How to Program the Centra Life Hearing Aid
According to the Siemens website, Siemens Centra Life hearing aids offer advanced features designed to provide the most natural, personal and comfortable listening experience possible. Proper hearing aid programming requires a certain level of expertise and should only be attempted by a licensed hearing professional. The programming software walks you through the process. With a few adjustments, you'll have the Siemens Centra Life hearing aid accurately programmed for your patient's needs.
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Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Siemens Connexx or Noah3 fitting software
- Hi-pro box with cables and pins or wireless programming system
- Real ear measurement equipment or Siemens Unity 2
Instructions
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1
Have your patient present for the programming process. Schedule a 45 to 60 minute fitting and programming appointment. If you're doing an instant fit, plan on 30 to 40 minutes for programming, counseling, instructions and patient questions.
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2
Connect the hearing aid to your computer. Use a hi-pro ribbon or pin or whatever device you use to connect hearing aids to your computer for programming.
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3
Open your Noah3 or Siemens Connexx fitting software and read out the hearing aid. Make sure your computer is recognizing the connected hearing aid. Enter your patient's information, including her complete audiogram. Repeat the read out process. Apply the first fit or best fit prior to placing the hearing aid in your patient's ear.
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4
Position your patient for probe tube measurement. Place the real ear probe tube microphone on his ear. Place the tube in his ear at the correct depth and then insert the hearing aid. The hearing aid should remain connected to your computer while you are performing real ear measurement.
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5
Do an initial pure tone measurement, a live speech measurement and a recorded speech measurement. If all of your real ear measurements are evenly within the speech canoe, leave the hearing aid programmed as is.
Before adjusting the volume, check the feature settings on the Centra Life hearing aid. If the Sound Smoothing is set too high it will muffle high frequency sounds. Directional microphones will decrease low frequencies. Make minor adjustments according to your real ear measurement results, then re-measure.
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Make sure the Data Learning feature is turned on. Data Learning gives you an idea of the type of environment in which your patient has been wearing his hearing aid and how often he has been wearing it. This information will help you make adjustments at his one, two and three week check-ups.
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Save the hearing aid settings, print the final real ear measurement and disconnect from the programming wire and probe tube microphone.
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Tips & Warnings
Keeping the hearing aid hooked up to the programming software while conducting real ear makes it easier to perform adjustments and re-measure.
If you are a Siemens dealer, Siemens offers free in-office training on both software and products. Contact your Siemens representative for more details.
Never force a hearing aid into a patient's ear.
Never auto-fit a hearing aid and hand it to your patient. You don't know what the amplification is doing in her ear until you conduct some form of verification. The patient should be fitted while hooked up to real ear and adjustments should be made while the hearing aid is in her ear.
