Buy Local: Can You Hear Me Now (Part 2) The hearing aid review
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In my last article, I posted my experience with the Intermountain Healthcare Hearing and Balance Center. Today, I’d like to share with you my experience with the hearing aid that I eventually bought from the Hearing and Balance Center.
My first hearing aid was built into my glasses with tubes coming out of the arms of the glasses. I thought it was pretty trick then. As I grew into young adult, I got over the ear models of hearing aids. Throughout the years, they got smaller, with more features. I bought the hearing aid about six months ago, so today I can give you a long-term review of the product here, too.
For this round of hearing aid shopping, I was introduced to my first Bluetooth capable hearing aid. I had seen advertising for them before, but didn't really understand what they could do for me. A bluetooth enabled hearing aid seemed only a novelty at the time, but now I find it an invaluable feature.
I started by testing one of the new Phonak Nios Micro hearing aids. This unit had the capability of receiving a stereo signal for two hearing aids from one source. But since I only hear through one ear, I wear one hearing aid. I was allowed to test the hearing aid for several weeks and when I learned of the price for it, I decided that I didn't need the top of the line version of the hearing aid.
The hearing aid I eventually got was the Phonak Nios Micro V (local pricing via Google Shopping, $2199). This unit has three available channels with digital signal processing, an induction coil that can be used for one of the channels and a one year warranty. It is an over the ear model, which means it has more room to pack the power for processing and for a battery. And believe me, it needs power. I'll explain more on that later.
The digital signal processing has come a long way these days. I have hearing loss in the higher frequencies so I tend to lose the sound of the consonants in speech. This is especially true in noisy environments with white noise, like air conditioning and fans. The Phonak hearing aid has noise and feedback cancellation processing that allows the higher frequency sounds to be amplified without the feedback in the hearing aid. In fact, I can rest my head against a pillow with the hearing aid on and hear no feedback. This is a giant advance from previous hearing aids I've owned.
With three available channels, I have one for normal use in most environments, one for conversation in a noisy environment and one for TV. I've seen the second channel work very well in restaurants and my confidence in noisy environments has definitely improved. The channel I use for TV is great because I can get the conversation without blowing my wife away with the volume of the TV.
I have one big request for TV and movie producers: please compress the volume range of the audio track. When I'm watching a movie and I see that the people on the screen are whispering, their voices are whisper low and I miss what is said. Conversely, when I see a big explosion, the sound is very loud. I’ve also noticed that the music soundtrack can be overwhelming as well. OK, when people whisper on screen, I expect the sound to be lower, but not so much that I can't hear them. Likewise, I don't need to be ejected from my seat with the sound of the explosions at the expense of conversation. When something explodes, I get it that it's loud. Really.
As noted earlier, this hearing aid is Bluetooth enabled. This provides a small number of advantages for consideration. Now I can connect to my phone through a wireless connection, using my hearing aid as a Bluetooth headset. That means I don't have to purchase a separate set just for the phone. Gone are the days of having to switch gear just to take a call; that involves locating the Bluetooth headset, finding a safe location for my hearing aid while I take the call and putting everything back when I'm done. Now I can answer a call in one easy step - just a press of a button.
The Bluetooth headset connection is handled by a sort of medallion that I wear around my neck. This is called an iCom. The antenna is the wire that secures the iCom and the calls are accepted by pressing a button on the iCom. It's sort of like Star Trek. When I get a call, I press a button and answer the call. No hardware change required. Up until this hearing aid, I have never seen a hearing aid confer an advantage when it comes to cell phones. This is it. Though I must admit, I can look like I'm talking to myself using this phone because the headset is not easy to see - it looks like a hearing aid. I guess I fit right in, here in Utah.
The Bluetooth connection also allows me to connect to my music on my hearing aid. I have a smartphone which seems to double for just about everything else. I like to keep a few tracks on the phone just in case the refrain for “Time After Time” or some other 80’s tune repeats for a few hours in my head. With a Bluetooth connection, I can play tunes from my phone right to my hearing aid. During the fitting of my hearing aid, I was asked to play some music and make adjustments to the equalization to compensate for my hearing loss. In this case, I was able to add more bass to the playback on my hearing aid.
What makes this so compelling is that if I’m working alone and someone comes into my office, I can pause the music by pressing the button - I don’t have to handle the phone to stop the music. When the conversation is over, I can resume by pressing the button again. When I stop or resume the playback, the music fades out on stop and fades in on resume. Very cool. Even if the music is playing, the hearing aid will sense other sounds and let them in, so it is not quite like wearing headsets. Clearly the engineers were thinking of the real world when they designed this hearing aid.
The hearing aid will also provide sound notifications from the phone for events like the receipt of email and text. Since I don’t always hear the phone, hearing the little chirps and beeps through the hearing aid ensures that I won’t miss an important email or notification. Even up to 30 feet away.
There have been some problems with maintaining the link with the phone using the hearing aid. I’m not sure if this is the operating system for the phone or the hearing aid. I’ve tried rebooting the hearing aid and the iCom and I’ve found limited success in re-establishing a connection. I have seen that most problems can be attributed to a low battery either on the iCom or the hearing aid. Often, recharging the iCom or replacing the battery in the hearing aid will resolve connection issues.
Accessories include options for FM radio, iTunes and even a TV audio connection. I’ve tried the TV audio connection, but the lag between audio and video needs some work before it will be acceptable.
A word about the batteries. First, since this a Bluetooth enabled battery, a lot more power is required than for a hearing aid that just provides sound amplification and processing. With my previous hearing aid, I was using the Eveready line of size 13 batteries. Now I’m using the PowerOne brand of batteries and I can tell you, these batteries pack a serious punch. I’ve tried using the Eveready batteries and they just aren't enough for this hearing aid.
Please note that batteries do not go in the trash so please collect them for recycling later, as I do. I highly recommend the Big Green Box (see sources below) for bulk recycling if needed.
All in all, I must say that this is the best combination of technology I have ever had the opportunity to possess. If you’re thinking of getting a hearing aid, now is as good a time as any to start shopping.
