My world got a little quieter

So time flies, and my current hearing aids are 4 years old when it seems like I got them yesterday. The aid from my better ear quit working well, so I sent it in yesterday. I will enroll for a 2009 flexible spending account to get a new set of ears next year.

It's pretty amazing how far things have come since I got my first set in 1999. I had the Widex Senso+ CIC from 1999-2004. They had no controls, and were meant to be automatic in every way. This was only annoying when I needed more power in very quiet places where people talk very low, and in very loud places where they basically turned themselves into earplugs and I couldn't hear people talking at all.

Then I got the Phonak Claro 21 dAZ ITE that I wear now. My watch controls the program and the volume. These are a huge improvement over the old ones, since I can now compensate for my environment. I miss wearing designer watches, though, because I have always loved cool watches. They also have a telecoil program (which I sometimes use as a mute program) and a program for loud places that only amplify sounds coming from in front of me. I dont find this program useful at all.

Maybe my next set will be the Oticon EPOQ or the Rexton Revo+. Binaural bluetooth for phones and music and maybe movies would be really nice. I will definitely go BTE this time to get better features. In 1999 I actually wanted them to be invisible, now I just dont care about stereotypes. "Yes, I am deaf, now please get over it and quit staring at my ears" :)

Comments

Abbie said…
Woo! New toys are on the list!
May 1, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Gregory Free said…
Perusing different blogs on HA's. I am very experienced with most/all products from different manufactures. Please consider the Excelia or Nadia from Phonak, before you buy. They have made amazing results in our patients, and they are on the forefront of technology. Phonak has more patents than any other manufacture. Good luck.
Greg@centerhearingaids.com
May 2, 2008 at 8:04 PM
IR said…
Ah a recent blog on HA, with Gregory mentioning two of the three I am considering... and yes abbie hearing aids are no longer just aids... I am actually looking forward to getting mine. With ski slope hearing loss the biggest challenge is to find a place that doesn't up the price of the Excelia, Nadia or Epoq way too high. Greg what is the main difference between the
Excelia and Nadia.. For some reason I have been quoted 700.00 less on the Nadia model. Cannot wait for my bluetooth features.. very hot and not your grandmas aid!
Epoq wx is also on my list for quoted more reasonable pricing than Excelia, but still more costly than Nadia!
June 6, 2008 at 6:34 PM
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