Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Phonak Ultra upgrade - how do we feel about it?

289 replies11.7k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply

Ha ha, yeah got ahead of myself, I should say it’s like very hard to “brick” nowadays with the Noahlink wireless, but nothing is impossible!

@hearingMac said:

Instructions? Or is that a forum no-no?

Sure no problem, let’s start with getting the Noahlink wireless and target software, have you got this sorted?

Here’s what I read online: it won’t independently flash Phonak’s locked “Ultra” firmware because the authorization handshake happens through Phonak’s secure portal.

I am not someone that does and the reason I don’t is because I know myself. Also as a retired IT professional that truly decided to really retire I no longer own a windows computer. But there are a number of the ones on here that have done their own firmware updates and are very satisfied. I personally wait to see my audiologist. But I am a veteran and my aids are from the and find it prudent to be patient. I have and appointment tomorrow and I will be discussing switching from Oticon aids of which I have been wearing Oticon for 15 years to possibly Phonak aids. This should be a very interesting appointment.

In reply to @hearingMac

Say what, please just get your information from those that know, there’s so much misinformation/disinformation floating around on the interwebs especially from , you’ll be good to go after getting the Noahlink wireless programming device and target software, cheers

In reply to @cvkemp

@cvkemp said:

have and appointment tomorrow and I will be discussing switching from Oticon aids of which I have been wearing Oticon for 15 years to possibly Phonak aids. This should be a very interesting appointment.

Very much so, there’s quite a difference in how these two, as an experienced user you’ll notice this straight away.

That is a huge part of the discussion I have for tomorrow. I am concerned about the difference in sound. I was at a men’s retreat this last week, the training room environment was very noisy and the echo was terrible. I wear a smartwatch that tracks my heart rate and stress levels and blood pressure. Needless to say my heart rate was high, my stress and blood pressure were also high. And when I can hear reasonably well my blood pressure is well within normal range. There were 12 men arranged in 3 groups all discussing the material we were studying. To me it sounded like everyone was screaming at each other. The Oticon INTENT1 speechboost didn’t help at all. It got so bad that my aids actually overloaded and rebooted a couple times. I have been in noisy environments before without this issue. I have been in very noisy restaurants without any issues. But the restaurants didn’t have the echoing.

@cvkemp said:

the training room environment was very noisy and the echo was terrible.

Very challenging environment for any really, would the Sphere had been any different, hard to say without testing in a situation like that, the give a good trial period right, so if things don’t work out you could change back to Oticon if necessary.

My INTENT1 will still be my backup aids. Unfortunately the retreat is only once a year in late October or early November. I don’t know what my audiologist meant by think about different hearing aid companies. I am willing to try what my audiologist suggests. I trust him to know what is best. He has got me this far. I have several thoughts and at the top of my list is just to get new custom ear molds and hopefully the firmware update and go forward. But I also believe he is concerned about me having usable backup and my backup aids are dying rechargeable battery wise. And they no longer help me much to understand speech.

Edited

I’ve been running the new firmware for three days on the replacement I90s Injoy sent me — newer serial numbers that supposedly required the update. Ironically, my original pair would’ve worked with it too.

After living with it a bit longer, I’m not planning to upgrade the firmware on the older set. The improvement just isn’t meaningful enough to justify spending a few hundred dollars. The biggest change I’ve noticed is better stability: the app feels a little more responsive, and Bluetooth switching between my Mac and iPhone is smoother.

Sound quality itself? Maybe a touch cleaner in quiet rooms, but nothing dramatic. Speech clarity in noise still depends almost entirely on the audiologist’s fine-tuning, not this firmware. The big percentage and numbers in the marketing material don’t match what I’m hearing in real-world use.

If your setup’s already dialed in, I’d hold off — it’s a nice polish, not a major leap.

In reply to @hearingMac

Here is a video which shows what programing is all about.

If you don’t want to do all that but just upgrade your aids this will just be background noise. As Tenkan says, its pretty easy and I have not heard about anybody bricking their hearing aids but I imagine there may be one somewhere. It is not terribly difficult, I was in my 80’s when I first got interested. First thing is to get the Noahlink wireless and software. If you want to get the software just to see what it looks like but not do anything with your hearing aids, you can do that also. You do have to use a windows laptop.

Due to emergencies.at home - . I have failed to keep up with all the great posts here…

Can someone please bring me up to speed … I have the Phonak Spheres. What is this about ULTRAs and is there an update that I don’t know about with my ?

Edited

It’s a free upgrade to the “Ultra” firmware. Your audiologist can do it or if you have Target 11.1 software and Noahlink you can do it yourself with a few clicks and about 7 minutes. It improves the sphere mode a lot, has better speech clarity and greatly improves battery life.

In reply to @raylock1

@raylock1 said:

If you don’t want to do all that but just upgrade your aids this will just be background noise. As Tenkan says, its pretty easy and I have not heard about anybody bricking their hearing aids but I imagine there may be one somewhere. It is not terribly difficult, I was in my 80’s when I first got interested. First thing is to get the Noahlink wireless and software. If you want to get the software just to see what it looks like but not do anything with your hearing aids, you can do that also. You do have to use a windows laptop.

Thanks for the overview — but the key missing piece is how to actually obtain the firmware update files.
Saying “just get the software” isn’t enough if Target doesn’t include the latest .fwup bundles (since Phonak hides them behind ETVC).
For those of us comfortable with the process, what’s the current source or method for getting the update package itself?
Otherwise, the rest is just setup steps, not the actual upgrade.

Edited

Target 11.1 has the link for the firmware and does the upgrade entirely - this is how you do it. You need nothing else. @tenkan can send you a link to Target 11.1

In reply to @Hooby

Thanks, Hooby — that’s helpful background, but I think some clarification might save people frustration.
Target 11.1 by itself won’t show the “Ultra” update unless that particular build already contains the firmware bundle or has ETVC access.
Most installs just say “up to date” because Phonak hides the .fwup files behind its clinic network.
If your copy of Target really includes the Ultra package locally, that’d be great to confirm for everyone.

AHAAA! I see. Start up Target. UPdate software to 11.1
Connect aids.
Reboot aids when prompted.
And 7 minutes later… DONE

So far I don’t feel any different…

Related discussions