Do hearing companies still make analog?

You must be very well-to-do. These are $2600-3000 EACH, and they are fully digital. Plus, I’m in the profoundly deaf category.

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe there is someone else out there with such a similar hearing loss to mine! I’m so excited!

I too, have profound hearing loss in one ear, and moderate-to-profound loss in the other ear. The former ear is the only one that can tolerate a hearing aid, as there is too much distortion in the other ear. I just learned today that it’s possible to post an audiogram to give people more information about one’s loss, so I’ll try to do that for other people to maybe try to see that there is a type of loss that is best aided exactly as you said: take the sounds around you and amp them up. A lot.

Just like you, I discovered one day that if the volume was high enough, I could hear it, and the sound sounded “real”, “right”, “true”… pick your adjective, right? It sounds like it should. Simple as that. Loud sounds are loud. Quiet sounds are quiet. Music is MUSIC. I cannot even BEGIN to express the agony of trying to listen to music with digital HAs. It is devastating. I’m so glad there’s at least one person here who can understand that from personal experience.

I was working in EMS a few years ago and experienced very little difficulty with auscultation, whether blood pressure or breath sounds. I had more or less the same results as everyone else did - surprisingly, hearing people don’t always have great hearing! Also, a lifetime spent “listening” with my brain and other senses means that I often pick up quite a bit more than some people with average hearing ability.

About two years ago, my youngest was 10 months old and I had just successfully completed training in the next higher level of EMS. I was excited to work, but due to hiring practices in my area, such as being posted to a location rather than being able to work where I already lived, it was not feasible. My husband at the time could not leave his job easily. I decided to raise my children full time, but I have kept up my training and skills in anticipation of being able to work in the field at some point soon.

And then my audiologist told me that analogs weren’t being made anymore. I had already tried digitals several times - they just did not work for me. The delay makes lip reading impossible and the way loud sounds cut out and quiet sounds disappear leaves the whole experience almost the same as having nothing in at all. Except I can hear all the “clutter” noise. It was infuriating to be able to hear the air conditioner but not voices or sirens! Really?

So to be told that the solution to my hearing loss - and really, my whole life - was not available anymore? Devastating. I came here back then to see if maybe other deaf people had the same loss and the same struggle, but ran into several people with mild to moderate loss that seem to basically love making fun of people who need more than the cookie-cutter old folk solutions offered by Sears and Costco. So I didn’t hang around. (But I did keep reading and there were a few REALLY cool people who messaged me so I talked to them for a while).

I only came here today because of the email to claim my account - I had planned to delete the account once it was transferred, but then I saw your post and was so excited I had to reply.

I have zero leads on finding analog hearing aids, but I will share immediately anything that I do find! I hope you stay around. It would be great to talk to someone else with a similar situation to mine and who feels the same way about the HA industry definitely NOT having our best interests in mind.

Edited to add: AND even better, someone who is a musician and therefore totally gets that 1. Yes, I can experience music and I LOVE music - it’s incredibly important to me. and 2. Yes, it’s possible for me to truly enjoy it - I can sing and I played the violin for years.

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Try PM’ing if you can, then we can exchange FB or WA information. Maybe we need to set up an initial group that focuses on the fight for either the return of analog hearing aids or the perfect emulation of analogs. Then maybe we can set up a lobby or action group whose goal is to force manufacturers to do one of the two or risk losing a significant market share of the profound loss category. Right now, I don’t know of ANY digital aid that will emulate the analog aid correctly because of digital artifacts that are permanently part of the sound output that you can’t turn off even in Classic mode. The Widex Super 440 aid is an example of that.

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Nice, my old forum thread is still alive. I am still unhappy with my very expensive (way more than analogs!) bone conduction Oticon Sumo DM BTE hearing aid. :frowning:

FYI I used these analog models in the past from Oticon from my records: 380P, E38P, etc.

Prairie Labs still makes analog. You can find them with a google search.

However, they only sell through clinics. Lloyds Hearing Aids is a dealer and an online discount clinic in Rockford, Ill. Also Google.

They have several different amplification models that do confuse things a bit. They are basically custom made for the client.

I didn’t buy them, LOL. I didn’t say you should buy them either. I’m just saying that musicians sometimes go to great lengths programming hearing aids for when the notes begin to ring. It’s hard for my head to get into the melody, yeah :slight_smile:

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Thank you!!! :pray::pray::pray:

I contacted my audiologist about these hearing aids through email, sending them the data sheet for the Phonak NovoForte E4 aids and the PDF from PL’s web site to point out the 6 options available. It looks like what I need are the push-pull output amp option, as it has the most volume and happens to match the amp type of the NovoForte, AND then you can select which one or two trim pots you want. I hope they are not too expensive.

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It’s almost a year later; are you all following this thread still? I have severe to profound loss in both ears. I rely on analog. While I still have several pairs to last me through the years, it’s not a good enough solution for me. Over the years, I have tried a handful of digitals available for my loss (not too many). My issue was the spoken word. Because the processing of sound is digitized, I have to re-learn what each word sounds like. My mother was standing directly in front of me, talking. I was not able to understand her. When the city bus stopped outside of my condo, I didn’t recognize the sound. When the air conditioner kicked on, I didn’t know what it was. While digital works for many, many people, it does not work for a lot of us. I need to get an idea as to how many of us there are - would you like to see analog be manufactured again? Let’s make it work, and soon. I don’t know about the other manufacturers, but Oticon will stop even repairing analog devices in June 2018.

