My Dad has some ITE HA’s that are not working for him. I asked the clinic to provide the make and model but they did not reply, which is a strike against them. I will be able to provide the make/model tomorrow after I take him to an appointment. But I know he struggles in noisy environments with them and we are hoping to fix that issue, maybe with some new HA’s. And because he struggles a lot I question the clinic and audiologist’s skills. I believe his hearing loss is moderate to severe. I uploaded a recent audiogram in this post and hopefully its viewable.
I’m looking for any advice on dealing with clinics and audiologists. We have an appointment tomorrow to discuss next steps so anything you can suggest I bring up would be helpful. I’m also interested in what your thoughts are what HA’s would be suitable for my dad and what the data is on the audiogram.
His hearing loss is pretty flat so it should be easier to fit. Hopefully
He needs custom earmolds with that hearing loss.
Most hearing aids should help with that loss.
The most important thing is a good audiologist or fitter using best practices.
He just might get some of that word understanding back with properly fit hearing aids.
Costco just might be a great place to try. They use best practices fitting aids.
Depending on what he can afford, if he has trouble hearing in noise, I would suggest he try the new Phonak Infinio Shpere and/or the Oticon Intent. These are expensive because they are not discounted anywhere. If he does not want to spend that much, as @Raudive said, Costco is the best place for most folks. They sell the Philips 9050 which is based on the Oticon Intent for $1,600 plus free fitting and follow up. Good Luck
thanks for the advice. He does have custom molds already. I have loss as well and I opted to get mine for Costco and I’m certainly happy with price and the quality of the audiologist. My dad thinks Costco has a bad rep and to be avoided and believes paying more means he’s getting better staff to work with. I would not be surprised if he does not have a good audiologist right now. Tomorrow I met that person for the first time and while it won’t be much to go by, maybe I’ll get an impression on how good that person is.
the clinic sent him an email about the Sharkey Edge AI actually and I think that is their recommendation now. I searched for comments on that here and didn’t find much favorable but didn’t spend much time. If I find out that is not a great HA I’ll tell my dad to move on to another clinic or Costco. But he needs custom molded ITE styles and I’m not sure the Oticon or Infinio Sphere have ITE format.
I get my BTE’s from Costco and have been relatively happy. The KS10s were a step up from my last pair but I’m looking at the 9050 Philips and taking advantage of some benefit coverage I should use in the next year before I retire.
I have Starkey Edge AI RIC.
They work great for me especially in Edge AI mode. Noise reduction is great, if that matters.
I hear people much better.
I hear things I never heard before.
How well the Starkey’s perform for your dad depends on the audiologist.
This is true for any hearing aid.
I find this site has a bias for Phonak, Oticon and Costco.
Generally in that order.
that was insightful in a couple of ways for me. so is it fair to say one should look for an audiologist that is really dialed in with a specific brand (or two) and is very good at fitting a patient with that HA brand or model?
If true, I feel like it will be very difficult to find a good audiologist in the first place. I have tried the subreddit for the city I live in (calgary) and searched for posts on recommended audiologists and there wasn’t enough comments. I’m stuck on finding a known, proven audiologist that we can trust.
I believe strongly that the make/model of hearing aid is less important than the skill of the person setting it up.
My hope is that I can find the golden individual that can set up my hearing aids perfectly. And I want them to be nearby.
My dispensing audi tried for a year and a half. I was forced to switch. I found a skilled person on the edge of Hamilton. His work is really important to me.
Yet yesterday I was in a wonderful building in Belfountain. I sat with 4 people at lunch. They were all 3 feet away. I couldn’t understand a word they said. Just babble. I took out my phone and started myPhonak APP. My hearing aids had picked, “speech in noise”…two of the programs I tried were slightly better (but really not good enough.)
By the timeI had done that the conversation was over. I should have gone outside and enjoyed nature.
The only reason I asked was in case your experience with audi’s has been so good, they may be the Hearing Aid Guru I should be doing business with.
Not convinced about the custom earmolds. I had those all my life, but am now very happy with my Phonaks (Audéo P) with those little, wired in-ear (power) speakers. Somewhat similar hearing loss as your dad.
That is interesting and not what I expected someone to say. I thought from reading stuff online that the ITE custom molded ones were better than BTE with a speaker on wire. What didn’t work for you with the molded ones?
Like I said, sound was inferior, coming down from higher up my ear through a plastic tube. Also, molds are inflexible and somewhat uncomfortable. Wired HAs are quite common now, although I suspect quite a few people like them for being more discreet than their predecessors.
This can be really hard to know. How old is your dad? Some people with flat losses >60 dB HL have pretty brutal speech-in-noise deficits as well, in which case even a beautifully fit hearing aid will not solve his problems and you’d need to look at remote mics. WRS and QuickSIN scores might give some insight.
Just got back from taking him in to the clinic. the HAP checked his previous audiograms and they did not include a QuickSIN. He is due for another test so we’ll go back in two weeks and test including the QuickSIN this time. She also made adjustments today which might be promising. He has 3 year old Starkey Evolv AI 2400 with custom molded right now and there was a mini remote mic included but I could not find it at his place. His cognition is not great and he probably threw the box out. A shame. I will ask if there is a way to trial a mic and see if that helps with noisy environments. There are a few Starkey remove mic options. But it would mean when he is going to replace his existing HA’s he will want to stay with Starkey since he’ll have the mic. I’m not sure if Starkey is good or bad so i’ll do some research on that. I’m more familiar with the costco brands, not the more expensive private clinic products like Starkey.
I’m hoping for an improvement in quality (however slight) when I get a long earmold that reaches into the bony part of the ear canal with the receiver’s end pointing perfectly toward the eardrum.
How long of a wire do you have? By Phonak guidelines I should get “2” measurement, but surprisingly with my earmold “0” is better. Less wobbling of my Paradise P90-RT and its mics are placed more horizontally, which gives better directionality.
My dispensing Audi who couldn’t set up my Patadise P90Rs with many attempts for a year and a half has amazing google ratings. Best I’ve ever seen. Yet I couldn’t hear.
I think he’s a kind man who just couldn’t set up these hearing aids.
But my lesson is to look for skill and not pleasant talk.
My first visit to the next provider provided much better results using the same audiogram
