Hearing Mojo: Widex Super-Power BTE Hearing Aids Do The Trick For Me

Widex Super-Power BTE Hearing Aids Do The Trick For Me

Widex Hearing Aids After losing one of my old Widex behind-the-ear hearing aids, I finally got a new pair of super-powerful BTEs. After thorough research, I came right back where I'd started from, at Widex. I got the Widex Senso Diva SD-19 model, the most powerful hearing aid the company sells and a step up from my previous Senso Diva SD-9's. (Yep, my hearing has degraded a little more). I had been sorely tempted by Oticon, Siemens, Phonak and several of the other major brands with great high-power BTEs. But at the end of the day I stuck with the brand I knew. There are several reasons why.

First, Widex is acknowledged as one of the world's best hearing-aid brands. It's the Mercedes or BMW, maybe even Rolls Royce, of hearing aids. Second, Widex was first to market nearly a decade ago with true digital hearing aids, and it has maintained its place at the leading edge of new technologies over the years. Third, whereas many manufacturers lavish their attention on the big middle market for people with mild or moderate hearing loss, Widex has a heritage of putting just as much care and investment into developing products to meet the needs of people like me with severe hearing loss.

Widex Logo TheSenso Diva SD-19's are great -- with three directional microphones, very effective telecoils that are more powerful than the ones in my previous aids, and excellent sound shaped by Widex's signal processing algorithms. The Widex hearing aids doesn't offer some of the bells and whistles other manufacturers provide, such as a wireless volume and program-switching controller you can put on your keychain. And yes, like other premium digital hearing aids, they are pricey, coming in at about $4,000 for the set. But for pure performance, functionality, durability and technical elegance, you can't beat them.

My only problems are ones my audiologist, Nitza Avni, warned me about. Because my hearing has declined a little since my last fitting, she programmed the aids to provide more amplification than I've been accustomed to. The extra amplification is a great help hearing speech in noisy situations. But amping them up higher than I should starts to grate on me quickly and wears me out a lot faster. I've read about this problem, and people with powerful hearing aids need to take care lest they over-amplify and damage their hearing more. You really can have too much of a good thing. So I've had to be careful to adjust the volumes depending on what I absolutely need in certain situations more than in the past.

Nitza also warned me I might get some feedback in my bad left ear because she's had to set the volume so high in that hearing aid. Sure enough, I've had some ringing -- for the first time people in the same room can hear the whistling at the same time I hear it. So I'll need to get some new impressions taken for new earmolds that will provide a better seal. I may also have to get a bigger and less attractive earmold that provides a better buffer between the microphone and speaker. I'll write about my earmold adventures in a future post.

Posted by David at 02:31 PM on Feb 21, 2006 in COPING, HEARING AIDS, NEW PRODUCTS

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Comments

My namn is Kristian and I use Widex Senso Diva and I can honestly say these are no good not at least for me. I have real problem hearing clear and do not hear my own voice when I have both in my ear. I will try Phonak exelia and Starkey 1600 power next week. I hope for the best.

Posted by: Kristian Eriksson | May 29, 2008 03:32 PM

Hi-

I am so glad you have chosen to share your thoughts regarding various hearing aids. We have four children who are all HOH/deaf, and at this point we have four hearing aids, and four CIs. We've had all Widex from the very start, and I, as a parent have been pretty happy. It's just lately, as the originals are starting to show there age, that I'm wondering if we really have the right fit for the kids. Your website was very helpful.

Thanks,
Melissa Wilson

Posted by: Melissa Wilson | December 14, 2007 12:03 AM

Thank you for this site, Dave, as well as your story. I was searching for info, as I have been looking into purchasing a new aid for my very profound hearing loss. I was a little surprised at Joshua's comment regarding his Unitron US80PPs working so great for him. I tested one for four days and it did not work very well for me. While the sound amplifier was very loud, I couldn't hear people's voices very well-if at all. It was a very frustrating experience. I purchased it through hearingplanet.com, and the first aid actually did not work, needed to be sent back for replacement! I have been working with an audiologist, and I have a Bosch 42PP SP loaner that is working so much better for me. Any recommendations on hearing aides that work best for people similar to my loss would be appreciated.

Posted by: Susan | September 26, 2007 08:03 PM

I would appreciate any information or web sites where I can seek a new more suitable career/retraining for a severely hearing impaired plumber.

Posted by: michael | March 9, 2007 02:46 PM

Graham,

To answer your question about Widex -- frankly, I went with the expertise of my audiologist who has a ton of experience fitting Widex aids. She has been on my case since I had mild loss and then tracked with me through my severe loss, so she knows myh profile really, really well. I'm told that fitting is as much art as science and depends on that kind of detailed knowledge and empathy -- so I figure I've been lucky and don't want to jinx it by switching to a brand my audiologist doesn't know so well. I'm betting that her adeptness programming the aids to my particular hearing loss will get me the best fit. On top of that I went by specs and reputation for technical excellence, where Widex has a strong foundation. But I know a few others including Phonak and Sonic Innovations have made equal investments in equally impressive products and technologies. I intend to keep writing about these advances by all the manufacturers and really appreciate as much feedback as I can get from readers with their own experiences. Thanks for writing.

Dave

Posted by: Dave Copithorne | April 21, 2006 10:35 AM

Josh,

Thanks for the suggestion. What a great idea. I'm going to try your teflon-tape solution (I've got some somewhere in the workshop).

Dave

Posted by: Dave Copithorne | April 21, 2006 10:29 AM

Hi David,

Nice site. I have been hard of hearing since birth and have worn mainly Phonaks. I was aware of the Widex aids, but have never seen such a good endorsement as yours. I was interested in knowing if you have actually trialled some of the other premium aids, such as Phonak Savia, Sonic Innovations Innova etc and if so, what were the differentiating factors that made you choose the Widex aid.

Posted by: Graham Lucas | April 5, 2006 11:33 AM

Hi Dave, I am a 26 year old computer programmer that also suffers from profound (90%!) bilateral hearing loss. In my case, I lost my hearing at the age of 4 due to antibiotics I took for pneumonia.

Anyways, I understand what a pain acoustical feedback can be. One method I have used to eliminate feedback is to wrap a thin layer of teflon tape (you can get this from a hardware store) around the threading of the hearing aid hook connector. That tends to create bit more of an acoustical seal. It may take some tinkering with to get it perfect, but it does work well once you have it just right.

I currently wear Unitron US80PPs with a recent purchase of Siemen's Traino SP. Having grown up with Unitron, the adjustment to the Triano has not been an easy one (I am wearing my Unitrons now!)

Thought I'd let you know.

Joshua

Posted by: Joshua Starr | April 1, 2006 07:08 PM