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My Phonak Sphere Infinio I90 vs Lumity L90 Shootout

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In reply to @CombatWombat

@CombatWombat said:

But audis are economically rational actors just like (almost) everyone else. If they’ve chosen to sell it for $6000 with three years of service rather than $3800 (or $4000 or something reasonably connected to the wholesale price) and a la carte follow-up care, it’s because they believe they can make more profit that way.

It’s a little bit more complicated than that. I’ve said in the past that I am not an owner and I am not involved in setting prices, but at this point I’ve been around long enough to know about some of that even if I don’t want to. My preference would be for audis to be rational, but at least where I am there are no business courses included in the degrees and so it is often a bunch of healthcare bleeding hearts trying to make a go at business and some are more rational about it than others. On top of that, in Canada because we have universal healthcare that covers a lot of things, people are largely unused to paying for healthcare and the frequent result of the unbundled model is that: 1) they do not come back for the regular care that would ensure continuing optimal function, which isn’t the ethical audi’s preference, and 2) they yell at you about the cost of things, oh boy do they yell at you. You show them the invoice they signed indicating that they declined the service package, and they deny and yell. You show them the notes on all the different options you reviewed after which they selected the cheapest model with no care package, and they deny and yell. They say, “I was just here 6 months ago and paid $150, why should I have to pay again!” and yell and leave one star google reviews like a vicious attack. So sometimes it’s just way easier to bundle and then encourage people to come in for “free” service and have them leave smiling. When I tally up costs in my head, if a patient comes in to see us annually during their care package then they are getting value from the bundle and if they come in even slightly more than that then they are getting a deal, but this is absolutely going to vary from place to place depending on pricing. If they buy and then disappear for five years, the bundle is not a value for them. This is the shady practice’s perfect patient because they will also then notice a huge improvement in new technology later compared to their malfunctioning unadjusted devices.

In reply to @jim_lewis

Comparing to an auto ev battery is rather an apples to oranges comparison, as the current delivery and demands are very different.

Plus these are touching your body for 16 hours at body temperature

Maybe, although they were never going to make a battery version of the Audeo Lumity. Demand may tell. Personally, I’d be happy with the chip in a Roger On

In reply to @hearing-love_loss

Lumity with 312 disposable batteries are smaller than the rechargeable version… and 312 batteries last 4 days while the rechargeable battery struggles to each 18 hours… So I presume that an Infinio Sphere with 13 batteries could be possible and even kind of mandatory, assuming that disposable batteries last longer than rechargeable.

I’ve been wearing my Spheres all day today.

In the home, in a pub for lunch, out on two dog walks, streaming an audiobook and now watching a film with my kids.

Still just over 70% of the battery left.

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In reply to @WhiteHat

I am trying an audiologist I found through Zip Hearing. He and his wife have a good reputation. He changed his business model to one year full service, then a la carte after that. The Zip Hearing price is $4600 a pair for the Sphere 90 and $4000 for the Sphere 70. As I am and Android/PC guy I am hooked on Phonak for the bluetooth, especially with the improved distance. I am torn between the two models as I do not go to loud places often, but am probably spring for the 90s. He doesn’t have any loaners to try, but has a 45 day return.

Edited

Another update today…

Attended my first wedding wearing the Infinio Sphere hearing aids and I thought I would share some interesting information. For many of us hearing impaired people, this would be considered a very high stress, nerve wracking evening of frustration. Not so much this time. We arrived at the wedding for 5:15 pm and the ceremony started about 15-20 minutes later. Prior to leaving, I was concerned that the Spheric noise reduction mode would be on for the whole wedding so I made sure that I charged the Sphere’s up all the way (100%) before heading over to the wedding.

The wedding was held at a winery and the marriage ceremony was conducted outside under a large covered pavilion with open sides and a few musicians playing music. No issue hearing there at all. We were sitting in theatre style seating and I did note the Spheric mode was on most of the time before the ceremony began. There were lots of people talking and plenty of noise before the event began. Once the ceremony started, the Spheric mode sorta turned on/off depending on what was going on. Throughout the ceremony I had no issues hearing the person conducting the ceremony. After the ceremony was done, everyone headed over to another covered pavilion which contained two bars serving drinks and several food stations. It was a good crowd with lots of noise and at no point did I have any issues hearing the bar staff or people speaking with me in a very crowded people environment. The Spheric mode remained on throughout the 45 minutes prior to being invited into the main indoor reception hall for dinner and continued to remain on in the dining room until the new couple was welcomed into the room.

