Hearing aid brands : Any thoughts on brands other than Phonak?

I have worn Oticon, Siemens, Sonic and now Phonak. I have found the Phonak Spheres the best that I have ever worn. That is saying something for someone that swore by Oticon aids for 15 years.

I think phonak “won" this release cycle. Oticon intent also very good and the zeal is fun but a very specific fit and if you don’t have the right loss and the right ear then you’re just sad about your small ears. It’s also $$$$. I’ve always liked widex for mild losses but they lost me on the new defeatured cloud fit, but that will change. I think it was just released too early. Signia is solid. I haven’t been a resound fan for a while. I like Starkey sound and customs but don’t fit them right now because they are American.

The field is wide open for mild losses these days. For severe losses, phonak is the most flexible in terms of the device itself as well as accessory support.

@Neville said:

don’t fit them right now because they are American.

Yep, me too - the wine merchant has had to make the relevant accommodation as well.

Our liquor stores don’t even stock American booze anymore. I don’t know that it would matter if they did though.

I was quite impressed with the technology offerings of the Oticon Intent range. How did you find the background noise processing / speech clarity benefit? Do you think the Oticon Intent is similar to that of the Phonak Infinio range? The Oticon Zeal hasn’t launched here in South Africa yet but it is scheduled to be released this March. Looks like a pretty impressive rechargeable option especially for the size of device.

Phonak Spheres definitely seem to be in a league of their own. I wonder if other brands will coin onto the Spheric speech capabilities of the Phonak hearing aids. Seems that each brand are trying to dive into these deep neaural processing networks to try improve speech clarity in background noise but they seem to possibly fall short in comparison to Phonak.

Hi JWol,

On the first question, the answer is yes. However, I will caveat that by saying that I have a particularly severe loss and I have only had difficulty with the Intents in very extreme noise where there have been multiple talkers and crowds of people, in 2 restaurants, a funeral and a classroom setting, where the individual(s) concerned have had difficult accents and/or voices that I find difficult even on one to one situations, but the problem has been amplified because I was talking to them in the said extreme noise environments.

However, I would say pound for pound, that the Intents have been the best hearing aids I have ever had. The clarity of speech, the ease of use - I mean, there is none of the getting my head around Autosense programs, or having to navigate any transitions from program A to B etc. I put them in and 99% of the time I leave them on the same automatic program that works even in noisy environments and I do not perceive any switch in programs. The ecosystem of Oticons is comparable to Phonak. I have auracast, TV Connectors and the Edumic - all have been great.

However again, I feel like the person who is dumping Rachel Weisz in favour of another hollywood actress, or swapping a Rolls Royce for an Aston Martin. My problem with the Intents has only been with those 4 or 5 occasions where I have been unable to converse in loud noise over the last 14 months that I have been wearing them; so I am going to try the Phonak Spheres. I am a little bit nervous because I am unsure how the fitting process will go. As you might know, it doesn’t matter how good your aids are, if the fitting is not optimal, then switching is not going to be of maximum benefit. I will post about that and subsequent testing in a few weeks.

Actually, the other benefit and this is where Phonak may edge Oticon in the severe/profound loss hearing space is the use of Roger On. I will be getting the Roger On 3, which I have learned has a certain synergy with the Spheres, in that the Spheres uses additional spatial information about where the noise is situated from the Roger On 3 to optimise its performance. The Roger On 3 is also useful in its own right when using the table mode, which I need as I attend classes in French/German.

A final comment, the Intents may well work for you if your hearing in background noise is superior to mine, or just a mild/moderate loss and you do not need the additional SNR benefit. There are a lot of people who have had no issues with the previous generation of Oticon OPN, with it’s open sound paradigm. It may also be that your lifestyle factors are different and you are not in such extreme loud noises environments very often. The only way to know is to trial and see.

I have custom cshells.

I agree with glucas, the audeo spheres are more powerful than the intents in background noise.

