Noizfree, hearing aid trial

Late last week, I finally broke down and ordered the NoiZfree iNoiZ music and audio t-coil induction earhook/silhouette directly from tecear.com, since the my Hatis Epic silhouette isn't working as well anymore (wiring once again broke or wore out inside the cord). Why I went with NoiZfree instead of Hatis this time? NoiZfree is cheaper. I received it in the mail today and immediately plugged it into my ipod to give it a try. Yes, I do have to play with it a bit more to find the "right" spot behind the ear for the hearing aid to pick up on sounds going through it via t-coil... but hey, it works! I'm happy with it so far. And the cord is coiled on the NoiZfree, which is great. The cord was far too long on the Hatis (if completely unwound, the cord would reach the floor with the silhouette behind my ear). I'm definitely liking the coiled cord on NoiZfree. Actually, at first, I ordered the Music Link from TecEar, but then I found the NoiZfree music one, so I emailed TecEar's customer support and ask them if my original order could be changed to the NoiZfree (they both are the same price). I don't know if there is much difference between NoiZfree and Music Link, I don't even know if MusicLink has a coiled cord like NoiZfree does. Anyway, TecEar were able to change my order, no problem. And the shipping is quite fast too. I could have ordered this from Harris Communications, but they charge an extra $10, and since I'm trying to save my money as much as I can, it made more sense to order directly from TecEar.

The trial with the Sumo has gone well for the most part. Except, whenever I wanted to listen to music, I've used the Supero instead. I really do not like the loud buzzing interference with the Sumo's t-coil setting when near electronics. But other than that, the Sumo isn't a bad hearing aid. It works well. I've even worn it to Walmart to see how it did in noise, but I don't know if there was much difference between the Sumo and Supero... With Supero I could switch to the NoiseAdapt setting and that brought down the background noise... I don't know. But tomorrow I'll start trialing a Naida IX, so we'll see how that goes.

Oticon Sumo: Day 1

Day 1 of the Oticon Sumo DM hearing aid trial. So far, not too bad. Mom thinks I'm doing better with the Sumo, I'm responding more and not asking her to repeat as often as I did with the Supero. Definitely don't care for the telecoil on the Sumo when I'm close to electronics/computers, the buzzing is louder and more noticeable than the Supero's (and even more obnoxious sounding in the car!). Although, having a T+M setting is nice, but surely the Supero could be programmed to have T+M.... But yeah. I think I have been picking up a bit more without having to lipread with the Sumo than I did with the Supero. But sound-quality wise, I'm not really noticing much of a difference. Well, tonight when I was at Mom's house, she was tapping her fingers on the remote (a habit of hers), and I was REALLY hearing it. I've heard the tapping with the Supero too, but I'm not sure if it was louder with the Sumo or not.

I still think music sounds better with the Supero, with the telecoil setting. Volume is just right on. With the Sumo, I think the hearing aid was trying to suppress the volume from my ipod, so the music just wasn't as loud (as I normally like it). Even played with the volume setting on both the Sumo and the ipod. I still have a whole week to go to trial the Sumo. The Sumo may use older technology, but it is still a powerful hearing aid.

Next Tuesday, I'll trial Phonak's Naida IX UP. Yes, the Naida, the one I despised a couple years ago when I trialed it then (the V UP). Phonak and audiologist both say the glitches/issues that a batch of the early Naidas have since been resolved (Naida shutting off on its own, etc.). And audiologist has a few clients who are really liking the Naida and the benefits they're getting from the hearing aids. I'm hoping the upcoming trial period will be better. Yes, I'm very sure it'll still take several programming adjusting sessions to get the Naida tweaked just right (I don't think we had the V UP tweaked just right the first time, but with all the other problems I was having with it, I just couldn't be bothered with it after the 3 months of trialing).