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Dear Phonak, your Lumity battery isn't good enough

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In reply to @Neville

Yeah, I believe @1Bluejay is allergic to both silicone & acrylic? A pita, to say the least! The only other option might be Titanium moulds? Made in South Korea, I believe? I ordered soft acrylic moulds for my Naida Lumity ’s, but they came with absolutely massive vents, and got sent back for ones with no venting! I don’t know if I am allergic to acrylic, but I am certainly allergic to silicon… If the acrylic don’t work, I will order Titanium… Cheers Kev :wink:

They call them but I haven’t seen a pic of one that fit in the outer ear. I’ve only seen pics of titanium molds that stressed their smallness. (I understand they’re great for people with narrow canals as the wall thickness is pretty thin. Do let us know if you learn anything specific.

I will do @MDB, unless I misheard, I am almost certain my A.uD said, £70 each or around $100 each for Titanium molds, I will ask though, and any other snippets of information I can glean, I might just order a set, on my A.uD’s approval :grin: Cheers Kev :wink:

In reply to @kevels55

Mine are for activevent, maybe they also do other titanium molds somewhere else? The video on virto creation says the titanium is made elsewhere, but doesn’t say where.

WH

In reply to @kevels55

Kev, silicone molds are better for your hearing loss than titanium would be if you’re getting along with them.

I don’t think phonak does full titanium molds. Starkey used to dip their hearing aids in gold for allergies I think.

However, I think bluejay has some significant swelling changes with her ear canals throughout the day, iirc, so a solid mold wouldn’t necessarily be great either. I can’t recall if what she’d described sounded like a full skin allergy (immediate swelling and itching) it more of a chronic irritation problem which could be expected if there’s a fair bit of movement and change in the ear canal.

In reply to @davekstott

@davekstott said:

Prior to rechargeable batteries, the ability to have hearing aids connected to just about everything via bluetooth was not a topic of concern…Nor was the concern to have the hearing aids connected to 2 devices at the same time.

I’m not sure what you’re saying. Bluetooth use and rechargeable batteries in hearing aids became prevalent around the same time, but they’re distinct technologies. Bluetooth use adversely affects rechargeable runtime, but so do lots of other things.

@davekstott said:

Phonak states 16 hours of use in the majority of their literature.

I found Phonak Pro spec sheets stating 18 hours expected operating time, with the footnote “Expected operating time of the rechargeable battery depends on active features, the use of wireless accessories, hearing loss, battery age and sound environment”. They could be more specific about the effects of some factors (for example, a table or graph detailing how runtime varies with pure tone average), but they haven’t, at least not on the spec sheets I see. As it is, this information promises nothing.

@davekstott said:

My paradise 70 have never run out of battery power even with 2-3 hours of streaming music and 2-3 hours of TV streaming via the phonak tv connection.

Because you’re able and willing to recharge them during the day.

@davekstott said:

I’m fairly certain that there’s hundreds of thousands of people who have the same experience as mine.

Yes, and that’s why you don’t have to worry about rechargeable aids going away.

I don’t think Phonak’s stated 16-18 hours is totally out of the ballpark. The lowest I’ve ever drained mine is 30% remaining after continuous use from 9 am-midnight (15 hours), including several hours of streaming and phone calls. But there are a lot of variables, and Phonak should do a better job of distinguishing between a typical user and “best case.”

In reply to @Neville

Hi Neville, As far as I am aware, here in the UK, Phonak uses Starkey to make their molds/moulds… That’s what I was informed. I must have misinterpreted @1Bluejay inner ear swelling, I thought this was caused through allergies… Cheers Kev :wink:

@Neville said:

Kev, silicone molds are better for your hearing loss than titanium would be if you’re getting along with them.

I don’t think phonak does full titanium molds. Starkey used to dip their hearing aids in gold for allergies I think.

However, I think bluejay has some significant swelling changes with her ear canals throughout the day, iirc, so a solid mold wouldn’t necessarily be great either. I can’t recall if what she’d described sounded like a full skin allergy (immediate swelling and itching) it more of a chronic irritation problem which could be expected if there’s a fair bit of movement and change in the ear canal.

I’ve just switched from Earlens to Phonak Lumity Audeo L90’s, which are half the size, but I would gladly take the extra size for more battery time. I’m way too old to have someone telling me it’s time to go to bed, but that’s what these ’S do when they’re at 0 battery. :smirk:

In reply to @davekstott

Exactly. I find it hard to believe that Phonak Lumity were ‘pushing the edge’ and could only just achieve 16-18 hours with the tech.

Meanwhile Starkey’s latest RIC models offer 50+ hours and RIC mini is 40+ hours. Yes it’s a different Bluetooth signal but chewing up 1/2 the battery - really?

IMO a senior product owner should have said that 16-18 hours just isn’t good enough to ship. Yes it works for 95-98% of the time but daily reminders of low battery warnings, constant need to charge during the day, no allowance for life curveballs etc. It’s a serious oversight IMO.

In reply to @CombatWombat

There are plenty of brands that are achieving 30-50hours with (and RIC mini) aids compared to Lumity’s 16-18hours RIC.

Yes some things are different such as classic Bluetooth vs low energy but this doesn’t account for over double the difference.

Even advertising 18hours just doesn’t cut it and should be unacceptable even for those who can get by day to day.

I would expect more from a market leader like Phonak.

Edited

In reply to @kevels55

@kevels55 said:

As far as I am aware, here in the UK, Phonak uses Starkey to make their molds/moulds… That’s what I was informed.

Starkey certainly made my NHS moulds, as Starkey is printed on them. My Private Audiologist arranged for my acrylic slimtips (at around £300 which may include a fair markup), which I assumed were from Phonak, but could well be Starkey as the print font looks similar.

This may make my next question invalid. I read that Phonak keep a digital record of your slimtips/c.shells. Could I approach them direct for another pair?

Peter

Edited

I would tend agree Peter, on the markup, £300 is expensive! But, since you never got the aids from your A.uD, they will try and get their cash in other ways… BTW, I believe Ruth @Zebras gets all her moulds from Boots Hearing Care, I think they are pretty reasonable on price? Perhaps another option for future reference… I don’t think it matters if you get your aids there or not, they will order moulds from Starkey for you :grin: Cheers Kev :wink:

Edit; I know for certain, the NHS keeps a digital copy of your moulds, but it only lasts for a year, I don’t know about Phonak, but since it’s a high probability, they also use Starkey, it’s probably safe to assume, Starkey keeps the actual digital file? Cheers Kev :wink:

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