EB came into the Crystal River office as part of an Open House. She had been wearing Starkey Destiny 400 (4 channel) Behind-the-Ear (BTE) hearing aids with slim tubes for the past two years. She wanted to know if newer technology could help her.
EB presents with a moderate sloping to profound hearing loss in both ears. She has very poor discrimination and relies heavily on lip reading. She was counseled extensively and we proceeded with a fitting of Starkey X70 Receiver-in-the-Canal (RIC) hearing aids which had twice as many amplifying channel than her old aids.
At one week follow-up she requested a few modifications to my prescription. At her second follow-up she reports doing better but still unsure if she is seeing enough benefit to justify the expense of newer hearing aids. I proceeded to give EB a word list with visual cues both with the newer hearing aids and her older hearing aids. She scored 64% with the Starkey X70 RIC’s and only 32% with her older hearing aids. Both the patient and her daughter were impressed. Activate the volume control on the hearing aid and scheduled the patient for one week.
At EB’s final follow-up, she still feels she is not seeing enough benefit to justify the expense at this time. She thanked me profusely for helping her and feels that she would possibly try again in the future. She was scheduled for her six month clean and check of her old hearing aids. We will try again in the future if the patient wishes.
