After trying out Naida III last 10 days, we have been observing her very closely.I realized that she was responding better behind closed doors, from the child seat in the car (not looking at my face),responding from downstairs while I was upstairs and from the other room.I was straining lesser and she is talking softer.But we wanted to be doubly sure before we narrowed down to our choice.Yesterday to be really sure about my choice, I decided to do a bit of my testing with both Naida III and naida IX.I covered my face and asked Prisha to just echo what I read to her.I am sure of her response as she has been well trained to replicate what she hears.I sat next to her and covered my face and read sentences and asked to her to repeat what she heard.And then I asked my son to say things from the room about 15 feet away from her.She could not see him.I was amazed that she made fewer mistakes with Naida III ! I ignored the mistakes like high frequency alphabets like C S F but she responded to numbers, alphabets and little sentences too.She also told me while travelling in the tram that she heard the sounds of tram much louder.The airport is close to our house and the other day she said she heard the sounds of the plane taking off above us very loudly.I asked if it was unbearable, to which she said no.
Armed with these observations, we headed towards Mrs.W and gave her the update.She has cross checked with Phonak and they too seem to have no clue as to why III should be giving better sounds than IX. She changed a few frequencies and did the audiogram but there was no change.She made Naida IX settings and functions almost as close as III and realized, that nothing made much of a difference.She said she saw no value in our going and investing in a higher end aid when it was not helping her much and so this is it.We have now decided to stay on Naida III and we seem to be happy.We do have the benefit of 3 months when we can still decide to change the aids.I don't think that would be necessary but it still gives comfort.So hopefully we do not have to worry and this matter is now rested.
Armed with these observations, we headed towards Mrs.W and gave her the update.She has cross checked with Phonak and they too seem to have no clue as to why III should be giving better sounds than IX. She changed a few frequencies and did the audiogram but there was no change.She made Naida IX settings and functions almost as close as III and realized, that nothing made much of a difference.She said she saw no value in our going and investing in a higher end aid when it was not helping her much and so this is it.We have now decided to stay on Naida III and we seem to be happy.We do have the benefit of 3 months when we can still decide to change the aids.I don't think that would be necessary but it still gives comfort.So hopefully we do not have to worry and this matter is now rested.
The proof is in the pudding, as they say! Prisha can hear better with the Naida III, so that is the aid for her. It is nice that they give you three months, just in case something were to change your minds. It is good to have a final decision (and better hearing)!
ReplyDeleteWhy are you ignoring the high frequencies? 90% of speech information is in the high frequencies. If you choose to make sure she does not have access to those sounds, you are choosing to make her struggle.
ReplyDeleteNaida range has a technology called "sound recovery" which compresses and shifts high frequency sounds in audible hearing range.So she is getting all the speech sounds across the speech banana.We are definitely not ignoring her high frequency sounds as you have also mentioned.Thank you for your concern.Check out this link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.phonak.com/content/dam/phonak/b2b/C_M_tools/Hearing_Instruments/Naida/Naida_PowerHearing/22337_027_0580_02_Naida_III_V_IX_Product_Information_V4.00.pdf