Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Phonak Lumity vs Unitron Vivante

15 replies4k viewsLast reply

Link to this topic
Reply

Hello,

Is there a significant difference between Lumity by Phonak and the Vivante line by Unitron, aside from the casing, etc.? One notable advantage of Vivante is the 312 with a disposable battery, but how does it compare in terms of quality and performance?

Best wishes,

8 people in this conversation7 min readJump to latest

Phonak and Unitron are the same product with a different name, one of the pros mentioned that the 312 Lumley would be available sooner than later.

They are not the same product. The sound processing is slightly different. But they are very similar. They share the same accessories, same button function, same receivers, and some of the same features.

I have a minor preference for the Vivante, personally. Not enough that I would spend more money on it if there was much difference, but all else being equal.

Thank you. Why do you prefer the Vivante?
If the Unitron and the Phonak devices are the same, why are they still separately marketed under different names?

@gsl said:

Why do you prefer the Vivante?

It’s just something about how they sound when I wear them. Given the time, I try to demo as many new hearing aids as they come out as I can so that I can become more familiar with thir features. However, I only have very mild hearing loss and for most the most part the annoyances of hearing aids outweight the benefits. The vivantes are just. . . less annoying to me, despite identical settings in testbox to the lumities, so right now they tend to be the ones that I use in the situations where I do benefit.

But I would not expect my experience to be at all similar to someone with a more functional hearing loss. My loss is mild and oddly configured and mixed.

In reply to @gsl

They are NOT the same company. They are both under parent company, Sonova. The easiest analogy I can think of is GM with Chevrolet and GMC. They are sister (or brother if you prefer) companies. They have different demographics in mind which dictates some business practices.

Unitron is generally geared to a younger demographic with the ability to move up levels over a course of time.

Phonak seems to be aimed at mature audience. They also have the Roger line (which Unitron devices can use).

I use Phonak Audeo Paradise and Unitron Blu (both are almost the same technology) I use 2 pairs because the rechargeable hearing aid cannot last the whole day because I use bluetooth a lot. By the way, I have come to love rechargeable hearing aids.

My comparison of the two

Same technology, Phonak has a better smartphone app with more details. And the application is updated more often with new features
At Unitron, the application has remained the same since 2021, there have been upgrades, but mostly bug fixes.

Phonak is more polished, because it uses its own tuning formula. I noticed it sounded better than Unitron’s . But it can be improved with more cofiguring in the unitron.

If I’m not mistaken, Phonak supports ActiveVent and unitron doesn’t, I don’t know for sure. If that is important to you, then it is better to take phonak.

My advice for choosing

If there is a big difference in price, the Phonak is usually more expensive than the unitron. Even if the smartphone application is not important to you. Unitron is a very good hearing aid. the difference in sound is easily adjusted. it’s not that bad.

I forgot to write

Unitron gives the only possibility to upgrade the technology to a higher level. There are technology levels 3 5 7 and 9
you can buy a hearing aid now with technology level 3 and try it on 5, 7 or 9. If you want to have it permanently, you have to buy that upgrade. Auidolog sends something to unitron, and in return gets a code to permanently unlock that tech level you bought.

Phonak does not have this option

If you have your own programming device, noalink wireless you can raise the trial technology level yourself. But it will only last for 6 weeks. You can’t do it permanently. for permanent it is necessary to purchase a code from Unitron.

thanks for this information, however I see in vivante 5, there are features like soft speech lift and speech enhancement, but this feature not available in phonak lumity 50, can you please give your thoughts.

Here he mentioned about it, a little that technology levels can differ in options. And phonak mostly has it under their names with which they advertise these technologies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydv7wgIlOv4&t=79s77

To be honest, I don’t really know how useful these features will be. I would prefer to hear it analyzed by an audiologist who understands it better.

Hi everyone!

I am a mother of two toddlers with medium to severe hearing loss and about to buy either phonak sky l90 or unitron vivante 9.

