Quote:
Originally Posted by kdalicante
My daughter has a highly sloping hearing loss (minimal to no loss for low frequencies; moderate to severe for high frequencies). She has been wearing Oticon Safari aids since she was 4 months old (she's now 2), and her audiologist is now recommending Phonak aids, which use frequency compression technology. I've been doing a little research, and what I've found is mixed reviews concerning compression. One concern we have, albeit a small one, is that it will make all voices sound lower to her (and therefore harder to distinguish). We've liked the Oticons, and our school system seems to favor them, but would go with the Phonak if that were better for her. Our audiologist told us she's fine either way; frankly, it's sometimes hard to know where recommendations come from (for example, she told us she was just trained on the Phonak aids, and may have some sort of incentive to push us in that direction). Finally, regarding Oticon - any views on the entry level versus mid level aids? Thanks!
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You seem to be a bit confused as to how frequency compression works in regards to Phonak's proprietary implementation known as Soundrecover. Information regarding the pitch or tambre of a sound primarily comes from the low frequencies.
Soundrecover does not alter this information, but works on higher frequency information e.g. the consonants /s/ and /sh/ which predominantly exist in the region 6kHz and above, where traditional hearing instruments are capable of providing only limited amplification. In doing so, it provides more information for speech and language acquisition and has the added benefit of reducing feedback risk. If verified correctly it makes speech clearer. It sounds as if your audiologist needs to do some more reading in this area to become more confident regarding what has been a breakthrough feature for younger children with all degrees of hearing loss.
04-08-2012, 12:19 AM
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