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Upgrading hearing aids to phonak lumity 90

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Hello

Looking to get the phonak lumity 90

Please does anyone with these hearing aids or similar know the answer to the following

Can you use a phone charger or charge them in a car (with usb ports)?

I know these ones aren’t waterproof but if I caught in rain especially heavy rain will they be ok at all?

Lastly can you hear them while using over the ear headphones?

Thankyou

9 people in this conversation9 min readJump to latest

One more question I’ve just remembered

How does this hearing aid or any for that matter no which voice you want to listen to,
For example I work on the checkout at a supermarket with another till close behind me. How do they know I want to hear my customer the most and not my colleague and/or their customer or vice versa?
Thankyou

@wdpegg said:

I know these ones aren’t waterproof but if I caught in rain especially heavy rain will they be ok at all?

Most people use some sort of drying container.

@wdpegg said:

Lastly can you hear them while using over the ear headphones?

Very individual. Can’t really say. A number of things can stop this from working including feedback.

@wdpegg said:

How do they know I want to hear my customer the most and not my colleague and/or their customer or vice versa?

By facing them.

Unfortunately hearing aids are not that clever!

Ok thankyou for the reply. Had a quick look at electric drying boxes didn’t find at least not so far 1 that says can be used with rechargeable hearing aids most say must remove batteries.

Thanks for the reply, would you say it’s essential to have one?
What’s the benefit over say just changing the ear filters,ear domes and using a brush and of course leaving them in there charger in a not to cold/warm room ?

Unrelated but since these hearing aids can connect by Bluetooth so you can take calls etc can you just hold up a mobile phone to your ear/ha or do you have to use them to answer and have a call?
Thanks

So filters, domes and using a brush, plus putting them in the charger, doesn’t dry them.

Phonak Aids, you can’t put phone up to your ear if you’re using Bluetooth.

Have a search of the instructions for your hearing aids. It’ll help you understand how they work.

:slight_smile:

In reply to @wdpegg

If you do not have the Bluetooth connected to the phone, (or pick up your wife’s phone), yes you can just put the phone to your ear and used it as normally. I find it a little better to raise the speaker of the phone up and slightly forward to get it closer to the .

Depending on the ear molds you use on the receivers it is possible to put a drying disk in side the charger. All the recent phonek aids are water resistant so rain is not a problem for me, although I do not shower or swim with them.

I use Sony noise canceling over the ear headphone and do not have a problem

Not got Lumity, but all Phonaks (as far as I know), since Marvels in 2019, are IP68 water resistance rating, so will be pretty much showerproof. I take them out in rain, or the shower, though.

Edited
@wdpegg said:

Can you use a phone charger or charge them in a car (with usb ports)?

I know these ones aren’t waterproof but if I caught in rain especially heavy rain will they be ok at all?

Lastly can you hear them while using over the ear headphones?

Thankyou

“Can you use a phone charger or charge them in a car (with usb ports)?”
I have Lumity L70-RL “Life” receiver in canal for 2 months. The “Life” model comes with a USB-C powered recharger base with a built-in battery power bank holding 4 full recharges without itself needing recharged. The other two models “R” (standard) and “” (telecoil) also come with a USB-C powered recharger base but without a built-in battery power bank. Any of these USB-C chargers could be used to charge in a car with a USB power port.

===

“I know these ones aren’t waterproof but if I caught in rain especially heavy rain will they be ok at all?”
All three models carry the IP68 water rating which is the highest rating. However, The “Life” model has additional waterproofing to make it even more heavy rain resistant than either “R” or “TC” models. It is potted in some space age waterproofing compound at the factory, you can read about it on their website:

Audéo Life: the world’s first waterproof rechargeable hearing aid1

Audéo Life is the world’s first waterproof rechargeable hearing aid, delivering crisp, natural sound with universal connectivity.

I would personally have zero worry if I got caught in heavy rainfall while wearing them. I found the “Life” model would give me peace of mind which you might also.

===

“Lastly can you hear them while using over the ear headphones?”
Yes, and I do that regularly. Mine are behind the ear, receiver in canal. I have used them successfully with:all of these headphones which I own and use regularly:

Dan Clark Audio “Aeon Flow” headphones ($$$). Very clear, nice quality, no physical interference, fits well. Great sound, great comfort.

Sennheiser HD600 headphones ($$) Very clear, nice quality, no physical interference, fits well. Great sound.

