Phonak vs Widex for music quality

Thanks. I was not aware that the ability to program was available for users.

I completely understand as I got my PCP to write me a prescription for my autoPap that specified I was to have he technician/programmer’s manual. There were several parameters that I changed that made it much easier to live with.

Hearing aid tech has advanced tremendously over the past few years. So I wouldn’t trust anything from even 4 or 5 years ago. Newer modes are much better than previous ones.

I don’t have Widex available locally, but I got aa pair of Phonak Audeo P90’s and am very happy with the results. They automatically switch into “music mode” when music comes on, and I don’t hear any artificial artifacts - just better perception of high frequencies.

@flashb1024 said:

Widex line back in 2014, but still holds true.

Not really. Tech is much advanced since then, also from other brands

@firedog said:

They automatically switch into “music mode” when music comes on, and I don’t hear any artificial artifacts - just better perception of high frequencies.

Phonak’s Autosense Music program is not real reliable, you should have your audi set up the aids with the Phonak music program, and you’ll be even more impressed.

@firedog said:

Not really. Tech is much advanced since then, also from other brands

The Phonak Paradise line has improved over the previous generation. I agree.

@firedog said:

What program are you referring to? I looked and couldn’t find something like that.

Here is the list from Phonak.21
It’s under Additional Programs.

Hi Psych1 - always enjoy your posts and comments. How does one deal with Real ear Measurements in a DIY environment?

Well you don’t, you can use in-situ which a lot of people find better then just entering ones audiogram, but REM is not the holy grail of fitting, it’s just another tool in the “toolbox”

@tenkan said:

it’s very easy to simply change the dome to closed and increase your " pump up da bass" for music.

while that’s true for streaming directly into your ears, mixing music on front of studio monitors AND putting in closed domes would mean you are subjected to the frequency response of the hearing aids - which with widex M receivers is 100 to 10000. You’d be blocking above and below that. and there’s a lot that goes on below 100 -bass and bass drum for example. This is all new to me, but I’m trying to think of the best path forward.

Well you have hearing loss in those very frequencies, so you have to try and reproduce them somehow? So HAs and, say good quality headphones then, I believe you’ll get below and above the quoted frequencies anyway, have you tried it, if your a “mixing music” DJ you’ll have some pretty good equipment to test this, a very simple tone generator from here if you wanted to as well.

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/2

I just met with the head of the audiology clinic at the largest hospital in Milwaukee. She said the same thing. I am currently doing a trial of Phonak i90 Spheres with a different company. The hospital audiologist said typically musician prefer Widex because they have a wider frequency range. Also, Phonak takes notes in the higher frequency and shifts them lower. So, unless they shift down a full octave, that would make music sound like a mess. Seems like audiologist don’t deal with notes, music. You know, when they test your hearing, they test 6 different frequencies. I asked an audiologist what notes those frequencies correspond to and she said “none". Those frequencies are actually between notes. Anyway….. apparently you can disable that feature in the Phonaks that shifts the high frequencies down. She did that for me and music sounds better. It was all distorted before she fixed that. There is a new specialty within audiology and there are some “music audiologists”…not a lot, but some.

HAs are not made for “notes” in music,they are primarily designed for speech, including the Widex models, and it’s not the wider frequency range for whatever that means, there’s dynamic range and low latency which gives the Widex a “bump” for musicians.

Speech banana.