Re: New Member ITE questions

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure if Tracey or Alison or asked the question about ITE's but

after seeing this is for a 10 year old, I'll throw out a new alternative to the

BTE AND the ITE! There is a new type of hearing aid called " open fitting. "

Maggie is trialing them and I'm 99% sure this is what we will buy. She has

always worn BTE's but at nearly 15, she refuses to use the FM and is interested

in invisible hearing aids. We were going to try the ITEs but she has a

moderate-severe loss and would need a full shell aid which is just about as

noticeable, if not more, than a BTE. I asked about the open fitting after we

saw a man wearing a bright blue tiny triangular hearing aid with no apparent

earmold at the grocery store. He was completely bald or we would have never seen

them at all. So they are pretty high on the invisibility scale. There are

basically two kinds, one is a true open fitting with a tiny tube that goes to a

little silicone mushroom that fits in the canal, no earmold. Check out the

Oticon Delta's on the web (or any other hearing aid manufacturer like Widex,

etc, you will see what I mean. Pretty much all the companies have open fitting

aids, sometimes it is a regular size BTE with the canal tube, other times the

aids are mini also. These are good for mild to moderate losses, and more in

the high frequencies. They don't occlude the ear so for a new hearing aid

wearer, they would be great. (Maggie was used to having her ears occluded so it

took some time for her to get used to her own voice.)

Then there are the " receiver in the canal " " over the ear " mini aids. They look

a lot like the open fitting aids, but these can fit greater losses because they

have the receiver or speaker actually in the ear canal (again with a tiny

silicone cover so there is no occlusion) and the rest of the hearing aid is at

the top of the ear (think BTE shrunk down to about 1/3 or maybe 1/5 of a power

aid BTE) so it is behind the biggest part of the ear lobe and can't be seen

easily. This one has a wire that goes from the aid to the receiver, the wire is

covered by a tiny plastic tube. Separating the speaker from the microphone cuts

down on the feedback so they can fit a greater loss. These can fit a mild to

moderate to severe loss. There are only a few on the market, Phonak MicroPower

is one, and SeboTek is another. The Phonak has an optional ITE looking piece

that you can have custom made or you can use a little silicone cover, you don't

need the custom made piece unless you want it or need it for feedback control.

Phonak's website tells all about it, there's a link on the home page, it is FM

compatible via a tiny necklace looking neckloop that is wireless, the child can

wear it under their shirt. The SeboTek website doesn't let you in unless you

are a " professional " but I found this website that put most of Sebotek's on

their website so you can read about it. My audi says more than 40% of the

hearing aids she sells are open fitting over the past year, and she thinks it

will soon go over 50%. Baby boomers like them much better than custom (ITE)

hearing aids because they are less visible and don't occlue the ear. Here's the

website for the Sebotek:

http://www.abbotthearing.net/SeboTek.html There's a picture on the homepage

which is enlarged so you can see the details - it's much smaller in real life!

Because the receiver is in the ear, the part that goes in the ear is a bit

bigger than the open fitting so a small child's ears might be too small. But

Maggie is 14 and has relatively small ears and she didn't use the smallest size

in either brand. Bobby whose mom is Trish has an open fitting aid and he is 6

years old. There's a third brand " Vivatone " but our audi didn't think that was

as good as the Phonak or Sebotek so we haven't tried it. So I hope this info is

helpful.

[Guest guest]

Sounds like they are letting their preferences decide. Can they give you a

good reason why an ITE should only be used by an experienced user? Why then

do they dispense ITEs to adult first time users? I'd push for the ITEs for

your son

>

> My son turned 10 yesterday. My audiogist said she does fit ITE at

> this age, but only with experienced HA users. My son is not likely

> to become an experienced user because he won't wear his BTE aids due

> to fear and social/emotional issues. I think he could be a

> successful HA user with ITE aids. His loss is suited to the ITE.

[Guest guest]

Which one is Maggie trialing?

[Guest guest]

Right now, the Sebotek. She trialed that before with a different audiologist

and the programming wasn't very good, plus she only programmed one program.

This time all 4 are programmed differently and with the extended range up to

10,000 hz and beyond. Maggie really likes that. I like the idea behind the

SeboTek - it is all modular and was actually designed to be used on mission

trips - so it is pretty rugged. Maggie loved the SeboTek before (based on

invisibility) but we could tell she wasn't amplified as well as she had been

with her Widex BTE's. This time I think it will be as good or better, though

her one ear is still sore from swimmers ear so she hasn't worn the Seboteks yet.

She lost one of the MicroPowers so that trial is OVER!

Re: New Member ITE questions

>

>Which one is Maggie trialing?

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>

[Guest guest]

>

> Right now, the Sebotek.

Cool. I read all about that one, as well as the Phonak, but the

Sebotek really sounds awesome. I am going to ask my audiologist about

it.