Fine-Tuning Situations in Hearing Aid Programming

There are certain concepts to consider during hearing aid programming to meet the user’s specific needs and requests. In order to keep the text concise, I will focus on specific points beyond commonly known issues like echo in my own voice or difficulty understanding speech.

After entering the user’s audiogram and establishing a connection through HI-PRO or Noahlink, an adjustment screen will appear based on the selected device’s channel configuration and other features (although this explanation is based on Signia brand, the basic principles apply to other brands as well).

1. Sound Quality:

The sound quality provided by the hearing aid is a crucial factor in user satisfaction. Users may have certain complaints related to sound quality:

• Sounds are not clear: Clear speech perception is associated with high-frequency phonemes. In such cases, the specific adjustment can be increasing the gain in the high-frequency range.
• Sounds are sharp or metallic: Excessive amplification in the high-frequency range might cause sharp or metallic sound perception, particularly for first-time hearing aid users or individuals who have experienced prolonged auditory deprivation. In such situations, the sharpness of the sound can be reduced, or gain can be increased in the soft sounds section of the hearing aid.
• Sounds are perceived as muffled: Initially, the overall gain can be increased in the basic settings. Subsequently, the sound can be sharpened, and high-frequency gain can be enhanced to provide a clearer auditory experience.

2-Environmental Sounds:

• Excessive wind noise: Users complaining about wind noise typically have minimal low-frequency losses. In this case, specific adjustments can involve reducing the low-frequency sounds to alleviate the impact of wind noise.
• Annoying plate noises: (In some specific cases, certain devices have a feature called sound smoothing. In hearing aids that do not have this feature, make sure to enter the Uncomfortable Loudness Level (UCL) values from the audiogram.)
• Motor, air conditioner, and similar noises are too loud: (The motor sound covers the low-frequency range. In cases where it is too loud, the low-frequency gain can be reduced using the fine-tuning section. In situations where soft sounds like air conditioning or refrigerator noises are too prominent, the soft sound gain of the hearing aid can be decreased).

As mentioned earlier, I talked about topics that require fine-tuning rather than commonly encountered issues. I will continue updating the list. Thank you.