Comments for Hearing Informed http://hearinginformed.org Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:50:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on Thoughts on Widex Passion by clather http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193&cpage=1#comment-509 clather Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:50:20 +0000 http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193#comment-509 I am in the market for a new hearing aid but I have been out of the market for about 9 years. I have had the same pair for 9 years now, so I guess you could say I need some new ones. I’ve been researching three different aids and would like to see what people say about them. The ones in my price range are: 1.The Phonak Milo Plus, which I haven’t found a lot of information on 2.Widex Passion 105, which I’ve been reading these posts and they are making me wary of this hearing aid, because I live in Georgia and have the constant temperature change from leaving the humidity of the outdoors to going to the frigid air conditioning of the inside. 3.Avio 5 from Costco (wary of this because it is from a wholesaler). What I’ve read about this sounds good and have the qualities of a hearing aid that I like, and are reasonably priced (for hearing aids), but I don’t know because the only information I can find is on their website. I haven’t seen user reviews on it. I would appreciate any feedback and help I can get. My goal is to have new hearing aids before October. I am in the market for a new hearing aid but I have been out of the market for about 9 years. I have had the same pair for 9 years now, so I guess you could say I need some new ones.
I’ve been researching three different aids and would like to see what people say about them. The ones in my price range are:
1.The Phonak Milo Plus, which I haven’t found a lot of information on
2.Widex Passion 105, which I’ve been reading these posts and they are making me wary of this hearing aid, because I live in Georgia and have the constant temperature change from leaving the humidity of the outdoors to going to the frigid air conditioning of the inside.
3.Avio 5 from Costco (wary of this because it is from a wholesaler). What I’ve read about this sounds good and have the qualities of a hearing aid that I like, and are reasonably priced (for hearing aids), but I don’t know because the only information I can find is on their website. I haven’t seen user reviews on it.
I would appreciate any feedback and help I can get. My goal is to have new hearing aids before October.

]]> Comment on Thoughts on Widex Passion by dmsiggy http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193&cpage=1#comment-507 dmsiggy Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:58:43 +0000 http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193#comment-507 Hi Mike, Yeah Im happy with the sound quality on the 115 model that I'm wearing- but after three years I've become intimately acquainted with these design flaws you mentioned. I haven't had a cracked case yet but I've had to return my aids for repair every 8 months or so. As for my audiologist not providing me an extra pair of speakers-I was annoyed with the stingy sentiment behind that- I didn't feel they were going to lose much by doing so. I think they told me something about the warranty being voided if they did so. Nonetheless- small gestures like that would have brought me back in that office for future aids. I won't be going back- I've found another audiologist to work with for my future aids. Hi Mike, Yeah Im happy with the sound quality on the 115 model that I'm wearing- but after three years I've become intimately acquainted with these design flaws you mentioned. I haven't had a cracked case yet but I've had to return my aids for repair every 8 months or so.

As for my audiologist not providing me an extra pair of speakers-I was annoyed with the stingy sentiment behind that- I didn't feel they were going to lose much by doing so. I think they told me something about the warranty being voided if they did so. Nonetheless- small gestures like that would have brought me back in that office for future aids. I won't be going back- I've found another audiologist to work with for my future aids.

]]> Comment on Thoughts on Widex Passion by Mike http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193&cpage=1#comment-505 Mike Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:47:27 +0000 http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193#comment-505 I am an audiologist in the UK. I fitted 84 patients with Passions and had to stop as domes came off in peoples ears, 60% of recievers failed, the cases crack and fall to pieces if a battery is inserted incorrectly. I can say that the sound quality is fantastic on the 115 and 440 model but the 105 and 110 model are easily beaten by the Phonak mini V or III. I can't believe an audiologist wouldn't provide an extra set of speakers for someone. We have to do this due to moisture problems. This is a clear and obvious design flaw I am an audiologist in the UK. I fitted 84 patients with Passions and

had to stop as domes came off in peoples ears, 60% of recievers failed,

the cases crack and fall to pieces if a battery is inserted incorrectly.

I can say that the sound quality is fantastic on the 115 and 440 model

but the 105 and 110 model are easily beaten by the Phonak mini V or III.

