Flesh tone or hair color?

There is a lot of info. available about the Passport on Unitron’s site. Here is a link to an overview of features: http://www.unitron.com/us/passport-ataglance.pdf16 Here is another link to read about features that includes links for technical data and user guides: http://www.unitron.com/us/ccus/professionals/government_us/govt-product_us/passport_us/passporttechnical_us.htm2 I still had a few questions after reading these materials, so I wrote to Unitron and asked them. Before reading about the Passport, I was sitting on the fence about whether to try Audeo Yes IX or Exelia Art. I want to try a CRT, but I do not want to give up my t-coils and on-board controls. The Passport Moxi 13 is a CRT with t-coils and on-board controls, and I am very excited about what Unitron is calling Smart Focus, which should give the user a great deal of control over the aids. The Passport is a wireless, 20 channel instrument, and there is a remote available as well as uDirect, which in the pictures looks just like Phonak’s iCom. The Passport does not have Audeo Yes’s and Exelia’s Sound Recover feature, but since I do not have high frequency loss, that doesn’t matter to me. I’m really excited about trying them out!

Phonak owns Unitron.

Although the Unitron aid designers haven’t (yet?) joined the Phonak team they all share the same chip platform.

This means that Passport and Exelia/Audeo YES are going to be very similar in style and function.

Go for the Audeo YES if you want small size, 312 battery and NO telecoil.

Go for the Passport if you want an ‘Audeo YES with a telecoil’.

Unitron products are also usually cheaper than the Phonak versions.

Do note however that a size 13 BTE such as the Passport is going to be ‘fatter’ than a 312 BTE such as the Audeo.

Also, check out the on-board control of the Unitron … the dinky little push button is not for everyone.

Finally, I like the Phonak myPilot LCD remote … but I’m not sure if there is a new Unitron remote with a similar LCD etc.

Thanks, EnglishDispenser. I did notice that Unitron’s remote (Smart Control) looks really clunky - kind of a like a T.V. remote. It does, however, have some pretty cool functions - this is not just a volume and program change remote. And while the Moxi 13 will be bigger than Audeo, I expect longer battery life - I’m happy to wear a bigger aid if it includes t-coil and costs me less for batteries. I do wish they had some snappier colors, but I’m definitely more about function than form at this point.

@pax576 said:

Grey, black or practically any color says “high tech modern device” which could be a hands free cell phone earpiece, wireless stereo headphones, etc. Flesh tone says only one thing: “Hello I am a hearing aid.”

LOL. Nicely said. I am going to try the Exalias p left and sp right. I’ll probably get the the Graphite/High-tech gray B8 or the Blue Moon C9 (metallic blue). Anyways, i got until monday to decide on those two final choices…

I’ve had epoq in RED for over a week. Nobody’s said anything to me about them. And I really like the red color and am glad I went with what I liked instead of the blend with my hair color. I wear hearing aids, it’s not a big deal.

i like the black and sliver epoqs… they blend great if u have grey hair and wear glasses

As a 46 year old father, for my new Phonak Excelia hearing aids to replace my old flesh tone GN Resound I asked my 9 year old daughter to pick the color. She picked Colbalt/Black. I am very happy with the color choice. In the day of people wearing bluetooth headsets all of the time a cool hearing aid color is unobtrusive.

Don’t look to hide your hearing aid. Go with a cool color.

I was going to go with the chestnut brown matching my hair… but I associate brown with beige . I had been wearing beige aids for 35 years.

I let each of my kids decide… I now have one bright metallic red Vigo and one bright metallic blue Vigo. No regrets, they are small behind the ear and I am not embarrassed
about aids (not 8 years old anymore).

Also, these bte aids being so small, I needn’t worry about trying to find a small black or brown aid if they become misplaced… a real stress relief. To think, if they made camouflage ones my younger son would have picked that…

I have blondish hair and am trying a pair of Phonak in a “taupe” color. It blends well with my hair.

@pax576 said:

Grey, black or practically any color says “high tech modern device” which could be a hands free cell phone earpiece, wireless stereo headphones, etc. Flesh tone says only one thing: “Hello I am a hearing aid.”

Deadnuts on. Although, a small HA like a Dot 2, you may want to consider a nuetral color. Stay away from the tan, as it is flesh tone, but the beige is neutral and yet doesnt stand out as a hearing aid. Besides, it’s tiny, and seldom do people notice mine.

For custom ear molds they have a new clear plastic with a pinkish tint for color. The pinkish color is inside/part of the plastic. It looks great.

Click on the (Oticon Epoq–v) link in my signature line below to see the molds.

RMinNJ, great idea to let the kids decide. I agree, if there was a camo option, especially the desert camo, I’d probably get that as well.

In hindsight, maybe I should have gotten red or blue but I’m so used to the flesh color of yore that chestnut brown is a radical step for me on this stuff.

I think it’s great that kids today are opting for the bright colors and not worrying about their hearing aids being noticeable like that. It was a different story being in k-12 during the 70s and 80s. Come to think of it, I had more of a problem with the teachers acceptance of my hearing aids than most of the other kids in the classroom.

I saw a video of how the shell for the Epoq or Vigo can be replaced. Easy enough but I can understand why Oticon doesn’t want them user replaceable, although I think it would be cool if they were.

@pvc said:

For custom ear molds they have a new clear plastic with a pinkish tint for color. The pinkish color is inside/part of the plastic. It looks great.

Here’s a picture of the mold:

Sorry, the picture was lost.

Kloda, I completely agree with you about being a K-12 student in the 70s and 80s. Kids were horrible, just horrible. And teachers… well, they were never quite sure what “changing a hearing aid battery” involved so I used to get a 10 minute smoking break while i “changed” my hearing aid battery, haha. Sometimes I even had to take a friend along to help me change the battery, LOL. Of course, that was way back in the day when they had a designated smoking area and never ever checked ages (yes, i quit before getting hooked!!)

I chose chestnut brown for my new Naidas, and feel quite radical in breaking away from beige!