As lamented in the following thread: Phonak Roger On - price and compatibility?, the many articles extolling the marvels of the Roger On never seem to reveal how much the miracle device is going to set you back! I hope that competition eventually brings prices for such things down to a more reasonable level - especially when you consider all the tech by comparison that you get in a high-end smartphone. If it has to do with market size, given the number of people in the world who need and will be needing HA’s, the obvious solution would be to expand the market to allow a lower price per unit but still cover development costs, etc. I guess building HA’s that only work with your own company’s accessories is where it all begins - the walled garden that Android users complain about with Apple! - and not something that only Phonak does amongst HA OEM’s, either.
I reached out to somebody who sells Roger devices and they weren’t even sure they were available. I’ll let you know if I hear anything. I think a couple of things complicate the idea of a big market for inexpensive devices. 1) Most of these devices are paid for by somebody other than the user (Educational institution, Employer, etc.) 2)I’m not sure how big the demand would be. People in general seem reluctant to wear hearing aids regardless of price and seem loathe to carry something additional with them. I think there’s also a marketing challenge. The current approach to selling hearing aids seem to imbue them with magical powers. Somewhat contradictory to say “Oh, if you want to hear in noise you need this too.”
I love analogies and admit this is imperfect, but somewhat akin to selling a car with temporary spares on all 4 wheels. “Oh, you want to drive faster than 55mph? You’ll need to buy our special high speed wheel and tire package.”
Your analogy is flawed…
Everyone wants car, and a fast car
No one wants hearing aids, and they want to use noticeable remote microphones like Roger even less
Audi’s realize this and try to simplify recommendations hoping that the hearing aids themselves will meet the satisfaction of the patient.
This is why Roger and other similar technologies are recommended after hearing aids are proven to be insufficient to meet the needs of the patients, its not because they are trying to sell more items.
Roger is also expensive! Audi’s make a small margin on those products. But if you were phonak and had a product that clinically improved hearing in Noise better than anything else on the market wouldn’t you also charge a lot??
I don’t really disagree with what you’re saying. Perhaps you misinterpreted my intent? (or more likely I didn’t communicate clearly)
smartphone is huge compared to size of chip in HAs
plus HA manufacturers invent their chips alone, from scratch, it’s not like they can just buy some snapdragon chip and put it inside HA (plus snapdragon would need huge battery as well)
Just because some tech exists somewhere, that doesn’t mean that it’s (easily) portable in other areas. They’re working on it from what we can see, but that road is hard and tricky.
Perhaps the earbud/AirPod folks have the economy of scale and the tech to move into the HA arena, especially with OTC supposedly coming along. And those OEMs have a potential, ready-made audience. All those folks who grew up and went through life with blaring music blasting away in their hearing via their earbuds/AirPods - although I guess the smarter devices issue warnings when you crank up the volume too much. The young 'uns will be HA customers someday! Just trying to be a bit funny to suggest there is a natural source of better competition and improvement out there (I hope!).
Excellent review! Looks like a super good all-around mic. Can’t wait to get mine!
Slick as hell. I am very impressed with its small size and improved ease of use relative to previous products. Pricing is very similar to the Roger Select.
(Distance is also improved.)
As far as I can determine it does not have way to plug into a 3. 5mm jack, such as on a wireless phone, is this correct?
I was hoping it would work with land-line phones as it would solve a number of problems for me.
Jim
It’ll probably use one of these cables. This is for the Roger Select.
The Roger On uses a USB C but will probably have a 3.5mm plug on the other end.
EDIT - Just looked and the Roger On does come with it’s own audio cable.
Good to know! I was not able to find this information online anywhere. I love this place!
I’ll get my hands on On In next week, if someone has something they’d like to find out, let me know, so I’ll take notes and share here 
What is the difference (Besides Price) between the Phonak Partner Mic and the Roger On being discussed?
PartnerMic is meant for one on one conversations and should be worn around neck or clipped on clothing near speaker’s mouth. Roger ON can be used on a table and will allow group conversation. There are a LOT of technical differences, but that’s the gist of it.