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Oticon introduces Oticon More

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Experience from the first fit for a client. Nice :slight_smile:

Two more videos reviewing

I’m very interested but would like to better understand few things:
1 When is the non rechargeable version coming out? I like the ability to to swap hearing aids batteries in less than 30 seconds

2 How does compare to mFi in terms of feature set and audio quality? I’ve been a forced iPhone user and would love to return to an Android if and only if the audio quality and ease of use is comparable.

I’ve never talked to anyone who has tried both. Not sure if any current support both. I would be surprised if and aren’t quite similar, since they are both based on LE. I agree with your sentiment about batteries. I find that they last long enough that I would rather be able to carry a couple of spares and change them when I need to.

In reply to @atmunited1

I just watched Dr Cliff’s review of the Oticon More and he did state that Oticon will be coming out later this year a full line of More aid’s that uses disposable battery, so that’s encouraging. Now the question is (1) what date does this happen (hopefully summer or sooner) and (2) will the Oticon More accept a size 13 and 675 battery. I’m assuming the size 13 is a given, but maybe due to aid dimension size a 675 battery will be too large. At the high end hearing loss level Oticon is marketing the More for anyone with a severe hearing loss level. That might (again) suggest the size 13 battery is the max size. A profound hearing loss many times dictates a 675 battery, which may or may not be offered. Anyway hope we don’t have to wait for fall or early winter for disposable battery roll out.

Edited

While I don’t want to side track this thread from discussion about the Oticon More into a pros & cons discussion between disposible and rechargeable batteries, I’ll just offer my following comments because we have 2 members asking about the disposable version of the More:

  1. To me, changing out disposable batteries is a hassle because I’d have to give it a few minutes after I remove the seal for the battery to oxidize first. If you’re in the middle of a conversation or something, it’s even more of a hassle because I have to stop, remove, fumble with the new batteries to open their seals, and wait a few minutes before I can swap. I don’t have this issue with rechargeable batteries, assuming they’d last me all day, and usually the lithium-ion version does last you all day. I never again have to open another battery door, remove the dead battery, remove the seal on the new battery, wait a few minutes, replace the new battery into the door, then close the door. Multiply that twice for 2 . With rechargeable batteries, I just take it out of my ear and flop it in the charger every night. Voila! This is not even considering the dexterity issue some older folks have yet. I don’t have any dexterity issue, and the process of changing disposable batteries to me is already a drag.

  2. If I don’t want to deal with the interruption of my disposable battery failing in the middle of the day as described above, I guess a solution is that I can just swap out for new batteries every 3 or 4 days, depending on how many full days they would last on the average, and I don’t mind wasting the remaining juice that would only carry me on the last partial day. But now… I’d have to try to remember which day I replaced them last time, which is a hassle in itself. If replacement every 3 full days, I guess I can solve this issue by just replacing them on the same days of the week, like Sunday, then Wednesday, then Saturday, but oops, the next cycle won’t be the same weekdays (Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday) anymore. Same issue with replacement every 4 full days, because a week has 7 days. So this solution is not optimal either.

  3. People want to not have to lug around a charger when they travel due to space constraint or lack of power source. Well I don’t think space is really a big issue like you say, even if you travel minimally with a backpack, you should be able to find room in a backpack for your charger. If the issue is lack of a power outlet like if you’re camping, most charger now runs off a 5 V battery pack just like your phone, so however you manage for your phone, you can manage just the same for your HA charger.

  4. Some people say if their rechargeable batteries fail or their charger fail while they’re on travel, then they’d be out of luck. That’s true. But your HA can fail just the same. If I travel, I would pack my backup HAs that run on disposable batteries, and that’d be the end of my worries.

I’ve come to the realization that my next set of HAs will be a Lithium-ion rechargeable set (none of that ZPower crap, though, due to their reliability issue). I’m done with disposable batteries for the reasons above.

In reply to @mazda4me

I did not watch the review, but I think it very unlikely that the Oticon More (a receiver in canal () hearing aid will come out with a 675 battery) 675 batteries seem to only be used in Ultrapower Behind the Ear () hearing aids like the Oticon XCeed. Oticon may come out with an Ultrapower BTE based on the More platform at sometime, but I don’t think it will be anytime soon.

Edited
@Volusiano said:

don’t want to deal with the interruption of my disposable battery failing in the middle of the day

Many hearing aids now, if not all give a warning sound when a disposal battery gets low. Once you hear the low battery warning, you have two hours to change battery before it cuts out.

