I think my audiologist is charging approximately $6K for the new Smart IXs with iCom, myPilot and unlimited visits. The provincial government here in Ontario, Canada kicks in $1,000 grant (every 3 years) and my company medical insurance pays another $500. The Canadian tax department then lets you write off the rest as a medical expense deduction on your income tax return so you get the tax you paid on this amount back as a refund.
So…the net cost to me is about $3,500. If I keep them 3 years then its about $100 per month to hear properly. Not a bad deal all things considered.
JordanK.
Very interesting. I will get a refund from my Medical Cover of $500.00 and probably around $1,500.00 in my Tax Refund and I get NOTHING at all from the Government. I would pay anything to hear properly (oh well within reason)
I noticed today that I was having problems understanding people in calm situations with the Ambras in automatic, but when I switched to Zoomcontrol in the calm environment I could understand them. Anyone have a suggestion as to what adjustments are needed?
Sorryy - I cannot give any advice in this situation. Normally increase the mid-range & higher frequencies to improve clarity. But I’m here to seek out advice myself (sorry). I am considring the Phonak Ambra’s and would LOVE to hear some reviews from the the Audiolgists perspective as well as the end users.
Looks like my 12/3 trial is going to be put off a week or so… Not what I wanted but just how the schedules fall!
i hope all had a great Thanksgiving. I’m still stuffed – Well, just got back from the movies {Happy Potter} and ate too much crap! That didn’t help!!
I noticed today that I was having problems understanding people in calm situations with the Ambras in automatic, but when I switched to Zoomcontrol in the calm environment I could understand them. Anyone have a suggestion as to what adjustments are needed?
RonnieG - I am getting fitted in a couple of weeks time with the Audeo S Smarts with super xreceiver. My current aids are the Micropowers same as you, so I will be following what you say with interest. It may help me greatly when I get fitted. My Audie is not familar at all with the Aids (I am the first one she has fitted and she has had no other enquiries - in fact I had to show her where there was a super xreceiver for my hearing loss
as she kept telling me they were not suitable for my hearing loss)
SuJaDon - will you be getting a power-dome or shell? I’d have thought that your low & mid- freq loss would mean you would need a mould…?
As you can see below, my is quite similar (in both “shape” and severity) to yours and I’d resigned myself to moulds. I’d love to be able to wear an Audeo S. Is it possible?!
SuJaDon - will you be getting a power-dome or shell? I’d have thought that your low & mid- freq loss would mean you would need a mould…?
As you can see below, my audiogram is quite similar (in both “shape” and severity) to yours and I’d resigned myself to moulds. I’d love to be able to wear an Audeo S. Is it possible?!
I am getting the hard shell with the Superpower X Receiver. My hearing loss is within the fitting range for this type of aid.
Day 4. Initially have had 4 programs to play with…. auto, speech in noise, calm, and music. No Volume control yet. Stereo zoom, Autozoom and DuoPhone will get activated in a few days.
Solo Piano Music is wonderful, just fantastic in music program and automatic. Without headphones. Granted i altered the equalizer to attenuate the lows and highs but its not a dramatic change. Check out SoloPianoradio.com. on the internet or internet radio in iTunes.
TV not good in music program or Automatic. My Audie once explained to me why tv sound is so difficult to users, cannot for the life of me understand the reason. Speech in noise program was better with TV. And with wireless headphones its better yet but i still need to read lips and captions. With my speech scores nothing will help that much.
No feed back with the model headphones i have. Have yet to experience any feedback at all.
Auto in SUV. Loud. Like others experiencing program switching, this is where i see it the most, on the road. Road noise galore. Switched to Calm program to handle this. In Automatic Occasional Roaring which when i tried to fool the auto program by turning up the radio for a few seconds then turning the radio down would make the roaring or road nose go away temporary.
In a crowded Apple Store speech in noise helped greatly. In other noisy situations voice stood out in both speech in noise program and Automatic. Remember i have been reading lips. anticipating what will be said next and assuming what will be said knowing the subject and object for years so i cannot be good judge of these situations with any HA.
At thanksgiving Dinner with family members all chatting away…. well it was manageable, I did not have the Autozoom and Stereozoom to play with. They noticed me hearing better though.
Next session this week no doubt will improve upon these Smart S SP xReceivers with SlimTips.
