Resound or Oticon?

Wow. -ADA -Americans with Disabilities act addressed deaf and wheelchair accessibility in 1994? I as an hearing challenged person have constant trouble in letting understand Sign Language is not the answer for me ( had this issue recently at a political rally stating they have interpreters). Constant issues. I am fighting in Phila for emails/ text appts at Drs. Big hassle. We have come a long way because of HLAA and other stubborn folks. The t coil in aids are essential because loops in railroads,at meetings- it’s makes a big difference in our lives. It coils in aids in every state someday- it can happen sooner by writing to representatives. Bluetooth is not the same as tcoil which audiologist is telling Folks to get. . Sorry for long bit- thanks Julie

I'd like to add something to the discussion about telecoils. Due to COVID-19 we all have some time on our hands. I challenge everyone who uses hearing aids with telecoils to let us know how you use them. I wonder how many of you have a "Neckloop" to go with your telecoil equipped hearing aids? IMHO, this device should be included in the sale of all hearing aids that have telecoils. All who are participating on Mayo Clinic Connect are obviously using computers or Smartphones. So you have the perfect opportunity to use a neckloop. (Try a few You Tubes.) Those 'ah ha' moments that happen when someone first tries using telecoils in a looped room are also common when using a neckloop. A neckloop is a personal hearing loop that you wear around your neck and plug into an audio device. It works with computers, portable radio, iPods, etc. It works with Smartphones, but you may have to purchase an adapter to plug it in. When Apple dropped the standard input jack to make their phones slimmer, I had to purchase an adapter. Interestingly, the first one I bought cost me $35! I managed to misplace it and looked on Amazon for a replacement. Cost was $8. A neckloop itself will cost you around $50. I have had good luck with the standard Williams Sound neckloop. It does not require batteries. There are neckloops that use batteries that have controls that allow you to control the volume. My personal hearing devices have volume controls so I don't need that in a neckloop. I strongly encourage you to buy and use a neckloop. It's a lifesaver for me in many situations. Just used it in a ZOOM conference with my laptop. Worked great! This is where people who sell hearing aids fall short. They don't all take the time to share this information with their clients. God Bless those who do, as they are the providers we should go to.

Important to understand that BlueTooth does not replace telecoils. You can have both.

I know - whole different thing- it means with Bluetooth I am connected to my phone music thing and pretend I am hearing someone - or for phone access direct
T coil- connects with loops- wires set up for that-

I was not going to read this but with the new info that I am losing my hearing I had best read to learn. So thank you for this information.

Thing is - what I have being told at the convention is that some of the audiologist offers blue tooth and states they do not need tcoil- crazy - and ill informed

A very big difference between the two is that with Oticon (and Phonak) you can connect multiple receivers to one of their remote microphones, with Resound you cannot. The reason for having a second receiver is that way you can connect the remote mic to your hearing aid, AND at the same time connect that mic to your phone where you can use something like http://www.streamer.center to caption what people are saying. Having that live captioning is really nice. You can do that with Oticon and Phonak, you can't do it with Resound.

I'm new to this forum and was wanting some direction on hearing aids. I live on a ranch and work outside a lot around noisy machinery as well as livestock. I have noticed my hearing becoming poorer and affected by wind and background noise more, making it more difficult to hear my family or friends. I had my hearing tested about 3 weeks ago and as I expected I had moderate hearing loss especially in the higher frequencies. Also when the audiologist tested me for word recognition my right ear was much worse than my left ear. He said given my lifestyle and work venue he recommended at least a middle of the road quality as well as a receiver in-ear (RIE) type because my low frequency hearing wasn't too bad and the RIE type could be programmed to help the other frequencies without distorting the lower ones. He also said if i was just looking to watch TV one would do the trick but in my case he recommended getting one for both ears. The brand he handles are the ReSound. I am looking for some input on hearing aids in general and if there are any ranchers/farmers who know what I'm dealing with as an everyday occurrence. Thanks in advance. Scott

HI Scott in SD. Welcome to Mayo Connect. It's a great place to ask questions.

Are you familiar with any of the research that has been done on farmers relative to noise induced hearing loss? https://gpcah.public-health.uiowa.edu/fact-sheets/hearing-loss/ Here is one of them. Noise induced hearing loss is common in anyone who works around noise. It generally starts in the higher frequencies, so men's voices are easier to understand than women's and children's voices. Right sided noise induced hearing loss is often diagnosed in right handed hunters. The rifle is closer to the right ear than the left although it likely will affect both ears. I'm quite sure that my own noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) was promoted by the hunting and trap shooting I did when I was a kid. (My hero was Annie Oakley, but that's another story!)

ReSound is a good hearing aid brand. Does your diagnostician handle any other brands? The brands can differ. My audiologist recommends one particular brand, but also has access to others, which helped me the last time around as I ended up selecting a brand different than the one I tried first. ReSound has several models, so don't be hesitant to try different models if what you try first doesn't seem to do the trick. Be sure to try them in every possible situation you wish to hear in during your trial period. Good luck to you.

PS: My advice is to always request telecoils, manual volume control and Bluetooth capability. Insist that the provider show you how telecoils work. They can be extremely helpful with audio devices; computer included.

I just got new Resounds and found them no better than my five-year old Resound aids. Except they were rechargeable which was great. Anyway, I returned them. I wanted something with more improvements than my present aids. They were supposed to have better streaming sound for music especially, but that was no better. The setting for noisy environment was no better, either. I need more improvements before I spring for new aids.