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Oticon Intent 1, Phonak I90 Sphere, or Starkey Omega AI 24, which should I choose?

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Edited

I saw “LE” there, but it didn’t specifically say “LE Audio”. OTOH see the phone printscreens that I posted; mainly, we need our friends at Phonak to get the upgrade to us so we can see what works and what doesn’t. Hmmmm…

Edited

FYI, I contacted Phonak yesterday asking if audio/ was definitely going to be enabled in a firmware update for the current I90 Sphere hearing aids and if that would happen in 2026. Here is the response I got this morning:

Thank you for your inquiry. The Infinio Hearing aid is Auracast ready. But not yet capable of connecting to it as of the meantime. It will be Auracast capable on the next Firmware update. Infinio Hearing aid is auracast-capable, which means the hardware is prepared to support Auracast technology. The feature will be activated through a future firmware update. Once that update is released, your hearing care provider or the app will help install it.

So that would imply Auracast will be activated in 2026, which is good news to me. Hopefully the firmware update will be in the first quarter or first half of 2026. While the reponse did not mention BLE streaming, some googling on the web seems to indicate that receivers that support Auracast also support BLE streaming.

Edited

In reply to @d_Wooluf

I have Real 1s like @Volusiano , and while they’re fine, I find them basically useless in any situation with a lot of background noise. I spoke with my audiologist about the Phonak Audeo Infinio, and she mentioned how bulky they are (I also wear glasses). Instead, she suggested the Starkeys (Omega?), but how do they compare to the Phonaks with speech in noise? To be honest, it’s a tough call for me, because I’m self-conscious about wearing hearing aids and I’d prefer if they all were all like the Oticon Zeal (which unfortunately isn’t a hardware improvement over the Intents, and only has 1 microphone, which makes speech-in-noise worse).

In reply to @dandyt

As a follow up to my previous post, I received an answer from Phonak about Bluetooth LE streaming, which was not what I was expecting. Here is their response, which was very disappointing:

The Phonak Infinio hearing aids are -ready, meaning the hardware is designed to support Auracast technology. Auracast functionality will be enabled through a future firmware update.
At this time, however, the upcoming Auracast firmware update is expected to enable Auracast broadcast reception only. It is not confirmed that this update will also activate point-to-point Bluetooth streaming (such as direct LE Audio streaming from a phone).
Currently, Infinio hearing aids continue to use Bluetooth Classic for direct audio streaming (calls, music, and media). While Bluetooth LE Audio offers benefits such as reduced battery consumption and lower latency, support for LE Audio streaming would require both firmware enablement and compatible source devices, and there is no official confirmation yet regarding its activation on existing Infinio models. In summary:

  • Auracast: Hardware-ready; activation planned via future firmware update

  • Bluetooth LE Audio point-to-point streaming: Not currently enabled; future availability has not yet been announced

In reply to @Volusiano

@Volusiano said:

active vent receivers would require a visit to clear out the wax.

If you really muck them up, I suppose. I replace the traps once a week and thoroughly vacuum the receivers out as well as I can. If wax gets past the trap, the mechanism gums up and stops changing from open to closed or vice versa. Fixing that takes a whole receiver change. They only last about 6 months for me, a bit less on the right and a bit longer on the left. I had them mail me receivers for the p90s, and I’d do it myself. They even gave me the tool to push the pins. The spheres don’t use the pins, and I haven’t yet needed to change receivers, although we’ve gone over 6 mos. The vacuum may have something to do with it lasting longer

WH

In reply to @dandyt

@dandyt said:

At this time, however, the upcoming Auracast firmware update is expected to enable Auracast broadcast reception only.

Say what, where’s your source for this? Hopefully not something you’ve been told by some snotty kid customer service rep.

@dandyt said:

It is not confirmed that this update will also activate point-to-point Bluetooth LE Audio streaming (such as direct LE Audio streaming from a phone).

Why not, it’s what they’ve told everyone and the hardware is available, just needs the firmware update, everyone else is up to speed, Sonova just dragging it out.

@dandyt said:

LE Audio streaming would require both firmware enablement and compatible source devices

Umm yeah that’s right and Infinio are right? I mean that was Sonova’s marketing department blurb when released, how wonderful to have both bluetooth profiles in their respective device.

tenkan,

My source is the Consumer Connectivity Support person who answered my question sent to the Phonak US Consumer Liaison email address. I was very surprised at that response, as it is my understanding that the same codec is used for as is needed for streaming and that Auracast is kind of a layer of functionality on top of BLE streaming. Apparently there is more to it than that. The person seems to indicate that the hardware will support BLE streaming, but that additional firmware changes would have to be made beyond what is necessary for Auracast, and that they are not promising BLE streaming at this time.

In reply to @dandyt

@dandyt said:

I was very surprised at that response, as it is my understanding that the same codec is used for Auracast as is needed for BLE streaming…

This does sound very odd, in light of what we know about and - like how would Auracast even work if “regular” LE Audio wasn’t available? I’m wondering if they’ve got a bug somewhere in their relevant code, and they’re leaving themselves the option of releasing a deliberately crippled version of LE Audio as a stopgap until they can find it and fix it. Mmmmaybe I’m being overly cynical…?