Dinner started at about 7 pm and the reception included a loud DJ with dancing, speeches and many conversations at my dinner table and in various parts of the room. As soon as the dinner program began, the DJ stopped the music to allow the various speeches and toasts to the bride, groom, etc to be heard. It was a big room with a public address system setup with microphones. The sound wasn’t perfect but I was able to understand the various speeches. After the first round of speeches concluded and the main meal began, the biggest revelation was that I could clearly understand the people across the table from me but they kept asking me to repeat myself. Totally bizarre experience for a hard of hearing person. Weird to be in the reverse role for a change…haha.

The meal concluded and the dancing began for the rest of the night. The biggest stress at this point was getting through the evening without running out of batteries. Bear in mind that I arrived at 5:30 pm and the wedding ended just after midnight at 12:30 am (7 hours total). Weird thing is…I arrived at the wedding with 100% charge and I left the wedding at 12:30 am with…55% battery remaining!!! How did that happen knowing that the Spheric noise reduction mode will chew the whole battery in 6-7 hours of continuous use? I should have been close to 0% by the end of the night but somehow it was at 55%.

I thought about it a while and finally figured it out. The room was extremely noisy for 100% of the evening. That being said, the Spheric AI noise reduction program only stayed on in noisy environments with speech only. Whenever the DJ was playing music (most of the night), the hearing aids were defaulting to the Music program (which chews less battery). That’s probably why I left the event at 55%. Could I understand speech with the music playing? No so well but I didn’t notice it as much because I was dancing. I could have forced the hearing aids into Spheric mode for speaking with somebody but I was dancing with my wife for most of time when the music was blaring so I didn’t really have an issue with speech.

Interesting night. The Infinio Sphere’s got the job done when it mattered (i.e. speaking with people before dinner and at the dinner table) and battery capacity turned out to be a zero issue for a wedding type of event.

That’s my update. Photo below of the crowded dance floor usually makes hearing impaired people like me cringe but not so much with these hearing aids.

Still need to test them in a movie theatre environment and hope to do that this week.

EDIT: I have also come across a weird bug and I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing. I’ve noticed that under some conditions, I have trouble understanding people with soft voices (typically women). I seem to have tracked it down to the “Calm” program in Autosense. There is either too much noise reduction, compression or something kicking in that washes out the soft consonants. Might be a bug or might be how my hearing aids are setup. Curious if anyone else has noticed this.

Jordan

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@JordanK said:

Bear in mind that I arrived at 5:30 pm and the wedding ended just after midnight at 12:30 am (7 hours total). Weird thing is…I arrived at the wedding with 100% charge and I left the wedding at 12:30 am with…55% battery remaining!!!

Which means that in case you hadn’t recharged the hearing aids, you’d be in trouble?

In reply to @gsl

@gsl said:

Which means that in case you hadn’t recharged the hearing aids, you’d be in trouble?

I think I would have been ok. An hour before the wedding I was at 75%. I did a top off charge to 100% just in case but it wasn’t necessary.

Jordan

In reply to @JordanK

OH BOY can I relate to the Apple Store paradigm. It’s really fabulous that the Spheres even help you discern speech BEHIND you. I’d be happy if I heard great when FACING folks.

I wanted to ask: have you experienced the same positive comprehension in an echo-y place? My house has a LOT of echo and reverb due to glass windows and hard tile floors. If my husband is talking to me out of sight, I sometimes get just a MUSH of noise unless he slows down and enunciates better.

@Michelle_L said:

Is this adjustment in Auto-sense section in Target?

Looks like it’s the Program options for the Spheric element. I’m quite surprised to see such a high beamforming level.

In reply to @JordanK

Hi JordanK,
I follow you with great interest. Thank you for all your reviews.
I live in Italy and I will try it soon too.
I am very enthusiastic, I currently have the phonak marvel m90, I tried paradise and lumity. I was about to buy the Lumity last year but something stopped me and I did well! :slight_smile:

Do you have a way to try it on a bike? Usually I can’t understand who is talking to me from behind/in front.
I wonder if in Spheric noise reduction mode it works well for those who ride bikes? Or in karts or motorbikes?

Best regards

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