Alternatives to Lyrics

Hearing Aids
1

I have worn hearing aids for 8 years due to moderate to moderately sever, age-related hearing loss. My hearing environments vary significantly - work includes airline travel, teleconferencing, face to face meetings with people, and occasional visits to facilities requiring hearing protection and safety glasses. Off the job, my hearing environments range from family and friends, restaurants, listening to music, golf, tennis, running, archery, hunting and fishing, riding a large motorcycle, mowing the lawn - so very active in noisy, dirty, wet, hot, and cold environments when not at home. My experience with hearing aids has included 1 year with Lyric hearing aids, 5 years with Phonak Solara CICs, and now 2 additional years with Lyrics. I believe BTE or RIC aids would not be a good fit due to physical activity which requires my bending over frequently, running and jumping, wearing reading glasses, and hearing protection. My issue with the Lyrics is unreliable battery life and cannot reinsert them if I want to indulge in water sports where I may submerge my head. My question, simplified: ā€œAre there one or more reasonable alternatives to the Lyrics?ā€

Lyric Advantages

  1. Sound-quality due to deep placement
  2. Natural sound - music, directionality
  3. Donā€™t need digital software, channels, modes simply to overcome issues of receiver/ microphone placement
  4. Can shower, get caught in rain, or even swim if careful not to submerge ears
  5. No daily maintenance due to dust/dirt, ear wax in receiver and microphone - no wax traps or batteries to keep handy for replacement, no dehumidifier necessary
  6. No repairs - no battery door, typically replaced before dust or ear wax become a problem
  7. Leave in at night, quickly put to sleep, turned back on
  8. Much less wind noise due to deep placement
  9. Little or no feedback when using phone
  10. No outwardly audible whistle when greeting someone with a hug
  11. When riding motorcycles, no need to remove aids so a helmet can be worn; simply put them to sleep or turn off with discrete wand; I have bike-to-bike radios that have wafer headphones
  12. Lyrics can function as ear plug in ā€œoffā€ setting when mowing lawn or around typical lawn care equipment; trust me Iā€™ve compared them against foam ear plugs

CIC Experience

  1. My aids automatically adjusted to different hearing environments, at least to a point
  2. I could remove and reinsert the aids any time I wanted
  3. Battery life an acceptable 4-5 days if shut down at night
  4. Hearing quality was not as good, sometimes much worse
  5. My hearing comprehension was much worse in restaurants than with Lyrics
  6. In windy environment such as walking or hiking outdoors it was difficult to carry on a conversation due to background noise
  7. Determination of sound direction was poor especially outdoors
  8. Conference room voice comprehension was poor compared to the Lyrics
  9. Comprehension of conversations with soft-spoken people was poor, even just sitting across a desk
  10. Removed and cleaned microphone and transmitter every night, place in desiccant jar every night; replaced wax traps periodically
  11. Microphones and receivers got dirty over time (with gradual loss of hearing) and had to be sent for factory repair at least once per year
  12. Too much sweat would sometimes kill the aids, requiring factory repair
  13. Battery doors broke on each aid at least once over the 5 years; removal stem broke off from each aid and had to be sent for repair
  14. Most repairs took 1 to 2 weeks, during which I was without the benefit of hearing assistance in that ear. Over the 5 years each aid was sent for repair at least 5 times. Whereas, with the Lyrics I simply visit the audiologist for new hearing aid
  15. Always afraid of getting caught in rain or forgetting to remove the CIC aids before showering
  16. Always had to have batteries handy

Lyric Disadvantages

  1. Need to visit the audiologist for replacement with new Lyric when battery dies
  2. Unpredictable battery life - 4 weeks to 3 months+
  3. Cannot be reinserted by wearer
  4. Tricky placement to avoid feedback, whistling
  5. May still have some problem hearing conversations on phone, tv
  6. Cost

Questions

  1. Are there hearing aids that provide overall better HEARING QUALITY, if ALL styles are considered? What advantages of the Lyric are given up for this?
  2. Can any technology help fill in more conversational gaps to speed brain processing time?
  3. Are there ANY other invisible in canal hearing aids with the sound-quality advantages of the Lyrics, and similar wind noise sensitivity, rain tolerance? My experience indicates digitally suppressing background noise also suppresses things I want to hear

Note that Iā€™m an actual wearer and am only expressing my long-term use experience. After my experiences, and reading this forum and reviews on the web, Iā€™ve come away with these tentative conclusions: 1) the manufacturers of Lyrics have poor quality control on battery life; and, 2) many other hearing aids also suffer poor mechanical quality control, have routine failures due to sweat or other incidental moisture, dust/dirt/ wax in the microphones and/or ear wax in the receivers/speakers, and have mechanical problems resulting in repairs over the lifetime of the hearing aids. With non-Lyric aids, repairs result in prolonged periods without the use of hearing enhancement. I have great confidence in my audiologist after 7 years. Even she is not encouraging regarding alternatives to Lyrics due to my active lifestyle. I do not want aids that are constantly flopping around or falling off, or that you are afraid to run or hike in the rain with.