Sony WH-1000XM3 wireless bluetooth rechargeable noise cancelling headphones ($$) Outstanding music quality for the money. The noise reduction feature works excellent while the dishwasher runs and really helps. A little less roomy inside earcups but OK with hearing aids. wireless Bluetooth Sony mode works fine with no hearing aid interference.

Sennheiser GSP670 wireless gaming headset with boom microphone ($) Fits well, great roomy earcups, no physical interference with ’s. Sound quality not as good as the above but works ok for gaming.

If you have over the ear headphones with a reasonable amount of earcup space they should work OK for you. If you are in the market, the Sony noise cancelling ones I’d recommend, you can try the newer model at Best Buy (USA) or etc.

Also, if you’re on the go and don’t have headphones with you, I find the streamed Bluetooth direct from my phone to my Phonak hearing aids to be pretty good. I have good LF hearing and a sloping moderate to severe HF loss with custom ear molds, and together with a decent equalizer program (in my case, to add bass) on an Android phone you can stream decent quality directly.

The charger will work on any USB port.

The basic Lumity (model L-R or L-RT) which I own is actually rated IP68 per the manual, which I am looking at right now. The IP68 standard includes complete submersion at 1 meter for 30 minutes. But the manual then states that “They can be worn in the rain but should not be fully submerged in water or used in the shower, swimming…” etc. So Phonak needs to get their act together on their documentation. My audiologist assured me that rain or stepping into the shower should not be a concern. Datapoint: One of mine failed within 5 sec when I stepped into the shower accidentally… So there you go.

Note that the Lifestyle version (L-RL model) definitely is rated for use when swimming, and at least one poster to this forum swims daily in the ocean while wearing his. I can only assume that they cost somewhat more but look identical externally.

As for headphones, the trick is to couple the sound to the microphones which are of course above and behind your ear. With over-the-ear phones, I intentionally jack them up as high as possible, otherwise little high-frequency energy is picked up for amplification. I have never experienced feedback (oscillation, squealing) in any situation, but then the gain is not very high in my case. If you require very high gain to accommodate more severe hearing loss, that puts you closer to the threshold where feedback is possible.

-Gary

Thankyou for your help.

My audiologist said that my hearing aids would be fine in the rain. Having said that still wouldn’t want to be in at least heavy rain with no protection coat hood/umbrella for to long.
They also said to remember not to wear them in the shower. I guessing it’s the pressure and/or the water being more focused that could damage the hearing aid? :person_shrugging:

In reply to @wdpegg

I have Phonak Lumity Life 90s and the weakest link in water is the RECEIVER/SPEAKER inside the ear canal. I have soft, silicone double-domes on my speakers, so water can easily get inside the ear canal and completely destroy these so-called “waterproof” aids.

As others have pointed out, the unit is hermetically sealed, so you could splash about in a pool, or make a dash in the rain, but again, don’t push your luck with them.

That same hermetic seal is what makes “drying” them the puzzle. How does a completely sealed BTE dry out? Well, it probably doesn’t have moisture in it to begin with! It’s the receiver/speaker that needs drying out. I pop my aids into this Lux Dryer.5 It’s small enough to travel with and NEVER heats up hot enough to destroy the aids.

As for the headphones - as others mention, you’d find out by trial and error. Some models have cups that sit too tight over your ears and cause feedback. A bigger earcup on the headphone will likely not have that issue. BUT! If the sound source has , then I’d pair + connect them and just stream audio right into the aid with NO headphone. E.g., the TV, laptop, cell phone, portable music player etc.

In reply to @x475aws

It had a very high noise level after water exposure, and didn’t recover after a day of drying. Still sort-of usable but incredibly annoying… Warranty repair took about a week; they mailed it back to the repair place down South. Now I have a warning sign on the shower :slight_smile:

@Gary_NA6O said:

It had a very high noise level after water exposure, and didn’t recover after a day of drying.

That is exactly what happened with my Phonak Lumity Life so-called “waterproof” aids! I wore them in my pool, snorkel mask ON, head never below 6" in water. I guess it was MY DUH, cuz naturally, the weakest link is the receiver/speaker in the ear canal.

Swam for 20 min, got out, one aid just hummed like a buzzsaw non-stop, even after a couple sessions drying in a Redux dryer. I was lucky they were under warranty, so I got a full replacement and have NEVER EVER assumed they were “waterproof” again.

Dunno, Bluejay. Maybe you had a defective one. I’m sure there’s lots of waterproof phones out there that died on their first splash too.

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