This may have been handled somewhre else but I’ll ask anyways. I am going to try Widex Allure hearing aids. I’ve tried Phonak but find the sound too processed. I golf and listen to music from speakers, otherwise I live in a quiet world. In Canada, the price jump from 330 to 440 is considerable. I’ve looked at numerous Widex documents and numerous forums and I read that listening to music is better on the 440 (Pure Sound). One Widex document shows that both the 330 and 440 have a wind manager but another document shows it is better in the 440? My insurance doesn’t cover the complete cost of these so money is a consideration. Based on these 2 factors, is there really much difference? Widex is not widely used in Canada and my audi (and most others around here) don’t really know and it is basically new to Canada so I am asking for outside help.
I believe it’s actually the same wind noise manager, except that the 440 has more channels and in any case where there are more channels a hearing aid is more precisely able to manage noise. (e.g. if you have ten channels and the noise is in one of them, the hearing aid can reduce 1/10th the sound and get rid of it, but if you only have two channels and noise is in one of them the hearing aid is reducing 1/2 the sound to get rid of the noise, to simplify it.) The 440 is a little bit more automatic in that it has a few more sound environments to switch into. I think the speech enchancer is suppose to be a little bit better as well. PureSound is in both.
The difference is always a bit nebulous and hard to quantify. Different manufacuters have different degrees of differences between levels, but individual hearing also plays a big part in whether the differences are noticeable. Check what the return options are, if they are reasonable then you could always get the 330s and only consider moving up if you still don’t like them.
Widex has been in Canada all along, but they are a smaller here for sure.
But what is “too processed” to you? Widex is certainly lower on the processing continuum, but what makes you think that was actually the problem?
I have the SmartRIC , not the Allure but they are similar devices.
Both have PureSound but you must “qualify” for it. It’s only for mild to moderate loss and it works only with the M receivers and open/vented domes/sleeves.
The 440 has more “environmental situations” in the programming: examples of situations are : quiet with/without speech , urban with/without , social with/without speech , etc . Frankly , it’s rare when I’ve noticed the aids switching modes.
The smart wind in the 440: If you are in windy situations, is better. With my 440, wind is not an issue at the beach .
I don’t know if the high frequency boost feature was added to the Allure 440 recently (it’s available for the SmartRIC 440). If you have high frequency loss, it raises the gains significantly above 4Khz so that you can hear birds , better music sound , etc . If the allures don’t have this, this is something that your fitter can program manually . The high frequency boost feature is not available on the 330.
The Speech enhancer Pro is a new feature in the Allure that I don’t have. It is supposed to be the biggest upgrade from the SmartRIC . Widex says (based on my understanding ) that , in noisy environments , it can divide the spectrum in multiple channels and then increase those that are relevant to speech . It’s a different approach to noise compared to what Phonak does. The speech enhancer pro is probably the biggest reason to go to the Allure vs the SmartRIC but I have no idea how effective it is and I haven’t seen any reviewers praising this feature. I don’t know how efficient the enhancer pro is if you don’t use .
And finally: the Allures cannot be programmed by anyone that is not a partner of Widex . If you want to do in the future , the Allures are not the aids for that .
You can get the official Widex doc that shows the differences between the tech levels in the link below .
I have seen this document. I have also seen documents from other countries that say things such as while there is a wind manager on both the 330 and 440, the one on the 440 is more effective. The document you supply doesn’t have that. There are other categories where this applies. In this document, does it say that you can get a high frequency boost on the 440 Allure but not the 330? How would anyone even know about that unless you audi is completely versant in Widex, which is not the case in Canada. You say that the biggest feature difference between the 2 levels is the Speech Enhancer, yet the Widex document shows both levels, 330 and 440, having it. They don’t say it’s better in the 440.
My audilogist suggested that Phonak’s goal is to make enhance speech (process it) while Widex’s goal is to keep it natural sounding. It has also been said that Widex is for people who need hearing aids but hate wearing hearing aids.
I have older Phonak (11 years old) and when I wear them, I don’t like what I hear so I don’t wear them. It’s, as I say, processed to remove background noise. I would rather hear natural sounds,even muffled, than sounds that go through a processor, heavily modifed to reduce background noise and then passed on to your ears. That is what I mean by processed sound.