I do not care about connectivity. Multiple channels where I have to be continually channel surfing on a phone app for one that seems to work for a temporary hearing environment, does not sound attractive, but maybe Iā€™d get used to it. My tentative belief is that most digital hearing aids use algorithms to try to process sound the way our ears naturally do, while the Lyrics take advantage of the natural shape of the ear. I have the impression that you buy a basic hearing aid if all you want is a little amplification, some other hearing aid if you want to hear conversations in restaurants, one with Bluetooth to hear in church, conference rooms, or talk on the phone, and some different hearing aid if you want to hear music the way it was intended. I want it all without channel surfing or suppression of things I want to hear. Most digital aids seem to require expensive accessories (iPhone, remotes, external microphones) that make the cost almost equivalent to Lyrics. Is there an alternative to Lyrics that match my needs?

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2

I would say you can only find out by trialling aids. There are new aids coming on to the market all the time.The Solana CIC is an old model, that I actually used to wear, but my Phonak Virto ITC aids are far superior.

Yours is a difficult question to answer, because one needs to know in what aspects you want improvements and what your red lines are. For sound clarity/quality, I suspect Lyrics are hard to beat, but in your situation I would try the Phonak Virto B-10 NW O or Phonak IIC Titaniums. I would also try IIC and CIC aids from Oticon (OPN) or Signia Insio Nx.

With a moderate to moderately severe loss I personally would go with a Phonak ITC MC Virto B-10 (Mini-Canal) with twin mics for directionality. But this aid is more noticeable than a CIC.

Alternatively, wait for the Phonak Marvel in custom form or the Oticon OPN S in custom form.

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3

Thank you for the response!

Sound quality is paramount. I might put up with some of the disadvantages of non-Lyrics if the sound quality was superior.

I also thank you for encouraging me to try the other aids. I got discouraged by my Solara experience. It is difficult to objectively assess how well you hear when trialing a different aid because you forget how you were hearing with the old aids by the time you get into a trial. I eventually became aware that I didnā€™t hear well with the Solaras. Even worse, once I got the Solaras, I found that the tendency to gradually lose my hearing quality due dirt and wax buildup in the microphones and receivers even with meticulous nightly maintenance was very frustrating. And, according to my audiologist I donā€™t have an excessive amount of wax.

Iā€™ve seen my mother have difficulty with gradual receiver degradation with BTEs. So, I guess one of my red lines is that my hearing quality has to remain at optimum.

I probably wouldnā€™t have been aware of the gradual loss of hearing quality with some aids if not for the Solara problems, compared to the Lyrics. If yours and other forum wearers experience with other aids indicates less problems, that would be encouraging information.

4

On your last comment, I havenā€™t noticed a degradation of performance with my aids and I have been wearing them since January 2016. Wax and debris can affect the aids, but I change the wax filters and clean them regularly. As a general comment I would say that RICs have been tremendously popular, and audiologists have noticed fewer problems with breakages. But of course, that may not be of concern if your preference is the IIC/CIC route.

One thing I would add, and this was particularly apt in my case, is that I noticed a tremendous improvement once I had REM testing. I cannot understate this enough. Basically, I went for my regular 3 year NHS check up and they performed REM testing on my Oticon NHS aids. I used this to calibrate (by comparing sounds and relative volume levels) my Phonak ITC aids, which I self program. The improvements in bass and just all round comprehension was startling. The lesson is that one should really ask their audiologist to do this, as if you just accept what the audiologist gives you, even with repeated followups, as I did, you may not be achieving the optimum that the aids could give you, with respect to your specific prescriptive needs governed by your loss. So that (getting REM testing) is really as important as the relative performance/efficacy of a manufacturers model compared to another.

