Phonak Spice

Hi. I currently wear the Widex Passion 115 in both ears, and while I love the sound quality, they break down every few months and have to go out for repair. my new audiologist has recommended the Audeo Smart S IV from Phonak (but I’m not even sure the model name is correct). I’m concerned about some of the discussion of the constant switching of the programs in the Phonak. Is the auto mode so bad that you have to constantly manage them with a remote? That seems kind of old-school. I’m curious if anyone has any experience with Widex and switching to Phonak. I’m also curious how durable the Phonak’s are? I can’t wear the Widex to the gym, bike riding, etc. because even moderate moisture shuts them down. Are the Phonaks good for an active lifestyle?

Thanks so much! I’m new to this board but look forward to joining the discussion.

Chris

@cjithaca25 said:

Hi. I currently wear the Widex Passion 115 in both ears, and while I love the sound quality, they break down every few months and have to go out for repair. my new audiologist has recommended the Audeo Smart S IV from Phonak (but I’m not even sure the model name is correct). I’m concerned about some of the discussion of the constant switching of the programs in the Phonak. Is the auto mode so bad that you have to constantly manage them with a remote? That seems kind of old-school. I’m curious if anyone has any experience with Widex and switching to Phonak. I’m also curious how durable the Phonak’s are? I can’t wear the Widex to the gym, bike riding, etc. because even moderate moisture shuts them down. Are the Phonaks good for an active lifestyle?

Thanks so much! I’m new to this board but look forward to joining the discussion.

Chris

I have been using phonak for the last 5 years and never had any trouble with them. I could wear them while riding bike, playing tennis (indoor and outdoor) and jogging.

I have to say I always wear old style BTE’s (like the ambra’s I got today) so I don’t have any experience with RIC.

@cjithaca25 said:

I’m concerned about some of the discussion of the constant switching of the programs in the Phonak. Is the auto mode so bad that you have to constantly manage them with a remote? That seems kind of old-school.

Thanks so much! I’m new to this board but look forward to joining the discussion.

Chris

Regarding the switching in the Soundflow (automatic). Since this was reported in earlier posts and not resolved here in this discussion, i will give you what my Audie told me.
In my second fitting he relaxed the aggressive switching and it seems to have calmed it down. As i understand it can be adjusted, and is normal as the previous generations were adjustable in this respect. Same goes to other HA makes. Hope others will chime in and confirm what i am saying.

@Kyaniet said:

There’s one thing my audi and I haven’t solved yet. We put autozoom in a slot and it seems to work quite well. But how can I get the old zoomcontrol like exelia art has with 4 directions to choose from? I have a MyPilot but pushing the central button for a few seconds don’t the job. (I get the main menu instead). Do my audi have to put the normal, manual zoomcontrol in it’s own seperate slot?

Second question: I also have acoustic phone but the speakers amplify the surrounding sounds even more than in automatic. Is there something that should be changed in the settings? Using MyPilot for phone give excelent results btw.

To get to ManualZoom, first select AutoZoom then press the arrow button on MyPilot corresponding to the direction you want the microphones to be on.

The Acoustic Phone program increases the gain for the lows. Initially, Acoustic Phone was unusable for me until I had my Audi reduce the lows.

Initially the gain for iCom was set just right for me. Then we installed Audio Jack as one of the programs for the iCom. This caused the highs to be too hi and the lows to be too low. Apparently, it takes a different gain adjustment when using audio streaming with the iCom versus using the hearing aid microphones. I going for my third fitting now to resolve the problem.

Just got fitted with the Audeo S IX’s yesterday. Overall, am pleased even as my ears and brain adjust to their sound.

Couple of things that I’ll be watching for:
In SoundFlow (automatic program), I’m hearing a lot of general background white noise. I’m coming from in the ear, so I think this may be just getting used to more of the general high pitched sound available with a behind-the-ear open dome fitting. But I’m not sure I like it all that much.

On that note, in general the sound feels a bit too biased toward the highs. I may ask my audiologist to adjust for a fuller, richer sound profile.

