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Refitting questions - swapping Infinio for Eons

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Hi all

Two months ago, I got the Phonak Infinio Spheres. I have open easy-guard domes (I had to change the in the first week so changed to easy guard).

My audiologist isn't exactly at the cutting edge, but she's well intentioned and open to anything I bring up. I don't have many options where I live, and I have an energy limiting illness, so going further afield isn't really an option.

The Spheres have been amazing. Meetings (zooms) and television and general conversation are massively improved. Duolingo is so much easier! Even at a noisy event, I was the only one in my group to hear the food van call our number. I felt like I was winning.

I'm still having some echo-like or tinny sounds in my left ear. But even in the last week, I've noticed I'm hearing more and more things I'd forgotten make noise, so I'm guessing my brain is still adjusting in some ways. Two weeks ago, it seemed like everyone's voices suddenly sounded higher. Given my high frequency loss, that feels like a credible thing to experience?

Now, I spoke to my audiologist and she's happy for me to swap out my infinios for the EON, primarily for the size reduction (I wear glasses, I'll take a slight reduction). The size has been my only complaint. I'm a techie type so I'm also excited to try .

I guess I'm asking - what should I ask to try about the echoes in the left ear? Is it possible the initial hearing test was wrong, and that's overamplified? Or is my brain still adapting? Would different domes be better?

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Hello,

You're in a similar position to me regarding Infinio Spheres, fortunately I was within the 2 month trial period when the Eon was announced. Arranged to return the Infinio for the same Eon sphere (E90), although I can't get fitted until 3rd Oct (away on business). No price difference for me in the UK. I also have high frequency loss.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a hearing expert but there was something one audiologist said to me during a test that made a big impression. If you go for many years with hearing loss and take no action to mitigate it your brain will rewire and you'll lose the ability to hear sounds. From that day I wore my every day, for at least 13 hours. Your experience of hearing more every day serves to emphasise that advice.

I don't believe domes would make a difference (but very open to challenge) but you should try the Eon to see if there is any improvement and if not ask your audiologist to make changes. I'm guessing you'll have regular check up appointments in the weeks and months after fitting so plenty of opportunity to try, have changes made, retry etc.

From everything I've read and watched online the Eon are a more modern sideways step on the Infinio so you won't be taking a retrograde step.

Good luck with the Eons, I'm excited to obtain mine but flying out later today.

In reply to @Purpletoaster

Hi @Purpletoaster Do you know if your audiologist set you up as a new/novice user? If so, the hearing aids will have been set to start at a lower amplification level for comfort and to gradually increase over time. I think it's usually four weeks before the hearing aids automatically adjust to the full volume required by the prescription and as would set for an experienced user.

I believe the brain can take six months or more to adjust to hearing aids.

NB I'm no expert just someone with high frequency hearing loss who has had a pair of Phonak Infinio Spheres for about 18 months. Also being a techie type like you, I've recently got a Noahlink and the Phonak Target software to try programming the hearing aids myself (so far with limited success but I'm only at an early stage of the learning process).

At first I was fitted with open domes but then changed to vented domes which did make some improvement. Domes cost very little so I would think would be worth you trying. I also tried power domes, which don't have any vent holes, but I didn't find they suited me. Changing domes requires the hearing aid settings to be changed using the Target software.

As Eons are the Infinio replacements, it'd seem to make sense to swap to the Eons if your audiologist is offering to do this without cost.

I tried the Infinio Spheres Ultra with Open Domes, but I found to much good amplified sound was leaking out, and too much bad sound was getting in. I returned the spheres in favour of the Eons, which have not yet arrived in Canada. However, i requested that my Audi make me a set of custom earmolds with an acoustically optimized vent (AOV). This way, I will have the perfect fit, with a software designed vent that should balance the good sound being processed by the EONs, with the vent to help reduce the occlusion effect. Hopefully this will be the ideal solution for you too. I still have to wait until late October to find out for myself.

Hope it works well but in case it doesn't it could be that AOV is not optimal for you. It's still an imperfect process as there are many variables.

In reply to @mikewot

Hi @mikewot and @Purpletoaster As we all have high frequency hearing loss I'd be very interested to hear how you find the Infineos and Eons compare. I'm outside of any trial period so the Eons would need to be significantly better than the Infineos for me to justify the cost of upgrading even if I can negotiate a discount with my audiologist. I don't find the Infineos as good as I was led to expect by the Phonak PR videos eghttps://youtu.be/jcd3jKE9Oxs

Well none of them are as good as the videos and advertising spiel :-) I did considerable research before splashing out on the infinio sphere i90. They were a step up from my NHS prescribed ones except Bluetooth. The difference in connectivity was amazing! Connect to my Android phone, laptop desktop etc. quickly. Made Teams calls so much easier. I'd have kept them just for that.

