I agree that this would be very helpful and I am not sure why it is not done. Particularly the word recognition test and speech in noise.
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Any audiologist or hearing instrument specialist that is focused on ensuring they are doing everything possible to improve their patients ability to understand speech has several options to confirm the improvement made by fitting hearing aids. Here are a few options:
- Speech mapping / REM testing with average speech and soft speech
- Word recognition testing aided vs. unaided in a quiet environment. This can even be informally performed by a spouse or family member to confirm higher scores when aided.
- Speech in noise testing in a sound field aided vs. unaided
Speech mapping can be quite accurate at displaying how close to “normal” hearing level the aided response will be. Hopefully everyone that is fit with hearing aids is at least having this testing completed.
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My audiologist quit two years after he provided my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s. I found a practitioner who set them up right. Night and Day difference and I can finally hear.
During that interval he used REM. Didn’t work for me. Leaving his practice he had set up my hearing aids using Phonak’s quick fit. The new practitioner did the same thing (for good reason; long story) No REM.
For the last 2 or more years REM hasn’t worked for me. I couldn’t hear with the Paradise P90 ear plugs in place the way they were set up.
DaveL
@DaveL Just a quick note. I made an appointment w/ another AuD after messing around w/ the current HIS. I never felt adjustment was correct. There were many Red Flags that I should have paid attention to. Thank you for your encouraging words. I’ll see new audiologist next week. My Phonak L 90 Life hearing aids hopefully will be of use to me following the appointment. Thanks
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Excellent news!
I think there’s a lot wrong with the business.
How do you find a good provider? Put names in a hat?
Cost…
How do you determine whether the provider is giving the service you need?
My regret: I don’t have the skills I need to do self-programming. My computer is an iMac and using Target on it would require more computer knowledge too.
A suggestion…see if the provider will give you
- your new audiogram
- two reports from Target…
First is “User Report”
Second is “Pro Report”
You will be able to see what settings were used, and how your hearing aids are setup.
(My new provider has a business. It’s called, “Hearing Well Matters”. He has a website. Look around on that…I found him through an interview on Channel CHCH (Hamilton Ontario tv station). They had two videos. First was by a man and he asked the right questions that those of us that are hard of hearing can use. Second was by a woman; it didn’t meet my needs. It was done a year later.)
Your hearing aids are the best Phonak has now; better than mine. I should have advocated for myself better. Now that I have, I’m so much better off. Mine are Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s. They were Phonak’s best at the time. But they were ear plugs that stopped sound until they were set up right.
Thanks so much for your note. Means a lot to me.
edit: I go into periods with tough times with this hearing aid thing, and also sleep apnea treatment. Had a holistic mentor (Holistic Vet) and she’s passed away. She had a wonderful chiropractor for our dogs that also did Arabian Horses. She would get my head on right (figuratively) when dogs weren’t well. Between them I learned a lot. But have so much more to learn. Trying to explain that your note came when I needed some help. Thanks
DaveL
Toronto
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My provider has always had 3 audilogists in the office. Although they’ve also changed over the decades. I sidled over to one of the new ones from the woman who sold me my latest aids. She did a good job setting them up. But the new audi has a better understanding of my needs and wants.
My point is, so many here seem to buy from a one person office. Is that true? Changing audis in the same establishment seemed a bit weird at first. Now I feel fine about it, and my old audi is friendly when she sees me.
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My Aud. preformed my word recognition test with their most powerful HA’s turned up to full volume.
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I find that these tests are of the subjective, Q&A style. What I really want is to mimic the clinic experience of tone tests and word comprehension. Granted, no online test will be identical to one done in a proper soundbooth. Even so, if I filled out the online Q&A tests, well, by golly, I bet I’d be sent away by an audi. Yes “sometimes” I can’t figure out what a kid says, but who can? Their mother?
Or YES, I still have trouble sometimes comprehending speech in LOUD noise, but then so do most other folks! So maybe I should take comfort in knowing that the answers to other questions (like socializing, comprehending female voices, etc.,) I now have little to ZERO issues with when my Phonak Lumity Life aids are in.
I would still CACKLE with glee if I got 100% on the word comprehension test! But no one has put it to the test!
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For tone tests, I have used hearingtest.online. It gives me an audiogram that is very close to what my audiologist gives me. It doesn’t do word comprehension.
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I am one of the DIY guys on this forum, and used a feature called Audiogram Direct, which is in Phonak’s Target software. It gave me a very good starting point to program my hearing aids, and over time I tweaked the settings to get exactly what I wanted.
It’s not as accurate as an REM, but because I am running the test using the actual hearing aids that I wear every day, it has real value to me.
I recently visited the VA for the first time, where they did an REM, which compared to my Audiogram Direct graph wasn’t much different.
I like having the ability to take a few minutes to run a test in real time to see if my hearing has changed enough to require modification of my programming. This feature has been a win for me.
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That is very cool. Wish I had DIY in my DNA… but I rely on my audi to do this.
My audiologist tried for two years to set up my Paradise P90’s after he sold them to me.
I couldn’t hear; told him often.
He always used REM.
Then he erased all our work and did this setup. Still couldn’t hear. Told him so.
As he requested I found someone else to help and do a setup.
They both used the audiogram (he provided it; magic. I heard better for first time in my life.
New practitioner did the method you referred to. I can hear! I asked what he found wrong with my setup. He said:
open domes were specified. I have closed domes.
He said that the left hearing aid couldn’t communicate with the right one. It wasn’t turned on.
edit: I should erase this. Point is that setting up hearing aids takes great skill. My audiologist didn’t have it. (He didn’t use REM. The audiologist always had until the last visit.
My wife said, Night & Day; What took you so long?
I’m a fan of Audiogram Direct. If the audiologist had been skilled I could have heard well from the day he fitted my hearing aids.)
DaveL,
I am glad it worked out for you.
When it comes to hearing aids, it seems that folks tend to get hung up in the hardware, when it’s the programming that’s most important.
REM just like audiogram direct is just a starting point for further adjustments. You don’t go through the day with REM probes in your ears, you’re going to be wearing hearing aids, so doing an audiogram direct test can be a quick reality check validating that the hardware in your ears are actually working.
I am so glad I don’t need to rely on anyone but myself to program my hearing. Satisfaction guaranteed, and no appointments required.
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Two things.
My hearing loss is due to hearing loss at work; I have a workman’s comp award. That simplifies but makes things harder for me. The one thing the audi did right–he got my hearing aids for me to solve a safety problem. Rule 1–hearing aids every 5 years. He got them before I was due. that was a miracle. I was his client. I didn’t want to mess up this contract.
DIY? I have a 2010 iMac I bought new. I don’t have the skill to use pc products on this computer. Target is pc based. I’m on a fixed income…
So I didn’t buy a used pc and run Target…my choice.
I rally appreciate your comment.
DaveL
toronto