I'm completely new to the world of hearing aids. Advice please.

@bruceandruth1970

Hello,
I like the new Audi and I think she is a decent programmer and did say that my former Audi had big shoes to fill. We went over my chart and all the hearing aid brands I tried to no avail…kept coming back to Phonak. So I said new aids would have to have a wow factor before buying.
I am trailing Phonak Lumity UP 90 (profound loss). She basically followed the program my prior Audi did on my Phonak Nadia’s and we tweaked them a bit.
I found her patient and she had to get on the phone to Phonak because she didn’t know how to change the order of several programs we wanted to try.
I explained what I wanted and what I was lacking.

I see her again on a few days after a 2 week trial and I am impressed with these aids for both ears. I am hearing more sounds all around me and at a greater distance. I will be deleting some programs that are not beneficial to me and tweaking the left, poorer ear more. I was surprised at being able to get more sound out of that ear. These are the newest aids that Phonak has…no Cros available but that’s fine. They are really powerful. I have kept an almost daily log of my experiences and you can see by reading it how the brain adjusts. I am hearing music in stores and on tv now which was minimal before.
She is very upbeat but I am an experienced long time hearing aid user so that is a plus. I see no reason not to stay with her but, if they ever get an Audi to replace the one at the office near me, I will check that out for the future.
I am keeping these aids ($6000 oh yeah) . They may help in speech discrimination a bit more. It is just so wonderful to be aware of all around me.
I will need to make male voice a bit clearer so will work on that programming.
Just a note that the Hearing Aid Center in my ENT practice is now a separate entity within that practice so the Audis have to follow their rules. My old Audi basically let me walk out of her office with thousands of dollars worth of hearing aids and no money down and no restocking fee. The Wild West days lol.
I will add that the new Audi was ready to give me new molds (additional cost) and I said no, I don’t need them. She did say they looked in good condition so no pressure there. I can’t say for sure what the experience would have been for a new hearing aid user. She is very busy though, and has a lot of customers but I wonder how cost driven that practice is now. Who am I kidding , of course it is.

FL Mary

Thank you so very much for your reply. Would you please give me her name. My audiologist moved, so I need a new one here in Florida.

@bruceandruth1970

Dr Stephanie Davis Foster. She is inside the ENT Associates suite 100 in a building on first floor on McMullen Booth Road across the road from the Hospital in Clearwater. Number is 727-791-1368, ext 2070. She will undoubtably want a hearing test from you and they do them there. When you go into the office don’t wait online…Her office is separate to the right in the corner. She has a hearing aid tech and her receptionist/scheduler in the same office so you deal exclusively with them. Hope she works out for you….I have had my share of bad Audis and Hearing aid providers. Fortunately Florida seems to have an abundance of them. Would be interested in your impression.
If, by any chance, you need a physical evaluation, I am using Dr Alidina from this practice whom I like (my longtime guy retired and he recommended this provider). So two of my favorites retired last year my Audi and ENT Doctor.

FL Mary

I have trouble with clarity but hearing tests have found that is all to do with my hearing and nothing to do with the aids I use (Widex). I am now waiting for a cochlear implant, in December.

I believe other readers of your query will need more information in order to assist you.
I suffered a sudden, single sided hearing loss a few yr’s ago due to a work related incident. My hearing had dropped from near 100% to 76%. My Workman’s Comp provided me with a Phonak hearing aid. With ea. passing visit my speech and word recognition (possibly what you described as clarity) declined to where it was down to 42% this past June. It was determined that my “sensory” hearing loss made me eligible for a bone conduction implant and why my Phonak hearing aid wasn’t helping me as the inner/outer hairs in my Cochlea were damaged (anything less than 60% qualified me for this). Of my three options, I opted for the Cochlear- OSIA 2 device; which differs from the more commonly known traditional Cochlear Implant.
I can elaborate on how my OSIA 2 has significantly improved my word recognition at a later time; however, that’s why others will need to know more about the type of hearing (clarity) loss you have? Sensory? Conductive? The type of Cochlear implant being recommended for you?
Good luck to you and the individual you responded to

