Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Oticon launches Opn hearing aids and Velox platform

This topic is closed.

408 replies107.1k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Edited

The pair I demoed definitely had the usual buttons. The audiologist said she didn’t think I would need to use them, but I think I will have them programmed when I get the aids on Friday. There are some places where you can’t or don’t want to pull out your phone.

Well, just picked up my Opns today. I’ve been trialing Starkey Muse for 2 weeks which are my first . My needs/wants may be a bit different than some so my impressions will be perhaps limited. I am simply looking for HAs that will let me first and foremost understand speech in multiple settings including conferences and restaurants. I’m not terribly interested in using it as a bluetooth headset or if it can turn my lights on at home or change the orbit of the space station. :slight_smile:

First impressions: I definitely feel the part that inserts into the ear much more with the Opns. Audi says I will get used to that. Also my own voice now sounds like I am speaking with my fingers in my ears which is kinda what is happening. I am noticing this less as the evening progresses. For all non-speech sound I think the Opns are superior. The sound is softer, less artificial. In addition when someone crumples a paper bag I no longer jump out of my skin. Going back and forth between the two at the deli I noticed the directionality of the Muse. I did not have that experience today with the Opns. Speech does sound different between the two. The Muse has a tinny quality to it that the Opns do not. One of the strengths of the Muse for me has been that even with or maybe because of the tinny sound my speech comprehension especially in noisy environments has been quite amazing. I plan on having my wife come with me so I can do some back to back speech comprehension testing in different environments. If nothing else it is a good excuse for a nice dinner out!

More to follow.

@rkorzep said:

Well, just picked up my Opns today. I’ve been trialing Starkey Muse for 2 weeks which are my first HAs. My needs/wants may be a bit different than some so my impressions will be perhaps limited. I am simply looking for HAs that will let me first and foremost understand speech in multiple settings including conferences and restaurants. I’m not terribly interested in using it as a bluetooth headset or if it can turn my lights on at home or change the orbit of the space station. :slight_smile:

First impressions: I definitely feel the part that inserts into the ear much more with the Opns. Audi says I will get used to that. Also my own voice now sounds like I am speaking with my fingers in my ears which is kinda what is happening. I am noticing this less as the evening progresses. For all non-speech sound I think the Opns are superior. The sound is softer, less artificial. In addition when someone crumples a paper bag I no longer jump out of my skin. Going back and forth between the two at the deli I noticed the directionality of the Muse. I did not have that experience today with the Opns. Speech does sound different between the two. The Muse has a tinny quality to it that the Opns do not. One of the strengths of the Muse for me has been that even with or maybe because of the tinny sound my speech comprehension especially in noisy environments has been quite amazing. I plan on having my wife come with me so I can do some back to back speech comprehension testing in different environments. If nothing else it is a good excuse for a nice dinner out!

Uh!, no one told me I could change the space station orbit. Next visit with the audiologist I’m getting that turned on too. :wink:

I’m curious which dome or earpiece tip you have? Personally I feel very fortunate that the open domes I’ve had with the Alta2s and the OPNs have been just the right fit for comfort. They contribute to my feeling of not wearing . Also both Oticon aids have had great spacial audio location and I can tell exactly where a sound is coming from, seemingly a full 360 degrees. Again the aids disappear and it all feels normal.

Thank you for the tip of the need to test out the OPNs in a noisy dining environment as reason to go out. I think I can make that work.

I have the griptip dome on mine. I did not find any others to switch to in the goodie bag that came with the .

In reply to @gpsgrandpa

@gpsgrandpa said:

RForbes thank you for keeping us updated on your OPN experiences. For a person new to hearing aids like myself I think having a working relationship with a good audiologist is vital to a successful start. With no prior experience how would one ever know if the aids were working the way they should be. I frequently am told that a little knowledge is dangerous. That said since I am a techie person I can see my self tempted to do what you are doing when I’m looking for new HAs years from now. It will be interesting to see how your interaction with buyhear goes.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, you are correct…I think maybe first-timers might be more apprehensive about going with buyhear, but they do have a 60-day money back guarantee, so some may give it a try (especially techies like you). Over 6 years ago, my first attempt at hearing aids was through America Hears. They send aids with programming device and software as a do-it-yourself kit; but, the aids did not work for me at all. I share that to point out that I’m more willing to be an early adopter of new tech and new ways to interact with tech.

