Automatic Turn-On of Phonak Spheric Speech In Loud Noise vs. Manual Program Turn-On in My Phonak App

[jim_lewis]

Since Spheric Speech in Loud Noise is the main attraction of Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio hearing aids, I thought it might be helpful and entertaining to have a thread on what it takes to trigger DNN DeepSonic chip speech procressing and how it works versus setting up Spheric Speech processing as a manual program.

Several users trialing Spheres have complained that DNN processing won’t come on for them (or maybe they think it has but doesn’t work any better than standard HA techniques for improving speech in noise). For example, there is this thread: Returning Phonak Infinio Sphere I90s.

I’ve only had my Spheres a few days. I’ve been too lazy to go out to a noisy bar or restaurant, and I have not yet found or created a home environment where my Spheric noise reduction comes on automatically even when I set the noise threshold in Target AutoSense settings to only MODERATE for an automatic turn-on. I was surprised to find, though, that if you create either a manual linked or unlinked copy of Spheric Speech in Loud Noise outside of AutoSense, there is NO THRESHOLD. When you launch that program, Spheric noise reduction gets turned on and works quite well: Returning Phonak Infinio Sphere I90s - #24 by jim_lewis.

So, I invite anyone to post their tips and tricks for testing and configuring Spheric speech noise reduction in this thread. Maybe @Michael_Phonak could give us Phonak’s recipe for testing Spheric noise reduction at home. In the following post, I provide what seems to be an excellent recipe by ChatGPT for home testing (it errs in stating you can test the automatic turn-on via a manual program copy).

[jim_lewis]

Here is ChatGPT’s suggested home recipe for testing the threshold for automatically turning on Spheric Speech in Loud Noise as a switch out of whatever AutoSense program you’re running in (Note: your HCP has to have setup Spheric Speech as an allowed automatic switch in AutoSense for your Spheres and you have to be within any allowed daily time limit for Spheric processing use, if your HCP has set that option, too). ChatGPT’s advice errs in that there is NO THRESHOLD for turning on Spheric Speech via a manual program. As soon as you switch to an independent manual copy of the program outside of AutoSense, Spheric Noise Reduction will be turned on no matter what the noise level of your environment.

ChatGPT:

Suggest a home set up to test Phonak’s spheric speech in loud noise program

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

To test Phonak’s Spheric Speech in Loud Noise program at home, you’ll want to create an environment that simulates a crowded or noisy setting where the program can be fully activated and assessed. Here’s a step-by-step setup you could try:

1. Choose the Right Space

• Room Selection: Select a small to medium-sized room where sounds can reverberate and create a more “crowded” feel, like a kitchen or a living room.
• Acoustics: Ensure the room isn’t too dampened by carpet, heavy curtains, or soundproofing materials, as these will reduce the overall effect of noise.

2. Set Up Background Noise

• Speakers: Use at least two speakers placed on opposite sides of the room. If you have surround sound, this will be even better for creating a multi-directional noise source.
• Noise Source: Play background sounds that mimic a loud setting, such as a busy restaurant, crowd noise, or street noise. You can find these sounds on YouTube, Spotify, or other audio platforms. Look for tracks with continuous conversation and ambient noise to best simulate real-life environments.
• Volume Level: Gradually increase the volume to a level where it’s challenging to focus on individual conversations (around 70-80 dB), as this will provide the loud environment the Spheric program is designed for.

3. Speech Source

• Speech Track: Set up a separate speaker close to your primary listening position. Play a recording of clear speech, like a podcast or audiobook. This simulates the voice you want to focus on in a noisy setting.
• Volume Matching: Adjust the speech volume so it competes with the background noise, ideally slightly softer than the noise to really test the hearing aid’s ability to enhance speech clarity over ambient sounds.

4. Program Mode Settings

• Switch to Manual Mode: Since you mentioned Autosense isn’t automatically activating the Spheric program, manually set your hearing aids to the Spheric Speech in Loud Noise program.
• Fine-Tuning: Use Phonak’s myPhonak app or the Phonak Target fitting software if needed, to monitor and make adjustments in real-time. You could try adjusting gain or noise reduction to see if it affects performance in this noisy setup.

5. Testing Tips

• Walk Around the Room: Test the effectiveness of the Spheric program by moving around to see if speech remains clear and background noise is well-managed from different angles.
• Compare with Other Programs: Try switching between different programs, like Speech in Noise or Autosense, to see how the Spheric program compares in terms of clarity and noise suppression.

This should help you assess how well Spheric Speech in Loud Noise works and identify any adjustments that might help it activate more reliably in real-life loud environments.

[tenkan]

One easy way I found to set up my noisy environments program, was to take my laptop and Noahlink wireless to my local mall, sitting down in the outdoor cafe bar and making adjustments on the fly, the same for our local community bar which has quite different acoustics.

[jeffpa]

thats an interesting idea…

[raylock1]

If you happen to have a sound system, one of the YouTube noise videos “noise in restaurant” work well.

[JordanK]

Best places to test the Spheric AI program are:

• Any restaurant
• Food court in shopping mall
• Costco
• Any pub
• Sports event
• Busy grocery store
• Party or dinner at a friend place with lots of people
• Coffee shop

You basically want lots of noise and lots of people chatting. Watch out for places with music as the Music program will often override the Sphere program.

Jordan

[Michael_Phonak]

@jim_lewis thanks for the trust but as stated in other threads I would never ever comment on topics that should be under the control of the hearing care specialists. Whether, when and how to use DNN mode depends on many factors.

Clear is, you can be in control if you want, by having DNN as a manual program.