Any updates on 9050 and noisy environments?

Hearing Aids
#1

I’ve been reading the 9050 threads with interest, as these are still fairly new and I am interested in replacing my 5 year old Resounds. Am looking primarily at the 9050s, which has a new method of dealing with noise. However, still not a lot of reported experience out there in noisy restaurants and such, unless I missed the forum threads on this.

I tried the new Jabra 20s earlier this year, but returned them due to poor noisy environment performance. (was also told after I returned the Jabras that they do not play well with Android) Whether the poor noise performance was due to the HA or the Costco HA tech/audiologist is still a question in my mind. On a positive note, I have since changed HA tech who actually improved the performance of my Resounds (high frequency hearing loss), so that addresses the poor HA tech performance (fingers crossed).

I am heading down to Costco for an appointment this week to check the 9050s out, hence the question. However, when I drop by the Costco HA booth last week, the HA techs there say they have only fitted a few 9050s, and really don’t have an opinion.

Since I don’t want a repeat of my experiences with the Jabra 20s, is it still too early to tell if the Philips noise mitigation approach is working well?

#2

SMCC,

I’ve had mine for a little over two weeks. I work in an office. So, my experience in a “noisy environment” is meeting with multiple people talking simultaneously or in a busy restaurant. Previously, I struggled to follow conversations in these situations. Now, with the 9050s, I feel like I can better participate. Is it perfect? No! Is it better than before? Yes! How much better? It’s better enough for me to continue wearing them. Your hearing loss is probably different than mine, so your experience may be better or worse. I’m happy and will keep mine until something better comes along. One of the great things about Costco is the extended trial period. Buy them and try them out. If they work for you, great. If not, you can return them within six months with no hassle.

#3

DrBob,
Thank you for the update, it is helpful. I am at the point of wanting/needing to update my 5 year old HAs for current technology. “Better participation” in a noisy environment…I interpret that as favorable. Currently I try to avoid those situations as it is practically impossible to follow conversations at the same table.

What has been an unknown to me is how to evaluate marketing hype vs real world performance on a newly released HA. Not looking for perfection, just the best performance for the current generation of HAs. Hearing in noise is the holy grail, IMHO.

#4

I’ve had my 9050s for a little over a week. My wife and I joined another couple at a restaurant a few days ago. This restaurant has quite a lot of background noise when full, which it usually is. The 9050s quite successfully blocked out surrounding noise so that I could actually hear and converse with everyone in our party. Afterwards, my wife remarked that, unlike before, I actually took an active part in the conversations. It wasn’t perfect but it was far better than my previous KS9s. I am using the 9050s with a Pixel 8 and thus can take advantage of its LE capability.

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#5

Bobwal, thank you for your update. Do you find that the 9050 ability to focus on what is in front of you what did the trick? Or does that ability to follow the movement of your head make you nauseous at all?

Ok, this gives me hope. I am also interested in what new capabilities are in the 9050, but admittedly am not a HA power user.

#6

The ability to focus on the speaker may or may not have helped. What I really noticed was that the surrounding noise was quite effectively subdued. Haven’t noticed that the movement of my head has made any significant difference. My advice is give them a trial. It took me a few days to get accustomed to them. At first, they were a bit too loud and shrill. Now they (my brain) have normalized.