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Phonak Infinio Spheres: Long time Oticon user on trial, need info and help

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I’ve been a long time Oticon users, and first time trying Phonak due to all the hype of the Infinio Spheres. I’m on Day 2 and haven’t yet had chance to be in a really noisy situation, but will be within a few days when I hope on a few flights and have business meetings.

Sphere mode and programs
My audiologist during my fitting setup my programs that I can toggle to:

  • “Automatic”
  • “Speech in Noise”
  • “Spheric Speech in loud noise”
  • “Music”

She asked me which programs I wanted and I had no idea, but saw “Spheric” and asked her to add that. Am I correct in understanding that to get the new fancy extra “Sphere” mode, that is the correct program to add AND I need to manually select it? (aka it won’t auto switch to it)

Also, i did find it weird that the only way to get this program is for the audi to load it as a preset, otherwise it can’t be chosen. Given that is a lighthouse feature for these hearing aids, I found that super odd that we cannot configure or select ourselves in the iOS Phonak app.

No auto switching programs?
I was under the impression that the “Automatic” program was the “Autosense” which has a bunch of sub programs that the software figures out which program to be in at any given time to adapt. How do I know whether it’s doing it aside from hearing an audible change suddenly? When I look at the app, it always is in the “Automatic” mode according to the selected profile, and never switches to say “Music” even if I’m listening to music at my laptop in a quiet room. I read another thread where someone said that when they watch movies and there was a reasonably long music scenes, they were delighted that it switched to the music program. I haven’t seen that yet so wanted to check.

Silicone Ear molds
For years I’ve been on the Oticon as I mentioned (previously the More 3), I’ve had their “Varitherm” ear mold material. It was hard but as it warmed it got comfortable and I never had issues with it. It also fit really nice in my ear canal and relatively discreet.

My audi got my silicone ones this time with a “Select A Vent” which has plugs to choose different vent sizes. This ear model seems feel massive in my ear and stick out more, it’s grippier but in a bad way–it’s much hard to insert in my ear canal. The old ear molds used to fit flush with my ear canal when inserted so it was easy to know when they were fully inserted, I’d push them in and just feel for the top edge relative to the edge of my canal.

With these new silicon ones, since they protrudge higher than my ear canal opening, i can’t do the same so I’m feeling i’m always pushing on them to given the grippiness of the silicone, it’s always gymnastics to get them in.

I’m not sure if it’s just a matter of me getting use to them, but I really dislike them.

Look how chunky this f’ers are compared to my Oticon molds:

image

My audiologist told me that the “Varitherm” is something propriertary with Oticon and she doesn’t think i can get them made with a Phonak receiver. Anyone know?

Harsh “S” sounds
I’ve self programmed oticon in the past but not a lot on frequencies or anything, just on things to mess with updating firmware and tryign to sovle feedback issues with over the ear headphones. I have the noah link device and plan on self programming these as well (I love to tweak). I’m finding in certain situations that “S” sounds are super harsh both in podcasts and when my 7yo son talks. Any advice on what needs to be tweaked here?

Other Tips on self programming
I realize everyone’s hearing is different, so not asking about specific tuning of frequency, gains etc. But wondering if there are any common pitfalls people have found audiologist make when fitting these and not enabling certain features when they should be? Looking for any and all best practices or tips,… including info to bring back to my audiologist in 2 weeks when I go back for my follow up.

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@bobbydigital16 said:

How do I know whether it’s doing it aside from hearing an audible change suddenly? When I look at the app, it always is in the “Automatic” mode according to the selected profile, and never switches to say “Music” even if I’m listening to music at my laptop in a quiet room

When looking at the MyPhonak app, while using autosense, the app will always show automatic. If you hit the “Adjust program” button at the bottom of the page the current program in use will be shown at the top of the adjustment page.

@bobbydigital16 said:

Silicone Ear molds

You might ask your audiologist to order Phonak cShell molds. They are more similar to the Oticon molds shown in the picture. If she provides your with the order, Phonak will provide the molds with the calculated venting.

