Is Safe Fitting defaulted to on or off?
It is defaulted to “on.” This ensures that the patient will not experience feedback during a first fitting. If a dispenser attempts to raise gain above the MSG, where feedback is likely, the gain is held down until the dispenser can switch WhistleControl to a stronger setting before disabling the Safe Fitting feature and increasing gain to a higher level. In this case, the patient should not experience feedback during their initial fitting.
I typically input only pure tone air info into Noah. Is there additional audiometric info that would help make the initial fitting more precise?
Adjustments to the Audiogram+ fitting rule will be made if there is an air-bone gap. Therefore, BC thresholds are helpful if there is an air-bone gap. UCL data is used to adjust gain for loud sounds; therefore, if the patient has loudness tolerance issues, it is important to enter UCL data as well so that the G80 levels can be adjusted accordingly. For calculation of the Focus Ear for Natural Directionality II, speech recognition scores inputted into NOAH can make the fitting more precise
How do you determine if a patient needs more soft sounds?
Patients may need more soft sounds if they complain about not being able to hear soft sounds, children’s voices, birdsong; or if they complain that speech is unclear or sound is muffled. Check the Aventa guide for complaints that would imply increasing gain for soft sounds.
How would you program these devices in a unilateral fitting in the following scenarios:
a. One ear with normal hearing?
Program according to the audiogram and fine-tune gain based on patient preferences. If it is an open fitting, try MultiScope directionality with AutoScope in the first program and omni and mild/no NoiseTracker II for music in the second program. If it is a closed fitting, go with the default fitting and program setup.
b. Hearing loss in both ears, but the patient chooses to only wear one aid?
Same as above.
Are there low- tone or high-tone options for indicator tones?
Yes, the fitter can choose a high frequency or a low frequency-based theme
Why are the numbers on the beep sliders the same for every patient? Don’t they depend on the audiogram?
The acoustic indicators are no longer calculated based on the audiogram. The default values are the same for every patient. These signals are generated before the amplification and are processed by the compressor to the appropriate level for the individual. This means that the levels will change if you change the gains.
What are the expansion kneepoints?
They are dependent on the level of expansion (mild, moderate or strong) and the form factor (only RIE for now). They are set per frequency band to a particular value, certain number of dB above the noise floor, therefore the kneepoints will differ for new models that are eventually added to the Alera line. For the current model mild and moderate expansion kneepoints range from 26 to 38 dBSPL, with the highest kneepoint in the lowest frequencies. The strong level kneepoints range from 29 to 41 dBSPL. Expansion ratio is 2 for all levels- meaning a 1 dB decrease in input level gives a 2 dB decrease in output level. Expansion depth is 3 dB for mild, 6 dB for moderate and 9 dB for strong. Expansion depth defines the maximum reduction in output with decreasing input.