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My Phonak Sphere Infinio I90 vs Lumity L90 Shootout

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Really? Why weren’t they excited? Maybe it will cost a lot?
I knew that the presentation in Italy was on September 19th, in fact they also updated the phonak website with the Italian language.

Sure, I will release my reviews.
I am very curious to know how it will go when I go mountain biking or karting. I do a lot of sports.

see you soon

Jordan, during your time at the wedding and reception afterward how do you know what mode you were in and when the spheric mode would turn on… is there a tone that you hear or does your comprhension all of a sudden get better?? also in the app does it break down showing you your actual different modes/programs of hearing time… Thx also I’m going to be testing them out myself hear in Florida , my audi said wait time for ’s is about 5 to 6 weeks… also no demo’s to try … I have to actually purchase them and have a 30 day trial period where I then can return for a refund if I dont care for them

In reply to @hikomun

I’m Italian, too, and my audiologist got to try them and was very enthusiastic about the Sphere mode but underwhelmed by the battery performance.

Anyway, Jordan is proving with this thread the the battery situation is not so concerning at all, actually a notable improvement compared to the Lumity all in all!

It’s true that Infinio Sphere might look a bit like a prototype for future inevitable more polished models but, if you need to buy new hearing aids NOW, that’s most probably the way to go!

By the way, pricing doesn’t seem to be an issue… They‘re not more expensive than the usual Phonak top ranger…

In reply to @hikomun

@hikomun said:

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.

Thanks for your kind words. I write and post this information because I’m hoping it will help others make good decisions. The marketing information posted by the hearing aid companies is a bit misleading at times and it’s hard to figure out if new product releases provide improvement or are just marketing spin. The only way to know for sure is to have real people test the products and post their first hand experiences.

I actually ride an e-bike and I’ve tested the Infinio Sphere hearing aids while riding. I typically ride my bike at about 25-30 kph and what I found is they work well if there is no wind noise. Once there is a bit of wind noise, the Windblock feature turns on to try and remove the wind noise. If there is just a bit of Wind noise, it works great. When there is lots of wind noise, the Windblock feature gets a bit overwhelmed. It could be I just need my audiologist to increase the Windblock settings in the Target fitting software and I will have him adjust this during my next appointment this coming Monday afternoon. I must admit that I kept the Sphere’s in the Automatic mode while riding and did not try turning on the Spheric noise reduction program. I will try this as soon as it stops raining here in Toronto (raining for a few days now) and I am able to go for a ride.

Jordan

In reply to @Ureout

@Ureout said:

Jordan, during your time at the wedding and reception afterward how do you know what mode you were in and when the spheric mode would turn on… is there a tone that you hear or does your comprhension all of a sudden get better??

Thanks for your question. I kept the hearing aids in the Automatic program the whole time during the wedding. You can see what program you are in while in Automatic mode by opening the app.

First open the app, make sure you are connected and in the Home tab. Click on the “Adjust Program” button.

IMG_2717

Now look at the top of the top of the program adjustment page. It will show you what program the Automatic program has you in.

IMG_2718

Jordan

In reply to @DamonHill

@DamonHill said:

Anyway, Jordan is proving with this thread the the battery situation is not so concerning at all, actually a notable improvement compared to the Lumity all in all!

This is a true statement. The battery in the Sphere’s provides a HUGE increase in wearing time vs Lumity. Yes…the Spheric noise reduction program will chew the whole battery in 6-7 hours of continuous use but I think we all overestimate how much time we actually spend in a noisy environment that requires the Spheric program. My experience is showing that there are two basic scenarios for the Spheric program:

  • Short visits to noisy places: This includes the grocery store, shopping mall, visits to fast food places, short walks along a very busy street, etc. In this scenario, the Spheric program kicks in for 5-20 minutes at a time. We all experience many of these kinds of situations throughout our weeks and this type of use doesn’t really chew up the battery capacity too much.
  • Long visits to noisy places: This is a restaurant, wedding, concert, sports event (hockey, football, etc), airport, religious service: These visits typically can use the Spheric noise program 2-3 hours at a time but most of us will only find ourselves in this type of place once or maybe twice a week. This scenario does chew the battery but you will seldom have two of these kind of events in a single day. Even with 3 hours of Spheric use, you will still get through the day and have battery capacity left in these hearing aids.

So I guess my point is that it is rare that I end the day with less than 55%-60% battery left in the Sphere’s even with 3 hours of streaming and short use of the Spheric AI program. This is a huge improvement over Lumity and completely removes any/all rechargeable battery anxiety. Now maybe those with much worse hearing won’t see the same numbers as I have experienced but maybe this is where a future, larger, high power version of Sphere might be helpful.

Jordan

In reply to @1Bluejay

@1Bluejay said:

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.

Not sure about echo-y places. If the person who is talking to you is close to you (i.e. 6-8 feet away), you will hear them quite well…even in an echo-y place. Where the hearing aids don’t do so well is in a large hall with someone speaking on a microphone with speakers all over the hall. I think the hearing aids get mixed up when the sound is coming from many different directions (i.e. speakers all over the place). There might be a program or setting for this but not sure.

The best advice I can give to you and everyone else is to test these hearing aids yourself. Everyone’s hearing loss is different and what works for me might now work for you. I will say one thing. The Spheric noise reduction program really works and really works well. This is not marketing spin. I have been in multiple very noisy situations where I could hear the person I was speaking to and they kept asking me to repeat myself. In other words…a situation where people with normal hearing could not hear as well as I could hear with the Spheric AI program active. Crazy but true.