Thanks, Jennifer

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There are labs that repair and even make new analog aids. The labs only sell new to clinics. But several will take repairs from clients.

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Omg! I knew it! I knew I was not the only person who wears analog that hates digital. Music, Concerts, Movies etc are completely ruined. I loathe the fact that Audi’s and HA maker’s act like “Digital is what we offer now, take it or leave it”. Absolutely not! Stop forcing a useless device on us. I got sick of the non-stop Audi visits that ended up making me frustrated and more depressed than the last. To be honest it should NEVER take more than few of attempts to get HA to our liking. What good are bells and whistles if it’s another useless device sitting in our drawers? I have a pair of Phonak PP-C-L 4+ analog and was told the Nadia Q would be amazing could even use the blue tooth feature instead of headphones. Nope its junk! Digital does not work and will never work because of the programming, no matter the amount of adjustments. It’s becoming pretty clear to me after hours and hours of reading stories of digital not producing crisp clear quality. I wish I knew a deaf Audi who understands our frustrations because they themselves are in the same boat as us. Maybe a Class action lawsuit is our best bet. Forcing us into using a device that is ruining our lives. I need music to live. It’s my life and I feel like once my analogs go that I am going to be one miserable person. I’m to a point where I’d sell my soul for brand new analogs that last for as long as I live. Now I’ve found this place and other music lovers having the same frustrations it’s like how is it that we seem to know more about what sounds best? I noticed KenP mentioned that there are still places that make analog but how do I know I can trust them? How do I know they will successfully replace my phonak super fronts?

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It all depends on what you are use to. I have never had analog hearing aids only digital, and they work for me to at least allow me to understand speech most of the time. I may also believe as you do if I had ever used analog aids. But I don’t believe that they will ever go back to analog again without there being enough people screaming for them.

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That’s the thing we are screaming for them while at the same time we are being forced on to digital. Personally digital makes speech sound robotic which is why I refuse to get the CI. I lost my hearing due to the DPT vaccination that caused a high fever. I do not want to lose whatever hearing I do have left. I dont wear an HA in my left ear because its weaker and sounds confuse me.When I wear headphones I put my T switch on and it amplifies the sound. Digital is completely useless in that department. Even with compilot it’s still useless.:persevere: Music sounds like its underwater and muffled, there is absolutely no clarity. What good is speech, if I cant enjoy the things I am passionate about? Isn’t music also speech related? I don’t want a loaded device telling me what I should be hearing and turning it into a robotic processed sound.

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Wow, this forum thread is still active. Good. OK, I am trying out two soft/head band BAHAs: Cochlear’s Baha 5 and Oticon Ponto 3 Super Power.

Cochlear’s Baha 5 had the same problem with my bone conduction Oticon Sumo DM digital hearing aid until the audiologist changed to music profile. Everything was SO much better. No annoying autofilters like volumes, feedback whistles with high pitch audios, etc. It was good enough like the analog bone conduction hearing aids. However, its hardware usability was annoying like no power off/stand by/mute without using a smartphone and taking its 675 battery out like I used to do.

So, I am trying an Oticon Ponto 3 trial/demo now. I like its hardware usability. However, I still need to gets its audio to be tweaked since I am still missing some sounds like my previous hearing aids. Hopefully, I will get this one tweaked enough to buy.

Other audiologists told me that I wanted linear audio like my analog. So those who hate digital like me, see if your audiologist can set up your digital hearing aids to use linear and music profile if they exist.

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I will try the linear recommendation but if that fails I will leave once again frustrated with a miserable outlook on life because I may no longer be able to enjoy music and movies. I honestly do not care if I have to give up speech as long as I can hear music with the same clarity as analog without 50 clinic visits I will feel better than winning the power ball.

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And I am the opposite I have given up music most of the time just to have a good conversation with my family, friends, and Church family. I have never had an ear for music so I wouldn’t know what real music sounds like anyway.

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Don’t forget to ask if the digital hearing aid has music profile. Music profile is supposed to turn off the annoying real-time enhancements and stuff.

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I have tried the music program is sounds muted.it lacks clarity. It seems everytime I go in for adjustments it just gets worse instead of improving. Analogs when I got new ones all they had to do was turn the dials, fit the molds and pop in a battery and I’m good to go, not anymore. It’s more about the $ than our ability to hear.

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Leithe21:Yeah, I miss the analog. They were way cheaper too! A digital BAHA is $4-6K and medical insurances won’t pay unless I get surgerical implants. No thanks. I just want an external hearing aid!

That’s astonishing how they are forcing those who prefer analogs into implants or digital. In your case Ant forcing you to get an implant which costs 10x as much not to mention the therapy required to recover from the implant and countless hours of programming and training to use the implant that is of course you have no rejections.

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This is a belated reply, but just adding a note of empathy here. You’re quite right that linear programming will not fix the problem, and there isn’t a particularly good reason why analog devices are completely unavailable. It seems to me that the situation is eminently fixable, however. I would encourage you to continue to pressure your audiologist to communicate your interest in analogs to the manufacturers. If you have any ideas for how to bring back analog aids, though, I’d certainly be interested.