Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

@arrowshooter

I trialed Phonak Paradise with Bluetooth…didn’t even last 2 weeks.
My hearing is profound bilateral so the phone was of no use to me…still need captions. The Phonak app stinks and it does take a number of seconds for them to connect and then they disengage from the app. I only connected 2 devices but gave it a vigorous trial everywhere. I will say , once connected, I was able to pick up voices further away…but still couldn’t understand speech unless the speakers were facing me.

I found myself constantly using the phone. My son was given a pair of older Phonaks (battery) by a client. They are Bluetooth. His lose is moderate . He uses the Oticon On 2 .4.0 app on his iPhone with the Phonak aids and says it works flawlessly . That’s all he is interested in but says listening to audiobooks has improved. My Audi doesn’t understand how he can use that app with Phonaks.

If you look at the reviews in the play store you can see
all the complaints about the Phonak app.

I use Innocaption for phone calls and the audio is great but I can still use my ear link and plug it into the phone using Tcoil. I do this for my iPad and sometimes when I use GPS in unfamiliar areas. Hearing the voice is a prompt for me along with looking at directions. I have had the ear links for years and I think you can still get them. They are shaped like a candy canes and hook over your ears but you need Tcoil.

Went a little off subject here.

FL Mary

@coppermoon hello. If you would like to review your previous posts, you can log into the website, go to "Profile & Settings" by clicking on your username/handle (i.e. @coppermoon), then "Comments" to view your previously posted activity.

Does this help?

@arrowshooter

I trialed Phonak Paradise with Bluetooth…didn’t even last 2 weeks.
My hearing is profound bilateral so the phone was of no use to me…still need captions. The Phonak app stinks and it does take a number of seconds for them to connect and then they disengage from the app. I only connected 2 devices but gave it a vigorous trial everywhere. I will say , once connected, I was able to pick up voices further away…but still couldn’t understand speech unless the speakers were facing me.

I found myself constantly using the phone. My son was given a pair of older Phonaks (battery) by a client. They are Bluetooth. His lose is moderate . He uses the Oticon On 2 .4.0 app on his iPhone with the Phonak aids and says it works flawlessly . That’s all he is interested in but says listening to audiobooks has improved. My Audi doesn’t understand how he can use that app with Phonaks.

If you look at the reviews in the play store you can see
all the complaints about the Phonak app.

I use Innocaption for phone calls and the audio is great but I can still use my ear link and plug it into the phone using Tcoil. I do this for my iPad and sometimes when I use GPS in unfamiliar areas. Hearing the voice is a prompt for me along with looking at directions. I have had the ear links for years and I think you can still get them. They are shaped like a candy canes and hook over your ears but you need Tcoil.

Went a little off subject here.

FL Mary

Thank you for this “hearing loss” site. I have now gone through the the 10 days of prednisone, MRI, and three shots into the inner ear as well as two hearing tests with the audiologist. My hearing came back a little to where I can hear people on the telephone with the speaker button on and I can participate in one on one conversations, but with masks and plastic shields at places like the bank, I am deaf. So my ENT says he can do no more and hopes I get my practically new hearing aids adjusted with custom ear molds. Now I hope to investigate better hearing aids if possible, but cost is so prohibitive, as my Miracle Ear ones are only a year old.

I'd like to hear more about the differences in rechargeable hearing aids too. I am still using disposable batteries in my hearing aid. (My cochlear processor uses rechargeables though.) How does one cope with a hearing aid that gives less than 16 hours/day service? What happens if you are traveling, or camping or unable to charge them?

I feel your frustration. Two and a half years ago, I had sudden hearing loss in my right ear with severe vertigo. I also went through the hoops,, two rounds of Prednisone, MRI, and numerous hearing tests. I declined the inner ear shots after researching that option. None of my hearing returned. My other ear hearing is moderate, not great, but not gone yet. I got a hearing aid for my good ear, and tried the cros which sounded like a tin can, and would not stay in my ear. I even tried acupuncture after reading that someone had good results with that. Moving forward to now, I had reached the point where I had been completely avoiding social situations except for a very small group or one on one. Even with reading lips, I still lost a lot of conversation. Since I recently relocated to another city, I asked my PCP for a referral to a good ENT. I was so frustrated that nothing could be done. The audiologist suggested that I would be a good candidate for an Osia bone conduction implant. I was actually able to test the unit using a headband to hold it in place. Long story short, I just had the surgical implant 5 weeks ago, and after a month healing period, I received my processor 4 days ago. I cannot tell you what a life changing event this is. I can now hear on my right side. I.still use a hearing aid in my good ear.. I no longer have to look.around to see where sound is coming from. I can now tell where a siren is coming from when I am driving. My balance is better. Anyway, find another ENT specialist, and ask them about the Osia bone conduction implant. There ARE other solutions out there.

OK, I'll list what I can remember right now and that certainly won't be everything. Besides the battery life being less on the Phonaks there are other important differences between Phonak and Oticon. Remember I'm comparing Phonak Paradise and Oticon More.

Phonak advertised that they can pair with up to 7 devices and run 2 at the same time. I have not found that to be true. For instance when the app is open or even running in the background the remote controller doesn't work. And the audio won't connected to my computer when connected to the phone. The Oticon connectivity (with iPhone) is seamless but more limited in terms of devices.

The Phonak uses the hearing aid microphones for hands free phone calls. You don't have to talk into the phone. But people on the other end of the call hear any background noise around you. Not able to shut this off. Oticon uses both hearing mics and phone mic.

The Phonak outgoing calls connect directly to the hearing aids. But incoming calls answered on the phone go to phone audio and you have to manually switch to hearing aids. Calls can be answered with audio going directly to hearing aids by the "double tap" feature (double tap a hearing aid to answer). But the double tap is more like a double THUMP. It is hard to hit that tiny hearing aid with enough force to activate the feature. Oticon connectivity is seamless.

The worst thing for me is that the app, even while running has to connect to the hearing aids each time you want to use it which takes 10 to 20 seconds. The app disengages each time the phone goes to Lock Screen. The Oticon app is more user friendly with ore usable features.

The Phonaks do not have a "mute" feature to mute the hearing aid mics. I use this feature a lot when driving alone. I mute the mics and listen to streaming music without the road noise. There are times when I enjoy more silence and less stress.

On the plus side for Phonak I can hear a little better with them. The Oticons pick up sound from all directions (hence the name More). But I'm not able to tell where the sound is coming from. The Phonaks are better at that. And the Phonak allows me to hear for the first time the oven time on our kitchen stove. No other hearing aid has done that.

I"m sure I"ll think of more differences right after I hit the "send" button

I would love to hear the pros and cons of both, thank you!

This is what I wondered also, Julie! Imagine traveling a long distance and having your HAs be dead by the time you arrived.