Phoak is not the only user. Both SounGear AMP and Jabra EP 30s use it for sure, and I believe Demant does, too.
Unfortunately, the SGAs are not in every Costco yet. I did a quick trial with them, and their approach seemed very good. I chose the Jabras because they were in every Costco hearing center and met my requirement for making HIN much easier and better than my EP 10s. (I do not chase 'the best', because that's always a moving target. I like Costco prices, so I didn't try Phonak. Now, if they supported a world tour team....))
Just a little bit of my perception - I trialed the Jabra EP30s from Costco. They were, without a doubt, the most comfortable hearing aids I've ever worn. My Costco fitter wasn't very familiar with them and didn't even realize that Intelligent Focus need to be active for the chip to work. When she did activate it, I found that the noise was reduce considerably, but speech was very distorted, robotic and echoey. I also have been trying the Starkey Omega (through a local audiologist). The Omega is the follow on to the Starkey Edge+ which Costco sells in selected stores as the Soundgear AMP. It has been rumored that Costco will be distributing either the AMP or a newer model (like the Omega?) throughout their stores in October. I have been disappointed in the Edge+ denoising system. When I've had it in the presence of a rushing creek at an outdoor restaurant and near noisy wind-blown tree leaves at my home deck, the have been overwhelmed by the background noise and I was unable to hear or understand the other people at my table. While the Edge+ mode did reduce the background sound when no one was talking, it still was very loud. As soon as it detected speech, either my own voice or someone around the table, it raised the volume over all which put the background sounds much louder than the nearby voices. One other thing regarding the Omega mRIC is that this HA has a single push button. Unlike many other one-PB HAs, the Omega PB can only be set to control one function in addition to Off/On. Mine are set up to have the PB on the right and left HAs to control volume. This means to change programs, the user must use the app. If you are in a situation where you do not have your cell phone with you or are out of range of you cell phone, you would be unable to change programs - you can enable/disable Edge mode via tap control, but you will not be able to select the more focussed enhanced speech in edge mode or change any preset or custom programs.
LOL. Restaurants these days seem to thrive ONLY if they are so noisy that everyone at every table is yelling themselves hoarse to be heard above the din. I seriously can not digest my food in that kind of noise. I've read that the younger generation finds these noisy places more "high energy" and feel CHARGED going to them. Yeah, wait till they hit 50 or older and find themselves stressed with a migraine trying to make sense of conversations shouted all over the place.
As for that wind noise, even the older Phonaks have settings to just about eliminate that! I'd DEFINITELY wear your aids (altho you don't have cinder block ears like me) - just for safety reasons alone.
All the years I rode my bike OFF or ON the road I'd wear a side-view mirror2 clipped onto my sunglasses to keep an eye on what's sneaking up on me. Check it out!
Thanks for your responses, 1Bluejay. I have one more appointment set up based on an unsolicited "45 day free trial" (was VERY disappointed by my first, for Oticon Aids. I know that the hearing aid fitter can obtain some sort of quantitative "scores" for recognition of "speech in noise" with their "Say the word (individual word nested in progressively louder background din," but I would think that for current users, the fitter or audiologist could offer a comparison; e.g., a recorded conversation the potential customer could listen to with his/her current HAs and then the -assisted new devices. I'm almost at my 80th birthday and I no longer have an income stream that permits me to plop down $7000 (or even $4000) just to see if they really help. Has anyone reading this thread had such an experience with a HA provider?
The trouble with the recorder conversation approach IMO is that I don't know the conditions under which the recordings were made. They were probably made with good intentions under standard, repeatable conditions, but were the conditions the ones I'm ever actually in. And then there's the fact that 50% recognition is considered 'success.'
I just went to the loudest restaurant I knew of and turned on HIN. I had a conversation I couldn't have had for 15-20 years - maybe 90% comprehension. Then I found a still louder restaurant and had maybe 75% comprehension. So I bought the .
I don't think you can tell until you buy. I do best with a custom mold so I feel I really need to have the mold to get an idea of how things will sound.
If you often go out to restaurants with one person then the partner mic might work fine. I have a partner mic and usually only go out with either my husband or with one friend at a time.
Costco worked pretty well for me with the Sonite R which I got last year. It was a good upgrade from my five year old Phonak Marvels.
philbob, that's the most helpful response I've received yet. I'll have my Phonak app't in early October, after which I'll visit a typically noisy Las Vegas restaurant with my wife and my usual and my "free trial" hearing aids to see if I she or I can tell a difference between them. Having learned a bit about in order to post my own today, I've learned I scored very good on my ability to recognize speech in noise, so maybe the enhanced devices won't help much.
1Bluejay, I just looked at your , and I think it tells me why you wear your while bicycling. My perception of low frequency sounds is pretty good, whereas your deficit is more severe at all frequencies. I hear approaching cars and trucks, and because I now ride almost always by myself, I don't need conversational assistance, so amplifying wind noise is a solid negative for me. I have tried the rear-view mirror and found it a nuisance. What I do use is a pair of Garmin devices, a "rear radar" mounted on my seat post which alerts drivers approaching from the rear via a flashing bright red light AND places a visible warning of proximity on my bike computer screen
Las Vegas
Poland