Phonak settings for bird watching

Basic goal is to make the higher frequencies audible. Ideally this is done with more gain, but this will be tough to do for you as you’re likely using open domes with your good low frequency hearing. Too much gain with open domes results in feedback. The other option is frequency lowering (Sound Recover 2 in the case of Phonak) All the high frequencies will be shifted down to a range where you can hear them, but they won’t be the same notes. Some people adapt well to using it. Others hate it.

There are setting that merge left and right into mono in the interest of word recognition. Make sure that is off. Also, typically you know the anticipated birds and the frequency of their calls. Create a special program with those optimized. My wife has gone birding in 140 countries. A very avid birder. I bought some fine binoculars and crashed big time down at Arapaho Power Station. My ears were not up to the challenge and vision is really a rather poor substitute. I gave up frankly. Good luck.

I have just started trialling Phonak Lumity with custom molds with small vent. Once configured correctly, SR2 is giving me much better results for hearing birds than my current Virto Q90 with SR1 implemented. I was amazed at how much more high frequency bird calls I could hear.

I never heard them so well before yesterday and the actual frequency lowering didn’t bother me. As to determining which bird I am hearing, that will take time. But the merlin app is great for identifying them from their calls, so now is the time for me to start learning