I live in Canada. While it seems that everyone in the US can find an audiologist that is extremely familiar with Widex, such is not the case in Canada. Hearing aid specialsists are more familiar with Widex for some reason but every person anywhere says that you should use a audiologist when getting hearing aids. It is not from lack of trying that I am buying hearing aids from someone who lacks knowledge of Widex. So what is more important, working with an audiologist or working with someone that has a knownledge of Widex. My audilogist suggests that all hearing aids have similar settings and a good audiologist can handle it. If not, they ask for help. Would you rather get help from someone with 7ears of university education or someone who may have 2 years of community college.
Sorry, but I’m getting frustrated trying to get answers to simple questions and you are only trying to help. I apologize.
Here’s my recommendation, forget about Widex, they are no better then any other brand and it’s impossible for any of us to tell you which one will be better for your use case, only you will know this after a trial anyway, so I believe you should pop in to your local Costco and get premium quality models and a decent return period, not to mention saving thousands of dollars in the process, cheers
Hearing aid specialsists are more familiar with Widex for some reason but every person anywhere says that you should use a audiologist when getting hearing aids.
Well you can take that with a pinch of salt please! Costco is the biggest seller if in the world, if there was any truth in “only an specialist” or Audiologist can program Widex or any other brand (its nonsense of course) then they would be having massive issues with return complaint etc.
Would you rather get help from someone with 7ears of university education or someone who may have 2 years of community college
Who cares about that, if you think that only a University graduate can provide fitting your HAs then you probably believe that only expensive over priced HAs could possibly offer any benefit, which is again not true.Honestly I believe your looking at all of this wrong and just making it a little bit harder for yourself, but at least you’ve come to the right place, the forum is a wealth of knowledge, just use the search button to see what others are saying about your situation.
Costco Ontario has a lot of audiologists anyway. A decade ago Costco Ontario ONLY employed audiologists, but as it has been harder for them to find audiologists who want to work for them they’ve had to add .
I’m sorry. This kind of strayed from my original post. I have an audiologist in Canada but she is not familiar with Widex as they are mostly a Phonak shop. I have dealt with her for 10+ years and she is familair with my requirements so I have no intention of going to Costco. I have private insurance that will cover most but not all of the cost of and the gap between the 330 and 440 is substantial (at least in Canada) so I am wondering if it is worth the difference. I have already explained that I’m retired, mid-70s, golf, listen to and enjoy live music, go to restaurants at quiet times (no noisy environments) and otherwise live a quiet lifestyle. If I were to listen to music from a phone, I would use earbuds. I have mild to moderate hearing loss in higher frequencies and suffer from tinnitus (high-pitched squeal), predominantly in my right ear.
I think you’ll probably be fine in the 330s. Put the 440 money aside just on case you’re not happy and want to switch, and then if you’re satisfied with the 330s you can spend it on EXTRA golf.
Thanks for your help. I will likely take your advice but, I see the Canadian flag beside your handle, so unless you live in B.C. you know that golf season is still months away and that trial periods are generally one month. Maybe I should be waiting for a couple of months?
If that’s your main concern, maybe. Wind should be a little better through the 440s but I don’t know if that’s worth the extra for you or not. Wind is never good through hearing aids. It’s certainly better than it used to be.
I’m in Southern Ontario. I heard you guys almost missed winter this year while we all threw out backs out shoveling boatloads of snow. But it’s supposed to be eight degrees here today, so everything should start to melt🫠.
I would try the Starkey Omega 24, over all they are far superior to Widex Allure 330 and even the 440. The 360 adition to the AI 24’s is amazing. The noise reduction is not as robust as the Phonak Sphere Audeo Ultra I90, however the sound is not as processed and is more natural, similar to Widex. Overall the Omega 24 are OUTSTANDING ’s
FWIW, the Widex Allure series are often preferred by musicians and pro-audio folks. In my experience they sound good listening to live and recorded music. However, they are not so good for streaming music directly and not a good substitute for headphones or earbuds,. which they are not designed for anyway.
Ontario, Canada
San Francisco