go onto new HA since they have stopped making parts for phonak. She is having assessment on tuesday (next week) for both ears. And isn't looking forward to it.

overthepond said:

Deafdude... would love to have 2nd CI but NICE guidelines in UK only allows one per Adult, Stimiulatious bilateral for little ones.

We cannot just choose HA's in UK they only provide whats on NHS so we have to put up with what we have got. I do get enough power with HA but if i turn it up it physically hurts my ear.

My best friend had phonak super front plus all her life (she's 31) and loves it she had been told that she got to go onto new HA since they have stopped making parts for phonak. She is having assessment on tuesday (next week) for both ears. And isn't looking forward to it.

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Who chose which ear for your CI? Would you have rather done the other ear instead? I know about only one CI, I am just wondering why you got the CI in the better ear and not the worse? If you saved the money and paid out of pocket, would the surgeon be willing to implant the other ear? If not, they will in America, just don't expect insurance to pay a dime.

Sounds like you either have recruitment or you have reached the pain threshold(120-130db SPL) See your audiologist, the HA needs to be programmed so that it never hurts your ear. My audiologist told me my HAs are programmed to be loud but not hurt and if they ever do to let him know immediately. The gains shouldn't be a problem, it's the SPL, that's also why he said a 120+ db HL is useless for any HA since youd reach the pain threshold by the time you start to hear anything.

My audiologist said it would take several months for me to get used to this new Phonak Naida HA after wearing the Widex Simens for 10 years. He was right but now im used to it.

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