@bobbydigital16 said:

Harsh “S” sounds

Since you are familiar with self programing, I would make a request for Target, the Phonak programing software in the section of this forum.

@bobbydigital16 said:

Other Tips on self programming

The Target software has several function that are helpful in the fitting process. In the fitting section there is a function called "Automatic fine tuning that lets you identify specific issues and fix them. There is also the Sound Recover function which lets you adjust the function and test it immediately. There is also a very helpful function that I recently became aware of and that is the various screens that are available under the “Client view” option.
Good luck.

The automatic program in the Sphere’s is called AutoSense and it will automatically change between the following list of programs depending on the sound environment.

  • Spheric Speech in Loud Noise
  • Music
  • Speech in Car
  • Comfort in Noise
  • Speech in Noise
  • Calm Situation
  • Media speech + mic
  • Media music + mic

In addition, your audiologist can also create separate manual programs for any of these so that you can manually force the hearing aids into a specific program. You can also go into the myPhonak app and create your own customized programs.

Jordan

@JordanK said:

The automatic program in the Sphere’s is called AutoSense and it will automatically change between the following list of programs depending on the sound environment.

True unless some of the programs have been de-selected from AutoSense. I currently have only calm and spheric speech in loud noise selected in AutoSense.

@raylock1 said:

I currently have only calm and spheric speech in loud noise selected in AutoSense.

You mean you have calm and Spheric Speech selected as separate manual programs, which are the same as their automatic counterparts?

IIRC, it isn’t possible to select only two programs on Autosense. In that automatic mode thre must be every program presented by @JordanK .

@bobbydigital16 said:

Looking for any and all best practices or tips

I’m sometimes in very noisy situations (over 65- 105 ) where listening is not of importance. To turn the Spheres down and on again you have to follow a long lasting procedure. And there are no programs to turn the Aids of otherwise.

So I made an extra additional program “Off” where I turned down everything possible (amplifier and justifications) consuming batteries.

Then I have automatic mode as a second selfmade program called “Noise” which is a copy of the Spheric in loud noise. Last one for in cases I want to hear voices in noise that is not automatic recognised by the automatic program as in noise sometimes people are not talking to me, but I still want to hear as a spy what is said around me.

And as I don’t like the way of Phonak’s beepings to let me know in what mode I am if I use the self made programs I reduced the amount off choosable programs/ the beeps counting to let me know what I choose.

At start wearing the ’s I had almost all programs to be chosen manually, to try all out and experience what it did. (I liked very much the Starkey solution which in speech tells which mode you are in, not available in Phonak).

I had AutoSense disabled but found that I had to remember to manually change programs after telephone calls. Don’t know if that is as designed or whether it is a bug in the program or my programming.

In reply to @Emile030

@Emile030 said:

So I made an extra additional program “Off” where I turned down everything possible (amplifier and justifications) consuming batteries.

Another option is requesting the audiologist to check the “Mute mics after press for 3s” box in the Target software. You can also turn off the microphones in the myPhonak app by pressing the speaker icon on the main screen.

Regarding harsh “s” sounds. Do they still sound like s or is it more like a “sh” sound? If the latter you might ask if (Sound Recover 2) is activated and if so turn it down a bit. You also might do just fine with frequency lowering turned off.

@bobbydigital16 said:

Any advice on what needs to be tweaked here?

My Phillips were a sibilant on arrival in my music listening program so I dropped all frequencies 3kHz & above by 2dB. This solve the problem nicely.

In reply to @Bimodal_user

@Bimodal_user said:

… Mute mics after press for 3s” box in the Target software. You can also turn off the microphones in the myPhonak app by pressing the speaker icon on the main screen.

@Bimodal_user
It’s already a long time ago as I tested these possibilities also. For me my own proposed method works for sure with occlusive not vented molds.