@Volusiano said:

changing out disposable batteries is a hassle because I’d have to give it a few minutes after I remove the seal for the battery to oxidize first

Few minutes to oxidize? Where did that come from? 45 second to 60 seconds. I’ll take 60 seconds to insert a fresh battery that will last a very long time over three hours of battery charging every night.

@Volusiano said:

If you’re in the middle of a conversation or something, it’s even more of a hassle because I have to stop, remove, fumble with the new batteries to open their seals, and wait a few minutes before I can swap

Why - two hour low battery warning gives you plenty of time to discreetly replace your old battery with a new one. Then again who wants to change a hearing aid battery in front of people? Not me.

@Volusiano said:

But your HA can fail just the same.

Yea for rechargeable aids and disposable aids. With disposable hearing aids all you have to worry about is your aid performance after inserting a fresh battery. With a rechargeable hearing aids you have to worry about aid performance, daily battery recharging, charging unit performance and of course limited options to dry out “aid” at night or during the day.

There are pluses and minuses to each but I bet odds of an aid losing battery power are far greater with daily rechargeable aids versus disposable battery aids that can last a week, ten days, two weeks depending on what size battery you use and streaming level. In any case I’ll be waiting for the More aid with disposable battery to test later this year.

In reply to @Volusiano

She is charging $6400 which would include the TV accessory. The OPN S1 is a loaner aid im not sure what the price point was. Seems as though 6000 is the magic number b/c thats what I paid for my Unitron Moxie top tier aides 4 years ago. T

Edited

In reply to @Volusiano

Nice write up thanks. How do you manage dehumidification if you use rechargeable?

I have custom molds, is humidity less a problem to the receivers than those soft replaceable molds used with moderate hearing loss?

Most of us do put our ’s into a dehumidifier overnight.

Edited

In reply to @mazda4me

@mazda4me said:

Why - two hour low battery warning gives you plenty of time to discreetly replace your old battery with a new one. Then again who wants to change a hearing aid battery in front of people? Not me.

It may be the case for other hearing aid brands, but my personal experience on the Oticon OPN 1 with disposable batteries, which will very likely be the case for the Oticon More as well, is that I usually get maybe a few minutes (probably 10 minutes top) if I’m lucky after I get the low battery warning chime before my hearing aids stop working. If I’m in a middle of streaming something, it’d be even less, like within a minute or two. But it’s definitely not 2 hours. This may be because of the brand of disposable battery I use (Kirkland), but that brings up another point, a variation in performance between battery brands to consider. But I’ve used the PowerOne brand before as well, with not much better result.

Regardless, I can’t count the number of times I get inconvenienced by having to change out dead batteries when I was in a middle of doing something important, like in the middle of a conversation, a middle of a phone call, in a middle of watching a good movie which I can’t pause because other people are watching too.

To me, debating whether it takes a few minutes or 60 seconds to oxidize is a moot point. It still takes time to oxidize. If you sit there twiddling your thumbs waiting, either 60 seconds or a few minutes, missing out on something important being said, it’s still a hassle.

Nightly battery charging is really not a big deal. With a rechargeable , I take it out at night and flop it inside the charging slot, that’s it. With a disposable battery HA, I take it out at night and open the battery door and place it down. Same amount of work.

As for worrying about drying out the hearing aids at night, I would argue that by design, most manufacturers probably seal up the battery door of their rechargeable hearing aids tight enough not to allow moisture to penetrate the inside of the hearing aid in the first place. So there’s no need to worry about drying out the inside of a rechargeable hearing aid anymore. Which is actually an advantage because humidity becomes a non-issue for rechargeable HAs.

You can still use a dryer to dry out the receivers and the external microphones just the same with either type.

In reply to @MDB

@mazda4me said:

Many hearing aids now, if not all give a warning sound when a disposal battery gets low. Once you hear the low battery warning, you have two hours to change battery before it cuts out.

With my Oticon S 1 aids (85 receivers), I get less than 15 minutes from the 1st low battery chime until Bluetooth goes off and then another period of less than 15 minutes before the aid shuts down. In many cases, especially if streaming or on the phone, it is less than 10 minutes from the 1st chime to off.

It is interesting to note that the instructions with the Oticon Genie software state that a new unused battery should be used for programming an aid and that the new battery should be allowed to activate for 2 minutes before starting the aid.

Other hearing aid and battery manufacturers give widely varying time periods from peeling the cover to use - I’ve seen 10 seconds to as long as five minutes.

