New HAs coming on Wednesday

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d1rock

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Hi. I'm brand new to this forum but a long time HA user. For the past thirty years or so I've been fitted with analog and digital ITE and BTE models and have experienced much of the frustration I read about here. While my loss is not as significant as many of you, my speech discrimination is below 50% and beyond 1K the slope is cliff like. I stand on the edge of that cliff every day and...well, my poor wife! But we do the best we can and I have the nod and smile down pat:cool2:
It is time for new aids again and this time I'm going a different route. I am going to try AmericaHears and see if I'm better at deciphering my own hearing than any of the audis I've worked with in the past. If it doesn't work out then I'll be jumping on the Naida train with yet another audi.
Is anybody interested in me posting my experiences as I go along? I have no vested interest in anyone's else decisions and no affiliation with AmericaHears. I'm just interested in their technology to see if I can get a better result ..at a much lower cost than I've put out through time. Besides, how can I resist the allure of "fuzzy logic" in the ADRO algorithms?
Finally, I truly appreciate and admire the paths and the wildly wonderful spirits of so many of you here. Thank You!
 
For the past thirty years or so I've been fitted with analog and digital ITE and BTE models and have experienced much of the frustration I read about here. While my loss is not as significant as many of you, my speech discrimination is below 50% and beyond 1K the slope is cliff like.
Click to expand...
Where have you been getting services? Maybe a good idea might be to get fitted at a School for the Deaf or at a respected ENT hoispital, where they have experiace fitting difficult cases. You really have to go to the best of the best in weird cases.
 
Well good luck! America Hears is that aid you buy in the mail and program on your computer?

I thought it had to be for a mild loss.
 
They are the ones although they do the initial programming and you can either try it yourself or work with them in either real time over the Internet or they will email you program changes based on your experiences. As I see it, (em)power(ment) in ways I've never had...They have just come out with a whole new series of 32 channel HAs that fit quite a large range. I'm first going to try out an open fit they recommended based on my profile but may have to go to molds. You get 60 days to try things out and, so far, the process has been very low key. I have only ever used audiologists for fittings in the past, never any HOH ones which actually might be an advantage in ways that only the HOH can understand. Several have been competent, well meaning people but I don't seem to get where I want to be. Yes, I realize that I will never have even relatively "normal' hearing, but I do hold out hope for significant speech recognition. It's been pretty bad of late with a notable increase recently of tinnitus. I hope they enjoy a challenge!
 
Open fit HAs may be way too weak for your degree of hearing loss. Can you scan and post your audiogram here?
 
As I understand it, the problem with open fit isn't power so much as feedback. The more open the fit, the shorter/louder the loop back to the microphones and I whistle to the world. However, the latest feedback techno has gotten quite sophisticated and one of the differences with the AmericaHears HA is that it employs fuzzy logic to deal with this. No compression. No transposition (too bad, I like that idea!). Anyway, there are considerable differences from my old Oticons and I plan to use every one of those 60 days to see what we can come up with. They also have units powerful enough with molds and I can always switch to those if the OF isn't adequate. I haven't been excited about HAs in along long time, but this is still pretty interesting. I tried an SIE Epoq recently for a few days and it was so much more comfortable than my molds plus the occlusion issues were gone.
Hope springs.
 
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Phi4Sius...I don't understand your comment...but I did check out your blog. Congrats on the success of your 360e!
 
Anyone? Has "SPAM" somehow killed the thread?
Tomorrow is The Day. If no one is interested in the process, I won't take the time to post about it.
 
he means to say he thinks YOU are a spammer..did u introduce urself yet properly on AD...that is what should be done when u are going to be a regular just FYI :)
 
d1rock said:
Anyone? Has "SPAM" somehow killed the thread?
Tomorrow is The Day. If no one is interested in the process, I won't take the time to post about it.
Click to expand...

I am very interested to hear your story. Please keep going. What he meant was he thought you advertising.

Since almost no one here could wear a hearing aid for mild loss, I think you are genuine.

