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Phonak Lumity Life "Music" feature ROCKS!

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OK. WEEKS of home-related insanity kept me off the board here, while MEANWHLE, I had ordered a 2nd pair of Lumity Life aids. So now I have two of these rechargeable pairs to rotate throughout the day. But that’s a whole 'nuther story…

I got to thinking about how I could improve the quality of ambient music when heard through my aids. There are lots of posts from musicians and other audiophiles about the need for GOOD-sounding music, whether you’re a performer, sound engineer or a listener like me.

I enjoy streaming music from Quboz or ROON through my cell phone, but often, we have our home hi-fi on, and the experience is way different! The reason is that my aids have that built-in Noise Management, which tends to compress the dynamic range and make ALL sound (speech, music, ambient noises) dampen WAY down to a much lower volume.

Today I went in to pick up the 2nd pair of Life aids and got a dedicated MUSIC feature added to each of my pairs. WORLD of difference!! I can now enjoy our hi-fi music from any room without that Noise Management hammering it down to a pancake. I was really amazed at now noticeably improved the ambient music listening experience is now. So, I’ll keep this as a dedicated program on my aids.

My audi merely turned the feature ON as program #2, then tweaked the bass a bit, and we were done. VERY HAPPY!

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Totally agree!!! Music is phenomenal with the new Lumity heading aids. I’ve actually started listening to music again for the first time in years. Biggest difference is the bass combined with the music program.

Jordan

@1Bluejay the dedicated Music programs were available for your OPN’s, & Marvels, as well.
Too bad the fitters overlook the needs of audio lovers.
Part of a Hearing Aid Fitter’s initial interaction with a patient should include the question: Are you a music lover.
The automatic Phonak Music program is a joke.
Autosense can’t tell music from a faucet running water!

@flashb1024 said:

The automatic Phonak Music program is a joke.
Autosense can’t tell music from a faucet running water!

The old Phonak SoundFlow worked so much better for music. It actually went into music mode.

Since using AutoSense, I’ve never had my Aids go into music despite being near music / listening too music.

Dr. Cliff mentions the need for a separate music program in his vLog on “What’s the Best Hearing Aid…” He also says for best music appreciation, you need a hearing aid with a wide dynamic range of amplification because the range of loudness in music is much greater than that of speech, and he actually mentions Oticon, not Widex(?), in that regard.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/the-best-hearing-aid-for-speech-music-occlusion-effect-drcliffaud-vlog-148/72735?u=jim_lewis (member archive)

In reply to @flashb1024

Yes, the so called Musicians PRogram on my Signia Ax 7s was terrible, as in a disaster, unusable, until I got it adjusted. I had to walk the signia rep and my audi through the very simple process of turning off feedback management and a few otehr things. Now these aids are fabulous for playing and listening to lvie music.

In reply to @flashb1024

@flashb1024 said:

Autosense can’t tell music from a faucet running water!

That was pretty much my experience with the Phonak Autosense. It does a LOT of things very well, but it seems to think all noise is NOISE, and if anything gets too loud, EVERYTHING is turned down: speech, noise, music, the fire truck screaming by, someone facing you and having a conversation, someone mowing the lawn 20 feet away…

I feel very fortunate that I took the plunge and just dedicated a program for MUSIC now. To my amazement, I was listening to our hi-fi at home and heard instruments and nuances I’d NEVER heard before in these familiar pieces. Kind of felt like I’d missed out on 30+ years of hearing good music, but then I’d never heard it till today. :smile:

In reply to @jeffrey

My audi ran the anti-feedback program on my aids so now I can press my hands to my ears and NOT get feedback. After setting up the Music program, she asked if it sounded ok? I played some songs through Quboz over my cell phone right in her exam room! We both agreed that just a TEENSE more bass would be better, so that’s all the adjustment I got done. LOVE the result.

It will be very interesting to attend a symphony or concert or hear live music, too.

In reply to @jim_lewis

I turned in my Oticon OPN aids cuz I had so much trouble just distinguishing speech way back then. I found my Phonak Marvel aids noticeably better than my pretty awful Phonak Audeo B-Direct aids, but the Phonak Life aids are hands-down the best I’ve ever worn!

I forgive them for not being “waterproof”.

In reply to @Zebras

@Zebras said:

Since using AutoSense, I’ve never had my Aids go into music despite being near music / listening too music.

You tore a page out of my book! I think AutoSense is too smart for its own good. When listening to music, the AutoSense would turn ALL volume down most of the time, but annoyingly, now and then, the true dynamic range of music would play for maybe 3 seconds? I’d be saying, “YES! That’s what I want!” and then AutoSense would kick in again and every sound in the room would just go way down in volume.

