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Trialing Phonak I70, should I consider I90 or even Sphere instead?

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I have had a pair of Phonak Infinio I70 for three weeks now. I like them. I find that when I go into a noisy environment (like Costco or restaurants), the Automatic mode gets set to “spoech in noise” (may have the name wrong) which helps but high frequency sounds are still a problem. If I set the program manually to “Restaurant” mode, sound is ok. I will ask the audiologist about adjusting high frequency at my next appointment, but also wondering if the I90 might be a better choice. Does it respond more strongly to noisy backgrounds? (I hear excellent reports about the I90 Sphere but don’t know if I should consider that as I don’t go into noisy locations more than twice a week.)

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If the Sphere fits your budget, I would recommend the I90 Sphere. But I guess it is a question of how bad your hearing in noise is and how important it is to be able to converse with others when in noise. In my case lt makes the difference of talking to others in a noisy restaurant or just sitting quietly and smiling and nodding as if I actually knew what others were talking about.

Edited

Yes. A week ago, I had my first real-life test. I visited a pizzeria with a female friend and sat on opposite sides of the table for a one-on-one conversation. The restaurant was noisier than I expected, but the Sphere 90 worked amazingly in automatic mode.

I say this despite the fact that it is not fully optimized yet because I have power domes, which prevent me from achieving full gain due to the feedback threshold. I am waiting for the cShell with a pressure vent.

I wouldn’t have gotten through the meeting without stressful effort with my old Phonak Audeo Paradise P90-RT… (maybe with Roger On, but table was very small).

The best money I’ve ever spent - for the Audeo Infinio Sphere 90.

I rarely see that friend of mine, so her voice sounded new to me.

@Seeker4 said:

but don’t know if I should consider that as I don’t go into noisy locations more than twice a week.)

Twice a week is quite often in my opinion, so Sphere 90 is definitely worth considering if money isn’t a problem.

Frankly, and please guys correct me if I am wrong, the non-sphere Infinios are just an % incremental upgrade of the Lumity and I guess that’s the reason we don’t hear much about them (in comparison to the Sphere).
I don’t know the price delta between the I70 and the Sphere I70 but, based on what I’ve read and seen, the Sphere is the way to go. $$$ of course , is the determining factor.

I;m seeing Phonak Sphere 90s in eBay (new) for $2500 … no clue if they are covered by Phonak’s warranty

Yes I agree not much to get excited about on infinio, but if your able to wait Costco will get them, could be months away tho, 2.5k is that used on eBay?

In reply to @OcramSagev

Price difference I was quoted between the I70 and I70 Sphere was only $60–I could hardly believe the difference was so small. I decided against the I70 Sphere as I didn’t think it offered that much. I don’t know the price difference between the I90 and the I90 Sphere but will find out at my next appointment in two weeks.
The I70R is an incredible improvement for me over 6 or 7 year old Resounds that almost certainly were not fitted adequately.

I’m guessing from your that you have a fairly Open fitting, allowing lots of low frequency ambient noise into your ear canal through holes in your domes. If that is the case, my understanding is that the Sphere’s processing power can’t block or process frequencies that it doesn’t control - so the performance in loud noise of Spheres with open fittings is not as strong as it is for Spheres with more closed fittings.

I’ve worn I90 Spheres since September with a relatively open fitting (my first ). I’m grateful for all they can do in my situation, but I’m somewhat underwhelmed with the Speech in Loud Noise performance in the real world with my open fitting - at least relative to the hype and my resulting hopes. That said, other I90 Sphere users with open fittings - and more experience than me - are quite pleased with their results in loud settings…

I agree with Clayville. I am underwhelmed with my I90 Spheres. I have domes with a small hole at the apex. I have no idea how they are meant to work or not with the Sphere but mine after 3 months have never as far as I can check have changed automatically to any of the programs from automatic. I have manually changed to the soheric noise program and it did help in a noisy environment but I had expected and hoped for an automatic change.
I am not sorry I got them (good insurance) and I needed new ones just a bit disappointed. Perhaps the domes are a factor but with my last hearing aids I had custom molds made and really hated them.

I tried the Phonak Audeo Infinio l90 and didn’t notice a difference with the l30, l70, and l90. The only thing I did notice is that the sound was very dull for me. Sphere might be better, because of it’s ai and dnn features. But it’s very bulky not sure if you like that and it’s also very costly unless you have health insurance to cover it. The audiologist that I see told me it’s 8k/pair. Phonaks are also using classic Bluetooth and can be paired up to 8 devices, but only 2 devices it can stream to. I currently use Widex Allure 440 and love the thing. Has really good sound and has ai, but not sure on dnn. It has a new chip, but does things differently. But I had issues with pairing it on computers.

In reply to @clayville

@clayville said:

I’m guessing from your audiogram that you have a fairly Open fitting, allowing lots of low frequency ambient noise into your ear canal through holes in your domes

Yes, I have an open dome in my left ear and an “occluded dome” in my right. I can notice the difference in ambient sound in each ear, but that is not a problem for me.

I wear glasses, so if the Sphere is any thicker than the I70/I90, that could be a source of irritation.

I do notice the automatic programs being selected in different environments. However, the sound in noise program is not strong enough on my I70 to deal with noisy environments. I have to manually select the Restaurant program in myPhonak to hear well and not be overwhelmed by the background noise. I’ll talk to my audiologist to see if the automatic program can be made stronger.

I agree that it’s not strong enough with background noise, which is why I switched to Widex Allure 440. That is why I returned them. Your not the only one I felt that the sound was dull and not effective with background sounds.

In reply to @Seeker4

For what it’s worth, I too wear glasses (which I wear constantly rather than take on/off all day) and I adapted to the Sphere’s size/shape very quickly. But these are my first and I had no other point of reference.

I don’t really notice a difference from my p90 audeos. I wear sunglasses, readers, and the occasional regular glasses when my eyes are too unhappy to do contacts. My audiologist had warned me they were a lot bigger, but when they came in we both remarked they didn’t seem much bigger.

WH

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