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The Phonak Smart S has changed. New Ceramic case.

Hearing Aids and Solutions | Phonak

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Very nice. I have to decide in the next days.
My audio ordered the black-chrome for me and the fitting was done by phonak-audio.

I could rise the blood-pressure of my audio if I change to the ceramic smarts now.

Edited

You know, honestly, I couldn’t think of a more frustrating job than being an audi. So so many things to worry about, adjust, learn. And then you have people like us with all our idiosyncracies and pet peeves…takes such patience and, unfortunately, some don’t have much. But on the other side it must be very rewarding when you are really able to help somebody to hear clearly and contribute so greatly to a patient’s improved quality of life.

@davidbarry said:

You know, honestly, I couldn’t think of a more frustrating job than being an audi. So so many things to worry about, adjust, learn. And then you have people like us with all our idiosyncracies and pet peeves…takes such patience and, unfortunately, some don’t have much. But on the other side it must be very rewarding when you are really able to help somebody to hear clearly and contribute so greatly to a patient’s improved quality of life.

Well said! I’m going to bring this post to my audie when I ask for my cases to be exchanged…

lol:D

@doubledown said:

Pardon if this was already explained. I understand the stereozoom creates a beam form microphone with the 4 microphones to capture sound. so is the sound generated the same for both aids? so in a way it’s mono and not stereo?

StereoZoom is a narrowly focused beam forward of the hearing aids, and speech is heard in both ears. ZoomControl in Auto mode gives focus on speech from any direction and “blends” speech into both ears. It can then be switched from Auto mode into a directional mode into any ONE of four directions; the speech is heard in both ears. You must have the myPilot to do this.

@doubledown said:

http://www.hearingaidforums.com/showpost.php?p=52229&postcount=12

Can anybody with binaural features turned on please test to see if a person with one functional ear can actually use this feature. Maybe take one of your aids and pull the speaker out of your ear and maybe try to cover up the same ear ear and see if you can use the binaural features with the other hearing aid? I would imagine that stereozoom would work fine and zoomcontrol will work only if you direct the sound to the ear with the speaker plugged into it. thanks

When only one hearing aid is selected during fitting, the programs i.e. StereoZoom, ZoomControl and DuoPhone are not available for selection.

@hearnow said:

When only one hearing aid is selected during fitting, the binaural programs i.e. StereoZoom, ZoomControl and DuoPhone are not available for selection.

Have they released the / version with you yet?

Apparently the Stereozoom will still be an option, which for total unilateral losses will be a massive leap forward.

@Um_bongo said:

Have they released the CROS/BiCROS version with you yet?

Apparently the Stereozoom will still be an option, which for total unilateral losses will be a massive leap forward.

Not yet, probably about mid Feb. The /BI-CROS sounds exciting.

@hearnow said:

Not yet, probably about mid Feb. The CROSS/BI-CROSS sounds exciting.

Looks like a bit of a step forward for the wearers, having a steerable directional pattern using just one ear is going to be a considerable feat.

Sort of takes hearing aids from being just walking sticks to improving the bionic function of the patient.

@Um_bongo said:

Looks like a bit of a step forward for the wearers, having a steerable directional pattern using just one ear is going to be a considerable feat.

Sort of takes hearing aids from being just walking sticks to improving the bionic function of the patient.

I am hoping that this will lead to better success rates for this ppopulation, which previously had to make due with very large and often ineffective solutions.

I hope the transfer mic is much cheaper than a complete hearing instrument though, as you could fudge this solution since the CORE platform came out, but the client would have had to buy two full price instruments to achieve this, which was generally unworkable. Could you conform if the mic is cheaper Um Bongo?

@doubledown said:

I figured this. But for the sake of knowing and the fact that it’s so very easy to try (I don’t think asking a fellow hearing aid user to cover one ear is asking too much). I want to know if stereozoom and zoomcontrol is usable by a person with one good ear using 2 fully functional aids.

A very simple test. You take a person with 2 fully functional spice aids which this board has a lot of. Put both aids on and then turn on stereozoom or zoomcontrol. pull the speaker of one aid out of one ear and cover that ear. Then see if on the ear for which the speaker is not pulled out see if these features work fine. Hey we may learn something new about these features.