Jordan

In reply to @JordanK

as I believe I mentioned somewhere, I only charge mine every 2 days, FO rme, most of the time mine is in Calm Situation no Noise. I had to make a special version, with noise reduction much higher, as I’d get this annoying hiss from any fan around

In reply to @JordanK

@JordanK said:

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

Check what level your Aud has set the Speech enhancer to. This is designed to provide additional amplification to soft or distant speech sounds in quiet environments (will only engage if there is at least 10dB ).

Jordan, I noticed in your pics that you have double domes on your ’s … I thought I read somewhere that moulds were a better tip for these style HA’s??

Edited

Thanks! That’s one of my questions for my audiologist when I have my first follow-up appointment this coming Monday afternoon. Other things I want to discuss:

  • Review of the settings for the “Calm” program - I lose speech clarity when Autosense switches to this program. I think this is related to the next point.
  • Check the Speech Enhancer settings: Phonak’s website seems to indicate that the Speech Enhancer is a feature that is unique to the Calm program in Autosense. It gets turned on by default for Experienced or Long Term users. I’m wondering if this is turned off or turned down with my new Sphere’s.
  • Review the Music program settings: My Lumity L90’s have much more bass when listening to music. Not sure if my audiologist turned on a bass boost setting with my Lumity’s and it is off by default with the new Sphere’s. I’m going to ask him to review the entire Music program. Apparently you can setup different listening profiles with the new Infinio hearing aids. In other words, different settings for listening to music through the microphones vs streaming.

This is my list so far.

Jordan

Hey Jordan!

Thanks so much for your detailed review and follow ups. I got even more excited when I looked at your as my hearing loss is in a similar range. I’m still using my Phonak Audeo Marvels and had been waiting for the release of the Sphere. My experience is that anything beyond 1 on 1 conversations with people facing me has been challenging, if there is background noise I’m going to miss lots of what is being said. You wedding review was helpful. The last wedding we attended my wife was nice enough to keep my roger partner mic on so I could at least hear what she was saying. I’m excited about your real world experience. I watch a you-tube review last week and at the end of the review the audiologist said he was looking forward to getting a pair to actually try them. His whole review was based on company’s advertising and no real world experience. My own audiologist is excited about them and that has me excited about perhaps seeing some real improvement. Curious to know if your level of hearing loss has had you considering cochlear implants and if so have these new devices affected your feeling about that option?

@ButchNH said:

Curious to know if your level of hearing loss has had you considering cochlear implants and if so have these new devices affected your feeling about that option?

Thanks for your kind words of support. I’m a firm believer that most of the hype coming from the hearing aid companies is marketing spin and the only thing that matters is real world experience from actual people with a hearing loss. I think one of the reasons my audiologist is so good is that he is hearing impaired and wears hearing aids too. He is actually testing the Sphere’s at the same time I am testing them and it will be interesting to compare notes next week during my next appointment. As I have mentioned many times over the years on this forum, nobody is paying me to write these posts on this forum. I am an exec at an IT Services company and I share this information to help other people.

My hearing loss has been fairly stable over the last 8 years and the hearing aids still work well for me. My biggest challenge over the last number of years is getting dragged into a business meeting at a noisy restaurant and not being able to follow the conversation. That is the reason I was so excited about the new Spheric noise reduction. It solves my biggest issue and it does so quite well for me.

I’ve thought about Cochlear implants but I figure the longer I can wait, the more the technology will continue to evolve. I may end up doing it down the road but if my hearing loss stays stable, it may not be necessary. The other thing to consider is the ongoing research into cochlear hair cell regrowth via gene therapy. As you probably know, humans are the only mammals that can’t regrow damaged cochlear hair cells. They are getting closer to a treatment for humans but so far, all the experimental treatments that have gone to trials have failed. Who knows? Maybe they will have a breakthrough that will make cochlear implants unnecessary.

And to answer your last question…yes…the Sphere’s are a game changer that renews my faith in hearing aid tech. The very fact that I could hear better at the wedding than people with normal hearing was shocking to me.

Jordan

In reply to @ButchNH

@ButchNH said:

Curious to know if your level of hearing loss has had you considering cochlear implants and if so have these new devices affected your feeling about that option?

Cochlear implants are not “better hearing aids.” As a rule of thumb, if someone has over 60% Word Recognition Score () in quiet and has moderately severe hearing loss, they probably do not qualify for a .

If a patient with hearing loss has quite usable hearing, implanting a CI may cause the destruction of that hearing. The CI is an option only when the best-fitted hearing aid doesn’t help anymore.

Appreciate the reply. I do understand the difference between a hearing aid and a medically implanted device like a cochlear implant. I also know that despite my word recognition score on an in real life I have more trouble understanding that what those scores would reflect. Part of this is the flawed word recognition score that is done by many audiologists (that I’ve experienced) where they don’t use a standard recording and utilize an abbreviated list. Everyone’s hearing loss is different and i was curious if someone with similar hearing loss and trouble understanding had the same thoughts. Unlike the original poster my hearing loss has not been stable and appears to be continuing to decline. I want to understand all my options and don’t want to be someone who if cochlear implants made it easier to communicate waited needlessly. That said I’m excited about the spheres and Jordan’s reviews have made me feel better about moving forward with them despite the cost.

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