I do plan to send a gift (money) to the audiologist who did my hearing test if I end up staying with buyhear. They plan to send me the necessary equipment within a week to adjust my aids remotely. I wish I could buy the equipment to do it myself. I have a copy of the Oticon software (Genie 2) to educate myself on programming options. Anyone can download the software.

Oh…I’ve seen where some have posted that buyhear can no longer sell Opns due to action by Oticon; but that is inaccurate. I talked with them Monday and they are still selling them.

They are the premium model for sure. I have had my Opn’s for a little over a week. The first day I had them I had a retirement party so it was a great time for the test. It was in a pretty noisy eating establishment that I had been to before and had trouble hearing people because of the echo and noise. Not a problem with the Opns. Speech understanding is way better than the Alta’s I had for three years. As someone else mentioned, I can tell the direction speech and other sounds is coming from.
It is interesting to hear about who uses what domes. My Audi wanted me to try the because she felt they gave me better high end but I went back to the open domes because I found them more comfortable.

Battery life isn’t as good as the Alta’s I had used, but it’s not bad. I wonder if a program to turn off Bluetooth would help.
I did notice a music program available but didn’t have it added.

The only problem I have is that they randomly reboot and I hear the startup chime. No particular time or side. Sometimes both, most of the time just one side. I’d be interested to hear of anybody else having this problem

Overall, they are really worth the buck I feel…

250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000
L 20 30 30 60 70 75 70 75
R 25 30 35 48 70 75 65 75

The reboots are often a mechanical problem where the battery attaches. Ask you audi to check/adjust/replace.

If you don’t need the , the audi should be able do turn it off and provide better battery life. That is assuming the ear to ear is magnetic resonance which is likely.

This week I have been doing no audio streaming other than the direct link to my iPhone. I wanted another battery usage indicator to compare with the Alta2 Pro aids. Since replacing the batteries Sunday morning I have over 6 hours of calls. If the indicators for the Oticon ON app can be believed (I think they aren’t accurate at all) there is 80 percent left in each battery.

I notice last night that the battery holder has a small insert of red on one and blue on the other that I did not notice on the Alta2’s. I wonder if the OPNs are specifically built as a left and right or that is part of setting the up?

In reply to @gpsgrandpa

I would like to try out the oticon OPN but they don’t have enough power for me. I had spoken with Oticon and there still working on OPN with more power. I surely like the how its working for you gpsGrandpa

I fear that – alone/whatever-brand – won’t give you the results many obtain. We’re all different and your loss appears to be one of the worst. It is possible there is a local audiology center that can provide therapy to improve your results.

In reply to @gpsgrandpa

Nine days ago I started to wear the Opn’s, and I am still very satisfied. Reading the previous posts I am not the only one :D.

Gpsgrandpa, you get 4,5 days with your batteries, so do I. This morning I have changed them for the 2nd time. I wear them about 18 hours a day. Using bluetooth for streaming telephone calls and even listen to music sometimes. Although my studio headphones offer better sound (specially the bass tones), I am still very much impressed on how the Opn’s perform. The battery power indicators on the iPhone are indeed not accurate. They indicate 4 days that the batteries are full, and only in the last hours they start to go down fast. I have turned on the voice and he was telling me the power percentage and this was in line with the indicators on the phone.

Like you, I am also experiencing some small issues with bluetooth, but I wonder if it is due to the hearing aids or the iPhone. In a few days, my new iPhone (6S) will be delivered, right now I am using the iPhone5, so I am curious to see if there is a difference.
The bluetooth issues differ:

  1. Phone calls: A few times I’ve tried to call someone, but they couldn’t hear me at the other side, so I had to change quickly back to my phone. This is a bit frustrating because this happens irregular.
  2. Switching devices: When I switch from my iPhone to my iPad, I have to reboot the Hearing aids (open and close) otherwise I only hear streaming sounds in my right hearing aid.
  3. Car System: When I am receiving a phone call while driving I hear it on my hearing aids in stead of my handsfree car system and have to manually switch it on my phone to the car. When I call someone with the handsfree system, there is no issue. (Car: Mitsubishi PHEV)
  4. When i am listening to music through my hearing aids, sometimes the sound is lost for a split second (this only happens in the first seconds from a music clip).
    I have no experimented with audiobooks.