In reply to @Volusiano

@Volusiano said:

If you’re in the middle of a conversation or something, it’s even more of a hassle because I have to stop, remove, fumble with the new batteries to open their seals, and wait a few minutes before I can swap

Hm, my battery aids chime, then I know I’ll have like 3 or so more chimes until they’re dead, each I think is with 15 min apart. Don’t know exactly, I didn’t measure, but I do know that I really ignore them, it’s bunch of them, and then it finally dies. It definitely could be 2h with half an hour reminder, time flies. Yes, I’m mostly waiting until the battery is dead, if I’m at home doing nothing important.

So if it’s important, when I hear chime, I just pull out the new battery and leave it to breathe until second chime comes, and I then quickly swap. Even when on calls, swap and reconnection goes fast. But ok, I don’t have any dexterity issues and I definitely don’t fumble. I swap batteries while walking, sitting in the train or wherever, I mean, I don’t need the table in front of me.
And I don’t have a problem of changing the battery in front of anyone.

Phonak marvels and paradises, 312 and 13, T and not T, all had similar behavior. All with power one batteries. I’d expect similar behavior of all new aids. OPN 1 are as of now 2 generations old, no?
But my widex dream also beeped and I had some time until it dies (like 15-30 min?). But ok, only one beep and I wasn’t streaming with them.

I must say, after this experience with phonak M and P, I’d be really frustrated going back to some aid that would beep and die in a few minutes.

Also, I really wonder how much rechargables can last daily.
With S and M receivers, R works great for many people and they have like 30-50% of battery left after a whole day with some streaming as well. Maybe with P also? But SP/UP… not sure

My findings were that with P, and BT streaming, each hour eats 10% of the battery. For phonak aids so BT classic.

I think R resound was better and could survive 16h day with 8-10h of streaming, someone reported that? Not sure about oticon. Since it’s also BT LE, I’d expect it eats less battery.

But, with stronger receivers, especially in phonak’s case, I’d be very cautious. I just wouldn’t expect R will do the whole day, especially if person needs a bunch of BT streaming.

My 13 for P receivers and bunch of BT streaming is around a week (S receiver is around 10 days). Wearing 6-10h a day, 2-4h bt streaming.

Without streaming, 312 were 1 week for P and 2 weeks for S, but also, 4-6h wearing a day.

R was around 40-50% left with P (actually S was similar) but those days I didn’t BT stream as much as I do now with 13, TV connector yes.

UP/SP definitely uses more power.
R devices are just that - R for any receiver, they have the same mAh available, so it really is a question how many hours you can get out of it if you need stronger than P receivers.

Not to mention, depending on your environment and streaming needs.

If oticon more really can deliver 16h day with 8-10h streaming for SP/UP receivers, then I’d expect those devices to maybe even cover two days for S-P receivers, which would definitely be a move in a good direction :smiley:

When rechargeables will be able to hold 5 days, with 6h BT streaming, on P receivers, that would be a game changer.
Until then, except if you have dexterity issues (go R) or need for A LOT of BT streaming (probably go battery), choice is very subjective, based on personal preference / annoyance.

In any case, battery endurance for P+ receivers on oticon more would be very much interesting to hear about.
Especially since they’re using neural network, to see how much that thing drains battery :smiley:

I’ve got to agree w/ Volusiano:
Rechargeable ’s are just so intuitive, with my OPN S1 R:
Remove at night, and place in charger (Contactless, too)
Plug in ConnectClip to charge
Plug in smartphone to charge.
Get up in the AM, and you are ready!
I had the Oticon OPN1 with batteries, and it was a PIA to have to replace batteries while driving, eating, or most any activity.
BTW, I used to get close to an hour after the 1st warning chime, but that is just another distraction I can do without!
The Oticon, and I’m sure Phonak, etc,rechargeable all have water resistant cases, so no humidifier needed, as well.
No cons for me!

In reply to @Blacky

I think there’s a lot of variety in how ’s with disposable batteries chime for a battery warning. My KS9 is as you describe and I do as you do, changing batts on second chime. However my KS7s used to chime very frequently where it was not feasible to wear them once they started chiming because it was too annoying.

I am amazed how many people using disposable batteries talk about getting caught at inopportune times to have to change batteries. Once I figured out my average battery life (in my case it is 5.5 days) I just set a reoccurring “appointment” in my phone (in my case for every 5 evenings) for bedtime. I don’t care if I waste a few hours of battery time. I always clean my domes and check every evening when I take out my , and I check my phone to see if it shows that I have a remove batteries notification. If I do have a notification, since I’m already cleaning the HAs, I just pop out the batteries and put out two new batteries for morning. Easy peasy. Just to be safe, I carry two batteries in a container on my key ring, but I’ve never had to use them (I just have to remember to rotate the key ring batteries every year).

