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Phonak Sphere 70 vs 90 for hearing aid in just one ear? Is the 90 better when worn in just one ear?

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I am going to be getting my first hearing aid soon. One ear has good hearing, but the other ear’s hearing is poor and will continue to get worse. So I will only need a hearing aid in a single ear. My audiologist said that the benefits of the 90 compared to the 70 are only noticeable when you wear them in both ears, so for my situation the 70 would be just as good. But I’m a little skeptical that the 90 wouldn’t help given everything I’ve read about it compared to the 70. Although, I haven’t found anything specifically comparing the 70 vs 90 when worn in just one ear.

I can afford the 90 but it will stretch my budget. I definitely will spend the money if it’s worth it, but if it truly isn’t significant then saving the money would be great.

Thanks for help.

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Has anybody compared Phonak I70 with I90 Sphere?
Curious if anybody has compared to see what difference there might be. According to stuff I’ve seen the only difference is that the I70 lacks Soft Speech Enhancer, but I wonder if the level of noise reduction ability varies. Thanks. For me there would be an $1800 price difference for a pair.

Take a look at the link

Thanks. That thread seemed to be about using two hearing aids, and I’m specifically curious about the claim my audiologist made that when only needing one hearing aid, there wouldn’t be any noticeable difference between the 70 and 90.

Sphere can be used on one, doesn’t need both… but 2 is always better then one for other basic features.

In reply to @luckybasket

These hearing aids (like many other modern brands) continuously transmit information (sound and control info) between them. Therefore you must expect some of the sophisticated functions will not work nearly as well with only one hearing aid. I don’t know which functions will be critically affected unfortunately. I suspect that you may not notice a difference between the I70 and the I90. The Sphere version of the I90 also is likely to give no further benefit.IMHO.

You might consider the Sonite Rise? It is thought to be just the same as the Phonak I90 and considerably cheaper from Costco.

I would think having the Spheric mode in one ear and normal hearing that gets the full volume of the background noise in the other would be very disorienting. And I’m not sure how well non-Spheric noise canceling would function with only one aid, either, since it relies on being able to figure out the direction of the sound. That might be what your audiologist meant.

In reply to @Hooby

@Hooby said:

I don’t know which functions will be critically affected unfortunately.

Noise reduction etc

@Hooby said:

The Sphere version of the I90 also is likely to give no further benefit.

Why not? As long as sphere mode is active there’s always a possibility of some benefit.

@Hooby said:

It is thought to be just the same as the Phonak I90

It is the same in all but name.

The two differences that I’m aware of between Sphere I90 and I70 are that the I90 has stronger noise reduction in Sphere mode and the Speech Enhancer (basically giving more gain to soft speech) I don’t believe either feature relies on having 2 hearing aids. Depending on how bad your hearing is in that ear a hearing aid may not be of much benefit. Posting your would be helpful.

I remember @Bimodal_user talking about the Sphere’s are unique in that only one aid is needed to function in loud noise, no need for two aids. He will probably chime in on this.

I recall there being a difference to how many db noise separation better you can get with 90 over 70.

WH

You more than likely could use a cros setup but then you wouldn’t be able to use the Spheres. The cros transmits the audio from the aid on your bad ear to the aid on your better ear. My sister has this setup and loves it.

In reply to @MDB

Right now my hearing isn’t too bad in my right ear. Normal range until around 3000Hz when it goes down to around 50bD. But I have a vestibular schannoma so it’s estimated that within the next five years I’ll be functionally deaf in that ear. So I’m looking to get a hearing aid for my right ear as long as it is helpful, and then switch it to being a cros when needed.

In reply to @daraczg

Right now my hearing isn’t too bad in my right ear and it’s fine in my left ear. But I have a vestibular schannoma so it’s estimated that within the next five years I’ll be functionally deaf in the right ear. Currently in my right ear, hearing is within the normal range until around 3000Hz when it goes down to around 50bD. So I’m looking to get a hearing aid for my right ear as long as it is helpful, and then switch it to being a cros when needed.

The size and placement of it (up against my cochlea) make surgery not a good option. They put odds of successful surgery around 30%, and the 70% include immediate loss of hearing and/or loss of facial muscles. Not something I’m willing to risk.

So the treatment option that’s available to me is radiation. But apparently radiation tends to cause deafness within 5 years in the ear for other reasons (something about the radiation scabbing over the hearing nerve causing it to stop working). But at some point when either the tumor gets closer to my brain, or I start to lose significant hearing, I will get radiation on it to stops it’s growth. So right now I either do nothing and likely lose hearing in 5 years, or get raditation and likely lose hearing in 5 years. So the best bet is to wait a while on the radiation and hopefully get lucky and stack those two five years on top of each other and get 10 years of hearing.

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