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Phonak Infinio Sphere Review

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So I just got my new Infinio Sphere I-90s 2 days ago, and everything seems really weird. They told me I had to get ear molds in order to have the active vent feature. I hate the earmolds. They block out all sound. I’m used to a small dome. My voice sounds very strange. I hear the noise that my slippers make on the kitchen floor. I hear the fabric of my clothes rustling against the fabric of the couch as I sit down. The noise of crumpling up a piece of paper in my hand is excruciatingly loud. But conversation and TV and things like that seem to be worse quality than with my Kirkland signature 10’s. I have noise reduction on high, but right now I’m sitting next to my furnace room and the noise of the fan on the furnace is incredibly loud. I’ve tried creating different programs but haven’t really found anything that works for me. These were supposed to be the Rolls-Royce of hearinog aids and I don’t find them to be better than my Kirkland’s. I know there’s an adjustment period, especially with ear molds, but I expected they’d be somewhat better initially. The only real programming the audiologist did was to ask me if his voice sounded too loud too soft or just right. The rest of the time spent dispensing the hearing aid was going over how to use them which I mostly know from having worn hearing aids for years. I’m just really disappointed. I was so excited to get them and now it’s like someone let the air out of my balloon. Why is the dynamic feature in the app disabled? What exactly is the active vent feature supposed to do?

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Hello,

I don’t know if this is a wind up, but you have had a very bad fit. Go back to your audiologist and ask for “Real Ear Measurement”. If they cannot do that, get them to transfer the fitting from your KS10s over to the Spheres.

If they cannot do that or cannot make any other reasonable adjustments, get your money back and look elsewhere.

I’ve had my Sphere I-90s for two weeks now (following on KS10s). I have power domes (double domes), which is what the Target fitting software recommended for my hearing loss. My experience with the Spheres in understanding multiple speakers in very loud noise (80+ dBM) is that they are life changing. Just amazing. For more “normal” listening environments, I’d say they are probably better than the KS10s, but it’s not dramatic.

Something seems really wrong with yours. Can you hear the Activevent “click” when it closes? As I understand it, you can use “universal” silicone slimtips with Activevent, or custom titanium slimtips.

Should be easy enough to get the audiologist to let you try power domes with standard receivers (in addition to performing ).

- by the way, I recommend other videos on the channel, they are very educational:

Regarding transferring the fit - it is simply copying fittings (especially gains) from your former to the Spheres.

Spheric Speech Clarity activates only in specific very noisy condition with human speech in automatic program (AutoSense OS 6.0). There are videos/articles about how AutoSense works.

Your can set manual Spheric Speech Clarity program.

Yeah my H.A. provider has never dealt with these before. I’m his first patient with the Spheres. All I hear with these hearing aids is my voice and a lot of background noise. When I’m talking I can’t hear much of anything else. Don’t understand anything about spheric mode or how it’s supposed to work. He hasn’t explained it to me, he didn’t set a follow-up appointment, didn’t really do anything except leave them with whatever settings the suggested and ask me if his voice sounded loud enough. Then he spent a lot of time explaining the app, except there was nothing that he explained or touched on about spheric mode. I’m standing at the sink washing dishes, and all I can hear is the running water. I can’t hear my grandson in the next room talking even though there’s a big, open pass through and I could hear him before. Not sure if the hearing aids are garbage or I just got an professional that has no clue what he’s doing. Wondering if maybe I should just return these and start all over with somebody who’s a little more confident and knowledgeable. I know that the past two times I’ve gotten hearing aids, the fittings were much more involved. When I got the Kirkland’s from Costco, the audiologist spent a good deal of time programming them for my specific hearing issues. When I got the Spheres, the guy didn’t really do much of anything. When we first ordered them he had to call me back in to do a mold because he wasn’t aware that a mold is required with the active vent receiver. When he “programmed” them the other day, and we tested them to make sure I could do phone calls, I got no notification when I was streaming through the hearing aids and a call came through. I could see it on my phone, but there was no audible notification that a call was coming in. He didn’t understand why. He made a note to call phonak and get back to me. That was Thursday morning and I haven’t heard from him since. I’m incredibly frustrated and disappointed.

Did you ask for the activent yourself?

Is the activent actually appropriate for your hearing loss and ear anatomy? You may just need to have the hearing aid refit with an open dome.

In reply to @garyh

I do not hear any clicking sound. Like I said, mostly what I hear is the sound of my own voice and a lot of background noise The blower on my furnace sounds incredibly loud even though I have background noise reduction set to the highest setting. I don’t think my audiologist has exclude what he’s doing. He has to keep calling phonak, and their customer service stinks even for hearing aid professionals, (at least according to him). They won’t give me any answers. They keep referring me to my hearing aid specialist. I just wanted to sound normal in a normal environment. It sounds anything but normal. I’m in my home with a minimal amount of noise. The furnace is the loudest thing, and it’s just incredibly loud. I’m tired of hearing my own voice above everything else. It’s the weekend and there’s nothing I can do about getting to my hearing aid professional. I’ve tried adjusting all different things in the app. Nothing helps. There are times when I’m sitting here watching TV and nothing in myI environment changes, but there’s a subtle change in how loud the sound of the TV is. Only last a few seconds and then it’ll go back to where it was. I don’t understand why it’s changing. I don’t hear any clicking there isn’t an increase in background noise I haven’t turned my head. It’s all just so weird. I would think the sound of the blower from the furnace would make sphere kick in because it’s really loud.

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