Going back to gradual loss of hearing quality, one thing I did hear is that microphones degrade, maybe 1% a year (that was a comment from umbongo - an audiologist on this forum). But I donā€™t think that is significant.

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5

I had a couple of Lyric trials. However they caused a blister to form on my ear canal so I could not continue with them.

I am currently using mini BTEs. Like you I run frequently and basically have to do without when doing sport type activities.

The Lyrics were much better for this tbh. The feedback was virtually non existent.

They are expensive.

The other thing to consider is that with Lyric, you can use things in a normal manner i.e. phones, headsets and so on. This actually saves money.

What needs to happen is the Lyric to become a little cheaper and secondly, to be able to be removed and reinserted by the user. My audiologist hinted that this is being looked at.

The problem is that the Lyric is fairly unique and then everything else is basically ā€˜old schoolā€™ i.e. the fundamental design hasnā€™t changed for 30 years.

There needs to be more ā€˜meeting in the middleā€™. Continued minification of ITE devices to allow the ear to function naturally and for placement as close to the ear drum as possible.

For those unsuitable for the Lyric, the Phonak Titanium is the next best thing.

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6

I agree the REM testing would seem to be critical in fitting. My audiologist did perform that with both the Solaras and the Lyrics. Iā€™m just guessing here, however, that since we are limited to what we are exposed to during trials or due to the technology available I would still have to accept what I can get.

But, Iā€™m not an expert, so I posted to get other feedback from people like you. Thank you again! Good to hear not everyone is having the gradual degradation of microphones and receivers, too.

7

Well said.

The only reason Iā€™m really considering a change is that the battery on the Lyrics sometimes fail after only a month. Plus, the reason for going to a CIC after the first year with the Lyrics was the audiologist I used at the time quit offering them. Now, Phonak/Lyric is threatening low volume suppliers to cut them off. I think my audiologist is really good, so I drive 100 miles one way to get the Lyrics. Looks like Iā€™ll be able to get at least one more yearly subscription, then I donā€™t know.

Iā€™m donā€™t absolutely insist IIC or CIC, but they sure beat not being able to use hearing aids during all of my activities.

Thank you!

8

I think there has been great strides in certain aspects of hearing aid technology in recent years, particularly with connectivity, rechargeability and miniaturisation. But interestingly, your post is just saying (which not a lot of people express), has there been improvements in comprehension and speech clarity?

Itā€™s a great question. I think there has been, but itā€™s hard to quantify. Oticon OPN was a game changer for some, but it depends on your type of loss.

I donā€™t know if the paradigm of hearing aids in their current form has gone as far as it can - which is why the manufacturers bang on about connectivity and rechargeability so much, or whether we will see a new wave of devices in the future that solve the speech babble once the computational power increases accordingly. Weā€™ll have to wait and see. I think that will happen eventually but a biological solution could happen as well if you look at what is going on - particularly with the recent Phase 1-2 trials of a drug under the Regain consortium. Itā€™s all good news - it just depends on how long it will take, and whether weā€™ll live to see it!

9

Thanks to both of you for understanding. I hope the manufacturers begin to understand that hearing quality is the first function of hearing aids to many of us. Itā€™s not just speech either, but the world of sound that many of us are missing. I hope they begin to put more research into this while Iā€™m around to use it.

In the meantime, youā€™ve given me some specific options for trial to consider.

My audiologist suggested the Phonak Virto Titanium last year, but this year said I might consider the Starkey IIC Picasso. I found some indication of failures with the latter, but donā€™t know if that is really only a small percentage of cases. Which also led to some of my points in this post.

Thanks again!

10

If you have an average size canal or above you can use an IIC, Invisible In Canal. It offers all the same benefits of lyric, but you can change the battery, adjust the volume or environmental memory setting, put them in or take them out as you want, and they can be programmed.

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11

I wear ITE half shell aids and I am very active too, I hike, and ride a motorcycle, work in the yard etc. The only time I take them out is to swim, and just before bedtime and my shower.

12

Which ITE? How is the speech clarity, music reproduction, and wind noise, if I may ask?

Thank you!

13

May I ask if you would recommend any for trial? Do you have any experience to know of microphone and receiver problems with the ones you recommend caused by dust and wax?

Thanks!

14

I have Oticon OPN1 ITE half shell hearing aids, no wind noise issues, speech in noise is better than most people with normal hearing. Music to me sounds great, but I have hearing issues that limit my music appreciation. Connectivity straight to my iPhone or iPad or TV connect. I use the connect clip to take home phone calls by way of the phone connect. Road noise no problem, and I can hear anyone talking to me in the vehicle and also the sound system at a lower volume then my passengers sometimes like.

