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Cookie Bite Hearing Loss: What is the best hearing aid?

Posted by staciej @staciej, Nov 16, 2020

My husband has a cookie bit hearing loss - he can hear low and high sounds; but misses everything in the middle. My voice falls into the middle range (or maybe it's selective hearing, that is still out for debate 🙂 I'm curious if anyone here has the same hearing loss and if so, if you've found a hearing aid that helps in this range. His hearing aids help in the range; while also amplifying the lows and highs - which is extremely painful and gives him a headache. This means he wears his hearing aids on special occasions and important conversations. Otherwise, this investments sits in his hearing aid storage pouch. Looking forward to hearing about the experience of others, as this type of hearing loss is hereditary.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Hearing Loss Support Group.

jcech344 | @jcech344 | Mar 19, 2023
In reply to @veena123 "Thanks for your suggestion of earmolds, i read that they are not as comfortable as domes...." + (show)
@veena123

Thanks for your suggestion of earmolds, i read that they are not as comfortable as domes.
I got new domes for my phonac audeo life and they seem to work much better. my ear canal is very small, I got the phonac open dome 4.0S
the only problem is when I am in a very noisy environment. I am wondering how th earmolds do in noisy situations?

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Let me clear up what molds are trying to achieve. I have them and opted for them because domes never stayed in place. I found that I was constantly pushing them back in even with the small plastic extension on them. Because the ear canal has an oily surface, the domes would tend to slide back a little and this changes the distance between the speaker and your eardrum, reducing the volume. Very annoying.

Molds hold the wires in place better because they conform to the shape of your ear. There are 2 types - rigid acrylic and soft flexible silicone. I found the latter to be excellent and consistent in delivering sound that doesn't change as I move or talk. The hard ones are IMO no better than domes. Microsonics makes the soft ones and you can get them in all crazy colors and patterns. They can also be clear. Be aware however that with time they will stain and become more opaque (see attached pic)

To order them you need your audi to make a casting of your ear and canal which is used to make the mold. It is important to get the same depth for each mold so the distance to the ear drum is the same. This might need to be tried more than once.

Hope this helps.
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Mentor
Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Mar 19, 2023
In reply to @arieswoman "I have a Rodgers mic that is directional and handheld. I don't find it works all..." + (show)
@arieswoman

I have a Rodgers mic that is directional and handheld. I don't find it works all that well for me. I have tried it in noisy settings. It is directional also. I need to try it again now that I have a new hearing aid along with my CI.

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The add on products vary. I have found that the Mini Mic 2+ that is available with the Cochlear Americas CI and ReSound hearing aids is excellent. The other manufacturers of CIs also have unique products that require a specific brand of hearing aid for compatibility.

If the Phonak HA and microphone are the products that are compatible with your choice of CI, so you can hear bilaterally, that should be helpful in noisy settings.

Let us know if that helps.

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powersij | @powersij | Mar 19, 2023

I finally have my appointment with an audiologist in a few days and in search for better solutions for my cookie bite hearing loss. At Julie’s suggestion I’m going to request real ear measurement. If Kaiser can’t provide this I’m going to insist on an outside referral. I have the Phonak Audeo M 50 R hearing aids and I’m wondering if anyone with cookie bite has the new Phonak Lumity I really hate mine because in order to amplify speech everything else is over amplified which is very annoying and distracting. Thanks!

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Mentor
Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Mar 19, 2023
In reply to @jcech344 "Let me clear up what molds are trying to achieve. I have them and opted for..." + (show)
@jcech344

Let me clear up what molds are trying to achieve. I have them and opted for them because domes never stayed in place. I found that I was constantly pushing them back in even with the small plastic extension on them. Because the ear canal has an oily surface, the domes would tend to slide back a little and this changes the distance between the speaker and your eardrum, reducing the volume. Very annoying.

Molds hold the wires in place better because they conform to the shape of your ear. There are 2 types - rigid acrylic and soft flexible silicone. I found the latter to be excellent and consistent in delivering sound that doesn't change as I move or talk. The hard ones are IMO no better than domes. Microsonics makes the soft ones and you can get them in all crazy colors and patterns. They can also be clear. Be aware however that with time they will stain and become more opaque (see attached pic)

To order them you need your audi to make a casting of your ear and canal which is used to make the mold. It is important to get the same depth for each mold so the distance to the ear drum is the same. This might need to be tried more than once.

Hope this helps.

Jump to this post

@jcech344 Thank you for sharing information about ear molds vs domes. The advent of domes allowed hearing aids to be fit more easily and with less skill from the provider. That is not all bad, but it changed the game a bit.

Casting an earmold is similar to casting a dental inlay. It takes skill, and when it is fit on the person's ear it likely will require some adjustment by filing it down a bit, so it fits perfectly. Some people seem to have allergic reactions to the material from which a mold is cast. Same for the material that domes are made from. If that happens, it's important to ask the provider to recast it in a different material.

This is a place where there's a major difference between prescriptive hearing aids and those purchased over the counter. Every ear canal is unique to the individual.

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sharonreinbott | @sharonreinbott | Jan 24 8:42pm
In reply to @mdrickards "I thought Costco required at least one audiologist at each location, but I may be wrong...." + (show)
@mdrickards

I thought Costco required at least one audiologist at each location, but I may be wrong. I don't have the dispenser's card, but will find out. This is the guy who told me I should just be glad I can hear voices, and the heck with good quality sound otherwise. I am also troubled by his comments about their app. The app allows for adjustments to be made by the user when listening to music. It does not make any changes, and when asked, he just shrugged and said it didn't work and not to worry, that he could adjust the HA's. However, IF I had him do that, I would lose the clarity of speech.
I have never been told that there is a tradeoff before. I am contemplating returning these and starting all over again, but its pretty frustrating.

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I have a 'cookie bite' hearing loss which is described by my audiologist as moderate. I've been wearing hearing aids since 2011, and am on my third pair. Each time I get new hearing aids, the technology gets better, and I am very happy with the Unitron Vivante Moxi V-RT hearing aids I have now. My audiologist is a Doctor of Audiology, and she has told me that it's important to get hearing aids which can be adjusted for your particular hearing loss. If someone told me I should just be glad I could hear voices and be happy with that, I would NEVER go back to that person. When I got my hearing aids adjusted, the audiologist took control via her computer and made a lot of adjustments using the software provided, which gave her a lot of options, using graphics, to make many fine tuned adjustments. If they don't do that at Costco, then I'd wonder at their ability to adjust for a cookie bite hearing loss. I was told that the best brands for our hearing loss are Phonak and Unitron. It seems to me that your hearing aids were not adjusted well for your particular loss, perhaps because the one doing the adjusting didn't have the experience and/or the sensitivity to do it right for you.

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