Dear Phonak, your Lumity battery isn't good enough

I am impressed by the length of this thread in only 5 days!

Also very happy to have trialed both the rechargeable Phonak L90’s and Oticon Real 1’s with 312 batteries. It is such a luxury to not have to recharge every day. And when I do after 5-7 days depending on streaming: It takes all of 10 seconds per aid.

I drive an electrical car. I repair my gadgets when they break. I recharge all AAA and AA and Li-ion 18650 cells every time they get empty. So with hearing aids, I am very glad to to use lead-free Zink-Oxide batteries. I don’t even throw them away: We use them as counters for playing games. Great product!

Only for those people who can’t handle the button cells anymore it’s a real improvement. Not there yet, though.

@georgiasunflower said:

Hearing quality is so much better with my KS10 rechargeable aids. But the phonak battery aids do the job.

Just in case someone comes to the wrong conclusion from this…there’s no correlation between battery type and hearing quality.

@Gsk said:

any idea how many days battery will last for vivante 312 with power reciver. my guess lumity won’t last more than 14 hrs with power reciver.

I’m not sure. ~4 days? Less with streaming? The Marvel 312 does about 4-5 days.

@MDB said:

Would a Roger iN’s receivers work? In other words would you be able to install the iN’s “licenses” into the Unitrons and have them work?

Yes, any Unitron device that is Roger Direct compatible. So definitely the Vivantes, but I think also the Blus (oh yes, I see Baltazard hit that already). With the Marvel/Paradise era chargers, the matching Unitron devices were really difficult to pull out of the charger so we didn’t fit many of them. Historically I like Unitron, though. Their flex trials were nice before demos became more standard. The localization considerations in the Tempus line were really nice. And as I said earlier, they used to be better at keeping more advanced features down in “lower” tech levels (like wind noise management), particularly back when they had a five level line-up rather than four.

I agree. I have Lumity 90s and the battery life definitely leaves much to be desired.

I was not trying to imply that. Simply that I prefer the KS10 to phonak

Yes I do use a baby monitor but I still use the hearing aids because I worry I won’t hear the monitor. But I appreciate the recommendation. Love to hear ideas

Yes and no. If you need an UP BTE, it’s going to use disposable 675 batteries because rechargeables just don’t have enough power. And if you want some of the latest technology that requires higher voltage, then you’re going to find it only in rechargeable hearing aids. So there is some correlation between battery type and hearing aid features. However I’d agree that one is not going to sound inherently better because of the battery type.

“Hearing quality” and features seem really hard to separate. I’d agree one could define a difference but when I look at discussions on this forum many revolve around the quality of the app or streaming. I’m not an engineer, but I believe @Um_bongo (who has an engineering background) stated that some newer features (I’m not sure if that’s right word) require higher voltages. Phonak had different features on their rechargeables vs disposables, but I guess depending on one’s perspective that’s part of their grand plot to eliminate disposables.
Found the post I was thinking of: Continuing the discussion from Oticon More: Rechargeable vs. disposable batteries::

It’s an engineering issue: more volts and more amps equals more functions in your current chip and more transmission ability with your aerial circuits.

Or you have to redesign the chip to do the same stuff more frugally on less energy. (Hello Starkey Genesis)

I’m not sure if we’re there yet, but I did read about Hybridised Analogue/Digital processing that basically leaves the analogue stream alone while side processing the digital signal and just ‘tuning’ the output with the digital enhancements. This seems to relieve the digital side of the heavy lifting wrt amplifying the signal while still offering the extra benefit of a bit of machine learned tuning.

Where did you get this information from? I hope it happens!

You are welcome @rsinclair123… Hopefully all goes well, and please let us know how you get on with the Naida Lumity… Cheers Kev

I’m using the Lumity with a cros receiver. So far 12 hours is the max I can get with it. I can get through a day at work but if I’m out after work on a Friday I am now using my old hearing aids part way through the day and then swapping to the Lumity.

Feels like these will be going back within the 90 day trial.

@DavidE said:

I am now using my old hearing aids part way through the day and then swapping to the Lumity.

Feels like these will be going back within the 90 day trial.

@MDB said:

And if you want some of the latest technology that requires higher voltage, then you’re going to find it only in rechargeable hearing aids.

This is fresh. I never heard this before. Phonak do this? they defeature on 312 battery version because of this?

What about Oticon/Dermant brands? They both have 312 and rechargeable.

I know some chips and technology need some voltage and power to operate. But I never really thought about this.

This means I want cutting-edge technology and better sound. I will need a rechargeable version.

But 16 hours of daily use is still not enough. Let’s alone battery life degradation and holding charge at 80% after XXXX charges. Expect to hold charge for 10–12 hours after 2 or 3 years. This is actually awful.

Some may argue “Hey, you can charge your smartphone every night; why not hearing aids?”.

Came from a 312 battery that was able to be used for 3-4 days straight… that still awful.