The Phonak Life waterproof (or water-resistant) HAs have been out for awhile now. I’d love to hear a reviewer say, “Yes, I take showers, go kayaking, swim laps, and I never even think about the fact that I’m wearing hearing aids”.
Has anyone tried these yet? What has been your experience?
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I would be curious also. I watched Dr Cliff’s vid on them and the only thing that I wonder about is the receivers. I get that they can make the aids waterproof, but Dr Cliff seemed to suggest that the receivers are not waterproof, so i ask myself, what’s the point of having a waterproof aid if the receiver isnt?
Totally! Also they are only waterproof to 50cm so if they OP does a full capsize in his kayak then the hearing aids will go too deep and likely the waterproofing will fail.
That’s what I’m trying to determine with my post: what are these things like in real day-to-day life? I would imagine that if you happened to dive down to the bottom of a swimming pool for ten seconds that the HAs wouldn’t immediately fail. But maybe so.
I think Phonak is probably trying to tell users not to use these for scuba diving or extended deep free diving. But, for instance, can you swim on the water’s surface for an hour every day and not worry? Can you go on a boat on a hot day and spontaneously jump into the ocean without worrying? Can you run into the lake with your grandkids and have a splash fight without worrying? And still be able to hear? That would be life-changing for me and for a lot of other people.
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50cm is TINY and nothing like the depths people go for suba diving etc.
Also as @mr.smithster says the receivers are NOT waterproof so would fail if you go under water. I guess that is why Phonak only really recommend heavy sweating.
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Would Phonak continue to repair these HAs if they did fail repeatedly? Or, at some point, would they refuse to repair them? Again, real day-to-day life issues.
Yes but if you use the hearing aids differently to what they are advertised as, I guess Phonak wouldn’t repair them.
If they say waterproof to 50cm and you jump to tie bottom of a pool, then that is your fault and nothing to do with Phonak.
EDIT - you wouldn’t decide that day to day life means that you decide to take your car on the water and try and float it. When it sinks, you think you’ll get the car manufacture to repair it because it’s just day to day life activity and it should of worked!
@Zebras, of course, if I actually bought these I would not abuse them by purposely diving too deep. But, to me, the main benefit of a waterproof HA would be being able to engage in water-related activities like swimming and boating without always having to think, “Oh right, I can’t do that because I wear HAs”. A truly useful waterproof HA would have to be able to withstand some inadvertent misuse.
I’m hoping a Life user who has tried these activities will respond. Of course it’s possible that no one on the forum has bought or even trialed these HAs. And it’s also possible, even likely, that we’re just not there yet with truly waterproof HAs.
I’m thinking they’d be covered by the loss and damage coverage. I think this is usually a one-off, but would cover one catastrophe. After that you’d need to treat them like normal hearing aids.
The thing is tho. We’ve mentioned many times, the actual receivers are not waterproof so you can’t use them for water activities.
People have bought the Life tho but as we’ve already said, you can’t use them for water activities as the receivers are NOT waterproof.
I have purchased the Phonak Audeo Life hearing aids. I purchased them because I wanted something that was either waterproof or highly water-resistant as I didn’t want to worry if I got caught in the rain or was sweating a lot when exercising. I also wanted something that will work with my Android phone, Windows laptop (for work), and TV (using the TV Connector). I understand others would love to hear someone who has used these in a variety of water activities, but I don’t plan to purposely put them to the test as they were rather expensive! I also watched Dr. Cliff’s video and took his word regarding the Audeo Life’s waterproofing based on his experience using them in a variety of activities involving water.
Just looked this up…my Resound One aids have an IP8 rating, meaning fully waterproof at 9 feet for more than 30 minutes.
And my 2016 older technology Phonak hearing aids, IP68!
My dream hearing aids are IP∞ and they can use wifi and bluetooth to any device - 100% speech recognition in noisy background , records meetings and lectures for record keeping, connect to comm radio, can zoom on speech at least 1km away.
Finally battery is 100% for 5 years before they get flat.
It is only a dream.
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That’s not what it means.
From online…
As far as the IPX8 waterproof rating is concerned, the testing conditions and duration are not strictly specified and are defined by the manufacturer (or in cooperation with a certified lab that performs the test). The conditions have to be more severe than in the case of the IPX7 rating. The depth of water is usually 3 meters (or 9.8ft) and the test has to last longer than 30mins…
It was your “fully waterproof” comment that I was quibbling with. The test is in still, fresh water. It’s not guaranteeing that water won’t get in, but that the equipment will still function. Most (all?) IP 68 equipment is not guaranteed against water damage, so that tells you confident manufacturers are of the claim.
IP8 rating does mean they are waterproof. Your quibble seems to be more with the type of water. That’s a fair critique, but I personally still don’t think these Life aids are really that advanced due to the 50 cm depth limit. Here is GN’s IP chart…
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To me waterproof will mean that the product is guaranteed to not have water enter the device. Products that meet that criteria generally have replaceable seals that need to be replaced on a regular basis (usually yearly). All the rating means is that it passed a test. I’m afraid you will mislead people by saying the aids are “waterproof.” That generally means you can do things with them that is not adviseable.
I consider the chart you posted to be misleading. If that’s from Jabra, I’m surprised.
You may believe whatever definitions you like, im not trying to change your mind. We can agree to disagree. But also, I am not misleading anyone. I stated above that the aids were totally waterproof per IP8, as the mfg claims, not my claim, but the mfg’s. I provided the mfg data that shows the rating that the manufacturer claims, along with a chart showing the devices to be waterproof at maximum listed depths for minimum listed times. And yes, you can see the chart came from GN
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