OK got my TransEar today...

[mikjul1]

Transear gives you 60 days to try it.

[sgerrard]

Otherwise I can turn it on and off while wearing it (by opening and closing the battery door) and I can not hear any difference at all.

Neal,

I would try listening to something on your AN side, like a person talking, and doing the test above. That seems to be the situation where you would most notice the benefit of a BAHA or TransEar.

I have somewhat the same experience with my hearing aid. When I turn it off and on, I don't get a big jump in the amount of sound I hear. What I get is a more detail in the high end, and more directionality. The directional effect is subtle, and it took a little while for my brain to get used to it. It doesn't seem to me that I hear the direction of sounds really clearly, but I do turn in the right direction most of the time, so something must be going on.

Since you are hearing the sounds from the AN side with your good ear, I wouldn't expect it to sound all that different. But you might notice that you pick up details of sounds on your AN side better with it on. Whether it is worth it or not is up to you, of course.

Steve

[nteeman]

Otherwise I can turn it on and off while wearing it (by opening and closing the battery door) and I can not hear any difference at all.

Neal,

I would try listening to something on your AN side, like a person talking, and doing the test above. That seems to be the situation where you would most notice the benefit of a BAHA or TransEar.

I have somewhat the same experience with my hearing aid. When I turn it off and on, I don't get a big jump in the amount of sound I hear. What I get is a more detail in the high end, and more directionality. The directional effect is subtle, and it took a little while for my brain to get used to it. It doesn't seem to me that I hear the direction of sounds really clearly, but I do turn in the right direction most of the time, so something must be going on.

Since you are hearing the sounds from the AN side with your good ear, I wouldn't expect it to sound all that different. But you might notice that you pick up details of sounds on your AN side better with it on. Whether it is worth it or not is up to you, of course.

Steve

I agree and that is exactly what I was hoping for. However I did that test -- put a talk station on my radio and placed it on my AN side. Then I turned the TransEar on and off and I can not notice any difference. If, while wearing the TransEar, I keep the radio on my AN side and stick my finger in my good ear I can still hear the radio but at a low volume.  So far this is proving to be less than useful for me.  I hope that there is an adjustment they can make to improve the performance otherwise I don't see any reason to keep this.

Neal

[mikjul1]

They can adjust the volume and pitches alittle but then you got to watch feed back.

[Keri]

Hi Neal,
I'm sorry the Transear isn't looking so great for you right now. I hope you can either have someone make the necessary adjustments and it becomes much better or that, maybe in time, you are able to get some good results with the BAHA. I know our surgeries were close together. I'm still in waiting mode on these decisions. My hearing and the noises in my head - well I'm still getting used to all that. My incision still hurts (seems to hurt a bit more now that post op) - it doesn't hurt much, just a bit. I don't want another surgery yet. But by the time I probably do feel fine, I'll be full swing in marathon training (silly me) so I won't want to try something then. So I'm thinking Dec - Jan. Anyway, I really hope something works out for you that you're happy with. Maybe you should keep playing with the Transear for now to see if it'll get better with time and adjustments.

Best wishes to you,
Keri

[nteeman]

Hi Neal,
I'm sorry the Transear isn't looking so great for you right now. I hope you can either have someone make the necessary adjustments and it becomes much better or that, maybe in time, you are able to get some good results with the BAHA. I know our surgeries were close together. I'm still in waiting mode on these decisions. My hearing and the noises in my head - well I'm still getting used to all that. My incision still hurts (seems to hurt a bit more now that post op) - it doesn't hurt much, just a bit. I don't want another surgery yet. But by the time I probably do feel fine, I'll be full swing in marathon training (silly me) so I won't want to try something then. So I'm thinking Dec - Jan. Anyway, I really hope something works out for you that you're happy with. Maybe you should keep playing with the Transear for now to see if it'll get better with time and adjustments.

