Thanks for your input, @Diver50 . It was good that you were able to try out both the I90 and the Intent before making your choice. If I didn’t have the Real already, I’d probably go with the Intent over the I90 as well since I’ve been an Oticonian for a long time now. But it’s great to be able to own both brands now and be able to compare them without any time pressure of a trial.
I didn’t consider the Omega although it was an option for me because I couldn’t really find enough traffic on this forum with anecdotal experience sharing to get a good handle on it. Most of the discussions on this forum tend to be Oticon and Phonak and Costco Philips centric, so that’s also an indication that those are the more popular brands compared to Starkey.
I did try to read up on the Starkey technical white papers on their AI implementation but I can’t get enough specifics on how they design and execute it, so I just don’t know how to gauge it technically either. I must say that the Oticon whitepapers are very well written and clear on their design and implementation (well, as clear as can be without divulging any trade secrets), and that gives me a good feel about it.
I will be getting the Phonak Spheres 90 December 5th. My audiologist said it is the best technology at this time for my hearing loss. That will be a real challenge as my Oticon INTENT1 aids have proven so great in 99% of my needs. I did have an extremely bad experience last week at a men’s retreat in the classroom with echo and having so many talking at the same time. It was like all 12 of us was screaming at each other at the same time. I am just now getting my stress level and blood pressure back down to normal.
Would be great to hear your comparison between the Intent and the Sphere, Chuck!
I’ve been playing with the Phonak Target software a bit more today. I ran the AudiogramDirect feature, which is the in-situ audiometry test. It tracks fairly close to my latest , but there are a few points off by a little bit. I decided to re-prescribe the gains to match up with the new in-situ audiogram. I know this will blow away my -based gain curves, but I’m OK with that because as a person, I can fix and customize my gain curves anyway I want to compensate for any shortcomings I notice.
I’ve been comparing the streaming quality between Real and the I90. The I90 sounded a bit more murky and dull and too much low when playing music. So I went into the program Media Speech + Mic program and selected the Moderate Pop Music type, then went into the Automatic Fine Tuning section and adjusted it a bit, then polished the curves off in Audibility Fine Tuning. After this, the streaming music quality sounds much better to my liking than before. With the Real, I don’t have to mess with these adjustments, however. In the General program for the Real, the BT streaming for music already sounds fantastic. If I want some more oomphs in the lows and mids, I can switch from the General program to the MyMusic program to get that “oomph”. I know a lot of people hate the Oticon MyMusic program. I think it really depends on the type and mix of music you’re listening to. MyMusic can sound good in certain music presentations but bad in others with the unwanted over-coloring of certain low and mid frequency ranges.
So far the 2 main shortcomings I encountered on the I90, the bad Own Voice and bad streaming music, were easily rectified by adjusting in the Phonak Target software. But if you’re not a DIY person, it’d probably cost you a few trips back and forth to your to fix. Wait, maybe 0 trip thanks to the Remote Assistant feature now, but it’d still cost you your HCP’s time, and the wait for a remote appointment. My HCP only allows me 6 free visits in the first year, then after that it’s $65 per visit. Even picking up a repaired aid under warranty would still cost $65 because it’d take them time to meet you and check on the repair for you. But maybe that’s because I’m a “subcontracted” customer who only deals with him as a service provider and not a seller, so less profit for him, hence less service amenity.
The Phonak Target’s Automatic Fine Tuning is helpful in giving you “verbalized” choices to choose from to let it do its own adjustments. And it will tell you exactly what it’s going to do to fix it, like “Reduce gain in the lows and increase compression on the mids”, for example. The Oticon Genie 2 software also has something similar called the Fitting Assistant that does pretty much the same thing the Phonak Target’s Auto Fine Tuning does. I think with these features now available on fitting softwares, it helps make the DIY job even easier than before. It’s probably very helpful for the HCPs as well.
I definitely will be doing a review. My INTENT1 aids will be my backup aids. They are going to be sent to Oticon for new batteries and a full checkup as soon as I get the Phonak Sphere aids. My audiologist said that was the best way for me to get use to them. My INTENT1 are also getting new ear molds. My audiologist doesn’t want me without backup aids. I still have my Real1 aids. They are slated to be going to the American Legion for being given to the needy.
My experience using insitu while the hearing aid is new is not good. It takes some time to get used to the new sound, otherwise it is not good. I suggest that you do not change anything until at least 1 week has passed and only then use insitu. There is also an option to make your voice sound better.
