Further adventures with Phonak Savia Art

So. I returned to the audiologist this past Tuesday for further adjustments to my HA's. I had also requested she order a remote control for me, which she did. Jobi attempted to program my HA's to communicate with the remote (and vice versa), but she was not having any luck. She called Phonak and a rep there walked her through the whole thing but it was not working, so they concluded that my right HA is a bum HA and a new one is being sent by Phonak to replace it. In the meantime --

Unbeknownst to both Jobi and me, the various programs she set in the HA's for remote control actually did get set -- and I can control them with the click of the button on the HA. And, because of that, there actually is an OFF setting -- which is great for me in terms of the halacha of using HA's.

Let me explain, first the programs: we chose to add the following programs:

• telephone only which mutes sound around me
• speech in noise
• sound from behind

So now, when I turn on the HA's they are in the default listening program which will, or should, switch to other programs automatically based on input sensed. If I click the button once after the HA is on, it goes to the telephone only program. A second click puts me in the speech in noice program (my favorite!), and a third click allows me to hear sound from behind only. A fourth click turns them off, and a fifth click puts it back to auto (the first program). I do not mind using the button on the HA, except for the following 2 issues:

1. If I am wearing a headwrap (scarf) it is a pain in the neck to do that
2. I suspect a lot of clicking of that button will cause it to wear out

Using a remote will obviate the need for the above.

Now about the Halacha thing. For those of you who are not Jewish or not religious: Halacha means Jewish Law. Now, on Shabbat (Sabbath) we are not allowed to turn lights on/off, or any electrical thing on/off. We do not drive. We do not light matches. We do not watch TV (technically, according to Halacha, you can put a timer on your TV (as we do with lights) and watch it on Shabbat -- but it is not according to the spirit of the law and so it is strongly frowned upon and not done- at least not by anyone I know).

So this prohibition could also affect HA users. However, the Rabbeim (Rabbi's) who studied this problem came up with the following:

1. We CAN turn HA's on/off but only for necessity, and only with the use of an on/off switch
2. We can manipulate the volume or programs in the HA's
3. We canNOT use the battery as the on/off switch (ie; opening the battery case to turn the HA off, closing the case to turn it on)

Now this has posed a problem in recent years since most HA's do not have on/off switches anymore. Users rely on the opening/closing of the battery case to turn their HA's on/off.

So, it seems that we were able to program an "on/off program" -- which is GREAT for me. So...

I am still really enjoying my Phonak Savia Art HA's and soon I will be 5k poorer for it!