What's all the BUZZ about Open Fit Hearing Aids?

[Admin]

The new trend has been the new open fitting hearing aids. What are they, what are the benefits and who are they best designed for?

I would like to discuss the answers to these and other questions in this article.

First, it is important to determine what open fit hearing aids really are. They are hearing aids that sit on top of the ear, similar to a BTE hearing aids, yet smaller in design. Yet, the biggest difference is that the part that goes into the ear does not occlude or "plug up" the ear. Thus, low frequency sounds can pass through naturally through the small tip that goes into the ear. It also allows sound pressure to relieve out of the ear, sounds such as your own voice, chewing sounds, coughing sounds, etc.

What happens with the usual hearing aids that plug up the whole ear is that the low frequency sounds are not allowed to escape out of the ear, thus your own voice and chewing sounds become exaggerated. In fact, simple sounds such as your own voice or chewing can become as loud at 85-90 db sound pressure level when completely plugging the ear with a hearing aid. Thus these sound can be come unbearable, particularly for patients with very good hearing in the low pitches.

This is why the open fit design has come about and become very popular, particularly for people who have good hearing in the low tones and poor hearing in the high pitches, which is the most common sensorineural (nerve deafness) hearing loss confiruration, particularly for persons who have worked around lots of noise in the past.

Most of the top manufacturers offer open fit hearing aids, many with some of their top of the line DSP circuitry in them. The most common are:

Receiver (speaker) in the Ear:

• Oticon Delta 6000 and 8000
• Vivatone
• Phonak Micro Power (not exactly open fit, but can be made to be one)
• Sebo Tek (can also be fit on flat hearing losses and not always open fit)

Receiver on top of the Ear (routes sound through a thin tube into the ear):

• Phonak Micro Savia, Micro Eleva, Mini-Valeo
• HearPod III
• Sonic Innovation Ion
• Siemens Centra
• Oticon Safran
• Micro-Tech Seneca Plus
• Magnatone money Shadow

Although this may not cover all of the available models, this does encompass the majority of the open fit hearing aids available commercially this year.

The new draw to these hearing aids have been that the instruments have become tremendously smaller, thus even though you may think a BTE hearing aid would be visible, these new open fits can often be more concealed and invisible as compared to in the ear models.

In addition, for most users, these open fit devices are much more comfortable to wear. Many of my patients tell me that they often forget they even have them on. Others say they are so light and doesn't feel like you have your fingers stuck in your ear all day.

Clinicians like myself have also enjoyed using these new instruments, as patient satisfaction is higher, these products do not require taking molds of the ears and waiting 2 weeks to get the hearing aids and patients can get help right away.

Costs:

The costs of open fit hearing aids range from $695 (HearPod III) to upwards of $3,000 or more for the top of the line instruments.

My favorites, based on performance are:

• Sonic Innovaitons ION (www.sonici.com)
• Phoank Micro Eleva (www.phonak.com)

My favorite based on design and cosmetic appeal:

• Oticon Delta 8000 (not the 6000) (www.oticon.com)

My favorite based on cost and value:

• HearPod III (www.myhearpod.com)

Should you have any quesitons or if you would like to add anything on this subject, please feel free to post or PM me.

[Daniel Fish]

Hello, I just goit a pair if Opticon Delta open air hearing aids. I really like them. I can get wonderful batteries from 808local battery and save 2/3 off the local price, but I haven't found a source for the ear buds that attach to the end of the tube that goes into the ear. Can anyone help me please? I'd really appreciate it. I have two friends who have Opticon aids as well, we all got them within a month or so, having reached the "golden years" ~ which in reality seem more like the "rusty years"!!
Thanks in advance,
Daniel Fish

[kat]

Yes, Oticon Delta's are very good and a "cool" choice. I love the fact that you can change the color of the outer casings in office, which is pretty neat and they are so comforbable for users.

As far as the tips go, they are hard to come by. You almost have to go back to where you purchased them to get more, as you really don't find too many people just selling the tips.

You may want to try EBAY, but I have my doubts.

Glad to hear you also have found a place for batteries too. The pricing can be hugely different place to place, so it always pays to shop around for a great deal.