In-situ audiometry to me is just another way to see how the aids perform compared to the standard audiometry testing you did at the booth. If the 2 are significantly different, then it can tell you how far off the aid’s performance compared to the calibrated equipment in the booth. But if the 2 audiograms are very closely matched (which is in my case), then it’s another indication of how well your aids perform compared to the calibrated audiometry equipment at the booth. Of course it’s not a replacement for at all. It’s just another data point for comparison.
If your in-situ audiogram is almost the same as your generated audiogram, then the prescription between the 2 will also be almost the same anyway. And in this case, there’s really no need to re-prescribe to the in-situ audiogram. Whether you do in-situ in your first week or second week or third week is irrelevant in my opinion. Nothing is really going to change between those time periods.
I am honestly nervous about switching to Phonak aids. I am so use to the Oticon sound. I still remember have 18 months of 14 appointments to get my Oticon aids right. That was a combination of the OPNS1 and MORE1 aids. But it paid off for the Real1 and INTENT1 aids. I am wondering how many adjustments it will take to get the Phonak Spheres sounding right. I am most concerned with speech understanding, phone calls and streaming audio books. My audiologist said he will be able to get very close from his knowledge of my loss and what it took to get my Oticon INTENT1 aids the way they are. I only have the default program. And that has been all I needed except for the retreat last week.
My personal experience between the 2 brands in terms of programming and making adjustments is that I’ve had to tweak the Phonak Target software a little more than the Oticon Genie 2 software to get the sound to the point where I’m satisfied. It doesn’t mean that the Phonak Target software is worse than the Oticon Genie 2 software. They’re just different and Target seems to have a lot more knobs to tweak compared to Genie.
But if your says he can make the Phonak work well for you just like the Oticon, then you’re probably lucky to have a good HCP. And it’s not like you’re limited to your number of visits to the to tweak it to your satisfaction. Both of them now have a remote programming feature, so this can also cut your need to physically visit their office all the times.
It does give you a lot of tweaks (like how the Phonak Target sw does) that can be individualized for each program, so I see can why people like them. Many people say it’s the best app because it gives you a lot of control for customization. But I think it depends on your philosophy, some people like simplicity, and to them, less is more. But on the other hand, you don’t need to tweak anything in MyPhonak and just leave them alone and you can also have your “less is more” with the MyPhonak app just as well.
The Oticon Companion app is definitely simpler, but it doesn’t make it worse. It just doesn’t need to be fancy because no complicated adjustments need to be done to keep the user happy. It definitely is a “less is more” experience for the Companion app. The ultimate app in my opinion is that you don’t even need to bother using the app. You just put on aids on in the morning and take it out at night, without messing around with it all the times. But to be fair, you can do the same with the Phonak aids anyway. But for folks who like messing around, then at least they can with Phonak, but not with Oticon.
Cliff says you can see the Automatic program selected when hitting Adjust. It does seem clunky.
Test-retest is not exact with . If in-situ is way off (more than 10dB) it could mean the actual test was off or there’s an issue with the hearing aid. Is using that as an adjustment value without checking things first a good approach?
Does Target have somewhere to enter REUG, I think, from the session and then use that adjustment measured from your own ears to adjust the prescription? I tried to look but without connected aids some options are not displayed. If it’s possible then one can switch fitting prescriptions and sort of duplicate REM.
Phonak does not allow different fitting prescriptions on different programs like Oticon?
Sorry I have no idea, I’m not a believer in , I do , so do quite well without it, target would normally automatically measure individual REUG, although I know it can be manually entered as well.
Cliff says you can see the Automatic program selected when hitting Adjust. It does seem clunky.
Ah, yes. I see it now. Thanks!. I’ll re-edit my previous post to take out this complaint then. Yes, it’s clunky, but I don’t mind, as long as there’s a way to see it. But it’d be so much better if they just present this info right in the main page instead of making you go into the Adjust button to reveal it.
As a side note, if you’re in the streaming + mic program, the option to go into Adjust to see whether this is for Speech or Music is not available.
This is good feedback to relay to Phonak. Perhaps they can implement this with some options so users can decide what level of granularity they wish to see.
Without trying how can you determine whether you could do even better using REUG? Hopefully I can get the data and use it to make even better adjustments.
Oh I’ve tried all that stuff in years gone by, I can get just about any dialled in pretty easily now, I can tell the difference quite quickly and know which I prefer, of course there’s others who can’t do without, have fun getting yours “dialled in” by whatever means you prefer, lots of different things to try in your own time in the comfort of home,which is what is all about.
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Croatia