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Resound or Oticon?
Good morning everyone. I'm getting new hearing aids and Friday I saw my audiologist. I'm testing Resound first and then I'll try Oticon. She said these two are her "go-to" brands. Has anyone had experience with these two brands, and if so, do you have an opinion about them? It's been awhile since I bought my last pair which were Phonaks. Technology has changed drastically, so the learning curve seems huge to me! I'd appreciate your thoughts and experiences.
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joyces, you ask how t-coils work with the TV. To get the TV to work with the telecoil, you need to connect your TV to a loop system. This means that you would need to run a wire around the area where you want to listen to the TV. The wire could be hidden in the baseboards or under carpet. Some people run a wire in the ceiling of the room below where the TV is at. It's not something that most people want to bother with. A loop amplifier would also be needed to connect the wire to the TV. Keep in mind that the closer we are to the TV speaker, the better we will understand. The telecoil brings the sound directly to the hearing aid. There are better ways to get the TV sound directly into your ears, but it depends on your hearing aids. For older aids that do not have Bluetooth, you would need a TV transmitter specific to your brand of hearing aids. Newer aids have Bluetooth capablility so you connect your TV to a Bluetooth transmitter. The signal would come directly to your ears. If your aids do not have Bluetooth, you can still connect your TV to a Bluetooth transmitter, but you would need a Bluetooth receiver. You still need to get the sound from the Bluetooth receiver to your ears. Bluetooth receivers may come with a headphone or a neckloop (or both). So, if your aids have telecoils, you would use a neckloop. This way, you don't have to remove your hearing aids PLUS you're taking advantage of the programming inside of the hearing aids. Without a telecoil, you would have to connect the Bluetooth receiver to headphones. You would probably have to remove your hearing aids to prevent the feedback that could occur with trying to use headphones with hearing aids.
Tony in Michigan
We all make choices about where we live. It sounds as if you've chosen a lovely place. Another choice we make is whether to learn, educate and advocate for things we believe in and/or need to make our lives better. Hearing loss is at the low end of the totem pole when it comes to public awareness and support. Most people don't have a clue about how much hearing aids cost...until they need to pay for them. A dear friend of mine used to say "Tennis elbow is far more 'romantic' than hearing loss when it comes to getting attention." True. The only way you will get hearing loops in your community is to learn all you can about them, then go out and do some educating and advocating. Pull a few other hard of hearing people together and work on this. It sounds as if your library might be a good place to start. Churches are usually more receptive to helping people with disabilities than public facilities are, so many start there. It's all about money and decisions on where to put it. It's doubtful that people in your community are even aware of the possibilities for 'communication access'. By the way, you can use telecoils with any audio device that has an audio input jack. That includes televisions, computers, radios and most other devices that broadcast something you want to listen to. A simple neckloop (cost about $60) will connect your telecoil equipped hearing aids to those devices. But first, you have to have telecoils in the hearing aids you use.
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1 Reactionanybody going to New Orleans convention- HLAA. Worth going to learn all about the latest, newer other like yourself - helps me a lot for the last 3 years.
I rather be where you are- sounds awesome-Otter and Live transcripts are two speech to text apps- it’s Otto helped me a lot - not 100 accurate but helpful
Loops are not extremely expensive- wires on floor with recoils connections in hearing aids. More folks especially as they get older gets hearing aids. Perhaps the library will go for it. And there are tax write offs and all. Small number of folks were able to get loops I. Utah ( what a time there learning the history of folks like us in small numbers able to turn things around ). Harris catalog has things to help you be okay at home. Doorbell / alarm devices signaler . I have through my town a smoke alarm installed in my house to make sure I get the sound/ vibration of the alarm. The town got concerned when there was fire close by and I did not know. Feel free to ask anything. Have a good day
Sue
Reply to Tony, Julie, Sue: You obviously know things I don't! I've printed your responses and already checked the Harris catalog a little. Advocating is fine, but I think we really need a book to help us learn about all the options. Although I've been HOH for decades and had worn an aid for over a year before the Meniere's monster roared outta the closet where I've had him locked for over 30 years (went bilateral), I'm new to virtually total deafness on bad days. I've bought lots of things, made bad decisions, am taking a deep breath before going on another spree of buying stuff I hope will help. I'm a book designer, editor, and publisher--in short a book enabler. I'd be willing to pony up the cost of producing a quality book that would help us navigate the various aids and their accessories. Any of you smart people interested in working on a "how to" manual for folks like us? Tony's response to my inquiry has the most info, but I'm not sure I understand everything, so will have to do online research to figure it out. I'll be seeing my Costco gal soon (she's far more aware of what's available than either of the audis at the CI hearing center), and I intend to ask about a Williams pocket talker (which should work with the Williams lanyard neck loop shown in the Harris catalog). I've already learned that the Pockettalker has a mic that may work far better for meetings than the useless Zerena one ($200 wasted!) that pairs with my Bernefon Zerena (Oticon) with a telecoil.
If any one is interested in developing a survival manual for HOH, please private message me. Thanks!
You are highlighting a serious problem - the lack of good sources of information on Hearing Assistive Technology (HAT). The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) recognized the problem. Using a federal grant, HLAA and partners created a Network of Consumer Hearing Technology Trainers. I'm one of the NCHATT Trainers, and I provide community programs on Hat.You might want to check with HLAA on whether an NCHATT trainer is located near you, or attend HLAA chapter meeting near you which often provide programs on HAT. Hearingloss.org has a lot of information on HAT too. I am excited at the idea of a book specifically on this issue. There are a few which include HAT, but not one I've seen specifically for it. In the meantime, I'll be glad to provide copies of presentations I've done on HAT.
As to your specific need for a good remote mic, I think the ConnectClip remote mic (Oticon) works well for me (with Oticon Opn) except in noisy environments. It also works better if I lower the sound on my hearing aid so the the ConnectClip microphone is primary or only one I'm hearing. Another option is the Roger clip mic. it has a better technology, but you will need the MyLink neck loop to connect it to your hearing aids, assuming you have telecoils in them. Or the Roger pen, but the clip mic gets better reviews (though not as cool!).
@joyces, please note that I removed your personal email from your message. I encourage members to use the private message function to share personal contact information. I love the idea of co-creating a survival manual for HOH. In fact, why not start a discussion about it and gather ideas that way. Then create a sub-committee of people to create the PDF or ebook that you could share here and with HLAA?
Thoughts?
Thank you Maryjax. You beat me to suggesting that the N-CHATT program as the logical resource for information. This is an excellent training program. Thank you for being a part of it. Might N-CHATT work through HLAA to create such a publication? I don't know. There have been a few publications written/produced on this topic. However, the technology changes constantly. New apps are being developed and refined, etc., so it becomes obsolete. The one constant has been the value of telecoils in hearing aids. It's unfortunate that so many manufacturers and dispensing professionals back away from promoting this very basic piece of the puzzle. There are reasons for that, but the bottom line is that they want to sell their products. The focus is on 'invisibility'. That is the first push in every advertisement.
FYI: the is an additional and very informative discussion about t-coils that may interest the group here:
- Do you know about Telecoils & Hearing Loops in Public Spaces? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/do-you-know-about-telecoils-hearing-loops-in-public-spaces/