But not everyone needs that. Particularly if someone is in an open dome, or vented dome with decent SNR ability, or even a severe loss with good SNR ability (it happens). I don’t think they’d really notice a difference between the SNR function of the Intent and the Sphere. Phonak’s classic bluetooth still offers more connectivity flexibility and the sound quality is better than MFi or ASHA, but that’s not going to be for too much longer because I can see auracast speeding up (the auracast and LE sound with the intents/zeals is very good). Phonak’s accessories are better–better sound quality on the mics and overall easier to use, but if you aren’t someone who really struggles in noise you probably don’t depend heavily on accessories anyway. Annnnd, auracast might change that, too. The sound of the intents is nice, the fit on the ear is nice. The software is a bit more limiting. Phonak is better for steeply sloping losses and their frequency lowering is better. For pediatrics the play power BTE is very small and cute, and oticon still has a pediatric RIC for older kids. However, the roger educational system is prefered in our district. Uh, I like the toggle button over the single button. I like the colours of the Intent and the Play.

So, just trade-offs.

I am actually in love with the Zeal and I am pretty sad that it’s an uncomfortable fit in my ear.

I did get my new Sphere 90s yesterday. So far experience has been good. I think my audiologist did a great job setting them up with REM. She did use frequency lowering compression technique due to my severe high frequency loss. She also set up Spheric speech in loud noise manual program. I haven’t had a chance to test many different environments yet. I did detect that autosense has a speech in car program and I’m hoping that it works well. I’ve always had a problem with conversations while driving. One real win is being able to hear my wife much better, even when she is talking to me from another room! I’ll be interested to see how they work in church service tomorrow. The new titanium ear molds feel very good.

Think you I did just that today. It worked great.

I had Oticon from 2013 for 8 years & thought they were stellar; then I got Phonaks & could not believe the leap especially for music; it was groundbreaking for me & I got to truly enjoy music again. It “could” just be 8years of tech advancement but I don’t think so; I’ve oticon loaners once & again just couldn’t compare them for “me” to the Phonaks. Very likely I won’t try anything else going forward but I never say never, if my Audi was to put something forward. About to go for an update in the next month or two so I guess we’ll see.

Back in November 2025 I was a new HA wearer and over the past 15 month I have had the ability to test virtually every major offering of RX HA’s. I started with the Rexton Reach from Costco, it was ok, better at own voice & feed back than others, but below average in noisy environment. Next was the Starkey Edge AI 24, which really did not work for me, probably due to poor fiting. Then the Oticon Intent 1, very good in noise & feedback but terrible in own voice, Following the Intent was the Signia PC&G BCT Excellent at own voice, but not great in Noisy environment. Followed up with the Widex Smart Ric 440, while not an AI device the Smart Ric was probably the best fit at that point. Own voice was very good, Noisy environment was acceptable, sound was more natural, however 3 factors were unacceptable, shape of aid, fact that there were no button, indicator lights or way to turn aid on/off other that with a magnet or charger and most importantly no handsfree/duplex for phone other than wearing a secodary device. I probably could have lived with the first 2 but in this day and age not having hands free was not an option. Next up was the new Widex Allure, The only good feature of the Allure was own voice, feed back was worse than all the others and noise reduction subpar. My AuD suggested I try the Phonak Sphere I90, I was hesitant due to the size and battery life, However, I was truly amazed at the performance, My own voice was a bit of a problem, however, my audi worked to achieve an acceptable level. When the Ultra firmware came out she upgraded the I90’s and happy to say there was a significant improvement to an already excellent HA. Especially in battery life and my own voice. While I was not enamored with the Starkey Edge, when the Omega AI 24 was released I wanted to give them a try. Happy to say they are a significant improvment over the Edge. I think the most significant change is the Spatial DNN 360. The Sphere’s still are significantly better in a very noisy environment. I think the sound of the Omega is more natural than Sphere, the size of the Omega is definetly smaller. I have tried both in very noisy restuarants and as I have said the Sphere’s definetly have the edge there, however, when the user adjusts the Omega’s with Edge+ mode and directionality they are certainly performing above average. Just to eliminate any questions my AuD followed Best Practice & REM on all devices as well as multiple intermediate adjustments.