Profound loss,need HA advice

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stealth

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Hello all, I'm european so kindly please excuse my grammar,I'm in searching for advices in order to select a proper HA for my profound hearing loss wich looks like this; startig from 70 db at 125 Hz then falling linear to 110 db at 4khz..
I'm 35 now, my deafness started about 10-12 years ago gradualy ,during 2004-2005 I had already a mild-severe loss wich I had aided at the time by two Widex CIC for two years with very good inteligibility,then they became useless.. From 2006 to present I didn't wear any HA,meanwhile I became "profound"(70-110db). Just today I did a new audiogram and then the audiometrist did a little simulation with some Naida-Phonak but with no usefull efect though I was able to "hear" loudly environmental sounds like taping a pen on the table or my own voice,her voice and speach was weak and totally un-inteligible.
Well, is there any hope for me regarding some HA with a proper setup? I perfectly know that no HA will enable me to hear speech acceptable,tough... I'm expecting for some decent improvement at least to justify the price-about 3500 euro.Cheers .
 
Interesting questions. Where in Europe are you? Are you limited to what audiologists you can visit? If not, how do you feel about the audi you've just seen? Did she not make any other recommendations other than the Phonak Naidas? (There are some people here on this board who have the Naidas and they seem to LOVE them.) Anyways the reason I was asking is that HAs are not cheap (as you know!) so please either get an audi you are really comfortable with or have your current one make other recommendations. You can usually try out different HAs and return them within a certain period if you find they're not working out. If you want to disclose where you're located, there may be others on this board who live close by who could recommend something. A lot here are from the UK.
 
As I understand matters there is not too many Hearing Aids around they can benefit a person in the Profound Hearing Loss classification, I was was there for almost 25 years and had to use a Phonak LL6. I became bilaterally deaf on December 20, 2006. Started the process for getting a Cochlear Implant. I was successful.

Is this much of an option for you?

Implanted Advanced bionics- Harmony activated Aug/07
 
Thanks for your imputs! I live in Romania. I went in my small city at a subsidiary of the wellknown and the upmost rated audiocenter in my country (according to the most ). They are Phonak seller.Next week I'll go at the capital,Bucharest for my peace of mind tough.
Honestly,I don't believe it could be some diferences between various HA brands in their top-end range. That's what I was told along the time by many people.One of my uncles has a similar loss like me,maybe a bit-bit worse (85-120db);he wears an HA with decent results,of course,no speech but he easely recognize people by their voice, from behind and with lipsreading he is able to have a good conversation wich seems not to be my case after trying the Naida yesterday.Maybe the short simulation I had hasn't enogh setup..
Well , I'd like to contact people from UK as I had some conexions there, from 2004 to 2007 I lived there,actualy my sister lives now in Poole-Dorset and we consider trying something there.
Perhaps, in Poole is a Widex center.
@ drphil, I'm afffraid I'll never be able to consider some Cohlear Implant due to extremely high price for me,at least definitely not for the moment.
Many thanks again and any other discussions are very wellcome!
 
Stealth: I can well understand your problem-Cochlear Implants are really expensive. Especially if not part of the "country's health plan". My implant costs CDN $55,000.00 --3 years ago-which was entirely "picked up by OHIP-Ont Health Ins Plan" I met the criteria for getting one here at Sunnybrook-Toronto. It does about 70 a year. The major cost is the 4 to 5 hour operation and hospital/audi services.

Back to dealing with Profound hearing loss-not many hearing aids available, unfortunately.
Though I used Phonak for about 20 years-it was the only I could use. No opinion on Widex.

Good luck in your immediate goal-better hearing.

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
I love Phonak Naida UP. Were you trying the UP or the SP? That could make a difference.
 
Could you please explain the shape of your audiogram and your background? Thank you.
 
stealth said:
Thanks for your imputs! I live in Romania. I went in my small city at a subsidiary of the wellknown and the upmost rated audiocenter in my country (according to the most ). They are Phonak seller.Next week I'll go at the capital,Bucharest for my peace of mind tough.
Honestly,I don't believe it could be some diferences between various HA brands in their top-end range. That's what I was told along the time by many people.One of my uncles has a similar loss like me,maybe a bit-bit worse (85-120db);he wears an HA with decent results,of course,no speech but he easely recognize people by their voice, from behind and with lipsreading he is able to have a good conversation wich seems not to be my case after trying the Naida yesterday.Maybe the short simulation I had hasn't enogh setup..
Well , I'd like to contact people from UK as I had some conexions there, from 2004 to 2007 I lived there,actualy my sister lives now in Poole-Dorset and we consider trying something there.
Perhaps, in Poole is a Widex center.
@ drphil, I'm afffraid I'll never be able to consider some Cohlear Implant due to extremely high price for me,at least definitely not for the moment.
Many thanks again and any other discussions are very wellcome!
Click to expand...


From what I have been told, and experienced you can't compare your hearing loss with other's and expect the same results regaurding Ha's, because everyone hears differently.(not to mention the different types of hearing loss) I have met people with a higher degree of hearing loss then I have and Ha's seem to work great for them, for me that is not the case. I simply wear them cause the silence makes me uneasy.

I would suggest talking with your audi and trying different Ha's to see which works best for you. I got the best results from oticon in a price I could offord, although they were not the results I was hoping for.

But best of luck finding what works best for you :D
 
blank canvas is absolutely correct. It really does depend entirely on YOU and your past experience in dealing with YOUR Hearing loss to date. Your speechreading ability or not?

This information came from the Cdn Hearing Society here in Toronto in their classes on dealing/coping with hearing loss.?

Consider one with a hearing loss for say 6 months VS 35 years. Experience is a sort of an intangible factor.

Again good luck stealth in your hearing journey

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
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