1. < Hearing Loss

Sudden sound increases in Phonak Hearing Aid

Posted by araw @araw, Jun 17, 2020

My son 12 years has moderate to severe hearing loss and wears hearing aids. We live in Pakistan.

For last couple of weeks he has started to complain that his hearing aids sound goes up suddenly for 15-20 seconds then comes back to normal. His PHONAK Naida V90 aids were giving some issues within a year (company says corrosion due to sweat !! ) so we got the SEM (inside machine) replaced and they are supposed to be as good as new as per PHONAK management (is this correct ? or there may be other issues...).

With this new replaced SEM pair he has this complain of sound going up and down few times a day in a normal home environment as well as outside. Fan noise also goes up as well as conversation level. He starts feeling uncomfortable suddenly, reduces the volume, but then as it comes back to "normal" he has to increase volume again.

His Audiogram is okay almost same level as before. My fear is could this be something to do with his loss or some internal ear issue which should be concerning ? He also experienced Tinnitus issue few times. It seems Audiologists don't understand much here, they simply sell hearing aids and can't figure out what to do for such things. Any help and guidance what to do ?

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

tonyinmi | @tonyinmi | Jun 17, 2020

@araw, I am not an expert but I'll provide what I would do. Your audiologist should be able to verify the hearing aid by performing Real Ear Measurements (REM). Many audiologists do not do this so you have to find an audiologist that can. Hearing aid styles differ so I'm not sure how much of his aid was already replaced. You refer to it as SEM (inside machine) but it may not include all pieces that could fail. I would assume that the hearing aid is probably okay. Is your son able to determine if sounds fluctuate without his hearing aids in? If he experiences the fluctuations with the hearing aids out, then it would indicate a problem within the ear. He would definitely want to see an Ear specialist (ENT or otologist).
Tony in Michigan

REPLY
araw | @araw | Jun 17, 2020

Thanks a lot Tony. I went to Audiologist today and she would try to find out who could do REM. Phonak has the SEM and then receiver and mic outside. He says with HA out, he does not have this sounds fluctuation issue. May be bcz his loss does not give him much sound with HA out. Will watch out more on this and consult ENT. Much appreciated..

REPLY
thedeafguy | @thedeafguy | Jun 17, 2020

Once you get it fixed, if you son does sweat a lot, the aid should be put in a hearing aid drier each night to help extend their life. Also, there are protective covers that can be used while wearing then to reduce moisture damage. One site that sell these is Gear For Ears https://www.gearforears.com/. This is US based. Not sure if you can access it from Pakistan but if not search for hearing aid protection to see if someone in your area sells them ( they are like little socks that slip over the aid).

REPLY
1 reply
imallears | @imallears | Jun 18, 2020

@araw
Hi,
I wear 2 Phonak Nadia B aids. Phonak and other brands have automatic switching programs where the hearing aid itself analyzes the environmental “noise” and adjusts accordingly. I personally don’t like the automatic adjustments and had mine disabled . I manually switch programs depending on where I am. The only automatic program I have right now (which I think is built into Phonak) is that the aid will go mute if the noise level is too loud. I ‘ve had this happen at inopportune moments. This sounds like what is happening to your son and can most definitely be adjusted by your audiologist. I prefer to analyze my own environment and switch to whatever program I choose. That being said, I would also have his ears checked out by an ENT if you have not already done so.

Regards from Mary on Florida

REPLY
1 reply
tonyinmi | @tonyinmi | Jun 18, 2020

@imallears that is a good point! It could be that simple. If his audiologist did not think of this, then shame on them. I agree with you that I want to know what my hearing aids are doing. I have the adaptive environment functions disabled on mine too.
Tony in Michigan

REPLY
araw | @araw | Jun 19, 2020
In reply to @thedeafguy "Once you get it fixed, if you son does sweat a lot, the aid should be..." + (show)
@thedeafguy

Once you get it fixed, if you son does sweat a lot, the aid should be put in a hearing aid drier each night to help extend their life. Also, there are protective covers that can be used while wearing then to reduce moisture damage. One site that sell these is Gear For Ears https://www.gearforears.com/. This is US based. Not sure if you can access it from Pakistan but if not search for hearing aid protection to see if someone in your area sells them ( they are like little socks that slip over the aid).

Jump to this post

Thanks a lot. I have written to gearforears to see if they ship to Pakistan. He sweats a lot and would be great to have these and protect the HA better. He uses the electronic dry kit for 6 to 8 hours each night.

REPLY
araw | @araw | Jun 19, 2020
In reply to @imallears "@araw Hi, I wear 2 Phonak Nadia B aids. Phonak and other brands have automatic switching..." + (show)
@imallears

@araw
Hi,
I wear 2 Phonak Nadia B aids. Phonak and other brands have automatic switching programs where the hearing aid itself analyzes the environmental “noise” and adjusts accordingly. I personally don’t like the automatic adjustments and had mine disabled . I manually switch programs depending on where I am. The only automatic program I have right now (which I think is built into Phonak) is that the aid will go mute if the noise level is too loud. I ‘ve had this happen at inopportune moments. This sounds like what is happening to your son and can most definitely be adjusted by your audiologist. I prefer to analyze my own environment and switch to whatever program I choose. That being said, I would also have his ears checked out by an ENT if you have not already done so.

Regards from Mary on Florida

Jump to this post

Thanks a lot for your feedback. They have fitted a single setting and not given program switching option !! we went for Siemens trial few weeks back and they mentioned 3 programs to switch between based on environment. Will ask Phonak to do the same.
My concern is that this sudden increase in sounds for 20 seconds is occurring in quite home environment which is why I felt it has to do with the HA ?? and like Tony pointed out since this is happening with HA out, then it seems to be with the HA and not the Ear.... however the Audiologist is not able to understand the reason. We have ENTs here but haven't come across Otologists... will try to get REM done...and see if we can find an Otologist or if not see an ENT... Thanks

REPLY
feek | @feek | Aug 9 3:07pm

Hi, I know this is an old string but I wondered if you found out what was causing the intermittent, increased volume with your son’s Phonak aids? I have Phonak Paradise hearing aids and they started dong this repeatedly (multiple times per day) about a month,ago. Now one has stopped working completely - won’t charge and hard reset doesn’t help. They are out of warranty.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.