In reply to @Bimodal_user

Single mics can’t be directional with out extra mechanical structures to help. They are inherently limited by the characteristics of that structure. Dual mics and mics in an array can be dynamically directional, especially with adaptive directional processing. This has significant advantages in negative signal to noise situations.

I have a hunch that they cannot run both Classic Bluetooth and Bluetooth at the same time. They have to enable one or the other and that is why they are waiting. LE isn’t really standardized or universally available on many phones and devices yet.

Jordan

In reply to @DonRadlauer

@dandyt said:

I was very surprised at that response, as it is my understanding that the same codec is used for Auracast as is needed for BLE streaming…

@DonRadlauer said:

This does sound very odd, in light of what we know about LE Audio and Auracast - like how would Auracast even work if “regular” LE Audio wasn’t available? I’m wondering if they’ve got a bug somewhere in their relevant code, and they’re leaving themselves the option of releasing a deliberately crippled version of LE Audio as a stopgap until they can find it and fix it. Mmmmaybe I’m being overly cynical…?

Yeah, it does seem odd. I agree they may be deliberately crippling the , but perhaps it is because they want to save that for a new hearing aid version so people would have to buy that rather than getting a free firmware update.

In reply to @JordanK

@JordanK said:

I have a hunch that they cannot run both Classic Bluetooth and LE Audio Bluetooth at the same time. They have to enable one or the other and that is why they are waiting. LE isn’t really standardized or universally available on many phones and devices yet.

Jordan

There are LE audio standards starting with Bluetooth 5.2 (the Sphere is supposed to be at 5.3)

  • LE Audio (Bluetooth 5.2+):

    • Codec: More efficient than older codecs, offering better quality at lower bitrates.

    • Auracast: Broadcast audio to multiple devices (e.g., public audio, personal audio sharing).

    • Multi-Stream & Connected Audio: Better support for true wireless earbuds (like left/right channels).

    • Low Latency: Significantly reduced audio delay, great for gaming.

Bluetooth is supposed to be backwards compatible, but as you mention, perhaps Phonak is having an issue with that related to their software or the ERA chip.

In reply to @Bimodal_user

You get about 2 directional benefit from the pinna at high frequencies. For an , depending on the ear, it could actually be pretty comparable to what a dmic can do (aka, dmic open fits in the real world are not the same as the “ideal environment” dmic function that manufacturers market).

Although often someone with a mild high frequency hearing loss will do poorly in noise either because of aging and associated cognitive declines that result in issues, or just insufficient high frequency gain because the hearing aids have been first fit somewhere.

Thanks, @Neville, @Um_bongo, so pinna effect is less considerable than I though.

@happymach, if you’re interested, I don’t recall accurately, but perhaps Oticon Zeal has a feature which is coupling each of the mic (one from left and one from right) to make narrower beamforming?
It could be less effective than traditional 2×2 mics configuration, but still better than nothing?

In reply to @JordanK

@JordanK said:

I have a hunch that they cannot run both Classic Bluetooth and LE Audio Bluetooth at the same time

That’s true, but all they’d need to do is add a toggle for ON.

That’s exactly how it’s deployed on android in the hearing device settings.

I don’t use Phonak, but I’d think they could add the toggle to the MyPhonak app?

In reply to @JordanK

@JordanK said:

I have a hunch that they cannot run both Classic Bluetooth and LE Audio Bluetooth at the same time. They have to enable one or the other and that is why they are waiting. LE isn’t really standardized or universally available on many phones and devices yet.

Jordan

At first glance it seems like the 2 might be tied together, because otherwise, why wouldn’t Phonak turn on the LE switch already when almost all the other heavyweight mfgs have already done so? But then Phonak went through all the trouble way back to develop the special Sword chip that enables the classic BT compatibility back then. You can probably think of it as a intermediary streaming device, except that it’s not external, but just internal inside the .

So if it’s already a standalone chip entity on its own, designed and built into the HA throughout all these Phonak generations of HAs for classic BT use so far, then how would this interfere with the ability to implement and release the BT LE protocol, because the Sword chip hardware surely cannot be redeployed to accommodate/support the BT LE?

If I had to guess, I think it’s not a limitation due to an implementation issue, but it’s probably more of a marketing ploy to roll out their new “generational advancement via new firmware and not new hardware” kind of initiative. Just like how they rolled out the Ultra designation for their new Sphere HAs, but still allow the old Sphere HAs to be caught up via the firmware update. So if the next update contains the BT LE like their promise is alluding to, then that’d be yet another major firmware update they’re executing on that vision of new firmware in place of new hardware. They’re taking a calculated risk that as long as they promise they’ll have it in a firmware update, then people don’t mind waiting for it and still stick with them instead of jumping ships.

In reply to @JordanK

@JordanK said:

I have a hunch that they cannot run both Classic Bluetooth and LE Audio Bluetooth at the same time.

Not sure about that: as the primary aid must be doing them both to talk to the phone and deploy the ‘stereo’ signal to the other ear, while holding an open connection to the app to adjust the settings.

@Um_bongo said:

Not sure about that: as the primary aid must be doing them both to talk to the phone and deploy the ‘stereo’ signal to the other ear, while holding an open connection to the app to adjust the settings.

Perhaps that is the problem - the one primary aid being used to send the other half of the stereo signal to the other aid. Maybe they will need to change that for streaming to have each aid directly connected to the phone. That would probably be a significant change for them.

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