Phonak Infinio Sphere again

Hello all

Following discussions of phonak infinio sphere i wanted to share my experience of using the sphere mode in very noisy bars last night on a night out with my daughters. It’s very rare for me to be in such a noisy environment. In the past I’ve relied a lot on lip reading and patient repetition. Interaction with waiters and bar staff has been all be impossible.

I have normal low frequency hearing and use the infinios with custom c shell moulds with a 3mm vent. All of this led me to think I wouldn’t get as much benefit from the sphere given the sound leakage from the vents and my good hearing at low frequencies.

It was a trade off I thought was worth it for the improved clarity of speech.

I simply couldn’t have been more wrong- there isn’t a trade off.

I feel these aids on sphere setting with my setup really replicate natural hearing in noisy places. The booming bass sounds are heard as anyone else hears them. The hearing aids help me hear the speech over the top of the loud noise.

I didn’t have to ask for a single repetition and was more fully engaged in the fast moving conversation than I have been for years. I ordered my meal and later went to the bar and ordered drinks no problem communicating with the staff. I even had a conversation with a staff member just for fun.

On returning to the table my daughters commented how different it was talking to me. In particular I wasn’t speaking so loud. They used to have to tell me I was raising my voice. I wasn’t and at points they struggled to hear me! The aids perform better than my daughters’ natural hearing.

I used sphere on the train too and enjoyed an easy conversation.

The other night I turned them on the theatre even though not a noisy environment, it is quite echoey and the spheres cancelled it out and increased the clarity of speech from the stage

So in summary despite my hearing aid set up allegedly being likely to compromise sphere operation I am thrilled that it does not seem to prevent the aids from delivering immense improvement to my hearing ability in loud noise

I hope this is helpful for anyone wondering if these aids will meet their needs