Are all Phonak Naida V UP's really "needy"?

[RED]

Ive had these things for 2 months and its an ongoing deal..and they just dont always seem to work right.

For instance, the 2 mic's on the top have filters on them (water resistance), but if they get moist, or sweat from your hiar gets on them, mow the grass, etc...time to replace the filters or the volume gets cut in half.

initally I was hearing everything, but now it's a strain to hear some stuff on the "default" setting. I have to go up a beep or maybe 2 to get good sound.

In a group..I hear the loudest person...even if they are 15 feet away.

If I gently run my finger over the mic's, everything momentarily gets "back to loud like before" but it only lasts a moment.

Audiologist says that it is normal...

Batt. life is 2 weeks on the dot...but Im on my 2nd pair of tubes now, and 15th set of filters...it gets old fast.

She programmed alot of stuff into them...like "clarity in noise", changed alot of default settings..and like I said, it worked perfectly initally. Only complaint was I was hearing too much. Like hearing a clock ticking from 15 feet away. or discerning the make/model of a vehicle being started in a parking lot based solely on the sound of the starter (yes, I can do that).

Im pleased with them to an extent...but it's wearing thin.

 

[deafdude1]

I wish I could hear "too much" I take it you have the gains maxed out? The only problem I had was the right HA suddenly died, I mailed it back and they mailed it back to me overnight fully repaired. Never had a problem with the filters but I never got my HAs moist either.

 

[cdmeggers]

my batteries always last me about 2 weeks and that's with Phonak's Supero hearing aid. I didn't much care for the Naida when I tried it last year, too full of problems and was incredibly frustrating for me I gave up and returned it.

 

[RED]

I wish I could hear "too much" I take it you have the gains maxed out? The only problem I had was the right HA suddenly died, I mailed it back and they mailed it back to me overnight fully repaired. Never had a problem with the filters but I never got my HAs moist either.

My hearing tests were always, and remain, very odd. Both ears are nearly identical, but about 5db difference.

My frequency cutoff is the max the testing machine could pull.

My results mimicked the normal "curve" of healthy and normal hearing, but moved way down the chart, with the exception of the high freq's. I was able to hear the high's at a sligtly lower db than mids and lows.

Low Freqs were in the 105db range, and the highs were in the 80's, mids were high 80's ...Ill have to find a printout, or get my audiologist to email it to me or something.

My problems were never clarity, always simply a lack of volume. In fact my clarity with the aids in is sligtly worse than with them out.

I was told the gain on the left one is at about 80% and I keep it around the default "beep" or the next beep up. And the left aid is supposed to be around 60% gain, and I keep it the same way.

The filters are the 2 little gray strips at the top of the aid, you pop them out and new ones pop in.

My audiologist said that my case is somewhat rare in that the aids return my hearing to 100% of what it should be, with a slight drop in clarity.

My first day was annoying as anything. I found out thay my jeep had a blown exhaust manifold gasket, every door in the house squeaked, my dog snores, and the CPU fan on the computer was made by the devil.

I dont know what Id do without them...but these things will drive you crazy with all their problems.

 

[deafdude1]

It's true the lows account for most of the volume/loudness of sounds, although the mids do help some. What is your speech % score? You may have cochlear dead regions in the lows, this is common on a reverse slope audiogram and 90db+ HL.

 

[RED]

It's true the lows account for most of the volume/loudness of sounds, although the mids do help some. What is your speech % score? You may have cochlear dead regions in the lows, this is common on a reverse slope audiogram and 90db+ HL.

100% across the board when loud enough to hear it. The only one I missed was when she was setting the machine up...I missed "sidewalk"..

She set it at like 85db and I hit every single one of them dead on immediatly, unaided. When I had the aids in, at a very very low volume, I was able to hit I think it was 95%, but she said that at that volume a normal unaided person would have likely found those words undiscernable...

Ive looked for my printouts and I cant find squat, what I remember was from staring at them for hours...

The only test that gave me trouble after I was aided, was the static/beep test, there were some incidences where I was unable to accurately seperate the tones from the static, from the ringing in my ears I have to deal with from the barrage of tests.

 

[deafdude1]

100% across the board when loud enough to hear it. The only one I missed was when she was setting the machine up...I missed "sidewalk"..

She set it at like 85db and I hit every single one of them dead on immediatly, unaided. When I had the aids in, at a very very low volume, I was able to hit I think it was 95%, but she said that at that volume a normal unaided person would have likely found those words undiscernable...

Ive looked for my printouts and I cant find squat, what I remember was from staring at them for hours...

The only test that gave me trouble after I was aided, was the static/beep test, there were some incidences where I was unable to accurately seperate the tones from the static, from the ringing in my ears I have to deal with from the barrage of tests.

I misplaced my 2005 audiogram and that audiologist simply faxed me a copy. Perhaps yours can email or fax you a copy for your records? I am keeping all my audiograms in my file as records.

Im guessing since it's a female voice, you do so well without low frequency hearing. I hear male voices louder and clearer. Back in March, I had a speech test unaided and got pratically nothing at 105db! The audiologist was a female.

How well do you understand speech in real life, especially with male voices? I also am surprised how well you hear aided without the lows. Incidentally, one of my audiologists said I was "1 in 1000" of hearing this well with only low frequencies. Ill have to do the math to determine if mine or your hearing is worse.

Maybe your low frequency hair cells are still alive? Ive read about cochlear dead zones and how a reverse slope audiogram usually means the lows are dead. Can you describe what the lows are like to you? Do you just feel vibrations or do the lows sound similar to the mids? Always interesting to learn more.