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Anyone switch from Oticon More to Phonak Lumity?

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I can get an insurance benefit this year for new , but then I have to wait five more years before I can get another benefit.

I have been wearing Oticon More, which have been OK in most situations, but when I’m in a noisy restaurant/bar/party situation with multiple conversations going on around me I struggle. As others have reported, when I increase volume, activate MoreSound Booster or change to the speech-in-noise program to try to hear the target speaker more clearly the HAs seem to boost the volume of the surrounding conversations just as much as that of the target speaker, which is very distracting.

I realize that this is, at least in part, due to Oticon’s “Open” philosophy. I’m considering trialing the Phonak Lumity, as Phonak seems to rely more on traditional beam-forming, which, at least in theory, might work better for me. I’d be interested to hear about anyone else’s experience who has switched from Oticon to Phonak, especially from More to Lumity. Thank you.

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Edited

More 1-2-3? lumity 50-70-90?
Comparatively in range the Real would be comparable to the Lumity.

The top of the range of each brand is the only one that can automatically adjust signal-to-noise levels in ranges up to 9db. (12db some brands).

But it depends a lot on the patient’s loss, in many occasions, the automatic changes that the hearing aid makes for the polar patterns, lead to very strange sensations, like loss of loudness or cut off, so that this does not happen can be fixed in several ways, one of them, is to adjust the speed of change between patterns, or changes of environment.

I assume that the adaptation is made with ear moulds and . Any other situation is based on an assumption that may not be true.

I’m fascinated with your response. I have a hard working audiologist who shows real genius at times. Yet I have hearing problems using the hearing aids he provided.

I hope your response helps the @ziplock It certainly helped me as I am looking for solutions too.

DaveL
Toronto

@4kHz , I’m talking about top-of-the-line in both cases. Maybe I should revisit using custom molds. I had some made a few years ago but I didn’t like the way they looked. The receiver wires stuck straight out and were very visible. With domes (I’m currently using power domes although the fitting software recommends bass double vent domes) the receiver wires bend to stay discreetly next to my ears. I just want to reduce the distracting noise of nearby conversations and background music so I can more easily concentrate on the voice of the person I’m talking with.

@DaveL said:

I’m fascinated with your response. I have a hard working audiologist who shows real genius at times. Yet I have hearing problems using the hearing aids he provided.

I hope your response helps the @ziplock It certainly helped me as I am looking for solutions too.

DaveL
Toronto

The problem with domes are many and very different.
The market trend has led to generalised fittings when very few people have the ideal 2cc, and have a straight ear canal that does not generate frequency alterations.
It is easier for hearing care professionals to use domes, in the same visit, audiometry can be performed and the patient can take the hearing aids with them.
On the other hand, a fitting with custom earmoulds takes more than 15 days to wait for the earmoulds and check that they fit correctly.
Micromoulds are much smaller than an domes, as the size is exactly the size of our ear canal. So that the wire does not show or stick out, it is heated and adjusted to the curve of the ear.
The size of the venting can be adjusted, which will provide a better fit, as bass sounds will not have to be amplified by the hearing aid, but will sound more natural.

I have not yet adapted any oticon with , but the trend in all manufacturers tends to be the same, and the innovations of one manufacturer are incorporated by other manufacturers in their next generation or in the revision of their generation, for example Lumity uses the same processor as promise, but it improves its signal - noise.
In some cases, the top of the range is not necessary, as their automatic patterns may not suit our needs, and a correctly programmed manual program, with both noise reducers and curves adjusted to the specific situation, will provide better comfort for those complicated situations.

In reply to @ziploc

@ziploc

I have Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s.
waxguards. It’s hard to think about these without swearing. I used conventional waxguards for about 20 years and never had a problem
Just a quiet hint…look at the waxguards and domes before you buy hearing aids. I would have changed brands if I had.
I’m grateful I have hearing aids; I just wish they worked for me.

Phonak is still one of the manufacturers that allows the hearing care professional to make very precise adjustments, if desired, but all these adjustments require a great deal of knowledge and collaboration with the patient.
Both the hearing care professional and the patient must be willing to invest time in the fitting.
In each of the automatic settings that Phonak has, you can adjust the gain curve, polar patterns, noise reduction, and noise reduction. … This has many advantages but also disadvantages if you do not do a good job, as very noticeable differences between environments can lead to very strange situations in the patient, sensations of sudden ups and downs.

Each manufacturer has a fitting philosophy, and it is important that the hearing care professional knows how to fit and how to get the best out of hearing aid.

Of course, you have to start from a base, where the fitting is individualised, with customised earmoulds and testing measures.

In reply to @DaveL

IMO, It’s like a suit, you can make no adjustments to that suit, and you can have a longer sleeve, or a shorter leg.
But if you take that suit to a tailor, he will adjust it and it will fit you perfectly.

Domes it´s a regular fit, standard, if your ear have a big curve, or wide, or narrow…
If you buy a hearing aid, demand a custom earmould and testing.

In reply to @4kHz

Special case. I have a claim for hearing aids due to exposure to work at noise. It’s hard to get stuff now. My audiologist worked miracles getting me the hearing aids when he did. I’m looking for some way to make them work. (I don’t think he had fit Paradise P90’s to anyone before he supplied mine.)

I see Oticon Reals being compared with Philips HearLink 9040s in some threads. It seems the Philips is programmed specifically to help with speech in various environments as opposed to the whole sound scene as with the Oticons.

Edited

Philips = bernafon second brand.
Oticon has some more fitting options in their REAL, which is the new oticon hearing aid.

Bernafon, they don’t advertise their AI hearing aids, but IMO, all of the group’s hearing aids are trained in AI sound environments,
AI, in the end is a lot of sound samples with which the processor can identify noise patterns vs. conversations and adjust .
The manufacturers do not provide us with the information on how many identification patterns one has over the other.
Supposedly the Oticon has 45000 examples of sounds with which the AI has been trained.

Oticon would be above it in price and would be a range above a Bernafon=philips.

Oticon (bernafon, philips) have hearing aids that work very well out of the box, but I always say the same thing, fittings should be custom, and custom earmoulds.

Edited

In reply to @DaveL

For everyone, I see that they put their aerial audiometries, but not bone, I do not see Speech Discrimination Hearing Test either,
It’s important that those tests are done, it would also be great to know if you have recruitment.

A person with moderate hearing loss who has recruitment, and neurosensorial hearing loss, it will be very difficult to have perfect understanding in noisy environments, even with the most expensive hearing aid. If there are no hair cells, corresponding to a frequency, or they are depleted, the sound will not be able to reach our brain in its entirety.

On other occasions I have read many threads on the forum, trying to find solutions to a problem that is much more complex than programming your own hearing aids.

The age, the evolution of the loss, how long we have been without hearing stimulation, influence our hearing loss and how we will react to a hearing aid.

In reply to @4kHz

Thanks for your comments.

I’ve made gains. Quite a while ago, I told the audi that if I put my fingers in my ears, the sound was louder. So he changed domes. From open to large domes with two small vent holes.
I used the app. I saved programs with “clarity” pushed. Greatly improved my hearing/word recognition.

I took the suggestions here for a Phonak suggested program when listening to people who had a mask on, and were talking through the mask. It really helped.

He truly listens; however, I wonder if I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.

I’ve worn hearing aids for 20 years. But I don’t remember hearing cymbals in a long time.

DaveL
Toronto

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