Question
What should professionals know about fitting Oticon's new Dynamo and Sensei SP hearing instruments?
Answer
Dr. Don Schum: Let’s start with Dynamo. Most often, when you are fitting an adult with severe and profound hearing loss, the patient is an experienced hearing aid wearer. Experienced users with this degree of hearing loss are understandably dependent on their hearing aids, and also very connected to the way the hearing aids sound. They may have had several devices over the years, and worked to fine tune them to their needs and preferences in terms of audibility, loudness, and so forth. When we fit new technology that offers better signal processing, we may run into resistance from the patient because the new technology does not sound or work like the old device.
Because of that, we have developed transitioning guidelines to help hearing care professionals counsel patients, so that they give the new fitting time to experience the benefits. It’s important that patients understand that time is key in experiencing the benefits of new technology. Those benefits may not be immediately apparent, especially if the patient is focused on other issues such as the sound of the new device matching the sound of the old one.
With Sensei SP and pediatric fittings, the main fitting focus is verifying that the fitting is meeting evidence-based prescriptive targets, as well as counseling the family regarding use of the device, and determining whether to use Speech Rescue.
The Genie software supports the professional every step of the way in fitting the devices and personalizing them for each individual. It will guide them through the set up of features such as Speech Rescue or the world-class feedback cancellation system, enable them to manage connectivity options, and it even supports bimodal fitting. Bimodal fitting refers to fitting a hearing aid on the contralateral side to a cochlear implant, and there are different recommendations in terms of settings and features when the hearing aid is fit in this configuration.
This Ask the Expert is an excerpt of an interview with Dr. Schum on this topic. Read the full interview here.