Best wishes to you,
Keri

Thanks Keri,

I have not given up on the TransEar. At least not yet. I spoke with the company and going back to my audiologist on Saturday for further adjustments. So far though, and I have been wearing it every day, I can't say that there has been any benefit.  I do notice that if I press the part that goes in my ear it performs a little better. The fit might need to be adjusted. Also the program for the unidirectional always causes feeback so I can't use it.

Monday I went to a dinner with 7 buddies and I could not hear the person on my SSD side when he spoke to me -- I was disappointed.

I did notice that when I am on the phone at work and someone comes to my office and speaks to me while I am on the phone I can now tell someone is talking to me. Without the TransEar I usually can not hear that someone is trying to interupt my phone conversation. So far this has been the only time I can notice a difference with TransEar.

We will see if they can make any improvements with adjustments on Saturday.

Neal

[jerseygirl]

Neal,

I am a happy Transear user and my advice to you is: don't give up yet, any judgment at this point is very premature. First of all, there could be a problem with your mold or the way you insert it into the ear. I went to an audiologist who has already done a few of these molds. He got it right the first time for me. Transear benefits were clearly established in his office. However, when I got home, sometimes I got what you described: Transear was clearly working but I did not think there was a difference in hearing. I realized that I was inserting it all wrong. Just one turn made all the difference. I can imagine BAHA users don't have this problem. So, now I test Transear this way:
1) before I insert, put it against Dry&Store with closed battery unit to hear it vibrate - make sure the batery is not dead

2)Turn TV on a very soft volume. Close my good ear - can barely hear anything. Now I insert my Transear and close my good ear - I should be able to hear the difference and make most of the speech sounds. If I don't, I rotate the Transear in my ear until I do.

When that happens, I am ready to face the world with confidence!

As far as SSD goes, yes, I agree with you, you can live a good life without any hearing help. I have been there for 20 years. However, I can also tell you, I appreciate any hearing help that I can get especially now that it is available. Nothing was there 20 years ago, it wasn't even an issue. By the way, nothing on the market is as good as your natural hearing, so Transear is help for SSD, not a replacement for your lost hearing. Any kind of hearing aid must seem to you as a very bad replacement for your lost hearing and it is but it is better that no hearing, in my opinion. Some day... I wish...

Don't give up, Neal! As a first step, go back to your audiologist and make sure the mold is OK. Then, make sure you know how to insert it to get the maximum performance out of it. Good luck!

           Eve

[grega]

Hi Eve ..... what you just said is something that must be remembered: 

"By the way, nothing on the market is as good as your natural hearing, so Transear is help for SSD, not a replacement for your lost hearing."

I also think of baha in a similar manner.  Thanks for the reminder!

   Greg

[leapyrtwins]

"By the way, nothing on the market is as good as your natural hearing, so Transear is help for SSD, not a replacement for your lost hearing."

I also think of baha in a similar manner.  Thanks for the reminder!

Greg -

you are absolutely correct.  The same quote does apply to the BAHA.  It's not the same as your "normal" hearing, but it's a great replacement.

Jan

[mikjul1]

I agree Jan I hated having to plug my good ear to see if transear was working but with the Baha demo I did not have to plug my good ear to know it was working, 10x better then the transear one because it is directly to your bone where transear is not no it is not natural hearing but the bset thing next to it. But I can understand if someone does not want surgery I can not blame them there.  It is a big discission.

[nteeman]

Greetings all,

Today I went to my audiologist and she made some adjustments to the TransEar program and I must admit it made an improvement. Later I went in the sound booth and she played the word recognition test with background noise (sort of like the sound you'd hear in a restaurant) and the TransEar made a difference. She wants me to continue to wear it and check back next week.

I'll keep you posted.

Neal

[mikjul1]

Very good Neal glad it is better 

[leapyrtwins]

Good news, Neal 

Thanks for the update.  I hope you continue to hear improvements.

Jan

[wendysig]

Neal,

Good news!  I hope you are happier with your TransEar in " real life".  I hate to sound like a broken record, I have to agree with what everyone else said.  My BAHA is definitely not as good as my natural hearing was, but it is a huge improvement compared to being SSD. 

Wendy

[mikjul1]

Amen Wendy.