On my right ear, the audiologist disabled whistle manager as he was adjusting the aid to get more for me from it with an open dome. I had four occasions on the first day where I heard a clip of feedback noise as people would start speaking. I’ll want to see a fix for this.

Based on the suggestion of others, we programmed the following: DuoPhone, StereoZoom, AutoZoom, Music and Mute. I love StereoZoom and AutoZoom. Not so sure about DuoPhone, you first have to activate it, then hold the phone just so. . .

One thing that I noted that no one else has mentioned was that when he programmed AutoZoom, he clicked on a check box to activate “Direct Touch”. What that allows for is for me to kick into “Zoom Control - Right” when I activate the program with using the button on my right hearing aid or “Zoom Control - Left” when I activate the program using the button my left aid. I like that better than just Autozoom (which I can still activate using the remote) as it gives me fast access to the two most likely uses for zooming (as a driver or passenger in a car). I’ll use StereoZoom for forward situations and the remote for anything else. . .

Although I hate the necklace form factor, I do love the functionality of the iCom. Sound for my mobile phone for calls is great. I will want the audiologist to change the sound profile for music. Again, I just find everything too “trebly” and want more richness. I’ve found this listening both to music via bluetooth and also via directly connecting the iCom to my computer or mobile via the 3.5mm cable.

One thing I really liked with the iCom was how easy it was to set up with my Mac. I can listen to youtube or music really easily and the mic supposedly also works for things like Skype (which I haven’t tested).

The only thing I’m not liking with the computer is that as alert tones play, the iCom tends to miss them or clip them. The alert is generated by the computer, passed to the iCom which plays its “I’m activating” tone but then misses playing the alert before playing its “I’m disengaging” tone. So if I get an email, I don’t hear the email tone but an “I’m activating” then “I’m disengaging” tone from the iCom. I’ll see if there’s a way to shorten the delay in sending the audio through to the hearing aids when I next visit my audi.

More notes to come. So far, I’m really pleased. I’ll be setting up the TV link for iCom tomorrow. Just had to order a longer cable than came with the unit.

@cnicklo said:

One thing I really liked with the iCom was how easy it was to set up with my Mac. I can listen to youtube or music really easily and the mic supposedly also works for things like Skype (which I haven’t tested).

Did you connect to your MAC via bluetooth or audio cable? I couldn’t get bluetooth to connect.

I tried connecting via both Bluetooth and audio cable. Both were successful.

On Bluetooth, I first turned on Bluetooth on the Mac, then paired the iCom. I also checked the box to show Bluetooth status in the Finder.

From there, when I wanted to hear sound via Bluetooth, I pulled down the Bluetooth menu in the Finder, and selected the iCom. That may be the step you missed?

Chris

@Stratuscom said:

Did you connect to your MAC via bluetooth or audio cable? I couldn’t get bluetooth to connect.

@cnicklo said:

Just got fitted with the Audeo S IX’s yesterday. Overall, am pleased even as my ears and brain adjust to their sound.

One thing I really liked with the iCom was how easy it was to set up with my Mac. I can listen to youtube or music really easily and the mic supposedly also works for things like Skype (which I haven’t tested).

Hi, I was trialing the iCom for awhile with my core Phonak Smart IXs (I’m going to be trialing Spice very soon) but I was having trouble connecting it to my computer (a Lenovo PC). I use an IP phone and would like to use the iCom with WebEx conferencing software that my company uses, which would stream audio over my computer. I know you are on a Mac, but can you describe how you set up your icom with the Mac?

@davidbarry said:

Hi, I was trialing the iCom for awhile with my core Phonak Smart IXs (I’m going to be trialing Spice very soon) but I was having trouble connecting it to my computer (a Lenovo PC). I use an IP phone and would like to use the iCom with WebEx conferencing software that my company uses, which would stream audio over my computer. I know you are on a Mac, but can you describe how you set up your icom with the Mac?