The Eon sphere E90 has a similar amount of manufacturer advertising fluff. Except that all of the gadgets and doohickies are the most modern versions instead of 2 years old. Not seen any real comparison videos yet but what I have seen indicates minor improvements on the existing technology plus smoother & quicker transition to different sound modes which I will appreciate. Smaller size will relieve my ears as a glasses wearer, not that it was a big problem. Longer battery life well I never had an issue, generally at 45% after an average day.

Am curious about the chargers, supposed to be a little smaller and more modern. I had mentioned to my audiologist that I wanted the charger go (has a battery enough for 3 charges) and he said they came with both. Not complaining but why? Price for me (UK) was the same, as I already got a price match on the Infinio (which was a great deal, £1000 off) but some sellers have bumped the price up quite a bit.

Hi @mikewot Sorry instead of ". I don't find the Infineos as good as I was led to expect by the Phonak PR videos eghttps://youtu.be/jcd3jKE9Oxs1" I intended to say "I don't find the Infineos any where near as good as I was led to expect by the Phonak PR videos eghttps://youtu.be/jcd3jKE9Oxs"

I also appreciate the Bluetooth benefits over the NHS aids I previously had.

The new Oticon Reveal hearing aids could be worth trying as they claim to take a different approach to help understanding speech in environments such as cafes and restaurants. Like many, that's my main concern.

In reply to @Purpletoaster

You are a good candidate for open domes, your hearing loss is mild mostly.

You are using the Spheres and the noise feature is not going to perform optimally because the open domes pass all external sounds to the ear canal .

There is an adaptation period that takes few weeks. Write down your issues and, discuss them with your . The “echoes” can be fixed with programming .

In reply to @OcramSagev

You are a good candidate for open domes, your hearing loss is mild mostly.

I guess this is my confusion area. I doubt it's that mild loss that was causing problems. It was never that I wasn't hearing anything, it's that I couldn't understand what I was hearing.

So if my high frequency loss is moderate/severe, shouldn't I be using more occlusion for my dome rather than less?

The WHO (world health organization) determines hearing loss using the four-frequency pure-tone average (4fPTA) calculated from hearing thresholds in the better-hearing ear (500,1000,2000, 4000 Hz). According to this, your hearing loss is mild. Is the WHO’s formula the best? Debatable.

don’t always tell the whole story. Sometimes people with normal hearing struggle with speech (e.g. ).

If you switch to more occluded domes, you may experience occlusion and complain about your own voice sounding loud and things sounding artificial . Talk to your provider about this . A dome change requires reprogramming .

My husband was just fitted for the Infinio Sphere ultra last week by the . Is there any chance he could exchange them for the new Eons which VA will have in November?

In reply to @Purpletoaster

With your loss could ask your audiologist to try vented domes, specifically double vented to try and get more benefit from the signal processing of the aids. You can always go back to open domes if it doesn't work out.

In reply to @Purpletoaster

I had open domes on my Lumity’s but last test audiologist said I shouldn’t be using open so changed to easy guard vented it was like chalk & cheese, I then tried the Sphere’s with vented domes but although the sound quality & my hearing was better than the Lumity’s they were uncomfortable & everything was the same regarding receivers & domes I could only put it down to the extra large aid ( kept pulling receivers out ears ) so had to use retainers so now I have EON’s 90 without retainers I am chuffed with them so far still with the medium vented domes .

Just a quick example I filled up my car today ( ouch ) & when stood in the queue to pay I was over 3 meters from the front but I could hear the person at the front talking & even heard the beep when they typed in there pin never heard that before.

In reply to @d.allum

last test audiologist said I shouldn’t be using open so changed to easy guard vented it was like chalk & cheese,

I'm a several generations removed member of the Scottish diaspora and proudly wear several iterations of my family tartan, but there's that famous quotation about UK vs. US citizens, "two peoples, separated by a common language." I'm guessing that the "chalk and cheese" reference means that the second ones were better.

Same thing goes for "chuffed" but my Mac was able to clarify that :smiley:

@d.allum, you have severe loss at 3 kHz and above. That means if you want as much benefits from proper high frequency gain as possible, you should at least try power domes (eg. from Unitron, because of thicker silicone) or custom earmold with small vent.

Look at my - P receiver with power domes are good with excellent earplug effect protecting from noise, but the best was cShell with maximum 1 mm vent or even no vent.

I have chosen UP receiver due to better high frequency gain that P receiver.

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