What a concept! Thank you for this! I have been wearing HA’s for over 40 years, and have never knowingly been tested for speech in noise. All is well in the Audiologist’s quiet office, but it all falls apart when I go out into the real world. Is there another test she might do that is the equivalent of Speech in Noise? What is that test’s name? Maybe she’s done it, but I just did not understand the purpose of the test.
Forgive my ignorance: how do I even phrase the question “Can you test me for Speech in Noise?”
I had this issue with the dispensing audi for my Paradise P90R’s. He ignored me until I set up programs in his office while waiting for an appointment. I couldn’t hear in quiet, and had to use the myPhonak app to adjust programs, and save them. He took those settings and adjusted my autsense program and others.
Definitely worth asking, but this can be an uphill battle. The first one I saw, I told her on the phone when I made the appointment “I can hear fine when it’s quiet, but can’t follow conversations in background noise. Can you help with that?” She said yes, so I made an appointment. She did the beep test and the word recognition test in a dead quiet booth. She then correctly observed that my mild loss shouldn’t be causing the problems I’m claiming to have, and that my speech recognition is fine in the quiet booth. I said “Yeah, that’s exactly what I told you on the phone.” She shrugged and said “I can’t help you.”
So I called up another one, told him everything that happened with the first one, and said I specifically wanted help with understanding speech in noise. He said he could help me, so I made an appointment with him. He redid the beep tests and the word recognition test (in the quiet booth) even though I’d given him a copy of the results from the first session, which weren’t even two months old. That didn’t thrill me, because I knew insurance wouldn’t pay for them twice in two months, but I figured he was just trying to be thorough. But then that was all he did! He, too, said he couldn’t help me. Got really mad when I wouldn’t pay him, too, but ultimately dropped it.
At that point, it was clear that randomly going through every name in the local yellow pages was going to be an expensive waste of time, so I started looking for audis who specialized in auditory processing disorders. I found one further away who does remote testing/fitting, but that would have been around $10,000 for testing + aids. I knew all of that would be out of pocket. I’d have paid it if it came down to it, because this was affecting my career trajectory and I was running out of options. But first, I decided to roll the dice on ebay and self-programming. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worked out incredibly well for me.
I know a lot of audis don’t like the fact that people do this. But in many cases, we tried to do it the “right” way first, then resorted to this because the same people complaining about it made it impossible for us to do things any other way.
The speech in noise tests are a bit fuzzy and they are useful for setting expectations for new patients, or for identifying changes. They are interesting when there is a strong disconnect between audiogram and performance (though note that with the first patient I mentioned we did full auditory processing testing, which provides a bit more detailed information and can’t really be done in the case of hearing loss).
When you are already using well fit hearing aids, speech in noise testing may not provide more information than you already have: That even with hearing aids, hearing in noise is a struggle. It may validate your experience though.
All clinics should have access to speech in noise tests and should know what you mean when you ask for that. Most commonly used one is probably the QuickSIN, but it’s not the only one. I like the LiSN-S too, and I know people who use the HINT or Words in Noise. If they hesitate, the phrase “I’m happy to pay for your clinical time, I don’t expect free service” is motivating.
I would do self programming if I had more computer skill. Except my computer is a very old iMac. And I would need to run pc oriented hardware.
My new hearing aid practitioner did a “speech in noise” short test. He played background noise like wind, Is that a speech in noise test? I have extreme trouble with high background noise.
For instance, I live in the flight path for aircraft on final approaching Toronto airport. They are about 1,200 feet or so and may be 80 dB when I’m outside I have trouble.
And I have trouble with “babble” in crowds inside and out. I often think I’ve heard and bluff. Not only I can’t hear, but it’s so tiring too!
And my Jeep Rubicon has performance exhaust. I don’t often hear conversation.
Finally I work for a school board. Teachers yell in group conversation. I don’t understand a thing. (I was just in the cafeteria. Lots of teachers. I tried all my hearing aid settings. None worked. Speech in noise? Speech in loud noise? more…even music. Forget-about=it.)
Trying to hear with my hearing aids is so stressful! It’s much more relaxing turning them off.
Geeze, at Kaiser ALL of my hearing tests involve a section involving speech in noise. They test for word recognition in quiet AND again with masking noises.
But I buy my hearing aids outside of Kaiser. Hmmmm…
and then again, I’m almost always wearing my Osia BAHA when in speech in noise situations. And so this hasn’t been an issue. Phew!
The tv streamer is awesome, I have lumity 70’s also. You need to add your audiogram so we can see and compare your loss to others, you seem oblivious to the fact that many others most likely have worse hearing loss than yourself, if you’re not using the tv streamer or Bluetooth on your phone you’re missing out on an incredible experience with these hearing aids.
No, in fact it was indeed a chiropractic clinic (and have benefitted from the treatments given there: laser tissue therapy, spinal expansion and manual manipulation). But for the LIFE of me, I can’t figure out how the owner allows such a CACOPHONY of sound in the lobby! On top of the loud rock music playing, there’s a TV on the wall with a guy extolling the benefits of the Gonstead method of chiropractic adjustment. Almost comical … but I wonder, “Is it just ME?” I want to yell: TURN THE DANG MUSIC OFF!
I’d be reaching for my clonazepam at the point! Perhaps that’s part of the therapy. I can’t say I ever experienced that at the chiropractor’s office. No, no, now I get it, they are testing your hearing with your Lumity aids. They want to make sure you HEAR the rock music! I hope it’s classic rock, the stuff they have these days is awful.
