Blackminster
Hearing Centre Blackminster
Hearing Centre|
Do you need the ultimate in hearing aid design & performance? Could a single misunderstood word lose you a vital business contract? Are you simply unprepared to accept anything less than the best? |
If any of the above apply to you, then you should really consider my High Precision Fitting service.
This service combines the fitting of a highly advanced digital hearing aid with a high-tech personalised hearing test using special equipment built into the hearing aid itself.
This modern technique can result in highly optimised hearing aid fittings to match your specific hearing loss.
More specifically, my High Precision Fitting service uses the advanced AudiogramDirect built-in hearing test system available in the latest Phonak Savia Art hearing aids to provide enhanced hearing aid fittings to my customers.
This may sound expensive ... but in fact you can have a pair of these superb digital hearing aids for under £3000 fully fitted & precision adjusted using the in-built advanced AudiogramDirect facility!
(I suspect that some other dispensers would charge a horrific £5000 - £8000 for these sophisticated hearing aids. In fact £3000 spent at some dispensers might only stretch to a pair of rather mediocre models)
So how does my High Precision Fitting service work?
When you arrive at my practice I will give you an initial "traditional" hearing test with a professional hearing test instrument called an "audiometer". This plays tones of various volumes and various frequencies into your ears through headphones.
The data about your hearing loss obtained from this test is then used to help choose a suitable hearing aid to match your hearing loss and then to program your personal to settings into the aid.
However the original data was obtained when you were wearing rather chunky headphones ... not a delicate hearing aid, so the settings programmed into the hearing aid can often be a bit away from your ideal settings.
Whilst not usually a problem in cases of mild hearing loss, this possible inaccuracy in the settings can be a bit more troublesome with severe hearing losses or when modern "intelligent" hearing aids are being fitted.
With the older style of "non intelligent" digital hearing aids it is possible (in fact, usual) to get more precise personalised settings through an educated trial-and-error approach - however this approach can be less effective or take longer with the more modern "intelligent" hearing aids or with high power hearing aids.
In tricky cases a special technique called a Real Ear Measurement is traditionally used. This involves inserting very slim plastic sound tubes into the ear canal behind your hearing aids in order to measure the REAL sound levels the hearing end produces at the ear-drum and NOT just the theoretical levels which have been calculated from your hearing test results.
Real Ear Measurements are useful in many cases, and unlike many dispensers I do have the required special testing equipment. However I have some doubts about the validity of theory behind Real Ear Measurements. Additionally, some clients dislike the "messing around" that the test procedure requires.
With the new arrival of the Phonak Savia Art and its AudiogramDirect in-built audiometer the situation has changed greatly - we now have a highly advanced digital hearing aid AND an in-built hearing-test audiometer.
Using the results of your initial hearing test, we then work together to select an appropriate hearing aid for your hearing loss & lifestyle from the Phonak Savia Art range.
I then repeat the hearing test using the in-built AudiogramDirect hearing test system whilst you are wearing the actual hearing aid you will be using!
This AudiogramDirect technique calibrates your hearing loss using the EXACT hearing aid electronics, loudspeaker, sound tubing, plastics etc that you will be wearing ... and without the intrusion of any awkward Real Ear Measurement probe tubes!
It also uses your ear canal, ear drum, hearing nerves etc in EXACTLY the way your hearing aid does!
If you have an unexpected acoustic resonance in your ear canal, this system will compensate for it.
If the hearing aid plastics unexpectedly absorb one specific sound frequency, this system will catch that too.
This can lead to a much more precise fitting for your hearing loss ... without relying on guesswork and trial-and-error!
Of course, a fair amount of adjustment and personalised tuning may still be required to set up the hearing aids to just the way you like them - but at least this work will be built on very sound foundations!
To summarise: the AudiogramDirect in-built audiometer of the top-end Savia Art digital hearing aids provides a 100% rock-solid foundation of hearing loss data for their intelligent hearing processing software to work with.
This combination of a highly advanced digital hearing aid plus precisely calibrated settings can only lead to optimal results!
For more details on the Phonak Savia Art hearing aid models please click HERE.
If you have any questions on my High Precision Fitting process please feel free to contact me, Richard, via email at: richard@blackminster.co.uk ... or if urgent call me on 01386 830100.
Note: At Blackminster Hearing Centre I, of course, have Real Ear Measurement and other advanced test equipment available. I will sometimes use this equipment even if AudiogramDirect results are available. You can never have too much data!
UPDATE: Phonak have now extended their AudiogramDirect system to their lower-priced mid-level Phonak Extra models, so you can now obtain the benefit of a precision fitting with a less-expensive mid-level model.