By doing this we will learn if a person with one good ear can actually use 2 fully functional aids. May not be a practical solution but at least we know it’s an option.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to see by this test; however, I did it. In any of the zoom modes, all four microphones are feeding sound to both sides, depending on what direction you’ve asked for.

I went to zoom left and removed the left aid from my ear. I could hear in my right ear. I rubbed the microphones on my right ear (opposite the zoom direction) and I could not hear the rubbing; however, when I rubbed the microphones on the left aid, I could clearly hear that in my right ear.

It’s easy to do that test without removing your aid or covering your ear. When you can rub on a microphone on one side (with zoom mode) and hear that in the opposite ear, the wireless connection between the two is pretty obvious.

Is that what you were looking for?

In reply to @hearnow

@hearnow said:

I am hoping that this will lead to better success rates for this ppopulation, which previously had to make due with very large and often ineffective solutions.

I hope the transfer mic is much cheaper than a complete hearing instrument though, as you could fudge this solution since the CORE platform came out, but the client would have had to buy two full price instruments to achieve this, which was generally unworkable. Could you conform if the mic is cheaper Um Bongo?

Don’t know yet. Mini launch scheduled for tomorrow. Clashes with the opening game of the 6-Nations, so you’ll have to work out which one I’m going to…

I’ve got the rep booked in next week so I’ll know then.

In reply to @doubledown

@doubledown said:

I figured this. But for the sake of knowing and the fact that it’s so very easy to try (I don’t think asking a fellow hearing aid user to cover one ear is asking too much). I want to know if stereozoom and zoomcontrol is usable by a person with one good ear using 2 fully functional aids.

A very simple test. You take a person with 2 fully functional spice aids which this board has a lot of. Put both aids on and then turn on stereozoom or zoomcontrol. pull the speaker of one aid out of one ear and cover that ear. Then see if on the ear for which the speaker is not pulled out see if these features work fine. Hey we may learn something new about these features.

By doing this we will learn if a person with one good ear can actually use 2 fully functional aids. May not be a practical solution but at least we know it’s an option.

works differently. You’ll need the signal piped from both ears to the one good ear all the time otherwise your brain won’t be able to establish the spatial field.

In the case of the Spice circuit (in bilateral mode) it will not provide sufficient intensity to the opposing ear to give you a good reference, though the delay might be accurate enough to give you signal location. It’s going to be putting out the majority of the sound on the wrong side which won’t help at all.

In reply to @Um_bongo

@Um_bongo said:

C’mon Kev, everybody wants to twiddle :wink:

There’s probably a bit of being green about the software and not understanding the role of the initial feedback manager run to set the gain up.

You need the audiologist to be able to be willing to make adjustments, otherwise you’re going to hit a brick wall when you come back in with a slight problem. IMHO with the Spice people are being a bit heavy handed with the first adjust.

Shouldn’t have to adjust too much at first fit when the FB manager is also taking a measurement into account. Not sure what people want. From my point of view as a fitter I want as many controls and options as possible when I fit a hearing aid. Not that I will make every adjustment available but it’s nice to know you’re able. It seems some would rather that the manufacturers have only a big “Easy” button in their software that performs a “best fit” and leave it at that. We all know that very few clients end up at “best fit” settings by the end of their trial. As with anything else effective communication is required between the client and fitter. The fitter must ask questions that really get to the bottom of the problem, make adjustments based on their findings AND understand the pros and cons of any adjustment they make (hopefully communicating them to the customer).

As always Um Bongo your posts are… Pure Genius.

One very important note. I have had issues with clients and the “data learning” function. In the Audeo S Smart V and Ambra fittings the software defaults to data learning. This means that as the client is becoming used to the hearing aids and experimenting, the changes they make are affecting the programming of the hearing aids PERMANENTLY. I was having poor success when I first starting fitting these and often had reports that “they worked very well for 2 or 3 days but have been horrible since”. I would strongly recommend disabling the data learning in favor of data logging at first fit (data logging only records the changes for the fitter to see but does not make changes to the programming). Data Learning could be re-engaged at a later appointment at the client/fitter’s discretion.

In reply to @Um_bongo

@Um_bongo said:

Don’t know yet. Mini launch scheduled for tomorrow. Clashes with the opening game of the 6-Nations, so you’ll have to work out which one I’m going to…

I’ve got the rep booked in next week so I’ll know then.

Thank you & enjou the Rugby :slight_smile:

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