SlimTips move around somewhat over time, have to push them slightly in, occassionally
Had my third adjustment of the Ambra MicroPs yesterday. The lows were initially set too high which interfered with understanding speech. Once they were lowered, I was able to understand speech much better.
We were on the phone with the Phonak rep for over two hours. Here are some answers she gave us:
ZoomControl must be installed in one of the five manual slots, even though it is selectable by holding the menu button down for two seconds. This is necessary to allow for programming the fine tuning parameters.
The louder the environment the closer the speaker must be for StereoZoom to pick them up without too much interference. In a very loud environment arms length is optimum. In a more quiet environment, StereoZoom will pickup sounds at varying distances. A sound may be amplified at five feet and then at fifteen in front of the hearer. It is very important the hearing aids are properly placed on the ear for StereoZoom to function correctly.
There are three programming slots for the iCom and five selections: two mobile phone settings, Bluetooth audio, Audio jack, and Audio . The desired program must be installed to enable fine tuning of the audio parameters as well as the microphone settings when iCom is in use. Different presets are available for fine tuning which will also control how quickly sound begins after audio streaming has started.
The SoundFlow (the automatic mode) has four programs that it automatically switches between: Calm situations, Speech-in-noise, Music, and Comfort-in-noise. Anyone of the four can be designated for one of the manual slots; however, if you want to change the audio parameters from the parameters selected in SoundFlow you must install them separately in a manual slot. For example, if you decide you want Music in a manual slot so you can turn off SoundRecover, you must install it separately from the SoundFlow programs or SoundRecover will turnoff for all of the Soundflow programs.
Which of the spice generation has a t-coil? I cant seem to find the info on phonak’s web. This would be a deal killer for me if they dont offer a t-coil. There is a big movement now in the U.S. to push the use of . I attended a basketball game at the Breslin Center/Michigan State University, which has recently been looped making it the largest looped facility in the US. It was FANTASTIC!!!
Had my third adjustment of the Ambra MicroPs yesterday. The lows were initially set too high which interfered with understanding speech. Once they were lowered, I was able to understand speech much better.
We were on the phone with the Phonak rep for over two hours. Here are some answers she gave us:
ZoomControl must be installed in one of the five manual slots, even though it is selectable by holding the menu button down for two seconds. This is necessary to allow for programming the fine tuning parameters.
The louder the environment the closer the speaker must be for StereoZoom to pick them up without too much interference. In a very loud environment arms length is optimum. In a more quiet environment, StereoZoom will pickup sounds at varying distances. A sound may be amplified at five feet and then at fifteen in front of the hearer. It is very important the hearing aids are properly placed on the ear for StereoZoom to function correctly.
There are three programming slots for the iCom and five selections: two mobile phone settings, Bluetooth audio, Audio jack, and Audio FM. The desired program must be installed to enable fine tuning of the audio parameters as well as the microphone settings when iCom is in use. Different presets are available for fine tuning which will also control how quickly sound begins after audio streaming has started.
The SoundFlow (the automatic mode) has four programs that it automatically switches between: Calm situations, Speech-in-noise, Music, and Comfort-in-noise. Anyone of the four can be designated for one of the manual slots; however, if you want to change the audio parameters from the parameters selected in SoundFlow you must install them separately in a manual slot. For example, if you decide you want Music in a manual slot so you can turn off SoundRecover, you must install it separately from the SoundFlow programs or SoundRecover will turnoff for all of the Soundflow programs.
Have to run. Will report more late.
Thanks for the update Stratuscom. I went for my third fine tuning session at the Audiologist on Tuesday morning and he confirmed your points about ZoomControl needing a program slot to program it properly. In fact, when you place ZoomControl in one of the slots and access the settings, there is a check box on the screen which allows you to activate ZoomControl using myPilot. In other words…you cannot access ZoomControl in myPilot unless you put ZoomControl in one of your 5 programming slots. Makes sense.
I am still very pleased with these hearing aids and I have been quite surprised about how little fine tuning was required to get the hearing aids to this point. I believe that the new software makes all the difference.
I have used the hearing aids in a number of different environments over the last week and they performed extremely well. I’m very interested in hearing other people’s impressions over the coming months. I’m keeping these hearing aids and the Alera 9s are going back.
This is day 2 for me trailing Audeo 5 Spice,So far it has been a great improvment.I have the standard open receivers and the only problem I have is getting them into my ears,Im sure it will get better with practice.
