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Phonak 'Spheric' mode not effective

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I am on my second week of using new Phonak Audeo Sphere I90 hearing aids.

Overall, they may be an improvement over my 10 year old Phonak aids but not really that noticably. After experimenting with different settings I now, for the most part, just leave them in automatic mode. My biggest hope for improvement, and greatest disappointment, is in the 'spheric' mode. It seems that the loudest emvironment I have been is so far is the church auditorium before worship starts. The surrounding noise is almost too much. When i check the setting on the it shows that they have went into 'spheric' mode but I am not getting anywhere near the results that I was expecting/hoping for. I still have overwhelming sounds coming from all around and across the whole room. Nothing at all like so many of the reviews/videos described. I have an appointment with my audiologist in a few days and hopefully this can be improved. Am i expecting too much or is there a way that this mode can be improved?

Edited to add that I do have custom fitted ear molds which seem to be working good.

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Oh yeah you can definitely customise sphere mode, ask to have it set up manually, you shouldn't read to much into what you read on the interwebs, your certainly not going to restore your hearing or anything, for me it's just a glorified AudioZoom from yesteryear, keep a watch out for future releases from Phonak as this can only get better overtime, also sphere is for conversations in loud noise, not so much just for noise reduction.

In reply to @tenkan

@tenkan said:

for me it's just a glorified AudioZoom from yesteryear,

Spheric speech clarity doesn't operate in a directional mode in any way and can achieve up to a 10dB improvement in . It is totally different to audiozoom in terms of performance and how it works. Are you taking from personal experience? You don't have an loaded.

Yep from personal experience, they sounded very similar, robotic speech, unnatural, yep I'm familiar on how they work.

Edited

In reply to @Hearing_Potential

The auditorium is basically a semi-circle (plus a little), probably 130 ft across - so maybe 65 ft deep. Front wall is mostly standard sheet rock walls with maybe some acoustic improvment in the stage area. Sides and back wall are mostly interior wall to the foyer and one side is partially an outside wall with several large windows. Floors are carpet, seats are fabric covered, ceiling is probably a 25 ft high dome. About 150-200 people milling around and talking before things quiet down. Once the service starts, acoustics and sound systmem seem good. I think then that I notice an improvement over my old . I was expecting that the noise around me would be diminished greatly and only the noise/speech in my close vicinity would be clear. I know that is expecting a lot but that is what the Phonak claims, and video examples, seem to promise.

What type of domes/molds do you use? Sphere works best with a more closed acoustic coupling.

Posting your may help with suggestions from the forum.

My audiologist said many clients return Sphere as they do not see enough benefits versus their older Phonaks. Obviously the older the aid, the less that might be the case. If you're not happy with new Sphere (and even if you are) you may want to return them and get the newer Phonak that will be officially announced soon (this week). If you keep aids a long time, getting the newest version versus the two year old one could be worth the trouble.

In reply to @passinthru

Yeah, that's a very challenging listening situation. I think your expectations are probably a little high, but also it may be that the compression settings in your aids need adjusting so that softer more distant voices aren't amplified as much.

Edited

In reply to @passinthru

For more accurate advices it could be good to provide more accurate informations:

  1. Entering tonal in profile setting (also bone thresholds)
  2. If you had it checked - in quiet for each ear separately and binaurally
  3. What diameter of vent do you have in your earmolds?
  4. What receiver power do you have?

In my case, there is really life-changing improvements, making many social gatherings reachable. However I have 100% WRS in my ear.

My understanding is that it's limited to omnidirectional and the pinna effect in the spheric speech in loud noise programme in Infinio/Ultra. This is different to ultrazoom which is what Tenkan was referring to.

Edited

I have a custom program based on spheric and with that focus turned all the way up. (I call it Laser). It makes a difference in rejecting noise from my surroundings for sure, and I think it helps me hear speakers in front of me some, but it is subtle and i need to play with it more.

WH

@WhiteHat said:

I have a custom program based on spheric and with that focus turned all the way up. (I call or Laser). It makes a difference in rejecting noise from my surroundings for sure, and I think it helps me hear speakers in front of me some, but it is subtle and i need to play with it more.

It's subtle, because you will notice the biggest difference when the ActiveVent is in the closed position.

When I’m in spheric, activevent is always closed. What I mean by subtle is that when I change the focus from wide to narrow and back I can just barely distinguish a change in desired voice if I’m looking away. Just a hair better while wide. Just a hair better when I change from looking away to looking at while it is set to narrow. The difference in rejected noise isn’t subtle. Going from wide to narrow while turning away from noise sources makes for a distinctly noticeable improvement. I wouldn’t buy new aids over it, but it was a rewarding thing to discover. I thought that control had no real purpose, but it is good in some situations. In a bigger social situation, not just one conversation partner, it isn’t as helpful.

WH

Can the Activevent mechanism be maintained or cleaned to last longer, perhaps with electric contact cleaner or something else that might be appropriate and skin safe?

In reply to @OcramSagev

I’d say my right goes 8 or so months. Left is maybe 6 months on the money. Left has more earwax. I was told by someone working for the company sonova sent 5hat work out to that they believe moisture and earwax account for short life of the mechanism. They get “sticky” and tend to stick open. It drives me crazy when they stick closed.

WH

Seems they need a cleaning mode that cycles them while solution clears the wax and lubricates the mechanism. Perhaps the receiver end could be capped to keep the solution out. Probably few want to deal with that and folks will just buy replacements.

In reply to @WhiteHat

@WhiteHat said:

I was told by someone working for the company sonova sent 5hat work out to that they believe moisture and earwax account for short life of the mechanism. They get “sticky” and tend to stick open.

And unfortunately ActiveVent isn't available with EasyGuard domes.

I wonder, since a broken MAV receiver is thrown away anyway, maybe it is possible to clean it with a non-conductive organic cleaning fluid?

In reply to @WhiteHat

@WhiteHat said:

What I mean by subtle is that when I change the focus from wide to narrow and back I can just barely distinguish a change in desired voice if I’m looking away. Just a hair better while wide. Just a hair better when I change from looking away to looking at while it is set to narrow.

An interesting observation. Perhaps narrowing is beneficial for people who complain about hearing unwanted voices instead of the voice of the person they are talking to. However, I think that this is due to improper positioning of the Sphere's microphones due to e. g. incorrect wire length.

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