My response will apply to others using hearing aids that still have issues with lack of “clarity”; or what I will refer to diminished “word/speech recognition”.
I personally used a single sided Phonak for three years. At the time of my sudden onset hearing loss due to a work related injury my overall hearing in my R-ear dropped from near 100% to 76%, accompanied by tinnitus. At the time my word recognition had not been fully distinguishable, therefore, hearing aid was the recommended resolution. Over the following 3-years my word recognition decreased to 42%, and it was determined I had a “sensory” hearing loss where the inner and outer hairs in my cochlea were damaged; and why my Phonak hearing aids were not addressing my hearing loss. Keep in mind that hearing aids are essentially no more than sound amplifier's. Over those three yr’s using the Phonak, I incurred ongoing clarity issues (tinny; echoing, faint sounds) to where I just quit wearing it despite my Audiologist doing their due diligence in making ongoing adjustments.
Once my word recognition dropped to 42% a few months ago, and definitively id’d as a sensory hearing loss, I qualified for a Cochlear bone conduction implant (< 60% word recognition).
I’m sure your Audiologist can define your specific type of hearing loss you have in determining whether a hearing aid will be of any use at all for you? Again, hearing aids are essentially “amplifiers” and renown for not eliminating the echoing or tinny sounds you may be experiencing. Therefore, from a 40,000 foot view, making whatever adjustments you make of their app’s will do nothing or little to eliminate it long term.
As for my bone conduction options, I had three to select from: a non invasive CROS device requiring two hearing aid like devices; an invasive procedure using a Cochlear-BAHA 6 implant and another invasive procedure with a Cochlear-OSIA2 implant which I opted for which provides me clarity with my word recognition now. I can elaborate further if needed; but wanted to address the lack of clarity so many others have commented on at a very high level without knowing more details

@billf51

I am happy you found a solution but am surprised you qualified for a bone conduction implant for sensorineural loss. I was interested in the Osia but , since my loss was not conductive, Medicare would not approve it. I had heard good things about the Osia.

I have been wearing bilateral aids for 45 plus years. In all that time any audiologist or hearing aid tech was able to eliminate any tinny or echo like sounds. I am currently trying the newest Phonak Lumity UP 90. There are programs for speech in echo as well as speech in noise. My loss is profound with one ear maybe at 30%. I rarely use the programs as these aids self adjust to different environments. Phonak is what I need because of the power and I have used them for many years. I am surprised at the clarity and all around sound I am experiencing with maybe a tiny bit more speech recognition.

Hearing aids don’t amplify all sounds just the sounds you can’t hear. If someone is experiencing tinny or echo like sounds, I blame the person who is programming. There are different frequency bands, compression and linear and non linear settings in an aid which are very complex..not just volume. There are good and bad Audis and good and bad programmers. I have a difficult loss to program for with very little room for adjustments.

So I just want to make sure that people new to hearing aids don’t jump to purchasing a cheaper amplifier because it could just make thing worse.

I qualify for CIs but have opted not to go that route but was open to the Osia if I did qualify.

Good luck to all of you new to hearing loss.

FL Mary

Thanks for your response! I’m still a little confused with your statement
“but , since my loss was not conductive, Medicare would not approve it.”