The IFTTT function is stil not perfect for me. I made some recipes (priority e-mail & changing programs location based) The priority e-mail recipe is functioning, but you’ll have to turn the voice on. It will tell you when a priority e-mail has arrived and also the subject. But although the voice is ok, I don’t like it to much when I hear messages all the time. So I switched the voice off again. Changing programs dependent on my location, did not work out yet. But well IFTTT is new technology and will only become better I suppose.

And for the most important thing: the hearing itself: It is still beyond belief. In the past 9 days my life has changed, being able to understand not only voices very clear again, but also hear all the other sounds I thought I had lost. The Opn’s are very comfortable and I do forget I am wearing them. No wind noises and not afraid to walk in the rain. Of course I realize this personal, but for my hearing loss they are incredible good.

Today I went to JewelEar (My hearing aid specialist) to review the past days. She told me that she is hearing more and more very good experiences from other Opn costumers as well.
Sometimes my right tip slips out of my ear due to the anatomy of my ear channel. Because I read some good reviews about the Oticon grip tips (on tvahearingproducts.com/oticon-grip-tip4) I’ve asked her to order them for me. She told me that the perception would be different because they are not as open as the domes I am using now. Less surrounding sounds can enter your ear and you’ll hear more the sound directly from the speakers. She gave me some to see how different they sound. I’ll be testing them until the grip tips are delivered. And yes until now, I slightly prefer the open domes. I’ll post my experience with the grip tips once I had a chance to test them.

I’m very much enjoying the Opn’s I’ve been trying; they are a huge improvement over the Agil Pro’s I’ve had since 2010. I’ll write up something more substantial after the holidays.

Emiel, one thing you will probably notice with the grip tips is your own voice sounds like you have your fingers in your ears. You sort of get used to it after a bit. Sort of.

Edited

Thank you rkorzep, this is excacly what happens with the closed tips I am using now. It is going to be a difficult decission, either let the open tip slip out of my ear sometimes and have a more natural soud or choose for the grip tips. I will also compare them on how comfortable and visable they are.

In reply to @Emiel

@Emiel said:

In the last two weeks I’ve been testing the Linx2 hearing aids after wearing Widex aids for 5 years. My hearing improved tremendously, even my colleagues noticed the difference, so I was willing to buy them. But deep inside I was not very much impressed with the sound quality of these Resound models. My hearing aid specialist (JewelEar Gouda) told me that with some fine tuning she could make them more comfortable. But she also offered me to compare them with the new Oticon Opn.

In the first minutes after she gave me the Oticon Opn’s, I thought that something was missing, it was like she didn’t adjust the volume high enough. But meantime I realized that new sounds entered my ears. Sounds I’d lost for many years.
She said, just come outside with me and there I had a live changing experience. I really could hear again very natural, without the hissing high noises from my hearing aids trying to counteract my hearing loss.

Moments later I drove home in my car and was wondering how the beeps in the car actually sound nice. I had some music on and my window open and could hear 2 cycists talking to eachother driving at the other side of the road.

Ten minutes later I was home and got emotional trying to explain my partner the experience with the Oticons. I did not feel disabled anymore.

All day long I’ve been very very happy. In a board meeting, this afternoon, I could hear every word again. I did not feel stupid having to guess what everybody was saying. Not starting topics which where already discussed…

Although I’ve been wearing the Oticon Opn’s for just a day, I am very much impressed. I don’t even notice wearing them and they are almost invisible. For me, and I assume others who will have the opportunity to try them, Oticon has made a giant step forward with the opn’s. And I just humbly say: Thank you Oticon!

Emiel. I just wanted to invite you to leave a review of your Oticon Opn’s over on our website, HearingTracker.com … We have a couple of reviews/comments already, but would welcome yours! See Page: Oticon Opn Reviews4

Related discussions