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Is Oticon Safari "old" technology?

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My daughter tried out the Phonak Nios Micro III for 3 weeks and it seemed okay to me, but then the speech therapist convinced the audi we should have something more powerful so he is having us try the Naida III SP. I am a bit bothered by how bulky it is on her tiny ears, and honestly it is spending more time in my daughter’s hand/mouth than on her ear (she is 10 months old). So I think I will ask to have the Nios back, but just wanted to check if there are other options.

I am happy to stick with Phonak since that is what the audi recommends, but I asked him about the possibility of switching to Oticon Safari as I like their child-friendly features (e.g. truly tamper-proof battery door - the battery has gone missing from the Naida three times, creating momentary panic) He said that Oticon was using an older chipset in their pediatric products so he felt Phonak was better. I am just wondering if this is true or is he just particularly loyal to Phonak?

Another parent whose daughter has a slightly worse loss told me her audi took an Oticon Agil and changed the casing on it to make it more child-friendly. Is this a common practice? Just wondering if we could be looking at a wider range (Versata?) by taking that route. My main concern with child-friendly is the battery door as I also have a two-year-old, and I’ve already seen him open the Naida once.

Thanks again for all your help.

Her loss (mostly flat)

R - 35-40 db
L - 60-70 db (possibly a conductive component)

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@lucyinthesky said:

My daughter tried out the Phonak Nios Micro III for 3 weeks and it seemed okay to me, but then the speech therapist convinced the audi we should have something more powerful so he is having us try the Naida III SP. I am a bit bothered by how bulky it is on her tiny ears, and honestly it is spending more time in my daughter’s hand/mouth than on her ear (she is 10 months old). So I think I will ask to have the Nios back, but just wanted to check if there are other options.

I am happy to stick with Phonak since that is what the audi recommends, but I asked him about the possibility of switching to Oticon Safari as I like their child-friendly features (e.g. truly tamper-proof battery door - the battery has gone missing from the Naida three times, creating momentary panic) He said that Oticon was using an older chipset in their pediatric products so he felt Phonak was better. I am just wondering if this is true or is he just particularly loyal to Phonak?

Another parent whose daughter has a slightly worse loss told me her audi took an Oticon Agil and changed the casing on it to make it more child-friendly. Is this a common practice? Just wondering if we could be looking at a wider range (Versata?) by taking that route. My main concern with child-friendly is the battery door as I also have a two-year-old, and I’ve already seen him open the Naida once.

Thanks again for all your help.

Her loss (mostly flat)

R - 35-40 db
L - 60-70 db (possibly a conductive component)

I could answer this, I fit tons of Oticon. There are some controversial issues regarding
what is appropiate to fit for children. for example the use of directional microphones and noise reduction. There are some specific guidelines -according to age. Both safari and Agil follow this, once you select the apropiate age. For a hearing loss that you describe, I suggest an instrument that is fitted with 5.0A and has a large bandwith will greatly benefit your child. This could well be Oticon or other such as siemens.

I would recomend frequency compression (phonak sound recover), once the hearing loss
has reach about 100, but given your daughter loss she will surely benefit from a large bandwith instrument (10hz if possible).

You can change the agil into a more child friendly shell (pink, blue, red or whatever)
and It does come with a tamper resistant batery door.

The way I understood it, he seemed to be saying that the Safari was a new product using an old chip. He said Oticon had cutting-edge technology, but wasn’t using it in its pediatric products yet. I just wasn’t sure how knowledgeable he is about the Safari since, as you say, it’s quite new.

Which aids have 10 Hz bandwidth? I couldn’t figure out what the bandwidth was on Phonaks. It sounds like if I pushed for the Safari it would have to be the 900?

@lucyinthesky said:

The way I understood it, he seemed to be saying that the Safari was a new product using an old chip. He said Oticon had cutting-edge technology, but wasn’t using it in its pediatric products yet. I just wasn’t sure how knowledgeable he is about the Safari since, as you say, it’s quite new.

Which aids have 10 Hz bandwidth? I couldn’t figure out what the bandwidth was on Phonaks. It sounds like if I pushed for the Safari it would have to be the 900?

Oticon and Phonaks differ a lot. Oticon pushes for signal preservation while phonak pushes for frequency compression. Frequency compression seems to be more suitable when there is a cochlear dead region (It is highly probable when the hearing loss is over 100 dbhl), for a hearing loss that you describe there is really no need for signal manipulation. Phonaks are now pushing for frequency compression for most hearing losses (this Is highly debatible), therefore their instruments have a bandwith equivalent to 7,000hz.

Most Oticon products (rise and rise 2) have a bandwith that goes from 8-10kz. You are correct, safari 900 is a 10khz instrument. Large bandwith increases signal fidelity, speech cues and localization.

A while ago, I had meet Dr Fabry (which had work for Phonak doing research) and he seems to agree that frequency compression Does not seem like a good idea when
the cochlear is intact

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