So my question is, based on your comment that your hearing loss was NOT conductive, what was it? “Sensorial”, as mine was? If so, and your (I’m assuming) word recognition was at 30% then you would qualify for bone conduction options/implants such as my OSIA2 as anything below 60% would be a qualifier, as mine was 42% in my R-ear. Is it possible that Medicare would only cover devices that addressed conductive forms of hearing loss. I was fortunate that my sudden hearing loss was a work related incident; therefore my Workman’s Compensation group has been very understanding and cooperative in approving both my Phonak (I believe it was a C90?) and my OSIA2 based on my sensorial loss. It’s my understanding that Medicare doesn’t usually approve bone conduction implants in general likely because of the costs involved.
As for my Audiologist, I understand your presumed assumption, but I can assure you at the times of my appointments every 4-6 months due to my speech recognition dropping consistently over the course of 3-yr’s, she was on top of things. And during my Audiograms and routine adjustments the tinny-echoing sounds were resolved for maybe 1-5 days before digressing again. And yes, the Phonaks app provided me the ability to make the needed fine adjustments. However, I eventually gave up fine tuning as the tinniness and echoing persisted as I created the different environments I was in to attempt better listening quality. Therefore, the past 1-1/2 yr’s I stopped making self- adjustments and would leave everything the way my Audiologist made. Yet, my word recognition continued to decline, as did the tinny/echoing sounds to where my Neuro Otologist recommended 3 optional bone conduction devices in which I opted for the OSIA2. As a side note, Cochlear released information a few weeks ago that they are releasing the OSIA3 next yr. that is both 1.5 & 3 Tesla MRI compatible without requiring a head wrap.
Bottom line is I’m glad your Phonaks are working well for you; and not that you implied I was unfamiliar with technology 😉 but as a former clinician and healthcare sales person I consider myself familiar with software app’s, etc in thoroughly troubleshooting my Phonak; in which I totally agree with it being a superb product. Again, with Sensorial hearing loss, hearing aids in general do not address that form of hearing loss; and again ” in general”, hearing aids are no more than amplifiers of sounds addressing specific forms of hearing loss in which Sensorial is not one.
I now enjoy consistent clarity that my Phonak wasn’t able to provide.
In full disclosure, Cochlear needs to improve their phone app to provide better environmental adjustments as the Phonak is far superior in that area. Thankfully I rarely if ever need to make adjustments other than volume.
Should you ever need to reconsider your Phonak, then you may run the CROS bone conduction option as its non-invasive and I believe Phonak accommodates that as well, and much less costly than Cochlears BAHA6 and OSIA which again is why Medicare may not assume coverage??

@billf51

I have strictly bilateral sensorineural loss. I was told at the time that I would qualify if I had a mix of conductive plus sensorineural loss. My bone conduction scores were not good and I am assuming, based on that, Medicare would not approve. I also do not have single sided sensorineural loss which is one of the types of loss that qualifies for Osia in addition to not having a mixed loss. My right ear is the better one and she would have implanted the device on my poorer left ear. Not sure what percentage of loss is in the right ear. The Audi I went to over a year and a half ago specialized in CIs and bone implants and she was not optimistic based on my scores and general history that any type of bone implant at that time would benefit or that Medicare would approve. She did have some patients with a mixed loss that were approved by Medicare.

So that’s my story for now. But I am always reading and researching . The latest CI implant did not require anything over or in the external ear as the processor is off the ear and attached to magnet where the internal workings are…..at side of head.

FL Mary

This is all very confusing unless you have been through the process or, like yourself, have knowledge of the devices and process.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Just reading these comments and thinking of my own hearing loss experience reinforces the reality that our hearing losses are all different. I was told that hearing aids would never help my bilateral progressive sensineural hearing loss, but that was in the early 1960s. I waited as it got worse and worse to the point where I gave up my profession and started becoming reclusive. A friend persuaded me to visit the Speech & Hearing Clinic at a nearby university in the mid 70s and staff there convinced me to try a hearing aid. I did and found it helped a bit. Back then hearing aids were 'just amplifiers'. Today they are capable of doing much more.

A wonderful thing happened, and I learned about HLAA in 1983. I inquired about a lot of things and was encouraged to become involved in the organization. There I watched other people use assistive technology that went beyond hearing aids, much of it connected directly to their analog hearing aids. Direct Audio Input (DAI) was available then. It meant hooking up a hand held microphone to my hearing aid on a cord. It was amazing how well that worked. It improved my social life immensely. I also learned about telecoils and assistive listening systems that worked wirelessly with them. Amazing. I tested way down in the 30% range with speech discrimination. With that technology it improved to the 60% range. Of course I still missed things, but it was a huge boost to me.

As my HL progressed I started watching cochlear implant development. After getting a single sided CI in 2005 my speech understanding improved to the 90% range. I now use both a CI and a HA. I had to rangle with the insurance company, but with support from Cochlear Corporation, 80% of the cost was covered. The manufacturers will go to bat for you.

I encourage anyone who has been turned down or told they would be turned down, to explore this more. Go to a CI center rather than to an audiologist for further evaluation. The criteria for CI qualification has been lowered considerably in the last year to make it possible for more people to benefit from this remarkable technology.

JulieO