A few days with Starkey Evolv AI IIC's

Hearing Aids
#1

Received my Starkey Evolv AI IIC’s on Saturday.

I was really surprised because they’re even smaller than the Phonak Virto B90 IIC’s they’ve replaced.

They go so deep into my canal that I can only feel the pull string.

I noticed when I left the audiologist’s room that they were cutting out the background noise quite a bit - the crowds in town sounded quieter but I could still hear the person walking with me. The bus noise was also quieter and it felt easier to listen to a conversation. At home, they’ve cut out unnecessary background noise like the clock ticking and sound of traffic traveling along the road.

I wasn’t sure how to change the battery at first because the pull string is in a different position to the Phonak’s and the battery door is a little different but managed it after watching a video on Starkey’s site.

The hearing aids feel very comfortable to wear and the batteries have lasted 3 whoie days so far.

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#2

I’m following your review closely. I just went in to the audiologist this week. This will be my first set of HAs. I also went with the Starkey IIC’s. Isn’t the Genesis the latest revision? I’m glad they are working well for you so far.

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#4

Thanks for the info. Where does this come from? There is a spec sheet on the Starkey website for the Genesis iic.

I”ll see what I get on the 18th when I go for my fitting.

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#5

I just bought a pair of these recently. I find they are very similar to the Muse aids I had before, with some improvements. These aids are MUCH better at speech in noise. I tend to use the restaurant setting most of all and it really pulls down things like road noise, fan noise and any frequencies that would impair speech understanding. I find the fidelity good enough that even though the bass is obviously soft, it seems natural. You really only notice what you can’t hear until you switch to a more conventional program. I would say overall I am very impressed with the sound.

What I find lacking is the reliability in wireless. Both the ear-to-ear sync and audio from my phone are hit and miss. If I need to make an important phone call then I make sure to test the audio first by listening to a voice mail. When it works, it’s great but sometimes audio on one ear or the other is missing the phone content. The ear-to-ear is the biggest gaffe in my opinion. I live with it, but my previous Muse aids never failed to synchronize as long as I’ve owned them.

By contrast, I find the Oticon Own1’s to be amateurish at best audio-wise. Noise reduction is horrible. I’m still trying to sort these out with another audiologist, but for day to day use, the Starkeys are great for conversation whereas the Oticons are frustrating for both me and the person I’m failing to have an intelligent conversation with. On the plus side, the wireless is solid.

I hope Starkey tries to fix the poor wireless with a firmware update.

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#6

What phone are you using to sync with the Thrive App?

#7

I am using a Samsung Galaxy S10+. I find that connectivity with the Thrive app is better than the audio connectivity and ear-to-ear connectivity. Sometimes when the audio is not working in either/both ears I can still use the Thrive app features (and it communicates OK with the aids). Obviously there are multiple paths/protocols at play and each has their respective degrees of success.

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#8

I don’t believe the IIc version has wireless connectivity, does it? You would need to be in the slightly larger version to get wireless. Something like the ITC or larger.

#9

It’s not well advertised but they have IIC NW (non-wireless) and IIC (wireless). And no they aren’t larger, even though that would have been totally acceptable to me.

#10

I think your confusing the invisible in the canal (IIc) with the larger completely in the canal model (CiC) model. I have the IIc and compared both. The CiC is larger to accommodate the additional blue tooth chip.

#11

Yes you are correct. CIC.

It’s still small compared to the ITC Oticon Own1. I’ve never owned an IIC … not sure how I got on the wrong track there.