I can’t believe an audiologist wouldn’t provide an extra set of speakers

for someone. We have to do this due to moisture problems. This is a clear

and obvious design flaw

]]> Comment on Thoughts on Widex Passion by Petra http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193&cpage=1#comment-503 Petra Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:10:53 +0000 http://hearinginformed.org/?p=193#comment-503 I have been wearing Widex Aikia for one year after Widex Senso Diva. There is one word which describes AIKIA in my case. Suffering. I used to be a cheerful person but everyone around me tells me that I have changed. I am bitter and withdrawn. In my opinion and experience, Aikia has gone badly backward in providing engineering solution and hearing experience. These are the main reasons: 1.While I could follow a conversation in a group with Senso Diva, the speech in a group is all mixed up and I cannot follow it with Aikia. My brain cannot cope with a mumble of voices and noises. 2.Every evening my back part of my head ache. Whereas Diva noise level dropped down within 1 second it takes 16-17 sec for Aikia. That is even longer then Oticon which were bad at smearing any sound at higher level such as raised voice. I found noises to be too sharp. Working in the kitchen is a painful experience nowadays. 2. Moving air such as breeze blowing over microphones is very irritating. As you can rarely hear on TV programme when a TV presenter has to deal with a very strong wind effect over microphone I hear it most time with breeze. When it does not blow or I am indoor I hear my hair crackling which drives me mad. 3. I experience a blank angle (over my shoulders) when I cannot hear nearly anything including approaching cars. It becomes dangerous for me to be on streets. 4. Additionally, two microphones in one hearing aid are of different value by nearly 50% which means anything behind me and moving towards my back sounds weak but when passing me the sound vanishes in the blank angle then it rises too much (another source for headache) which makes me jumpy and frustrated. 6. Lastly, the sound quality of music is awful. I love music and I miss it very badly. I miss bird songs in nature. I miss ability to hear whisper. I miss my Diva Senso very badly because these were truly very good ones. The richness of sounds, violin playing, bird songs, ability to pick up voices against the noisy background, ability to hear people talking behind you when walking in a group, no pillow hearing whistling, no annoying wind blowing over microphone, no hair crackling constant noises. All that what made Senso Diva good went wrong with AIKIA and yet I paid a awful lot of money for those. I have to travel to see the audiologist, wait a long time and pay every time for fixing session knowing it does not provide real life sound experience. I paid so much and I suffer so much. As I enjoyed every day with Senso Diva, nowadays I hate waking up and putting Aikia on. I wonder how can I find a good audiologist. I still would like to sort it out. I have been wearing Widex Aikia for one year after Widex Senso Diva. There is one word which describes AIKIA in my case. Suffering. I used to be a cheerful person but everyone around me tells me that I have changed. I am bitter and withdrawn. In my opinion and experience, Aikia has gone badly backward in providing engineering solution and hearing experience.
These are the main reasons:
1.While I could follow a conversation in a group with Senso Diva, the speech in a group is all mixed up and I cannot follow it with Aikia. My brain cannot cope with a mumble of voices and noises.
2.Every evening my back part of my head ache. Whereas Diva noise level dropped down within 1 second it takes 16-17 sec for Aikia. That is even longer then Oticon which were bad at smearing any sound at higher level such as raised voice. I found noises to be too sharp. Working in the kitchen is a painful experience nowadays.
2. Moving air such as breeze blowing over microphones is very irritating. As you can rarely hear on TV programme when a TV presenter has to deal with a very strong wind effect over microphone I hear it most time with breeze. When it does not blow or I am indoor I hear my hair crackling which drives me mad.
3. I experience a blank angle (over my shoulders) when I cannot hear nearly anything including approaching cars. It becomes dangerous for me to be on streets.
4. Additionally, two microphones in one hearing aid are of different value by nearly 50% which means anything behind me and moving towards my back sounds weak but when passing me the sound vanishes in the blank angle then it rises too much (another source for headache) which makes me jumpy and frustrated.
6. Lastly, the sound quality of music is awful. I love music and I miss it very badly. I miss bird songs in nature. I miss ability to hear whisper. I miss my Diva Senso very badly because these were truly very good ones. The richness of sounds, violin playing, bird songs, ability to pick up voices against the noisy background, ability to hear people talking behind you when walking in a group, no pillow hearing whistling, no annoying wind blowing over microphone, no hair crackling constant noises. All that what made Senso Diva good went wrong with AIKIA and yet I paid a awful lot of money for those. I have to travel to see the audiologist, wait a long time and pay every time for fixing session knowing it does not provide real life sound experience. I paid so much and I suffer so much. As I enjoyed every day with Senso Diva, nowadays I hate waking up and putting Aikia on.