15

As long as you are diligent about keeping them clean, and use a dehumidifier for storage when they arenā€™t being worn, you shouldnā€™t have a lot of dependability issues.

I believe most of the big 6 all manufacture IIC intruments. The key is finding someone who can make an impression properly cause you gotta get way down deep close to the ear drum if itā€™s going to be made properly.

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16

I am a first time HA user and have a pair of oticon opn 1 iic.

  • no issues with wind
  • no feedback problems
  • great directionality (I would say same as without HAs)
  • I listen to a lot of music while working and usually just put on my bose qc35 in addition to the hearing aid
  • batteries last 6 days on the clock
  • speech clarity is great except in very challenging environments
  • I have a mini digital microscope that I use to inspect filters and vents. Based on that, I switch filters every three weeks
  • did not have REM done because of difficulty finding a local audi who perfoms that. I do however go for a 5 minutes walk outside with my audi in a noisy environment as part of fitting.
  • stored every night in a dehumidifier
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17

I see that this post was originally posted in 2019 and itā€™s now 2025. Ironically I am having the same issue, I absolutely love my lyric hearing aids I have recently been introduced to the phonak vitro titanium I90 and the sound just doesnā€™t compare, $6,400 later too.

I love the fact of the set it and forget it lyric however if they die you basically stuck with an earplug. I am a police officer currently so thatā€™s not a good thing when they die.

The ones I have now the Virto I90 just doesnā€™t cut it sound quality wise when compared to the lyric and changing these batteries every 3 days is a pain.

I am so curious to know what your ultimate decision was when choosing a new hearing aid.

18

Hi. In short, there is absolutely nothing like a Lyric out there in terms of deep fit and analogue sound quality. However, I have been using the latest Phonak virto titanium infinios now for a few weeks and can say they come quite close.

To use them in the most lyric like way, you will probably need to:
Get them unvented, or just a pressure vent if you can stand the effect that having unvented aids has in your ears. you may find they make your voice too boomy.
Iā€™m assuming by your post youā€™ve tried the CICs before? in which case you probably know what to expect.

Use the music program for most of your listening. this turns off most sound processing. I donā€™t think you can turn it all off, but it is good quality and doesnā€™t mess about too much with your environment

You probably want to build a speech in noise program with your audiologist, something with moderate noise suppression on. I donā€™t have a problem with speech in noise, but when I use these hearing aids I find sound can be a bit overwhelming so I do use the speech in noise feature sometimes.

You can also put these into mute mode if you want to use as earplugs.

Finally, these are all
fairly waterproof these days I believe, maybe IP68? so the sweat shouldnā€™t damage them.

I can confirm by the way that audio localisation and spacial awareness is fantastic with these things. I am totally blind so this is really important for me to tell where sounds are around me. I can hear back, front, left, right and up and down.

The other HAā€™s you could try but I suspect they wonā€™t be out for a few months, is the Widex ITE devices.
The current ones on the old platform let you use Puresound, which is the absolute closest youā€™ll come to an analogue type sound in a digital hearing aid. they are mor like an earbud rather than something deep deep inside the ear, but you may like them. Iā€™d wait for newer ones though rather than using the current offerings as those are really old.

19

I really hope you find a hearing solution that works for you.

Maybe my experience since then will help, butā€¦

When my audiologist could no longer provide Lyrics, I purchased Starkey IQ SoundLens Synergy 2400 IIC hearing aids in late 2019, and have worn them since then. These were supposedly the latest technology available. After reading back through my posts then, I have to say most of my comments I made then still apply. However, with persistence I was gradually able to greatly improve my hearing.

Hearing quality of the Lyrics was better. Most Manufacturers seem to continue to be focused on connectivity with other devices to help consumers rather than improving the hearing quality or improving on the concept of the Lyrics. And a quick glance looks like Starkey still connects only with Apple products for phone, iPad, watch, and music

I continue to have difficulty in public meetings and ironically soft spoken males since my greatest hearing loss is in higher frequencies. Iā€™ve upgraded my cleaning some and change wax traps every 2 weeks even though I donā€™t notice any issues. I still use a dryer every night.

Iā€™ve sent my aids in for repair at least a couple of times a year when they completely fail. The problem is usually failure of the microphone or receiver or both, although occasionally the battery doors get loose and that causes failure. I think Starkey replaced most of the electronics in the aids at least once under warranty. Iā€™ve been out of warranty for almost 3 years now but am able to get them fixed at a reasonable cost that provides a one year warranty. I use my old Phonak aids as a backup while I wait. I will say that I have been very pleased with the customer service of Starkey, and believe my audiologist is very knowledgeable and wonderful to work with.

Things that might help other HA wearers:

  • I worked with my audiologist to get a custom mold fit that places the IIC deep into the canal to help put the receiver near the ear drum and take as much advantage of the natural ear as possible. The idea was to use my ear to help make sounds appear normal, and maybe to lower the chance that some frequencies could get dampened in the canal. I donā€™t know if this has been completely effective but, the result is better directionality and wind noise is not a problem. I donā€™t have feedback when I hold a phone to my ear. It took more than one try to get the fit of each HA right. That was the case with the Phonak CIC aids I had after my first use of Lyrics. Starkey was gracious enough to add a small lip to the top of the shell of each of my IQ 2400 aids to get it so that the microphone wouldnā€™t get behind the wall of the ear (more than a year after the initial fit) which helped.
  • Iā€™ve seen a lot of people have had inflamed ears due to poor custom molds for HAs. With the IICs you need to be gentle when pulling the aid out of the ear or you can scratch the inner ear and cause inflammation or infection.
  • It took some time to get a good balance of hearing correction across all frequencies that matches my hearing loss pattern. The programming of the device is critical. Even REM fitting does not ensure getting a program that allows you to hear well, it seems to only tell the audiologist that you may be able to hear what is programmed. I have greater high frequency loss, but found that programming to get better hearing in the higher frequencies can be detrimental to the low frequency hearing (and vice versa) especially if the program is not ā€œsmoothedā€ between the frequency reference points on the audiogram of the program. I donā€™t know exactly how to say this to where it might make more sense, but in my case my initial programming really was more of a point to point line graph than gradual curves between frequency points.
  • The challenge of getting a good program might make getting a decent trial of different HAs less effective if your criteria for a best HA is sound quality. The audiologist may try to use your current program for the trial, but I havenā€™t had great success on loaner HAs Iā€™ve received.
  • Do not be afraid to ask for help from the manufacturerā€™s audiology professionals. My audiologists were very good, but Starkey knows their products having learned by experience with many different problems. Nobody knows everything, and if your audiologist is willing to work with the manufacturer, it may make a big difference. Reassure your audiologist that you do appreciate and trust them if you think they are doing everything they can.
  • Starkeyā€™s audiologist noticed the receivers (speakers to me) of my aids were being pushed to the upper range of their output capabilities and installed speakers with a higher gain so they could provide output in the midrange of the speakers. This was because I was still trying to get better balanced hearing after almost a year, and was getting a lot of feedback.
  • I couldnā€™t tell if the ā€œmusic ā€œ setting of my aids did any good, for music or in normal use. My custom ā€œNormalā€ setting has been developed to give me better full-range hearing that sounds closer to how I remember music sounds and works for most daily life. In special situations outdoors I want to be able to hear high frequency sounds like a squirrel eating a nut, or an elk bugling. We replaced the music setting with an ā€œoutdoorsā€ program that lets me hear those sounds with directionality, even though that program setting compromises some lower frequency sounds. I currently have ā€œNormalā€, ā€œRestaurantā€, ā€œCarā€, and ā€œOutdoorsā€ programs. I canā€™t tell a lot of benefit for the restaurant and car settings so I donā€™t use them.
  • Iā€™m well beyond being discreet about my hearing loss. I often tell people about my hearing loss.
  • With the Lyrics, I occasionally had batteries fail in less than a month. But, it was usually about 3 months on average. If I got close to the 3-month mark and I had an important event or trip I simply asked for them to be replaced before failure. And with some audiologists, Iā€™ve heard you may have to wait for an appointment. Iā€™d probably change audiologists if they didnā€™t prioritize Lyric replacement.

I still do not hear as well as I did with the Lyrics. My current cost for Lyrics would be $20,000 over 5 years. I am still thinking of getting a trial of the Lyrics when I consider new HAs. But, my hearing loss is getting close to the limit of Lyrics. Iā€™m still looking for an aid with better hearing quality, because I am still challenged to hear well in many situations with my current HAs. And it has taken some effort to get to the acceptable hearing I have.

Hope this helps.