After reading a response from another newbie Naida user on the Alldeaf.com messageboard, I now feel a bit better about the quietness of the Naida I have on. I was starting to think maybe it was another dysfunct hearing aid, since the first one was also really quiet.
Will definitely work with my audie on Monday. If it still doesn't seem like the volume has increased much when he makes the adjustments, I'll ask him about seeing if a Phonak rep could help out. He's a bit clueless as to what to do, which is understandable. He doesn't really work with such powerful hearing aids very frequently, as most of his clients are older, elderly, and they usually order the basic easy aids that doesn't require so much fiddling around with. Heck, he's even clueless over the FM. He ordered the FM receiver, but he didn't give it to me today, thinking the receiver I had for the Supero would work. And my T-Mic transmitter is 7 years old, it's not even listed under the FM Transmitters listings in the programming, nor is my old remote control.
I'm just not used to the quiet at all. I've gotten so used to the higher volume with the Supero; in fact, I could always tell when my mom had been watching TV in the other living room upstairs everytime I turned it on (felt like a BLAST to my ear) and I would always have to turn the volume down low, but I could still hear it... the low volume was fine for me, but too quiet for my mom which I thought was funny. Makes me wonder if the volume on the Supero was a tad bit too loud, even though it didn't bother me. Keep in mind, I have no idea what "normal" is like. What a normal volume is, what certain sounds normally sound like. I've been wearing hearing aids since I was almost 3, and with the adjustments that can be made to the digitals, oh that makes the whole world sound different.
I'm rather liking the lower pitch sound though. I've always been so sensitive to high pitched sounds, that whenever I heard whistling and such, it would literally hurt my ear. But now, when someone uses the scanner at work, it doesn't bother me, I'm not hearing the high pitch electrical sounds that I would normally hear from the computers with the Supero, etc. I have yet to try our home phone. The Supero picked up a high pitched sound from the phone here at home, which made it real difficult for me to use the phone. Will have to see if that sound is still there with the Naida (never heard the sound on the old cordless phones, which is odd).
I do want the Naida to WORK right, of course. But alas, that will take some time until the aid has been adjusted right. I should know this by now... took several trips to the audie with the Claro and Supero before I felt they were right for a long enough period. Right now, I can hear, but I'm still not quite hearing and understanding speech just yet. I still highly rely on visual support to understand what is being said. But hopefully once the Naida has been fixed up right, perhaps I won't need to rely so much on visual support. Only time will tell.
I will have to say though, the new mypilot remote is quite nice. I know I can change the settings with the push of a button on the hearing aid, but I forget which number is what setting, so it's nice to see the settings on the remote and know what I am switching to for sure, even though it doesn't seem like there's any difference with the settings (automatic, speech in noise, calm setting, calm in noise). Mom and I went to Walmart, and I tried out all the different settings, didn't notice a difference. And I kept maxing out the volume with the remote too, since I just am not used to the quiet.
Today has been a very interesting day, realizing how different things sound (holy crap, even the toilet sounds different!). And I was having fun listening to the rain drops on my car when I was driving after I got the Naida. I've heard them before with the Supero, but never really paid much attention. But today, I was trying to take notice of what it was I was hearing. It was quite fun.
Telecoil still works great. I'm still using the Hatis Epic ear hook device to listen to whatever's playing on my portable DVD player. When I tried it out with the iPod, I even thought the music sounded different. I tried to find a song that I am very familiar with, so I could get a listen. But mom was trying to rush me, so we could get to Walmart. Will have my iPod with me at work tomorrow, so I can do some more "experimenting".
I still haven't paid for the Naida and everything else yet. Audie said to wait on the paying, he wants to make sure everything is working properly first. He's even throwing in a new earmold into the price I was given (the $2,145). Monday, for sure, I'll have a new mold made. The current one I have, I got it last summer. Another audie had it made, and she ordered the skeletal mold. As usual, the top of the mold irritated my ear and caused pains and sores in the top part of my ear, so I clipped the top skeletal part off the mold. Right now, the mold is smaller than a half-shell. A new mold would be a good idea. With the old one, I always have to mess with it until it feels like it's in right, and it's easy enough for the mold to get dislodged or twisted around in my ear.
I should be taking notes of what I think needs to be adjusted, just so I don't forget anything on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment