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Advice Needed: Phonak Infinio Sphere (AI, no CROS) vs. Phonak Infinio (with CROS) for SSD?

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Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to get some opinions from the community as I’m facing a dilemma with my next hearing aid purchase.

My hearing situation is as follows: I have Single-Sided Deafness (). My right ear has profound/total hearing loss (I hear nothing), and my left ear has a moderate-to-severe hearing loss (it needs amplification).

I’m looking at two Phonak models, and I’m torn:

  1. Phonak Infinio Sphere: This is the latest model with the new chip and advanced features for better understanding in noisy environments. I’m very interested in this.

    • The Problem: This model apparently does not offer a / solution.

  2. Phonak Infinio (Standard model): This is the slightly older/more basic model, which does have a CROS option.

    • The Benefit: This would allow me to use a BiCROS setup (transmitter on my right ear, hearing aid on my left) to get sound from my deaf side.

    • The Trade-off: I would miss out on the advanced AI noise-processing features of the new “Sphere” model.

My core question is: In your experience, which is the bigger win? Is the advanced AI noise reduction in the new Infinio Sphere (worn on only my “good” left ear) so effective that it would be more beneficial than the BiCROS functionality of the older model? Or is the benefit of a BiCROS system (hearing from your “dead” side) so fundamental for SSD that I should prioritize it, even if it means using slightly older tech?

Any thoughts or personal experiences with a similar choice would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks in advance!

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I currently have Oticon aids with a Cros system. I do not frequent places with loud noise on a daily basis but do go to my local pub on Friday (being part of the “Friday Club“) and it tends to be loud as well.

At home, I only use my hearing aid but down the pub, I use the Cros as well. On occasion, I have forgotten the Cros and the lack of 360 degree hearing is really annoying, having to turn my head to listen to guys on my left, then missing out somewhat on the other side.

In the end the infinios (not spheres) are still better in loud noise than most other hearing aids (I90 model).

I decided the Cros is more useful to me when out and about in average noise conditions e.g. in car where as we drive on the left in UK, my Cros side is to passengers on my left and without a Cros (if I forget them), I struggle to hear passengers clearly. Same on buses, shops etc.

So on balance, (for me) I think the Cros takes precedence. In the end, you need to decide how long the benefit of the loud noise suppression is - for me around 3 hrs a week compared with perhaps 10-20 hours a week where the Cros is beneficial.

Having said, there is a (not cheap) solution that may assist to some degree in mitigating the situtation.

A Roger ON 3 microphone is good at receiving voices in loud noise. If you have two sphere aids, it is debatable if a Roger ON 3 is really needed which even the renowned Cliff Olsen intimates, but as the On 3 has many useful modes, it is still worth considering.

Coupling a Roger On 3 with a Cros system probably gives most of the benefits of a sphere aid, as you can point it to people in any direction to enhance their speech.

In the end, your audiologist can probably trial both systems and a Roger On 3 for you to find out which suits if not sure.

Like all things, there is often not a right or wrong answer - you need to analyse your usage.

PS I managed to buy a good condition Roger On 3 on ebay for around £500 but have yet to test it to its extent. I really love the headset mode where you connect it to a usb port and it streams sound on pc to my aids and acts as a microphone.

In my opinion, this is even better quailty than bluetooth streaming and is less strain on the hearing aid battery usage.

BTW - I am not suggesting which solution you go for but just trying to point out key points for you to decide. I hope this helps - even persons with two aids do not always understand the trials and tribulations of single sided deafness.

I am -ish. Definitely Sphere with no . I wouldn’t bothering myself with CROS even if I wouldn’t have .

CROS usually provides small improvement in quiet and not much in noise.

I also recommend to at least get CI evaluation for your poorer ear.

I am trying out both the Infinio w/ and just one Infinio Sphere. I have in one ear and a Cookie Bite sound loss pattern in the other ear. For me, I’m leaning towards using one Infinio Sphere. It seems to dampen noisy situations better. Also, when wearing the CROS system in noisy situations, if the person I’m trying to converse with is on my deaf side, I still pick up too much noise on the other side to actually hear them. My advice is to see if you can demo both scenarios and see what works best for you. I do realize that I will lose a bit of directionality, but that’s ok with me.

Welcome to the forum, Sally!

You’ll find a lot of intelligent, knowledgeable, experienced people here. Plus me.

One thing you can do that will help others give you good advice is post your (in the “profile” section). It takes just a minute or two, and it’s time well spent.