I understand that the second model is meant for adults, but was presented to me as a less expensive option with equal sound quality results.

Now in Greece where I live, trials are not available, nor could they ever help a parent decide. I have the possibility of buying either, but not the luxury of changing them or buying both models. I read comments with regards to unitron like ‘more natural sound’ or ‘more comfort’ which is very important , but the model specifically designed fot this age is phonak sky. My children love music and often show great discomfort from loud noises. Both models have good noise covering and speech in noise enhancements but phonak is often blamed for sound distortions. Sound processing differs between phonak and unitron as well.

Can somebody give me some advice ? Some terms are uknown to me and I need to order them very promptly.

Welcome to the forum @Georgiab this is very difficult decision for anyone else to make, even for yourself as you have no way of knowing how your children are hearing, I think in this case you need to follow your Audiologist recommendation, you could reach out to our resident expert on paediatric fittings @Neville for more guidance.

In reply to @Georgiab

Go with the phonak Sky Ls. The unitron vivante is a -style hearing aid and these are inappropriate options for children up until around age 8-12 depending on the size of the child. If you need something at a lesser price point, ask about the Sky L70s or L50s. Many of the advanced features (e.g. all directional microphones) should be turned off for children at a young age anyway and your children will probably be looking at a new set before d-mics are turned back on. Even the L30s are fine, although it does start to get harder for the audiologist to adjust and works better if you have a flat loss. I think it’s also missing the pinna replacement feature, which is a nice-to-have.

style hearing aids (like the sky) are more robust, have better retention in children which means that they are less likely to be lost. Gain is often more stable. Tube replacements are cheaper than wire replacements. RIC-style (like the vivante) usually fit very poorly in the ear until the child is older; don’t do it. It’s wild that the clinicial even offered them, honestly.

TL;DR Quality and performance of Unitron vs Phonak are the same. But the Unitron often has more features at lower levels and is cheaper, so is ‘better’ for those 2 reasons.

I wore the Unitron Stride () in various technology levels for a couple of years, before that Phonak Paradise BTEs in the basic version.

In terms of sound there wasn’t much between the Phonak and the Unitron - I think they both process the sound pretty much the same way, and the Lumity and the Vivante are the same chip, so deliver the same capabilities.

As has been pointed out, Unitron is usually a bit cheaper than Phonak (sometimes a lot!). The Unitron technology levels usually have more features at a particular level than their Phonak cousin, so if there’s a particular feature you want then do check whether Unitron offer this at a cheaper technology level than Phonak.

@Neville said:

Go with the phonak Sky Ls. The unitron vivante is a RIC-style hearing aid and these are inappropriate options for children up until around age 8-12 depending on the size of the child.

At least in Europe the Unitron Vivante have the Stride range, offering BTE with moulds or domes with disposable battery or rechargeable.

@Georgiab said:

I am a mother of two toddlers with medium to severe hearing loss and about to buy either phonak sky l90 or unitron vivante 9.

I’ve never looked at it properly, but as far as I’ve ever noticed, the main difference between the Phonak Sky and the standard Phonaks is that you can get the Sky in nice colours.

I do wonder whether it’s worth getting the top of the range models (9 / 90) for children? My understanding is that it’s adults who have become hard of hearing that prefer the higher levels because they make for easier listening (focussing on speaker, tuning out background noise etc). Children’s brains are more able to adapt and learn, so don’t need the extra help, indeed, it’s better for them if their brain learns to do the filtering rather than relying on the hearing aid to do that.

Obviously I don’t know anything about what your children may need, but unless you know they need that extra help from the hearing aid (beyond amplification at the right frequencies) then I’d have a chat with someone about whether the (cheaper) lowest level might actually be better for them.

Ah, yes the stride would be fine. :man_facepalming: My brain jumped in the wrong direction. I’d been having a discussion with some other pediatric audiologists about and got stuck on the moxi I think.

Related discussions