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Automatic Turn-On of Phonak Spheric Speech In Loud Noise vs. Manual Program Turn-On in My Phonak App

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Since Spheric Speech in Loud Noise is the main attraction of Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio hearing aids, I thought it might be helpful and entertaining to have a thread on what it takes to trigger DeepSonic chip speech procressing and how it works versus setting up Spheric Speech processing as a manual program.

Several users trialing Spheres have complained that DNN processing won’t come on for them (or maybe they think it has but doesn’t work any better than standard techniques for improving speech in noise). For example, there is this thread: Returning Phonak Infinio Sphere I90s.

I’ve only had my Spheres a few days. I’ve been too lazy to go out to a noisy bar or restaurant, and I have not yet found or created a home environment where my Spheric noise reduction comes on automatically even when I set the noise threshold in Target AutoSense settings to only MODERATE for an automatic turn-on. I was surprised to find, though, that if you create either a manual linked or unlinked copy of Spheric Speech in Loud Noise outside of AutoSense, there is NO THRESHOLD. When you launch that program, Spheric noise reduction gets turned on and works quite well: Returning Phonak Infinio Sphere I90s - #24 by jim_lewis.

So, I invite anyone to post their tips and tricks for testing and configuring Spheric speech noise reduction in this thread. Maybe @Michael_Phonak could give us Phonak’s recipe for testing Spheric noise reduction at home. In the following post, I provide what seems to be an excellent recipe by ChatGPT for home testing (it errs in stating you can test the automatic turn-on via a manual program copy).

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Here is ChatGPT’s suggested home recipe for testing the threshold for automatically turning on Spheric Speech in Loud Noise as a switch out of whatever AutoSense program you’re running in (Note: your has to have setup Spheric Speech as an allowed automatic switch in AutoSense for your Spheres and you have to be within any allowed daily time limit for Spheric processing use, if your HCP has set that option, too). ChatGPT’s advice errs in that there is NO THRESHOLD for turning on Spheric Speech via a manual program. As soon as you switch to an independent manual copy of the program outside of AutoSense, Spheric Noise Reduction will be turned on no matter what the noise level of your environment.

ChatGPT:

Suggest a home set up to test Phonak’s spheric speech in loud noise program

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

To test Phonak’s Spheric Speech in Loud Noise program at home, you’ll want to create an environment that simulates a crowded or noisy setting where the program can be fully activated and assessed. Here’s a step-by-step setup you could try:

1. Choose the Right Space

  • Room Selection: Select a small to medium-sized room where sounds can reverberate and create a more “crowded” feel, like a kitchen or a living room.
  • Acoustics: Ensure the room isn’t too dampened by carpet, heavy curtains, or soundproofing materials, as these will reduce the overall effect of noise.

2. Set Up Background Noise

  • Speakers: Use at least two speakers placed on opposite sides of the room. If you have surround sound, this will be even better for creating a multi-directional noise source.
  • Noise Source: Play background sounds that mimic a loud setting, such as a busy restaurant, crowd noise, or street noise. You can find these sounds on YouTube, Spotify, or other audio platforms. Look for tracks with continuous conversation and ambient noise to best simulate real-life environments.
  • Volume Level: Gradually increase the volume to a level where it’s challenging to focus on individual conversations (around 70-80 dB), as this will provide the loud environment the Spheric program is designed for.

3. Speech Source

  • Speech Track: Set up a separate speaker close to your primary listening position. Play a recording of clear speech, like a podcast or audiobook. This simulates the voice you want to focus on in a noisy setting.
  • Volume Matching: Adjust the speech volume so it competes with the background noise, ideally slightly softer than the noise to really test the hearing aid’s ability to enhance speech clarity over ambient sounds.

4. Program Mode Settings

  • Switch to Manual Mode: Since you mentioned Autosense isn’t automatically activating the Spheric program, manually set your hearing aids to the Spheric Speech in Loud Noise program.
  • Fine-Tuning: Use Phonak’s myPhonak app or the Phonak Target fitting software if needed, to monitor and make adjustments in real-time. You could try adjusting gain or noise reduction to see if it affects performance in this noisy setup.

5. Testing Tips

  • Walk Around the Room: Test the effectiveness of the Spheric program by moving around to see if speech remains clear and background noise is well-managed from different angles.
  • Compare with Other Programs: Try switching between different programs, like Speech in Noise or Autosense, to see how the Spheric program compares in terms of clarity and noise suppression.

This should help you assess how well Spheric Speech in Loud Noise works and identify any adjustments that might help it activate more reliably in real-life loud environments.

One easy way I found to set up my noisy environments program, was to take my laptop and Noahlink wireless to my local mall, sitting down in the outdoor cafe bar and making adjustments on the fly, the same for our local community bar which has quite different acoustics.