Edited

I’m now on my second day of trialling the much hyped Mores, and I thought I’d put down a few initial impressions. A few caveats first:

I am completely blind, and therefore rely on hearing as the primary sense to navigate my environments. Localisation, and having the ability to orientate myself spatially in my environment is crucial to both getting the most out of life and staying alive. Literally. I also can’t rely on lip reading, facial cues, etc, so I am dependent on the aids’ ability to cut through the noise and deliver clear speech in all kinds of different background environments.

The level of my hearing loss is moderate, and is similar in both ears.

I have been a long time Oticon user, getting my first pair of aids in 2007. My current pair are OPN aids from 2016. I have also recently trialled the Phonak Paradises for a point of comparison. My exposure to other brands is non-existent.

To work on a computer, I use screen reading software. I use the connect clip and a Sennheiser BTD 800 dongle to stream the synthesised speech direct to my hearing aids. I also stream speech and other content from my iPhone, so I think it fair to say that I would stream more than most typical users, and on multiple platforms.

Batteries typically last me about three days, and I loath them. I also think they’re a major health hazard for kids and animals, and am of the strong opinion that the sooner a way to make disposables either non-existent, or safer, the better.

Sound quality
My experience when trying to make a comparison between the sound of the OPN aids and the More’s is that the More has a richer, fuller quality to it. It is exactly the same kind of sound… there just seems to be more of it. It is too early to tell propperly yet but I also think that my ability to localise sound is enhanced. Small things… the hiss of a bus door pulling up in front of me or slightly off center, the sounds of traffic lights on an intersection, or the precise location of cars as they drive through it. I also think, although can’t be sure at this stage, that my ability to hear objects in my environment is enhanced. for someone who is blind, this helps to work out whether there is a wall or open space nearby, where inn the room you are situated, etc.

Speech in Noise
I’ve used every excuse under the sun to get out there and put these things through their paces. From my particular perspective, I am very impressed. I am able to get really good speech clarity with the specific program I have had set up for loud environments. this includes hearing people in masks in loud cafe and restaurant type settings. Again, it is too early to make an honest comparison between the existing OPN aids, and the More’s, however, I have felt both comfortable and engaged in those environments I have tried out so far. It is nothing Earth-shattering, but it is enough to make me think that they’ll make a significant difference to what I can decipher in challenging hearing situations.

Battery Life
I wore the aids today for almost a full 10 hours, with heavy streaming. at last check the batteries of both aids were at 35%. when I purchase, I will definitely be opting for the rechargeables, and I am very confident that they will last me all day. I will definitely be buying an additional charger to take with me to work etc, as well as my previous aids for backups.

Connectivity and the App
The aids work well with my iPhone straight out of the box, as previous Oticons have done. the app is intuitive and easy to use, and this is coming from someone for whom accessibility in apps is a big deal. In particular, I love the sound booster feature, and the streaming equalisation settings to emphasise high, mid and low frequencies. My music and spoken word on my iPhone is already sounding clearer and sharper after a bit of a play with this feature.
I am experiencing a glitch in streaming from my laptop, and hoping this can be resolved with a firmare upgrade on the Connect Clip, or else repairing. My speech cuts out after about five to ten seconds into speaking… reading a paragraph of a document, or menu item etc, before coming back in again 5 to 10 seconds later. Early days, and I am not reading too much into this, but not at all good if I were relying on them to make a work call and read docs through streaming. I am very confident that it will be resolved soon by asking the right questions and troubleshooting.

I hope this has provided some insights into the More’s from my particular perspective.

@henry.macphillamy Thank you for sharing your first impressions of the Oticon More. Am I correct to assume that both your OPN and your More are the Level 1 version?

I assume that your comparison between the More and the OPN is based on your wearing the More full time on your first days? Do you plan to do immediate A to B comparison in the future by wearing both the OPN and then the More, and maybe alternate them back and forth a few times “live” while you’re still in the exact same environment? This would help showcase the differences between them even more vividly as you wouldn’t have to make your judgement based on loose memories that you have of how the OPN “generally” performed as compared to what you now hear from the More in maybe similar environments but not necessarily the exact same environment at the exact same time.

The reason I ask is because I used to have access to a pair of OPN 3 loaner for a couple of weeks, while I already own a pair of OPN 1 that I still wear myself to this day, and I was able to swap them back and forth in the exact same environments for comparison before I wrote a review of the OPN 3 on this forum, and it helped me tremendously to hear the exact differences right away and not have to rely on my memories on something “similar” and more “general”.

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