Update after 2 weeks:
-
Noise situation 1: Went to the local garden centre cafe with my wife yesterday. This is Saturday afternoon, probably the busiest period of the week. This is a large cafe/restaurant area, seated with over a 100 people, with the usual very noisy counter area, coffee machines, clanging, noise from the inside kitchen. The aids switch immediately to “speech in noise”. I notice the attenuation of the mikes. We decide on food and I join the queue. The queue is at the counter area, and I notice immediately that the program switches to the spheric speech in noise program. What is interesting is that although I am 4th in the queue, I can hear, quite clearly, the lady at the till register taking the order and talking to the gentleman opposite. This is a world first. Usually, I struggle in this kind of environment enough facing the lady or man at the till. As it was, when it was my turn to make my order, her voice was crystal clear, despite the hiss of the coffee machines behind her.
I then return to my wife, sitting on a table that is surrounded by other tables and people. The aids decide to return to the “speech in noise” program. I can hear my wife fairly clearly, but not with the consistency of the “spheric speech in loud noise” program. I decide to switch manually back to the “spheric speech in loud noise” program. All is good.
At this point, as I have Roger On 3 with me, I put it on the table to see what happens. In this situation the result is negative. The “Spheric speech in loud noise” program was already doing its job. Roger On 3 has muddied the water somewhat. I can now hear speech babble, even when I handed the Roger to my wife to wear around her neck. Her voice was fairly clear, but with audible background noise.
-
Noise Situation 2: In the evening, we drove to my daughter’s university, where she appeared in a performance of her singing group, Absolute Harmony. Basically a group of about 15 singers, singing a cappella. The singing takes place in a large lecture hall. We sit down and there is some noise, nothing like in the cafe earlier on, but still the kind of situation that could cause some difficulty. I talk to my wife without difficulty, and then the concert begins.
At the beginning of each song, there is an introduction. I am struggling to hear at this point. This is nothing to do with being a noise situation, but a combination of distance from the speaker and the acoustics of the lecture room, which has high ceilings. Unfortunately I could not make out very clearly any of the introductions until later on, when I took out the Roger On 3 and then realised it was something I should have done much earlier. This is the strength of the Roger in my view, in pointing mode it can pick up speakers voices at distance. I was able to clearly hear the closing comments by doing this. As for the music, the Autosense went into “music” mode and the music was good.
Now, where the “spheric speech in loud noise” really excelled was when we all came out at the interval. We stood in groups outside the lecture hall, in a large foyer entrance area, with all the usual challenges, multiple talkers, fast paced conversation, bad acoustics. The Phonaks went into the “spheric speech in loud noise” immediately and at first I was taken aback, I could hear clear, unadulterated speech coming at me without even thinking about it. It was initially astonishing. I checked the app, and yep, it was in the “spheric speech in loud noise” program. Not only could I hear speech in the group that I was in, of which there were 6 of us (me, my wife, daughter and 3 of my daughter’s friends), I could hear voices from outside of the group, sometimes making out snippets, sometimes not. In terms of our conversation, I followed and understood about 90% of it. The other 10% was some things that were said to the side that I didn’t quite catch. There again, I noticed my daughter didn’t quite catch some words.
It has to be said, and this is a just a comment for the record for those who are interested in the differences between the Intents and the Phonaks with its sphere capability, that this is, for me, the differentiator between the 2 devices. There is no way I would have heard as well in that situation with the Intents, and that is why I bought the Phonaks. But also, just a caveat, it is not going to give you supersonic hearing if you have a severe loss (like myself). It will however give you the ability to conduct conversations, one or one, one or two, without any issues. Within the group in noise situation, it is not 100% infallible, but it is much much better than before.
I want to add a further caveat, and that is for those people who maybe have a mild/moderate loss, or just can hear better in noise, the Intents may be perfectly fine in those situations (or indeed other devices). There have been anecdotal reports of this. So it depends on your loss. For me, unfortunately the Intents have not been effective in really loud noise. Moderate noise, fine, but louder, I have struggled somewhat.
-
My key takeways then are that the “Spheric Speech in loud noise” is pretty much a game changer (and I am saying nothing new I guess as a lot of people have documented this already).
Also, that I am sceptical about the performance of the Roger On 3 in noise. However, in situations where there is a clear line of sight to a speaker of interest, this is an invaluable device.
You’re ignoring this member’s posts.
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
England, UK
Poland