I’d swap that same Music program for the Comfort in Echo I have on my backup Marvel aids, but I actually need the Comfort in Echo, cuz the AutoSense or noise sensing algorithm in those aids is just not at all as good as the Phonak Life’s.

I agree with the comments in this thread too. I now have L90-RLs and my second program after Auto is Music. It sounds better in the Lumity than anything I’ve experienced in years. Both ambient and streaming. Amazing actually. I also play classical guitar and use that to fine tune my aids using the Target approach. Very happy.

The new Autosense 5.0 in Lumity is excellent and automatically switches into music mode with no issues. The music usually has to be playing for 5-10 secs before it switches but I can definitely notice when this happens because the bass suddenly kicks in and the music suddenly improves in dynamic range. I have never had to manually switch into music mode unless I’m playing my guitar and want to keep the hearing aids in music program for an extended period of time.

Jordan

Hum. You’re right about the aids kicking in to Music mode, but I found that only lasted a few seconds. It’s like my aids’ Autosense sensed all the other sounds in a room and would quickly turn the volume down on absolutely all of them: speech, music, ambient sounds.

That’s why I got the Music feature enabled and will keep it as a selectable program on my Life aids. When I want to hear music, I want to HEAR it without any diminished volume or dynamic range.
:smile:

In reply to @jim_lewis

@jim_lewis said:

He also says for best music appreciation, you need a hearing aid with a wide dynamic range of amplification because the range of loudness in music is much greater than that of speech, and he actually mentions Oticon, not Widex(?), in that regard.

Thanks for the link, upon listening to Dr. Cliff, he does indeed mention Widex along with Oticon.

It’s safe to say that all the brands have adopted the principle of increased dynamic input headroom.
Widex pioneered the concept, I think, and I know Oticon implemented it with the OPN, and Phonak with the Paradise.

@jeffrey said:

the so called Musicians PRogram on my Signia Ax 7s was terrible, as in a disaster, unusable, until I got it adjusted.

By default the Music Program on my Oticon More was awful, as well.
Some fine tuning is usually required, just as @1Bluejay mentioned by her having the bass boosted.

@1Bluejay said:

I feel very fortunate that I took the plunge and just dedicated a program for MUSIC now. To my amazement, I was listening to our hi-fi at home and heard instruments and nuances I’d NEVER heard before in these familiar pieces. Kind of felt like I’d missed out on 30+ years of hearing good music, but then I’d never heard it till today

Well said, and I concur.
I thought my Speaker system sounded good 30 years ago, until my Son informed me the tweeters were blown!
Attending live concerts, and listening to HD music on my home system are a joy since getting hearing aids, and learning how a Music Program can add to the enjoyment of the world of sound!

@Baltazard said:

It seems like Phonak’s AutoSense lacks common sense :rofl:

Absolutely!!

@1Bluejay said:

That’s why I got the Music feature enabled and will keep it as a selectable program on my Life aids. When I want to hear music, I want to HEAR it without any diminished volume or dynamic range.
:smile:

Yes, that’s the KEY.

Here are a couple of useful links for us Music lovers.22
https://www.musicianswithhearingloss.org/wp/links-3/55

I’ll close with this:
The loudest noise in the world is silence.10

Thelonious Monk

@jim_lewis said:

He also says for best music appreciation, you need a hearing aid with a wide dynamic range of amplification because the range of loudness in music is much greater than that of speech, and he actually mentions Oticon, not Widex(?), in that regard.

@flashb1024 said:

Thanks for the link, upon listening to Dr. Cliff, he does indeed mention Widex along with Oticon.

I missed the audio in which Dr. Cliff’s mention is quite clear. My wife didn’t want to hear YouTube playing while she worked on her medical charts at the kitchen table. So, I was reading the closed-captioned machine-generated audio transcript (which shows is not yet ready to take over the world!). Here’s what I read:

image

So, I missed Dr. Cliff clearly name-dropping ReSound as well as Widex! My Bad! :see_no_evil:

@jim_lewis said:

So, I missed Dr. Cliff clearly name-dropping ReSound as well as Widex! My Bad!

You’re better off not hearing Dr. Cliff!
He has the most irritating voice I know of.
Matter of fact, I may just connect my Noahlink Wireless to Genie2, and block all his frequencies, and start using CC!

In reply to @flashb1024

that link to Association of adult musicians with hearing loss is very good. Click on Hearing Aids for Music and then the “quick start guide for audiologists” or the one just above it. Then take this in to your audi.
A great resource for getting your aids set up for playing music.

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