:wave:
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't know the right way to introduce myself, I guess. I just stated my facts at the very beginning of the post and launched into the topic of the thread. What I can assure you is that this is genuine, not any sort of spam whatsoever. It is based solely on my experience and is not necessarily ever going to be like anyone else's. That said, even if my hearing loss isn't as great as many of yours, the potential of significantly less expensive yet still modern, possibly effective, technology might be of interest to at least some of you/us...me. If their advertised fitting range is accurate, it will get my hearing within audible ranges up to 2k on both ears and maybe a bit higher on my better ear. If feedback is controlled this will be, to me, amazing. I will begin to learn if it is possible tomorrow. I will also find out whether or not learning to do some of my own programming will be more effective than trying to explain to an audi what I am experiencing. This is also of great interest to me. If I can help find and improve my own results...excellent!
If anyone else benefits from my experiences, good or bad, that would be excellent too.
 
OK. Everything arrived yesterday afternoon and it has all been as described on their website. Everything worked. My initial impressions are positive in that I am definitely hearing a bit more detailed sound than I was with my old aids. They are much more powerful and seem quite comparable to the Oticon Epoq I tried recently. Feedback is more present than with my molds, but it is an open fit so this isn't unexpected. In all, it is like all the previous aids I have ever gotten: initially better than the previous ones, but less than my hopes.
As to the programming side of this system, it is quite interesting. I have only done the initial broad tuning of balancing tonal levels per volume and overall volume settings, but I learned a lot about my ears. For one, when I get into the upper frequencies on my left ear, the HA has plenty of power to amplify but it translates into blasts of sound that are unrelated to tones and can be quite uncomfortable. I turned these regions down quite some ways over the factory programming. Whether it is cochlear damage or recruitment, whatever, when I get things loud enough to hear in those regions, the sound is undecipherable. My right ear does somewhat better in this regard. The best news is that the tuning system is not rocket science, can be easily implemented, tried out, changed and reversed. I am confident that I will be able to find levels for myself at least as well, and likely better, than sitting with an audi. I know there are some truly excellent audis out there who can work magic, but I haven't met her yet. Or him. So I still really like the idea of taking this into my own hands.
Finally, the cons: there is a volume control wheel on the aid but it is difficult to access between the program control button and one of the hooded microphones. I shall have to train my ham fisted fingers to be more delicate. Right. Anyway, #2, when feedback does happen it is quite a powerful blast but fortunately short-lived. I also think that the feedback management is pretty good because with my old aids if I whistled to myself as I do from time to time, they would mimic the sound and buzz in my ears. These don't do that.
Otherwise, things are pretty good overall. I will now spend some time with these settings and trying them out in different situations. If the alternate programs work well, I'll be happy indeed. Right now, all is about as much as I could realistically expect at a much lower price point. So far so good. Not SPAM.
 
good we don't need spam! Some ppl are just cautious on here getting to know someone and in the end it's a marketing ploy. Good luck with the aids! let us know more when the time comes. If you want you could always get a regular mold at an audi office and change the tubing urself when needed? wouldn't that be better than those dome things?
 
Yeah, I agree with Alicia. Are real mold would have to work better and you wouldn't get the feedback if the mold was properly made. ( at least not so much )
 
Well, part of the point for me is to try out an OF to see if it can compare to a mold. I have been wearing molds for ten+ years (and ITEs before that). If the feedback proves too much, I can always switch these for BTEs and molds. The company gives a 60 day trial period (as opposed to my former audi's 30 days) so that should be enough time to evaluate. Right now I am hearing many more higher pitched sounds like fork on plate scrapes and such. Sometimes quiet is better...mostly I just want to hear speech better but I guess I have to put up with the other stuff too.
Deafdude: I'll work on posting my audiogram today...
Well, I managed to attach it, but how do I post it?
 