I was surprised by how quick the audi programed them with the new target software.He just used the auto function and it worked for me,I run them in auto with a volume control on the buttons.
I was able to watch Tv without my loop system for the first time in years.So far Im a happy camper.
Since September I tested the Oticon Agil pro an since October in addition the Phonak Audeo S YES IX.
Today was the day of decision and I was pleased with the Phonaks.
Because I wanted the new Smarts ( same machine with another box ?) I decided for the Spice platform and took the Smarts.
Audio said, no problem and wanted to take the fitting of the YES to the Smarts (same chip). Had some problems and after a tel call she succeeded in transporting the fitting of the YES to the Smarts.
And now I lost everything. Before TV was not good with the Oticon (but I could hear it) and 80% understandable with the YES. With the Smarts I hardly hear the speaking. No chance to understand. Very low in loudness and another sound now.
I wonder if it is poosible to transport the fitting of the YES to the Smart without changing. I have automatic, speech in calm, speech in noise and comfort in noise. And no program will help me undarstanding people.
Same chip in another box ( Smarts and YES of Phonak) …I cannot believe it anymore. The YES opened the world for me, the Smarts are closing it.
What was faulty ? May be you cannot take the same fitting ?
German your problem may be the audi transfered your old program to the new aids,I would have her save the prgram and then start over. I would have her put your latest hearing test into the program and then use the automatic program to adjust the aids then test the results
I had my aids programed using the new Target software and the auto program and they work great.I was the first customer with the new target software and the audi was learning as he went. Im happy with the results,Dont give up the aids are great if set up right.
Which of the spice generation has a t-coil? I cant seem to find the info on phonak’s web. This would be a deal killer for me if they dont offer a t-coil. There is a big movement now in the U.S. to push the use of hearing loops. I attended a basketball game at the Breslin Center/Michigan State University, which has recently been looped making it the largest looped facility in the US. It was FANTASTIC!!!
Since September I tested the Oticon Agil pro an since October in addition the Phonak Audeo S YES IX.
Today was the day of decision and I was pleased with the Phonaks.
Because I wanted the new Smarts ( same machine with another box ?) I decided for the Spice platform and took the Smarts.
Audio said, no problem and wanted to take the fitting of the YES to the Smarts (same chip). Had some problems and after a tel call she succeeded in transporting the fitting of the YES to the Smarts.
And now I lost everything. Before TV was not good with the Oticon (but I could hear it) and 80% understandable with the YES. With the Smarts I hardly hear the speaking. No chance to understand. Very low in loudness and another sound now.
I wonder if it is poosible to transport the fitting of the YES to the Smart without changing. I have automatic, speech in calm, speech in noise and comfort in noise. And no program will help me undarstanding people.
Same chip in another box ( Smarts and YES of Phonak) …I cannot believe it anymore. The YES opened the world for me, the Smarts are closing it.
What was faulty ? May be you cannot take the same fitting ?
What she should try is toopen your last session with the Yes, go to the instruments tab, while the Smarts are connected. Detect instruments select use setting from Target. That should result in a copy stored on the smarts once she saves. There should be no difference in sound at all.
Can anyone give me some differences or advantages or disadvantages between the
Ambra and Audeo? I have kind of decided on one of these but am unable to see them in person. My audi also does not have much experience with either of them.
Went to the audio today, urgent date. We copied the programs from the YES to the Smarts, changed receivers and domes. Finally there was still a big difference in loudness. They decided, that the new Smart were defective out of the box.
The Smarts will be sent back, they ordered new ones for me.
I have my YES again ( I tested). Service point of Phonak is nearby.
Let´s see, if the new Smarts they ordered will be better.
Can anyone give me some differences or advantages or disadvantages between the
Ambra and Audeo? I have kind of decided on one of these but am unable to see them in person. My audi also does not have much experience with either of them.
thanks
Phil
Looking at the literature for both, the biggest difference I see is the Smart S has the speaker in the ear whereas the Ambra has the speaker onboard the hearing aid. You can search these forums for all of the advantages and the few disadvantages of speaker in the ear (aka, or ). When comparing these two aids you should compare the Ambra to the Smart S IX ,as they have similar features. The Ambra has 3 power levels M, P and SP which can’t be changed at a later date. The Smart S power level can be changed at any time by changing the speaker unit to either standard, power or super power in the event your hearing changes in the future.
Toronto, Canada