Debate - Oticon Reveal vs Phonak EON

It worked

Tagging the Phonak EON worked for me. I got notified for the post.

Keith at Hear's The Answer has been my audiologist for about 8 years now, and he has always been excellent to work with. I just got the Reveal 1's about two weeks ago and so far I am liking them a lot. I had Phonak Marvel's for the past 8 years, so this is a big upgrade for me. I had the opportunity to try both the Eon and the Reveal before making a choice, and I probably would have been just as happy with the sound quality of either. To me the reveals felt just a bit more rounded, and I was very intrigued by the Oticon approach of including the contextual sounds of the surroundings. Hearing more of the surroundings has been an adjustment, but the longer I have these, the more I am liking them. For instance, I was watching TV the other day in a room with an air conditioner running on one side and a dishwasher running on the other, and even though I could hear the a/c and the dishwasher running, I could still hear the TV and understand what was being said. It's hard to explain until you experience it, but it really does work. Also, the wind noise reduction is really good with these. In a 20mph wind about 90% of the wind noise is gone. No screeching, scratching wind in your ears, just a little whisper. There is some directionality to them that I've noticed. There are sensors that track head position and movement and the AI attempts to focus on where your attention is. For anyone trying to decide between these two, you really need to try them both to know what will work best for you. They approach the same problem from two fundamentally different angles. I honestly wasn't sure I'd made the right choice the first few days, because there was so much more information coming into my brain than before and it was a little overwhelming. But I think I've turned a corner and am now very much enjoying hearing everything around me. I like to hike and be outdoors, so I'm looking forward to being able to a more fully immersive experience while outdoors.

Paragraphs are cool…

Thank you so much for sharing this!

Now to see what my audiologist says!

Thank you for posting this information. Let us know your experience outdoors. A couple of months ago I turned back a pair of Intents because I felt they were too directional when I was walking in the forest in our neighborhood. I couldn’t hear rushing streams and waterfalls after I passed them, but worse than that, I couldn't hear cars coming up behind me until the almost at my shoulder.

great comparison topic! it would be interesting to see where each one truly stands out and whether the sphere has any serious competition.

Yeah, look at Hear Advisor, but AFAIK, Fortell is incompatible with Android phones. And was tested with power domes compared to the Eon Sphere which was tested with vented domes, which gave Fortell a bit of upper hand.

Of course, I think Fortell would have won regardless of the above, even if Phonak Eon Sphere had power domes.

And I don't know of Fortell gave benefits when talkers are not right in front of me.

With Phonak HA, I can adjust mics directionality in Spheric Speech Clarity program in myPhonak app. And it really helps to hear better also people who don't stand right in front of me.

Good point. But a directionality adjustment in the middle of a situation like that isn’t exactly convenient …

Vented domes are at such a disadvantage in high ambient noise situations — they literally hamper the noise reduction.

Doctor Cliff, AuD37Phonak EON Sphere vs Oticon Reveal: Which Is BEST?

Here you go...

@MattHdeJonge said:

Fortell Spatial AI doesn't require binaural use :-)

That's good to know :-)

I think it's important to emphasize that fact, especially when Fortell will be available also for monaural users.

It makes Fortell HA, along Phonak Audeo Infinio/Eon Sphere (and possibly? Starkey Egde/Omega AI) the only HA for monaural CI users with relatively good hearing in HA ear.

I wanted to add EDIT correction in my last post based on @MattHdeJonge reply, but there's a bug which makes it impossible (empty field after clicking "Edit [post]").

I spent about an hour in my audiologist's office trying both under simulated listening situations for crowded restaurant noise, quiet talker, music, etc. I felt like I could hear about equally well with either product, just differently. For instance, in the noisy restaurant situation the Phonak heavily reduced background noise to focus on the person speaking, where the Oticon kept the background noise but still made the speaker's voice clear and understandable. I have found this works equally well in the real world. Also, I have a co-worker who has a very quiet voice that I've always struggled to hear if I'm not looking right at her when she starts speaking to me. With the new Oticons I've found that I'm much more likely to catch the first few words she is saying even though she is off to one side of me and not directly in front of me when she begins speaking.

So far I'm finding the Oticons to be a much more immersive hearing experience. I hear things behind me and off to the sides much more than I did with my previous Phonaks.

I confess that I don’t really understand the Oticon approach. How can they make the speaker’s voice clear and understandable while keeping the background noise — at the same level? Doing doing so would necessarily seem to interfere with comprehension.

I simply hypothetise than Oticon Reveal could be better in quiet than Phonak Eon for people with mid- and high frequency hearing loss, because Oticon can provide more gain in that range.