Greetings forum members!
I’m currently in the process of researching hearing aids with disposable batteries that feature tap control functionality. If anyone has valuable insights or recommendations regarding reliable brands or specific models, I would greatly appreciate your input. Eager to hear about your experiences with this technology. Thanks in advance for your assistance!
As far as I’m aware you’ll only find hearing aids with tap controls that are rechargable. Phonak doesn’t allow tap control on its premium aids unless they are rechargeable versions.
The reason is because of the battery drain and voltage difference, hopefully your not actually going to base your purchase on whether it has this or not, Phonak rechargeables have known issues which you’ll find plenty of posts here on hearingtracker.
They’ve just announced Phonak Lumity hearing aids with replaceable batteries.
Do you require higher power behind the ear hearing aids?
You’re audiogram shows your hearing loss is worse than mine. Would the Phonak Nadia ? Lumity hearing aid suit you better?
For what it’s worth, I have Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s and the rechargeable batteries don’t last long enough for me. I also had terrible results getting them setup by the dispensing audi. I blamed the hearing aids for a year and a half. This model has been replaced by the Lumity series.
For those users who have Tap Control on their HA and also have iWatch (or any other smartwatch?), is Tap Control still useful for pausing music or receiving calls?
I second what @tenkan said, and I’m probably one of the posters he’s referring to. I’ve also seen complaints about other brands, and it seems like it’s a known issue across the board. That said, I’ve also seen a few Phonak users say this works great for them, so it probably depends a lot on use and lifestyle. But you should assume it will be hit-or-miss, so don’t make purchasing decisions based on this unless you’ve got a long trial period to test out whether it works for you.
I’m not technically savy.
I have an iPhone SE and an iWatch 6. And Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s. I use tap control to answer my phone. I don’t stream music. I need to learn how to do it.
Dave
I am still with Marvel Audeo, before that, I used to have BTE power hearing aids. But I prefer the smaller size which is why I prefer Audeo models.
I am considering to trial a few others, like Oticon, maybe Resound, etc.
I dont have apple, but I love the tap control on my paradise…it pauses music for conversations. A quick tap and music is back…
I use it to answer phone calls and to disconnect…
The best of tap feature for me is pausing TV sounds when my wife wants to have a conversation.
I find myPhonak really helpful. It didn’t used to be
I’ve had calls drop because of tap control.
Dave
Mississauga
Already posted this on another thread, and I’ll repeat it here…
Accelerometers’ assumed incompatibility with disposables isn’t a voltage issue, since there are accelerometers that can run on zinc-air battery voltage. Cumulative battery drain (mAh) as the issue doesn’t add up, since zinc-air is the mAh champion.
That leaves current draw as an issue. But accelerometers draw seriously little current, as shown here:
So I don’t buy the claim that disposable battery aids can’t use an accelerometer.
Could it be a space constraint?
Yeah but it still depends on how often there “working” so over time it needs to be taken into consideration.
Yeah those are obviously incompatible for HA use, there’s not any manufacturer doing this with zinc air, I don’t know where you got that chart from, but is it possible you could get the specs for the ones Phonak are using, this would be a very interesting comparison, because could it be that Phonak is deliberately holding back zinc air?
Yes that could be the issue also, but very little difference in size between them.
Hearing aid current draw is typically a couple of milliamperes continuously. The accelerometer I posted about draws around a microampere continuously. A microampere is 1/1000th of a milliampere. So the accelerometer’s current draw is simply negligible in comparison to the rest of the aid. Whatever accelerometer is used by Phonak, its numbers aren’t going to differ by enough to matter.
As I recall, the justification for omitting accelerometer-based functions from disposable battery aids came from a Phonak rep who told a hearing practitioner, who in turn reported it on here. Of course I don’t know where the rep heard it, and I don’t doubt that he or she thought it was true.
