Digital aids need repair too often

More to my story --- I have checked with my health insurance policy (which comes with my job) and I'm allowed $2,500 (100%- i.e., no deductible) for new HAs. For the last six years I have been wearing ITE GN Resounds, but have had to replace them due to failures of the electronics at $250 each time. On the other hand, I have a set of Phonak Mini-Ds that are 13 years old and work as well as their design could for their time. Maybe I should search these threads but I thought folks might recommend their favorite (if you have one) manufacturer and why. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!
 
NaidaUP said:
BTE hearing aids are WAY more powerful then the ITE hearing aids. ITE hearing aids are no way near as powerful as a BTE hearing aid anyway. For someone who is profound in the high frequencies, its unusual that you are using the ITE hearing aids.

BTE hearing aids have always been more powerful them ITE hearing aids. I'm profoundly deaf and have been for my whole life, I've never been able to fit into ITE hearing aids.
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I've been wondering about that myself, NaidaUP. The first audiologist who did the testing and the recommendation for my first set (Phonaks) told me these would outperform the BTE. Years later when I saw another audiologist in a city 200 miles away, I was told the same thing and was fitted for Siemans GN ReSound ITE. Now I am reading (in an unanimous opinion so far) that BTE is the best way to go. Soon I will find out --- I will see an ENT and then another audiologist and find out their opinion. Thanks for the above!
 
RBHourly said:
More to my story --- I have checked with my health insurance policy (which comes with my job) and I'm allowed $2,500 (100%- i.e., no deductible) for new HAs. For the last six years I have been wearing ITE GN Resounds, but have had to replace them due to failures of the electronics at $250 each time. On the other hand, I have a set of Phonak Mini-Ds that are 13 years old and work as well as their design could for their time. Maybe I should search these threads but I thought folks might recommend their favorite (if you have one) manufacturer and why. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!
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I like Phonak because they have a lot of power and are pretty reliable.

My husband has a lesser hearing loss than I do and he really likes Siemens as he thinks it has a warmer more natural sound.

And on my last trade, I passed on my Phonak Naida to my mother in law who needed more power. She likes it a great deal, and couldn't get over how much she could hear. She is also very pleased to show her friends that it is a gorgeous blue color. ;)

But everybody is probably going to have a different opinion, so I am not certain how much personal testimony is really worth.
 
Thanks, Bottesini, for your response and opinions. My feeling is that my Phonaks are more reliable. They have been literally stepped on, fallen, broken (I've glued one at least three times over different periods of time) and they keep working. It is pretty subjective, but I've really liked my Phonaks. They seem to make human speech more understandable to me - a huge part in my career.
 
Phonak for me, all the way BUT I would love to try Oticon in the future sometime but at the moment, the most powerful up to date Oticon is not powerful enough for me.
 
RBHourly said:
I've been wondering about that myself, NaidaUP. The first audiologist who did the testing and the recommendation for my first set (Phonaks) told me these would outperform the BTE. Years later when I saw another audiologist in a city 200 miles away, I was told the same thing and was fitted for Siemans GN ReSound ITE. Now I am reading (in an unanimous opinion so far) that BTE is the best way to go. Soon I will find out --- I will see an ENT and then another audiologist and find out their opinion. Thanks for the above!
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I think the whole concept of ITE as opposed to BTE is that when you wear ITE the surrounding ear bits act like they normally would to filter sounds etc for normal hearing. When you wear BTE you don't have the natural advantage of your ears doing their job, instead you have this machine on the top backside of your ears.

I wear ITE and I am now moderate/severe, more severe than 9 years ago and once again the audiologists are trying to tell me I would be better off with BTE aids. They did this with my mother too who has the same kind of hearing loss as me, progressive.

With hearing aid technology being better and stronger, I don't see why I can't have another pair of ITE, though the audi's will try to tell me no.
 
maybe but with more severe /profound losses you need more power and I think currently it is still hard to pack that much power into an ITE. Maybe I'm wrong but everywhere I've read and know of I have never seen a ITE that would even come near my hearing loss level (profound)- even today.

But hey if you think you get the best benefits out of an ITE go for it- most audiologists are basing their recommendations on what they see on the audiogram and your level/how you responded.
 
DeafDucky said:
maybe but with more severe /profound losses you need more power and I think currently it is still hard to pack that much power into an ITE. Maybe I'm wrong but everywhere I've read and know of I have never seen a ITE that would even come near my hearing loss level (profound)- even today.

But hey if you think you get the best benefits out of an ITE go for it- most audiologists are basing their recommendations on what they see on the audiogram and your level/how you responded.
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This is true....and it's why I can no longer wear the ITE models. I'm sure my audi wouldn't try and stop me if I chose this but she'd strongly advise me against it. My hearing right now is moderate sloping to severe in my left and severe sloping to profound in my right. The ITE models are really designed for those with mild to moderate loss. As others probably already know, they're very fragile too...I mean really, really fragile so if you have these, be prepared to spend a lot of time at the audi's office. Given that money is hard for many to come by, the BTE is going to be less trouble and have fewer issues. I'm not saying they won't have any issues, digitals are more fragile than analogs...but the BTE are generally more robust.
 
I'd forgotten about the fragile angle. Two of my friends in college had ITEs (both were moderate losses if I remember right- interestingly I also had two friends who tried the Bi-Cross hearing aid)... I remember seeing how tiny those things were and I think they had more trouble with them than I did with my BTEs! Almost glad I have never used ITEs or the in canal ones- I'm rough on my poor hearing aids lol
 
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