I wonder how can I find a good audiologist. I still would like to sort it out.

]]> Comment on "Why Things Suck: Hearing Aids" at Wired Magazine by dmsiggy http://hearinginformed.org/?p=82&cpage=1#comment-500 dmsiggy Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:25:14 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=82#comment-500 Thanks for your comments and the work you've been doing Miles.. On a side note: I've been wondering for a while about the Widex Mind. Those aids have a feature that provides several different musical medleys that are supposed to help mitigate tinnitus.. I'm wondering if people have responded well to them? Do you happen to know about those? Thanks for your comments and the work you've been doing Miles..

On a side note: I've been wondering for a while about the Widex Mind. Those aids have a feature that provides several different musical medleys that are supposed to help mitigate tinnitus.. I'm wondering if people have responded well to them? Do you happen to know about those?

]]> Comment on "Why Things Suck: Hearing Aids" at Wired Magazine by dmsiggy http://hearinginformed.org/?p=82&cpage=1#comment-499 dmsiggy Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:20:52 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=82#comment-499 Hi Norb- thanks for your comments. Re: hokus pokus. I'm getting equally annoyed with the trend toward consolidation in this industry- 3 manufacturers that supply hearing aids that cost so much that they are out of reach for average folks (like myself!). The warranty on my Widex aids is better than some- but it has now run out after 3 years and I'm faced with a 600/year bill to keep myself protected from loss/damage. Ouch! I'm forced into this because hearing aids DO break from time to time and I'll be faced with paying far more than $600 if something goes wrong. I'm about to start writing a lot more about this topic... Hi Norb- thanks for your comments. Re: hokus pokus. I'm getting equally annoyed with the trend toward consolidation in this industry- 3 manufacturers that supply hearing aids that cost so much that they are out of reach for average folks (like myself!). The warranty on my Widex aids is better than some- but it has now run out after 3 years and I'm faced with a 600/year bill to keep myself protected from loss/damage. Ouch! I'm forced into this because hearing aids DO break from time to time and I'll be faced with paying far more than $600 if something goes wrong.

I'm about to start writing a lot more about this topic…

]]> Comment on My New Widex Passion Hearing Aids by dmsiggy http://hearinginformed.org/?p=122&cpage=1#comment-498 dmsiggy Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:14:02 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=122#comment-498 Hi Yasmine- good to hear from you. So to answer your question- At the time (3 yrs ago now), I didn't find any other manufacturers that were making a hearing aid that had this feature built into a hearing aid. What I did find were specialized hearing aids that had transpositioning built into the aid and it could never be turned off! I didn't like that.. Especially because when I'm listening to music I don't necessarily want to have higher frequencies made low...and its doing all kinds of processing that makes the music experience worse. I need to do more research- but I don't think a lot of companies are jumping into this. I wish they were. the competition would be a good thing. I know that a lot of adults just don't respond well to the transpositioning thing...it certainly sounds quite unnatural. Little kids being reported to respond very well to the feature and their understanding of consonants (ph, th, sh, s) is going through the roof- as it is for me. I'll be in the market for a hearing aid and I don't think Ill consider a hearing aid without this feature. Its really made life different- I'm participating in conversations more than I was. Its actually a bit scary sometimes- I feel like I'm so dependent on this technology and this one little feature and I don't want to be without it. Hi Yasmine- good to hear from you.

So to answer your question- At the time (3 yrs ago now), I didn’t find any other manufacturers that were making a hearing aid that had this feature built into a hearing aid. What I did find were specialized hearing aids that had transpositioning built into the aid and it could never be turned off! I didn’t like that.. Especially because when I’m listening to music I don’t necessarily want to have higher frequencies made low…and its doing all kinds of processing that makes the music experience worse.

I need to do more research- but I don’t think a lot of companies are jumping into this. I wish they were. the competition would be a good thing. I know that a lot of adults just don’t respond well to the transpositioning thing…it certainly sounds quite unnatural. Little kids being reported to respond very well to the feature and their understanding of consonants (ph, th, sh, s) is going through the roof- as it is for me.