Way to test:
Just turn on speakers with music and try these two possibilities with occlusive custom moulds (I used Pluggerz). I got the impression that at least in one, maybe even on both, situations muting microphones in Phonak ’s does not realy totally mutes the Hearing aids. It was also discussed in one of the posts in this forum several months ago.

Alright. I simply wanted to share another option I recently learned about and found practical (3-secs press on the lower button), so it was the first feature I activated after buying the Noahlink Wireless 2.

Regarding muting the mics, I am curious about the differences with the :

turned off (Real Ear Occluded Response)
vs.
HA turned on but with muted mics.

Edited

@Bimodal_user
Surely it’s important to get all different opinions, tips and tricks in a forum. Also yours is valuable and good to hear. No ears and no ways to reach a goal are the same in anybody :wink:

The topic is another interesting point. Experimenting is nice to do. A short reading information on REM is to be found here for instance What Is Real Ear Measurement and why you should insist on it12

As a I unfortunately don’t posses such an expensive device to play around with. But I can imagine that real ear measurement is the comparable kind of AudiogramDirect tool in Target for a DIY.

In reply to @JordanK

I only have Restaurant, TV and Music on my list. Currently using Trial version infinio spheres. Four days in. My audiologist said he could put a programme for sphere on which would turn it on till I turned it off but i said I’d rather let it come on automatically. As yet I haven’t been anywhere noisy.

So far the Bluetooth and performance with my Roger kit is nowhere near as good as my paradise aids. Wondering if this could be because they are trial versions. I’ve bought moulds so that it’s a fiat comparison. But they too are not as good as my open moulds.

This is going to go the same way as the other Sphere thread.

The performance of the Sphere seems to be largely dependent on the slope of the loss and the degree of occlusion.

In reply to @SandraN

@SandraN said:

My audiologist said he could put a programme for sphere on which would turn it on till I turned it off but i said I’d rather let it come on automatically

It is difficult for Spheric program to be activated automatically, I am DIYer so I lowered the noise threshold needed for automatic activation, but manual gives more control, especially during trial period.

@SandraN said:

So far the Bluetooth and performance with my Roger kit is nowhere near as good as my paradise aids.

I think it would be good to unpair Paradises and Spheres, uninstall the myPhonak app, reboot the phone and the Spheres, then install myPhonak and pair again Spheres only (with the app and with the phone).

@SandraN said:

I’ve bought moulds so that it’s a fiat comparison. But they too are not as good as my open moulds.

What diameter of vent do you have? Have you done? I think, more occlusion is needed especially with your loss, but it must be adjusted by REM and you should also do the effort from your side to get used to it.

Thanks for your reply - I’ve never had done but have never had any problems with previous aids over 25 years. Phonak for the last 15 years. I’ve done all you suggest in relation the pairing and so on. I have excellent performance from my paradise aids so I don’t understand what the ‘effort’ is that I would need to put in to get them to work.
I’m comparing the two sets of aids against each other in identical surroundings and they are not as good by a big margin for streaming and using my Roger kit.
I am getting more clarity on the spoken word but the discomfort of the occlusion and the excess noise doesn’t make this worth buying them yet!

https://product-support.phonak.com/s/topic/0TO6f000000kN06GAE/myphonak?language=pl3

It is link directly from my Phonak app support button. Maybe it will help.

I also have Paradise previously, but Bluetooth 5.3 in my Sphere is definitely better - better range, better sound quality, etc. And it could be much better with firmware update and getting the . The battery life is great - it keeps 2 days, my 4.5 years old Paradise - max 16h now.

Paradise has Bluetooth 4.2.

Regarding occlusion - wear as much as possible throughout the day, but you can talk with your audi if it is possible to make cShells deeper placed (to the bony part of ear canal) or maybe it is impossible due to size or bendiness of your ear canal.

That “excess noise” is something that every new or long underamplified HA user has perceived. This is important role of brain adaptation and your patience. Simply speaking - it is training.

is very important to make sure if sound near your eardrum is as loud as it should be.

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