I found Dr. Cliff’s precocious YouTube Omnia review interesting in that he remarks that the M&RIE is, according to ReSound, only for moderate loss (not quite true as I remember that it’s important for the loss to be relatively flat across frequencies). Yet he says in the video that he’s successfully fitted patients with M&RIE with more severe loss and that his patients who’ve tried M&RIE prefer that over standard behind-the-ear mics only.
Here’s a link to the specific time in the video (4:54) where he discusses M&RIE: https://youtu.be/eBcN_S1I1bI?t=294
I like my Quattros and the way they work with my iPhone and Apple Watch. My main issue is that I’ve had almost a half-dozen Quattro external microphone sound failures and it’s ~always the left ear. My audi always says that she can see no problem with debris in the mic opening and ReSound, despite repeated attempts to get them to analyze what went wrong, always has just provided me with a replacement aid.
So, it’ll be interesting to see what the next Phonak aid offers in comparison and what forum members have to say about each aid before plunking down money for any new HA’s. Perhaps I should have Oticon, Signia, or Starkey on my shortlist, too, but from the number of forum members who are enthusiastic about Phonak aids, there is this strange gravity pull …
Edit_Update: I did have one specific question about M&RIE receivers that perhaps you know the answer to, @Um_bongo.
The question is basically if I got fitted with custom occlusive earmolds to help prevent feedback at higher frequencies to give M&RIE a try, but it doesn’t work out successfully, whether I can have my audi just turn off M&RIE functionality and have the Omnias function FULLY as if they only had standard behind-the-ear mics? That would avoid the cost of having to get new standard receivers if using M&RIE receivers is a bust. My audi, when I asked about the ReSound Ones awhile back, said I wasn’t a candidate to be fitted with M&RIE receivers. A Costco rep, though, was willing to let me try the Jabras with M&RIE receivers and with occlusive molds if I had wanted to go with those.
Further_Edit_Update: Graphs on severity of loss that can be fitted with M&RIE receivers - straight from a ReSound Audiology Online course after ReSound having ~1 year experience with fitting patients out in the field (relatively flat losses across the frequency spectrum work best):