I’ll be in the market for a hearing aid and I don’t think Ill consider a hearing aid without this feature. Its really made life different- I’m participating in conversations more than I was. Its actually a bit scary sometimes- I feel like I’m so dependent on this technology and this one little feature and I don’t want to be without it.

]]> Comment on "Why Things Suck: Hearing Aids" at Wired Magazine by Miles Hartley http://hearinginformed.org/?p=82&cpage=1#comment-497 Miles Hartley Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:23:20 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=82#comment-497 I have been wearing 2x oticon CIE aids for ten years. It seems an increasing number of people are ignoring health warnings about caring for their ears and hearing. It was as a result of a careless diving accident that I ended up with two hearing aids and tinnitus. I wear the aids 24/7. I learned to control the tinnitus and consider myself tinnitus free most of the time. I created a website to help others in need of tinnitus relief. Here's a link if you want a visit <a href="http://www.tinnitusreliefreviews.com" rel="nofollow">Tinnitus Relief</a> at <a href="http://www.TinnitusReliefReviews.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.TinnitusReliefReviews.com</a> Best wishes to all. Miles Hartley. I have been wearing 2x oticon CIE aids for ten years.
It seems an increasing number of people are ignoring health warnings about caring for their ears and hearing. It was as a result of a careless diving accident that I ended up with two hearing aids and tinnitus. I wear the aids 24/7. I learned to control the tinnitus and consider myself tinnitus free most of the time. I created a website to help others in need of tinnitus relief. Here's a link if you want a visit
Tinnitus Relief at http://www.TinnitusReliefReviews.com

Best wishes to all.

Miles Hartley.

]]> Comment on "Why Things Suck: Hearing Aids" at Wired Magazine by Norb http://hearinginformed.org/?p=82&cpage=1#comment-496 Norb Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:41:17 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=82#comment-496 what i refuse to accept is that i can not do as i do when i purchase an auto, etc -- i try it first and then try another and and another till i find the the one i want via comparing the manufacturers and models to form a basis for a selection. This is is done at no cost to me - as it should be. Again i have found via some research on my own that the average life of an aid is 3 to 5 years! i do not purchase a 4000 to 8000 dollar item only to purchase a replacement in that short length of time! My cars can last 250000 miles at 12000 miles per year it means that the car will last 20 years. Even in industry the production machinery must be built to last 20 years. Now we know why the warranty lasts only 2 to 3 years! This is a very poor deal for us. let's cut the BS and hoaxus pokus. Why not let everyone know that there are only 3 firms that design and manufacture of hearing aid chips that are used in the countless number of aids manufactured - why the outrageous price? what i refuse to accept is that i can not do as i do when i purchase an auto, etc — i try it first and then try another and and another till i find the the one i want via comparing the manufacturers and models to form a basis for a selection. This is is done at no cost to me – as it should be. Again i have found via some research on my own that the average life of an aid is 3 to 5 years! i do not purchase a 4000 to 8000 dollar item only to purchase a replacement in that short length of time! My cars can last 250000 miles at 12000 miles per year it means that the car will last 20 years. Even in industry the production machinery must be built to last 20 years. Now we know why the warranty lasts only 2 to 3 years! This is a very poor deal for us. let's cut the BS and hoaxus pokus. Why not let everyone know that there are only 3 firms that design and manufacture of hearing aid chips that are used in the countless number of aids manufactured – why the outrageous price?

]]> Comment on My New Widex Passion Hearing Aids by yasmine http://hearinginformed.org/?p=122&cpage=1#comment-488 yasmine Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:31:27 +0000 http://hearingblog.wordpress.com/?p=122#comment-488 Hello again, David. I know this is an old post, but this is the first time I've heard of transpositioning, and I'm intrigued. As you were researching hearing aids (and it seems like you picked this specific one over others simply because the transpositioning was an extra point for you), did you come across other hearing aids with this same feature? Would be interested in knowing more. Thanks so much! Hello again, David. I know this is an old post, but this is the first time I've heard of transpositioning, and I'm intrigued. As you were researching hearing aids (and it seems like you picked this specific one over others simply because the transpositioning was an extra point for you), did you come across other hearing aids with this same feature? Would be interested in knowing more. Thanks so much!

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