KL is a retired auto worker who has hearing aid benefits through his retirement. He has been coming to the Zephyrhills office of Gardner Audiology since 2011. He came in a couple of months ago in response to the new research Field Study of the Starkey Muse hearing aids. He has a very severe hearing loss with poor understanding of speech. In a noisy situation, he can barely function.
KL was fitted with Muse i2400 receiver in the canal hearing aids with power receiver molds. Having worn larger behind the ear hearing aids with ear molds in the past, he immediately commented on how much lighter and more comfortable the new aids were. During follow up visits he related how much improved his ability to understand conversation was, especially with his wife. He was even doing better in noisy settings. After 30 days he returned the hearing aids, because he would not be eligible for new aids through his union for another year and a half.
Several weeks later, I received a call from his wife, stating they wanted to purchase the new aids now, rather than wait until next year. When they came in to be refitted, KL told me how his migraine headaches were back in full force after returning to his old aids (which were only 2 years old). He told me the noise management in the new aids was so superior to his old aids that he could not live more than a year without them. He also found the remote microphone helped him hear his wife better in the car, at home, at the store, and in a restaurant…even from one room to another at home. Because his understanding is so poor, improving the signal to noise ratio by using the microphone helped him follow conversation without having to rely as heavily on visual cues. Both he and his wife left the office happy and looking forward to experimenting more with the microphone.