Try updating the iCom firmware version to the latest, iPFG 2.6b and Target has the new iCom firmware. Also check my previous post on updating iCom firmware.

I got my new Ambra just a couple days ago and I am extremely satisfied with it’s performance. I did the fitting myself using the iCube, I had to reprogram it about 8 to 10 times to get to it work the way I wanted it. The one thing I noticed that, the new target software doesn’t have “AudiogramDirect” feature which was there in the previous software iPFG. I did talk to phonak and they told me that the new target software release coming out early next year will have that. I am looking forward for that to further fine tune my hearing.

While programming my Ambra, i heard some sound I never heard before and I looked around to find what it is and realized it was the sound of my wall clock tick. Something that I never heard before

I got my new Smarts today.

So I have the Smarts IX and the YES IX now

In the meantime I could get used to the Phonak aids.
I do not have the feeling anymore to hear some white noise.
I wear the new smarts 11 hours today and so far they are good.

Audio had 2 new pairs. One with the standard receiver and one with the xPower. I could choose. The standard was programed like my YES and the xPower was programed in a secret way she said. It was how she would do, a way of her own secret cook book, she said.
In the beginning voice recognition was hard with the Smart xPower. But now, after some hours, I could understand everybody, even soft speaking people. Some T and F were not easy to understand.

Program change is no problem anymore, I think my brain has learned to ignore it, like when you have new glasses and the brain adapts his software.

I always test it in youtube. Hearbooks and different songs with words to understand. I have no music program, but music is good, not too thin.

Zoom I will try later. First I am happy to test a pair of smart with normal function.

Hello All,

Thanks for all of the great posts!

After 2 weeks of Audeo S Smart IX use, I must say that these really are great hearing aids. I’ve been limited to using them for approx. 5 hours per day due to significant ear canal discomfort using the power domes (especially on the R). It feels like a low grade electrical burn that resolves very quickly when removing the domes and switching back to my micropowers with custom shells. I’m not sure if I have the power or the superpower receivers…I’ll check with my audiologist next week during my second visit. On a good note, my custom moulds, myPilot and icom have arrived and I will be picking during next week’s visit. My audiologist informed me that there will be a Phonak rep present to help her get up to speed with the new Target software.

In terms of performance, these are great. Voice clarity is unsurpassed in most listening environments. I’ve been using these aids in full auto mode as described in my previous posts. I have the buttons on the aids programmed to control volume, but I have rarely needed to use this. My brain has become accustomed to the auto switching feature and I actually prefer these to my beloved micropowers! I still feel that sound flow is too sensitive and I will work with my audiologist to adjust this. There is really only one program that I dislike and I’m assuming it’s the speech in noise program from what everyone has been describing in their posts. This is the mode that feels like my ears are completely plugged, all background noise is muffled, and there is a continuous “sea shell” like rumble. Whatever this mode is, it is quite annoying. I will be able to tell for sure once I get my hands on a remote.

Anyway, I’ll touch base after my visit next week. In the meantime, keep the great posts coming!

This is probably comft in noise. Your aud can either deprioritize it or lessen the gain reduction. You could also turn the volume up when this happens and the aid will learn that you prefermore sound in this mode.

@RonnieG said:

There is really only one program that I dislike and I’m assuming it’s the speech in noise program from what everyone has been describing in their posts. This is the mode that feels like my ears are completely plugged, all background noise is muffled, and there is a continuous “sea shell” like rumble. Whatever this mode is, it is quite annoying. I will be able to tell for sure once I get my hands on a remote.

Anyway, I’ll touch base after my visit next week. In the meantime, keep the great posts coming!

Hi RonnieG, I’m still wearing the core Smart IXs and I also found the comfort in noise is the program that is really bad as per your description. Since you can’t get rid of the program in auto mode, my audi came up with a great solution: have your audi program comfort in noise using the exact parameters as used in speech in noise. Then when it automatically goes into that mode you no longer have that occluded-plugged-up-muffled background-noise-feeling.