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Phonak Infinio Spheres

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I have worn the Starkey Edge 24 for 30 days. My left ear is worse than my right ear. I find the sound to be somewhat metallic, especially my voice. I will do a short Phonak Infinio Sphere 90 trial of only 1 hour to see if I sound better. That is all the time my audiologist will give me. Is anyone else finding the Edge with the metallic sound?

I am at home most of the time and only in noisy environments with family or eating out, but not regularly. Do you think the Infinio Sphere is overkill? Is there a major difference in price between the Sphere and the non-Sphere?

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Price is going to vary depending upon where you are. The only difference between regular Infinio and Sphere is the Spheric mode. Which I thought worked very well in noisy environments. It may be overkill for you but it really depends on your hearing loss.
A few things to be aware of:
When you trial the spheric mode, make sure your audi sets the noise reduction to max and speech focus to 4 out of 5. If they don’t, the sphere mode in my experience is not nearly as impressive. You can play around with this later if you want.
Make sure that you are actually trialing the spheric mode at least some point through your trial. It usually doesn’t kick in unless either forced or noise level reaches a certain point, so make sure someone actually activates and verifies it’s on for you.
Be aware that Spheric
mode will pull voices out of background noise but the voices will sound a little weird, as it’s removing noise around them. This is why it only comes on in certain situations. So you’ll likely be able to understand, but the voices will sound a bit weird and this is normal.

When Spheric mode is off however, voices will sound normal again, so you should try the regular modes with the ’s as well.

Hope that helped a little.

You helped a lot. I want to be sure the audiologist turns on the noise reduction so it goes on automatically. I plan to go into a noisy food store ride in my car and talk with my wife to see the difference between the Edge and the Sphere.

IN that case, get the audi to make you a spheric program that you can activate manually. Then go into that store and make sure you switch the program to Spheric mode with your phone. Make sure you see the battery remaining time drop down. It will do this as it’s in spheric mode. You can then play about with the settings and listen to how it sounds. Make sure also, that you’re using comprable domes to your starkey. The more closed the domes on the Spheres, the more effective the spheric mode is. Just remember, you shouldn’t leave it on all the time it’s only for really noisy situations.

@Jeffrey_J said:

Is there a major difference in price between the Sphere and the non-Sphere?

Infinio Sphere 90 costs $800 more than Infinio 90 without Sphere at my audiologist in Montgomery County, when I asked a few months ago. $6700 vs $5900 with one year of support.

Which model did you go with? That is a big difference, but if I look into the future for say three years then it might be a good investment in hearing better.

I wear the Starkey Edge .
I’m really not sure what sounding metallic means. I’ve read it before.
Possible it’s the way the Edge is set up.
Voices sound like voices.
My wife sounds like my wife.
My sisters and brother sound like themselves.
The only voice that sounds funny is mine.
I have distortion in my left ear so I sound distorted.

How can you possibly test the spheres in one hour in view of your comment about metallic sound. Looks like she receives more commission on Edge Ai or her access to Sphere is limited. In Canada, the difference in price between Edge Ai 24 and Sphere 90 was around Cdn.$500. The difference between sphere and non sphere was about the same amount. One of the reasons for high price tags on hearing aids is the fact that sellers embed the cost of returns/trials into the price. Therefore, the reluctance of your seller to limit the trial time is a red flag for me. In my view both devices are top notch hearing aids, the question is which one is best to your liking and particular needs. One hour is not enough time and you might regret this later. I chose Sphere over Edge Ai was its sound in quite. The sphere mode did not make me say “wow” but for the price difference I went along with it in case my hearing gets worst.

I asked for a couple of days with Phonak and she said she could only do a short time during the day as it was the only loaner she had. You are correct with Starkey as that is all I see in the office.

I will have to go with the short window as I should be able to hear the difference. I don’t have a choice as the contract is the contract. If I was to get out of the contract, I would lose money. Private audiologist. My insurance was excellent so I paid half of what it would cost me at Costco.

Thanks for the reply.

In reply to @Jeffrey_J

@Jeffrey_J said:

Which model did you go with?

I bought Oticon Reals last year and asked about Sphere just out of curiosity. In response to my question about client reaction to Sphere, she said they’re selling much better than typical aids. A higher percentage of trials are becoming sales, and a higher percentage of sales are at the top technology level (90). This practice sells many brands.

Check out the prices on the ZipHearing web site to get a good idea of the price difference between the Infinio R and Sphere models, The much better battery of the Sphere should be considered when comparing.

My Brother and I are the last two members of our family. I’m spending several days with him. He is 70. Schizophrenic. I’m 78 and still working. We live 500 miles apart. He is in a half way house.

I couldn’t understand what he said when he talked tonight in a noisy restaurant. He’s attempted to off himself 7 times. Any day could be his last day. Or mine. I’m so grateful we had time together. Wish I could understand each of his words. Even when he is in never-never land.

I think our “medical equipment “ hearing aids should work better.

In reply to @raylock1

If the Phonak works better on the trial, it will be a matter of tweaking the invoice. My insurance is excellent and I am very fortunate for that. My part of the hearing aids payment is very low at least half of what I would have to pay at Costco. I asked for a discount and the audiologist gave 15% with an active AARP card. This was not on the website nor did they mention it, but I am glad I asked.

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