If you happen to have a sound system, one of the YouTube noise videos “noise in restaurant” work well.

Best places to test the Spheric program are:

  • Any restaurant
  • Food court in shopping mall
  • Costco
  • Any pub
  • Sports event
  • Busy grocery store
  • Party or dinner at a friend place with lots of people
  • Coffee shop

You basically want lots of noise and lots of people chatting. Watch out for places with music as the Music program will often override the Sphere program.

Jordan

@jim_lewis thanks for the trust but as stated in other threads I would never ever comment on topics that should be under the control of the hearing care specialists. Whether, when and how to use mode depends on many factors.

Clear is, you can be in control if you want, by having DNN as a manual program.

I am in the last weeks of trailing the Phonak Sphere and plan on keeping them. However at my last meeting with my I requested a manual setting for Spheric Speech in Noise which the HCP set up as Speech in Noise. When I was in a loud restaurant (75db plus) and using AutoSense, I can hear Spheric speech cutting in and out when competing with background music. However when using the manual Speech in Noise that was set up, there was no change in what I heard and the time remaining on my HA’s change remained at >16 hours.

Edited

@4Paws Your audiologist had setup a separate program for “Speech in loud noise”, which is not the “Spheric speech in loud noise”.

As I understand you asked for a dedicated separate program for “Spheric speech in loud noise” with the Spheric noise reduction which is not the same as the classic “Speech in loud noise” Programm with beam-forming microphone.

tip:
In the MyPhonak app you can create a separate program for “Spheric speech in loud noise”

Fitting for Infinio Sphere
the guy in this video shows how to create a manual programm as “Spheric Speech in loud noise” [I Used the Phonak Audeo SPHERE Infinio Hearing Aid for One MONTH...]

And you can find a written explanation here:

Phonak Infinio Sphere I90 Review (Another One!)
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 ne…

I hate autosense as I’ve posted about many times on these forums, so I never relied on it to activate Spheric for me. That said, it’s very obvious at least to me when it is activated because the sound is so different compared to the music program that I normally leave the aids in.
So, from Music which tries to let in as much as possible, I manually switch to Spheric. You should notices straight away any background noise gets ripped away and then any speech source in the room is piped in. It will sound quite metallic but that’s really a consiquence of what the noise reduction is doing.
As for spheric settings, I’m not sure how it appears visually on the app since I have no eyesight, but I found the most effective way was to set noise reduction to max in the app and speech focus to the level 4 or 5 setting. That gave me a bubble around me in which I felt comfortable speech could enter and I could pick it up.

You can try a home setting with a sound source of multiple voices and perhaps the same or another with speech to simulate an environment, but TBH I found it worked best in a real world situation such as a noisy pub. It also works really well on a crouded street with people talking and moving around. You should be able to hear a lot of the street noise drop away and then passers by can be picked up clearly.
It’s really all about proximity to you and the person and clarity of speech within your given bubble. So the clear voiced lady talking a few tables away is sadly going to end up in your bubble as well as the mumbbly guy who you want to hear siting in front of you and unfortunately, you might hear the lady far more clearly. That being said, this is how ears work as well so maybe it’s not something so easily changed.

Edited

In reply to @4Paws

@4Paws said:

using AutoSense, I can hear Spheric speech cutting in and out when competing with background music

That phenomenon drove me crazy. Very disconcerting. One of the many reasons I returned my Phonaks and am going with Oticon Intents.

Your audiologist can setup a stand alone Spheric Speech Program you select to go into.

Can also set autosense to kick in even higher or lower, its your choice. I’ve never yet had mine even flip into Spheric Speech, even when at a loud restaurant. If you run open vents, you wont get a big gain out of Spheric Speech.

My beef with autosense remains even if I’m driving in my car, its got an audiophile level of playing equipment, I have to select Music, otherwise I get speech in Car I believe or Speech in loud noise, I dont recall now… Neither is what I want :slight_smile:

In reply to @jeffpa

This is interesting. If I have one open dome and one , Sphere might not give my the big impact Phonak talks about?

I’m currently wearing Starkey Edge 24 and they are good except my voice to my sounds a bit “metallic.”

In reply to @firenzel

Thank you for the steps to create a manual Spheric Speech in Noise program. Even with open domes, I get a noticeable drop in background noise and improvement in speech. Although there is now a clear drop in battery life when engaged, I will gladly trade that to be part of the dinner conversation.

I have vented domes and spheric speech in noise manually activated works well enough for me to follow an 8 man convo around a table in the golf club. But I do find it works best with people opposite me and less well with people to the side.

Try putting an index finger in each ear. If the volume from your ’s is louder you might do better with (mine have two tiny vents.) I’ve tried Power Domes. Two flanges. I find them quite uncomfortable. And one ear canal is bigger than the other.

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