Phonak's New Product Tour This Week

All I have at this point is a strong suspicion but. . . I would be pretty surprised if there was a new BTE launched before next year.

Thank you, @kevels55 - please do! That would be great.

@kevels55 said:

Recently, I had some insider information on another subject, apparently Phonak are having horrendous problems with their custom “Sphere” RIC moulds, or molds for our American cousins, allegedly moisture ingress is killing the built in receivers, so I was informed, at quite an alarming rate!

Would you be referring to cShells? I’ve had my cShells for almost a year. They have no vent, not even an air pressure vent. And I’ve had no problems with them. My Spheres still work great.

Hi Jim, yeah I am assuming it is custom cshells, but given this is the first I have heard of a problem with the sphere receiver failures, it could well be more of a UK problem as opposed to a worldwide one? I believe, or I should say, I have been informed, since Phonak opened their mould making lab here in the UK, probably around 18 months ago? It has been beset with all kinds of teething problems, I can vouch for that myself, having several sets of mould’s returned, and bearing no actual resemblance to what was actually ordered! So much so, I have given up trying to get Phonak to make a decent set of moulds, that fit or indeed they are not fit for purpose! Because of this, I am unable to wear my Naida Lumitys, these aids have remained redundant for approximately 4 or 5 months, and they aren’t a year old yet! Phonak make exceptionally good aids, but their mould making leaves a lot to be desired here in the UK… Prior to this, Starkey was the main subcontractor for making custom ear moulds here, and for the most part, they did an exceptionally good job…Perhaps, with the amount of returns that the Phonak mould lab is getting, they might have bought cheaper receivers to offset their losses, and this has ended up costing them much more, who knows? Mould making, is a highly skilled operation, even with 3D Printing, they have to be finished by hand, these skills take years to acquire, the slightest blemish can cause a lot of pain with a snug fitting mould! IMO, Phonak should give up the mould making, and stick to what they do best, making hearing aids! Cheers Kev

Hi @kevels55 is the mould for Naida Paradise not the same for Naida Lumity?

I was under the impression that the moulds are compatible with both aids!

Thanks

Agreed @Bimodal_user I can recall on more than one occasion, requesting on the form for moulds, “No Vents” !!! written in red, with exclamation marks. On each occasion, I got 2mm vents in either mould, they were sent back, upon return, they had just filled them in with silicone, I am allergic to silicone, so they are effectively useless to me! It would appear, no one at the Phonak mould making lab, actually reads the instructions, and if they do, they just neglect to implement what is requested… Cheers Kev

HELLO! I am not sure which thread or post this is referring to… but been meaning to post an update.
YES, I have NO filters in my cShells. IT is now about 9 months. No problems.
Just this week, I decided to order a second set of the cShell speakers.
Meant to do so long ago, but was considering getting a variation.. longer cables, maybe titanium. … so many parameters and not clear on what to specify….
Finally decided I better hustle up while Phonak still had my impressions.
Just getting identical pair.
So will have a backup for when and if the current ones fail.
Every so often, I clean them out as described. NO PROBLEMS !

@IGZO said:

! I am not sure which thread or post this is referring to…

It’s referring to the post of @kevels55:

@kevels55 said:

Phonak are having horrendous problems with their custom “Sphere” RIC moulds, or molds for our American cousins, allegedly moisture ingress is killing the built in receivers, so I was informed, at quite an alarming rate!

I’ve been told that the I90’s are going to get a firmware update and that with this update they be upgraded to ultra models (name). What they will bring with this FW I don’t know yet.

They also announced new in the ear speakers from What I’ve heard from my audi.

Yeah @PeterH Starkey made all my NHS BTE moulds, I believe without exception? I had a good look through my collection of BTE moulds, came across 5 and a half pairs, some appeared to be almost brand new, although there will be some obvious reasons for this, my audiologist wants serial numbers, to see if we can get a new pair to fit, she is talking Starkey moulds, perhaps gold plated? We shall see… I put the Naida Lumity’s back in tonight, soft c shell acrylic BTE in the Right, and hard c shell acrylic in the left, what loudness I experienced tonight in comparison to the Marvel RIC’s, twas OTT loud, having been wearing the Marvels for several months… Cheers Kev

Hello! I just visited the official Phonak website and saw that they’re introducing the new Phonak Audéo Infinio (Ultra) Sphere and Phonak Audéo Infinio (Ultra) R. It’s strange that these are being published before the “unveiling.” Let’s hope the Naida line is also included. Best regards!

In fact, it’s strange that there wasn’t a presentation: perhaps because it’s just an update? Is the only new feature the longer battery life?