I have had a few days and some chances to try different situations as well as experiment with the programming capabilities. So far, these are better than any others I have ever had. That said, they are also much newer than my last ones and Should be better. I can use the telephone even without the telecoil program. Higher frequencies remain elusive but I am hearing more and sharper sounds than ever. The programming module/software has a "wizard" that walks you through a variety of situations and sounds that can help define your specific needs. There are both beginner and advanced windows that you can program within and if you think you have just totally messed up, you can always return to last saved or default (original factory recommendations).
After having some feedback problems I tried different domes with smaller vents and they work fine now.
My favorite part outside of actually hearing better is the comfort level of the earpieces. And the programming stuff.
So. Final disclaimer: I am in no way affililiated with anyone except my family, receive no compensation from anyone until next March when SS starts, and don't care if you worry that I am here to SPAM you in any way. I'm not.
If these HAs last a while and have no problems, I am quite pleased with the way they are working. After having paid $2-3000 for HAs in the past, I am Really Pleased these only cost $1100. They are the equal or better of anything I have ever tried and the ability to actually "tune" them myself is excellent. I hope my impressions help someone out there but you all get to make your own choices whatever I think. I'm sorry if I didn't follow the protocol in jumping in here but please don't let that factor in whatever choices you make. I will follow the thread for a little while, am happy to answer questions per my own experiences, but the apparent lack of interest except for one or maybe two of you probably means I will just let it go.
:wave:
 
d1rock said:
I have had a few days and some chances to try different situations as well as experiment with the programming capabilities. So far, these are better than any others I have ever had. That said, they are also much newer than my last ones and Should be better. I can use the telephone even without the telecoil program. Higher frequencies remain elusive but I am hearing more and sharper sounds than ever. The programming module/software has a "wizard" that walks you through a variety of situations and sounds that can help define your specific needs. There are both beginner and advanced windows that you can program within and if you think you have just totally messed up, you can always return to last saved or default (original factory recommendations).
After having some feedback problems I tried different domes with smaller vents and they work fine now.
My favorite part outside of actually hearing better is the comfort level of the earpieces. And the programming stuff.
So. Final disclaimer: I am in no way affililiated with anyone except my family, receive no compensation from anyone until next March when SS starts, and don't care if you worry that I am here to SPAM you in any way. I'm not.
If these HAs last a while and have no problems, I am quite pleased with the way they are working. After having paid $2-3000 for HAs in the past, I am Really Pleased these only cost $1100. They are the equal or better of anything I have ever tried and the ability to actually "tune" them myself is excellent. I hope my impressions help someone out there but you all get to make your own choices whatever I think. I'm sorry if I didn't follow the protocol in jumping in here but please don't let that factor in whatever choices you make. I will follow the thread for a little while, am happy to answer questions per my own experiences, but the apparent lack of interest except for one or maybe two of you probably means I will just let it go.
:wave:
Click to expand...

I am glad they are working for you. I know for sure I need a regular mold and can't have open fit and need power aids.

So I don't think anybody bears you ill will. It is only that what you bought won't work for most of us here. :)

Good luck with your new aids.
 
Keep posting your HA experience! I love to learn!

Here's a thread you should read:

http://www.alldeaf.com/hearing-aids-cochlear-implants/63471-good-articles-identifying-cochlear-dead-spots.html

How do you do on the piano thud test which measures cochlear dead regions?

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I recreated your audiogram to make it easier to read. Youll understand after reading the cochlear dead region thread. What different speech tests have you taken and how did you score unaided and aided? Hope your HAs help alot for your aidable slope part of audiogram.
 
Deafdude. Dude. I just tried your thud test (after reading the dead zone material) and found some fascinating (to me) results. My left ear always tests worse than my right but they were almost identical with the left ear slightly better (!) at the upper limits of my hearing. Things die for both above 1174 but the left ear is better at 1046 than the right. Aided, I get the full 4 seconds up to 967. Now that I have the ability to program my own HAs, I can try a program that decreases the higher frequencies and boosts the low/mid ranges..just for fun. I don't have comparative aided/unaided Speech Detection Thresholds, but unaided discrimination results are 52%@65dB on the right and 40%@70dB on the left. One of the problems I always encounter is that when testing with tones and I get near my tinnitus frequencies, it sets off a level of inner noise that is greater than many of the tones used in the testing. Lots of false positives...
When researching various HAs recently, the transposition feature seemed to be a logical application of digital tech and is the one feature these HAs don't have that I would like to try. The Naida seems to be a bit problematic for some though and that makes me nervous.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to pass along your info and I am looking forward to trying out a practical approach.
 
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