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Phonak Infinio Sphere I90 Review (Another One!)

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In reply to @Emile030

My shells have Acoustic Codes Right 368 827M Left 369 459M.
From a paper that was returned with the right shell when it came back from repair - Vent Small 1.5mm. I believe the left to be the same size. Both shells are fitted with Paradise 1M 3 pin receivers. They were pre AOV.

The cShell 6.0 Order Form wants , receiver, , accessories, and colour. There is no clue as to what the code numbers signify.

My slimtips have accoustic codes, which are accepted by Target. Phonak UK, apparently keep a 3D record for 12 months. I got a 2nd pair made. They fit just fine. Strangely though, the acoustic codes are different.
Peter

I got cshells with the fit based solely on serial numbers of the cshells I purchased 18 months ago. I don’t know if the new molds were based on the sent 18 months ago or whether they were based on the new audiogram. There was hardly any difference. They fit very comfortably . Unfortunately there was a mixup somewhere along the line because the P and M receivers were each in the wrong ear. Currently back to Phonak for a remake.

In reply to @PeterH

I got a second pair made for my KS10s (hoping they could be used for the Spheres :frowning: ) and they had the same code. They made a mistake first time with a different vent size and as a result had a different code. Strange that yours would be different.

I’ve been wearing the Sphere 90s for a little over two weeks and going back and forth with Widex Moment 440.

I generally agree with this review. The noise elimination capability of the Phonak is remarkable. Unfortunately, IMO, what they do poorly is what the Widex do well, realistically reproduce the human voice, especially in pure sound mode. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but when the Phonak’s are in Sphere mode, the speaker sounds a bit like he/she has marbles in their mouth. Neither I or my audiologist have been able to dial this out using the Phonak Target program. She advises I am not the first to report this sensation.

Equally unfortunate, also IMO, the Widex are close to useless in eliminating noise. However, the audio quality of voices is so good I’m considering waiting for their next release, as this tech dates back to 2022, while the Sphere’s were just released in August.

The are both superior to my Unitron Moxi Vivante 9’s I splurged for less than a year ago.

Anyone else who has compared both of these, please reply

In reply to @sterei

same here. In the automatic mode, i rarely had the spheric mode turn on according to the stats available to the audiologist. It was actually the normal noise reduction that I’ve found a bit hard to deal with. Like washing hands or some light background noise made me feel like somebody just put a bell jar over my head. I had my Audiologist turn that threshold up a bit. Still getting used to it. If he myphonak app didn’t suck my phone battery empty when left on, i probably do away with all the auto noise cancelling and just switch programs as needed.

@BodyTechEars said:

If he myphonak app didn’t suck my phone battery empty when left on, i probably do away with all the auto noise cancelling and just switch programs as needed.

I’ve done this, and am very happy with the results, with Calm situation as startup, speech in noise, and music in that order. I use maunual switching:

  1. Calm.
    Turned all noise reduction off including WindBlock, used 360 sound, with WhistleBlock on a minimum (6 for my slimtips). Nudged G50 up a bit from 1.5 KHz upwards.
  2. Speech in noise.
    The same as Calm, but beamforming on full (20)
  3. Music.
    The same as calm (ie 360, and zero noise reduction), but increased and G50, G65 to match MediaMusic+mic in bottom frequencies.

I now hear well in most situations, but if it gets very noisy in the pub, I switch to Speech in noise and “face” the person speaking. This does a great job of quietening the surroundings, without losing anything from the speakers voice.

The Music programme works much better for music, than it did from first fit, but can add a lot of noise. This noise may actually be real, especially when walking outside. Phonak seem to think 125-500 KHz isn’t important?? For example, I hear traffic much better in this mode.

All a work in progress, using programme options in Target.
Peter

Fantastic review. You also make a great point about the relationship between venting and the benefits one will perceive from the noise separation/reduction, although that’s likely the case with all hearing aids.

In reply to @lello58

I’ve worn I90 Spheres to the cinema( I have since returned them see further on and could hear the dialogue much better than I normally do ( Clarity is my problem as Cookie Bite hearing loss) but Sphere didn’t kick in - as I said in a previous reply I’ve decided behind the ear not for me so I’m waiting till the Audeo Infinio comes in or currently not available here in UK - just so much easier to cope with as I found having thick curly shoulder length hair I had to wear my hair up because it was so difficult for me to get them behind my ears and never felt they were particularly secure as to me they seemed short and fat. But I don’t have any experience of or indeed anything other than CIC or IIC in various upgrades over past 15+ years.

In reply to @jhbcpa

@jhbcpa said:

Unfortunately, IMO, what they do poorly is what the Widex do well, realistically reproduce the human voice, especially in pure sound mode.

There was a thread a number of years back that asked, “If speech were absolutely clear, would you be willing to hear a robotic voice?” IIRC, the majority of us answered an enthusiastic YES! We would love to have clear speech and it didn’t matter if it were respoken by a robot, if that was the only viable route to absolute speech clarity (~100% ). :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m told that manual activation of noise reduction requires an audiologist to set up a custom mode that I can select when I want to. Otherwise I have to depend upon the automatic activation of this feature, which in my experience has never happened.

Edited

On Phonak Infinio Sphere you could create a manual “Spheric Speech in loud noise” programm by using the MyPhonak App.
In his video this guy explaining how to do it.

In reply to @sterei

How do you kick the inferno spheres into spheric mode? I saw a review and the guy talked about there being an option in the app, at the top where all the programs are listed, that says “Spheric mode” . I don’t see that in the my phonak app.

The audiologist can create a separate program on the fitting software. Or…

On my Spheres, Autosense seems to invoke Spheric Speech in Loud Noise when the ambient noise level exceeds something like 65 dBM. In the phonak app, if you touch “Adjust program” at the bottom of the screen when in Automatic mode, the app will show you which program Autosense is using at that moment. If it’s Spheric Speech in Loud Noise, then touch “Save as new” in the Adjust program setting page and it’ll create a new program. Just as in the video linked above.

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