I have Meniers with on the left. Suffered the debilitating vertigo and loss of hearing years ago. Was told amplification would not help me back then. In Sept 2025 saw a new and started the process of looking for improved hearing in social environs, especially with noise. Father passes from Alzheimer’s and I was told hearing loss causes isolation and increased risked of the same. My hearing is 80% good right and 12% good left. I have tried Signia Bicros, Phonak Infineo Bicros, Phonak Sphere (right) with a Rodger On, and now two phonak spheres ENT calibrated the left side sphere volume and tone for my particular loss and hearing capability. While the left sphere isn’t the best clearest sound I can hear on both sides now
I will continue to trial this arrangement for the next month but so far it is the best arrangement that I have experienced I hope that this is helpful for others

I’m a current Phonak Sphere user with , and have had hearing aids with a before. While there are a few scenarios where a CROS with my Sphere would be helpful (like when at a cocktail party and someone approaches me from my deaf side, or when seated at a large table in a restaurant and I want to hear the person seated on my deaf side), I would NOT give up the Sphere for a different model with a CROS. In either setting I mentioned, the Sphere compensates some for not having a CROS (although, admittedly, it doesn’t replace the functionality), and I wouldn’t want to give up the Sphere’s capabilities.

I wanted to point out that you cannot use a Roger mic AND have the advanced noise reduction at the same time; it’s either/or. So using a Roger mic in the 2 scenarios would not help. If fact, my experience with using a Roger mic in a noisy environment is bad; too many sounds are amplified by the Roger to be useful, even if I focus the Roger on the speaker’s direction (which is hard in a large-table setting, anyway).

Go with the Sphere. It’s a life changer!

Thanks for pointing out that the Roger and Sphere don’t work together. I was thinking that would be the case. I agree Roger on is not at all helpful in too much background noise. I try using it in pointer mode if there’s only a few people. It does work great in table mode for meetings with one person speaking at a time. It would be great if the Roger mic came with a sphere chip. I’m still trying to decide about purchasing a single hearing aid with the sphere. It would work to keep my cros hearing aid as a back up for a situation where it would be useful.

Edited

I should mention that I find the Roger is still helpful with the Sphere in certain situations, usually when the speaker is not facing me. For example, if you’re in a tour group, the tour guide can wear the Roger (clipped or on the lanyard), and I can hear her no matter when I am in the group or which way she is facing. Also, when speaking to someone that is not always facing you (like your dentist or doctor), the Roger is better than the Sphere alone. In a moderately noisy restaurant, it IS helpful to place the Roger near the other guests, as it will prioritize the near voices over the background noise (it just doesn’t seem to work for me in a loud restaurant). One interesting note is that, when in a moderately noisy restaurant, I can often hear conversations at other tables clearly, as the Sphere will lock onto those voices when my guests are silent.

I also keep my older w/ as a backup for cocktail parties or other places where the speakers might be on my deaf side. I’ll keep them in my pocket, and switch back to the Sphere when the cocktail portion of the evening ends. Also, when seated in a large table where I need to hear all the guests, I would rather use the Sphere than the CROS, and ask the guest on my deaf side to let me know when he needs to talk to me, and then I turn my head slightly towards him and can hear him fine.

Finally, when driving, I find that the Sphere does an adequate job even when the passenger is on my deaf side, and I don’t need the CROS then.

Here is my journey. I started out with I-90 in my left ear and the in the right ear (my right ear is unaidable).

The trial period was 90 days. I had my audiologist make adjustments to both I-90 and CROS. At about 60 days in, I stopped wearing the CROS, it was of no benefit to me.

At about the same time, I bought the TV Connector and the PartnerMic. I continued to have adjustments made and the trio (I-90, TV Connector, PartnerMic) had become a well balanced system. Only speech in noise performance could be better, I thought.

So, just before the end of the 90 day trial period, I returned the I-90 and bought the I-90 Sphere.

The settings of the I-90 in the Target sofware (audiologist software) was copied to the I-90 Sphere. The I-90 Sphere had its own 90 day trial period, but only 2 weeks worth of further adjustments was required to make the improved trio (I-90 Sphere, TV Connector, PartnerMic) the well balanced system that I enjoy today :slight_smile:

The I-90 Sphere does improve speech clarity in noise (as expected) with the ‘Spheric speech in loud noise’ hearing program. However, I find that the assisted noise reduction results in speech that sounds somewhat artificial (pun not intended) to me, even in quiet listening situations. So, I only switch to the ‘Spheric speech in loud noise’ hearing program only if I need to.

The default ‘Automatic’ hearing program (with non-AI noise reduction) sounds perfectly natural to me :slight_smile:

There you have it, my journey, hope it was useful for others. Although, there is no way around making your own journey, I think.

Edited

Hi All

Here’s my pennies worth.

I have , 100% deaf in right ear and moderate deafness in the other ear.

I originally had 8yr old Phonak Belong + and a Pilot 1 remote volume controller. Phonak didn’t have apps back then.

Time for an upgrade.

I trialled the Infinio i90 + CROS for 90days and was very disappointed. Generally I had more control and hearing was moderately improved but speech in noise was no better than my old ones (even turning CROS off and making loads of adjustments). Also the battery life became an issue and returned them.

I generally find the CROS very helpful in normal usage.

I’ve literally just started trialling Signia ix7 + CROS with .

I’m very interested in peoples opinion of the single Infinio Sphere though

@MikeFarr said:

I’m very interested in peoples opinion of the single Infinio Sphere though

It’s simply much better. I am also with in poorer ear (really better option than ), but even without CI I honestly more recommend Infinio Sphere.

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