[withears]

I have high frequency loss and was fitted with my first hearing aids 31st July this year. Oticon Tego Pros BTE's with Corda sound tubes and GN Resound tulip domes. I have just changed over to skeleton molds (#2?). Result: I LOVE them. The molds are much more comfortable; no itchiness. The sound is about the same; they are more rugged; (I kinked the tiny sound tubes more than once on the Corda system); The molds offer a visual cue that I have a hearing problem to others, so that they speak more clearly. So I guess I am going against the flow to open fittings.

[brucel]

That is interesting.

My ear tip keeps falling off too and I have had to replace them once already.

I might ask my audi about making those custom molds. Do you get any of the plugged sensation with the custom mold you got?

I know my Audi mentioned custom initially, but since they worked fine out of the box until now, we never pursued it.

[withears]

As I only have mild to moderately severe high frequency loss, they were able to make the molds such that they do not fit tightly; it seems the main problem with mold discomfort is due to the tightness needed to prevent feedback. As far as occlusion is concerned, in the case of my hearing perception, I was very surprised to find that although there is a SLIGHT increase in occlusion meaning the low frequency sound coming from my voice box, I am not troubled by it. Although one must be prepared for a definite change in the sound of ones own voice that is for sure. The most difficult annoyance is when I am chewing food the noise is very apparent, to the point of cutting down on my speech recognition of others talking. The occlusion effect seems to diminish when I turn the gain up. I experimented with the supplied orifices to reduce the size of the vent and it made everything worse, as would be expected. I will get my audiologist to increase the gain in the 6000Hz range the same as she did when I was wearing open fitting; this will improve speech recognition. About the "vent" mentioned earlier; in case you are not aware, a vent (hole through the mold beside the sound tube) is added to allow low frequency sound pressure waves to escape. It also makes the sound more natural, the mold fitting therefore simulates the performance of the open ear fitting.

[withears]

This is a followup to my previous message:
My hearing skill at understanding speech is getting better. The occlusion effect is much less noticeable. My major concern at the moment is with using the cell phone in noisy places. I simply can not hear anyone on it. I have even tried the loud speaker mode on the cell phone; it is really hard. It is as if the gain is not high enough. When I try using T coil I get a lot of buzzing noise after the other person picks up the phone to answer me. When I had the open fitting the cell phone was okay; still not okay with T coil though.

[Gittje]

Originally Posted by Admin

This is why the open fit design has come about and become very popular, particularly for people who have good hearing in the low tones and poor hearing in the high pitches, which is the most common sensorineural (nerve deafness) hearing loss confiruration, particularly for persons who have worked around lots of noise in the past.

What is meant by "good in the lows" and "poor" in the highs" ?

I've got a loss of around 20 dB in het lower and around 40 dB in the middle range (mainly the 3000 and 4000 Hz frequency). According to my audiogram and his 20 year experience the audiologist suggested me hearing aids with closed fittings. I nearly went crazy with them in noisy environment. Now I am trying out hearing aids with open fitting. See also http://www.hearingaidforums.com/showthread.php?t=135

My audiologist still thinks that I do not have the "exact" profile for hearing aids with open fittings, but yes of course the choice is up to me. So I am rather confused, and don't know what to do ...

[Admin]

If you hear about 20 db's in the low tones and have greater hearing loss in the mid to high tones, you are a great candidate for open fit hearing aids.

They are super comfortable and easy to get used to.

[Gittje]

Thanks, good to have 2nd opinion from a professional

My greatest, although at - 40 dB still moderate, loss is mainly concentrated in the middle range. In the low & highs I have only a mild loss. The only thing I can not foresee is how my hearing will evolve in the coming years in the lows. My audio says that with open fittings I don't have any reserve left if the "mild" loss in the lows gets worse. Nevertheless the physician told me, that despite my age (I am 48 and female), it can be expected that my hearing loss will remain relatively stable in the coming years.

I still do have a question concerning HA with open fittings : what's the greatist difference in benefits between the open fitting with thin-tube HA or with in-the-ear-reciever ?