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Phonak Infineo Sphere Not Programmed Right?

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I’m doing a 1 week trial of the Phonak Infineo Spheres after not getting a good result from the Lumity. (The provider feels 1 week is sufficient) I’ve read other posts about these but my experience so far is that they’re performing almost exactly the same as the Lumity. There’s no option for the “Spheric Speech in Loud Noise” and no matter the settings I’ve tried in a restaurant environment, I can’t hear the person across the table from me. In a few instances, I’ve been able to hear better by removing the . The preset options are exactly the same as the Lumity and all of them are pretty useless. I have mild-moderate cookie bite hearing loss. Sorry, can’t share the because they haven’t given it to me yet. My feeling is that these aren’t set up correctly and the “hearing instrument specialist” isn’t familiar enough with the programming. The only stepped into the room the first visit to say hello and recommend some nutritional supplements. This was supposed to have been one of the better providers in my area but I’m not impressed. I’m thinking of turning these back in and trying a different provider. Any thoughts?

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Ask for a manual spherical program. Then you can see for sure what spherical sounds like and know whether it will work for you.

WH

I find that speech in noise often fails to kick in because noisiness is intermittent. So a manual version is needed. Have you tried checking if it’s on in the app? To do so tap Automatic at the top of the screen. The tap Adjust bottom right. What does it say at the top of the next screen, eg Adjust Calm situation or Adjust Speech in Noise? If it’s the latter you can adjust it and save as a new program. That way you have a manual version of speech in noise.

While I agree with the advice given by @WhiteHat and @Teewens … I also recommend turning them in and trying a different provider. The audiologist should be more involved, in my opinion. This goes double if the same audiologist gave you the Lumity trial. And a trial of one week is insufficient. In my opinion, a trial of hearing aids for a period of time shorter than 30 days is insufficient, unless the goal of the audiologist is to get a poorly-tried set of hearing aids sold before the client finds out whether the hearing aids do what the client needs.

I’d recommend getting both a speech in noise and a spherical speech in loud noise. Speech in noise is (I think?) the same as restaurant, but I like having it second in the list. Sometimes speech in noise does better for me. Sometimes I want spherical. I don’t like it flopping back and forth, however. If you aren’t sure you know how it sounds in spherical, this is a way to know.

WH

If you are using open domes the Spheres will not help much in loud noise since noisy will just enter your ears bypassing the hearing aids. If you are going to try another provider for Spheres check out the ZipHearing web site as they will recommend a local audiologist and you will get a significant price discount on the spheres.

In reply to @KikiD

If the app shows “Adjust Calm Situation” when you are in a noisy environment there is something wrong. But the audiologist can create a manual speech in noise program. Might also need to look at the threshold for automatic speech in noise.

In my experience of Phonak (Marvel-Lumity) is that the default ‘first fit’ is poor.

This can start by the fitting programme. When I programme any of mine, the default is “Adaptive Phonak Digital” (1.0 or 2.0). I find this is pretty decent for speech in quieter environments, but very poor for Music and Streaming. I’ve also found that some elements of Autosense are either pointless (Comfort in noise - just turn down, or take your hearing aids out) or elements having poor default “program options”. Speech in noise is an example of this, as it also reduces the volume of the person you’re trying to hear.

A simple switch of fitting programmes could make all the difference, or at least a bit more personalised programming.

In this case, firstly it appears your loss isn’t severe, and you maybe have an open fitting. I say this because you claim you can hear speech in noise better with your hearing aids removed?

Secondly, it appears your Audiologist has made little effort in programming either Lumity or Infinio Sphere to your needs. You should be able to get good results with either. He/she should have, at least, added Speech in noise/sphere speech in loud noise as an additional selectable programme.

I to just got the phonak sphere. About four days ago. You tube has some great videos on how to use the app. One tip is to have your Audi make a manual sphere program so you can test it . Also a lot of info on how to make your own programs and save them. Theses sill help your Audi understand your needs. There are settings you can adjust in the app. Like amount of back ground noise and clarity. My Audi did not tell about all the features in the app. So far I’m not impressed neither but the you tube videos are a big help. Good luck. Let’s see if it gets better

Thanks. I’ve watched many videos on these. I did set up my own program which dialed down the background noise and focused the speech to narrow. But, these have to be turned in today so I’ve decided to go with a different audiologist for the next round.

Yes, the audiologist must set up a Speech in Noise program. Relying on Automatic to implement the extra chip did not work for me.

Also, as I’ve noted elsewhere on the forum, the trial Phonak Sphere I90s I used for a couple of weeks were magically good. When in a noisy environment I switched to the Speech in Noise program, I was literally enveloped in a good hearing zone. But they can’t sell you the trials (is that true?). The ones I bought just don’t work that well. Frustrating. But I’ll bet they do a lot to make sure the trials up up to snuff before sending them out, for an extra layer of quality control.

I came from Lumity 90s to Infinio 90-Sphere so I can relate. Your loss is not as severe as mine, and Spheres, while not “wow factor” for me that others have experienced do help.

Just to reiterate what others have said, your audi should have added Spheric Speech in Loud Noise as a manual program. The activation point at which Spheric Speech in Loud Noise can be lowered by your audi, but it’s best to have it as a manual program. I have found that Spheric Speech helps me in quieter settings, such as retail point of sale when the noise level isn’t high enough to activate Speech in Noise program, but yet I can’t hear the cashier.

A one week trial isn’t long enough to determine is you will be satisfied with the hearing aids.

If you want to collect some data that will help your audi, measure the background noise of every venue you visit using the mobile app Decibel X or something comparable. Record the level of background noise where you begin to have trouble hearing conversation. I find that above 77db I have to use my Roger On microphone along with my hearing aids to hear conversation.

If you don’t like the sound quality of everything you hear, you should ask if your hearing aids were programmed with the fitting formula. Phonak has two proprietary fitting forumulas called Adaptive Phonak Digital and Adaptive Phonak Digital Contrast. I have been using Adaptive Phonak Digital Contrast as I feel it gives me the best sound for conversation, TV audio and Bluetooth music streaming. Everyone is different. Two people with identical hearing loss will respond differently to the same hearing aids and same fitting.

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