Hello, everyone.
Is there any sort of hearing aid device wiki?
As in a repository where information about each hearing aid model will be presented.
In my case, I wanted to check on the initial release dates of various hearing aid models I’m considering.
Have you checked hearingtracker.com? There are reviews there.
Well, reviews are one thing.
Useful to extract information from within.
A wiki though usually gives these information in a more organized/structured format and this can be more efficient when doing comparisons.
An example could be how gsmarena offers comparison between phones.
The only other thing I could suggest is searching in this forum. That is what I do to try and find info.
This main site also lets you compare 2 models and discusses the differences. I thin now they also let you hear the differences.
Good luck you can’t even easily get the information you want from the companies’ technical data
You wanted to check on the initial release dates of various hearing aid models.
Click on HEARING AIDS in the menu (at the top of the hearing tracker website), then click on Hearing Aid Brands and select the hearing aid manufacturer.
Scroll down the main page of each manufacturer, and you will find a list of hearing aid model names from the last 10-15 years (released by that manufacturer).
From this information, you can estimate approximately how old the HA models are that you are looking for the information on
note, the list of models is not complete
These two links might help. Though, the information is always changing and as a result, will become obsolete and may be replaced with later/newer versions. Also, a newer version of the platforms will kill the second link.
Tip: Click the resultant images to enlarge.
Have you picked a brand?
Phonak appear to market new hearing aids every two years.
DaveL
Appear is the key word because new in name is not necessarily new hardware, and sometimes new software upgrades are only minor, so you have to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I am not bad-mouthing Phonak in particular because they all boast and exaggerate.
But new hearing aids every two years is a stretch.
Oticon Real, I am looking at you.
Paradise is still being sold; The new model Lumity was introduced about 2 yeas after the Paradise was introduced. There are reviews on youtube that are very helpful. Hope this helps.
Yep, that’s true. But wait, only one new model (the Lumity Life-model), has inductive charging. The others still charge the same as the previous platform. Ah, but the Lumity Life model is also Waterproof, right? Wait again, it’s actually Waterproof(*) and tested by 1Bluejay as a bogus claim.
But wait, you also get several other software improvements, right? Well only if you buy the premium-90 model because the lower-tier models don’t have the new software improvements. See this post with the new software enhancements circled for you.
Again, I’m not bad-mouthing Phonak. The bean-counters of this world are after your money whether it’s hearing aids, medical insurance, dental insurance, grocery stores, soft drinks, and on and on. I’m just saying you should pay attention to the details, just in case the bean counters are counting on the fact that most ppl will not pay attention to these boring details.
I would also like to see something like that, but there was simply no interest in such a thing.
There have been some reviews, but almost never a review comparing all the technologies and other features to see what each hearing aid has to offer.
I even asked CliffAud on YouTube in the comments if he could do a comparison of hearing aids, all technologies, etc. and see what each one has and what it doesn’t have. He said he was not making comparisons between them.
This is my opinion, it is possible that the manufacturers don’t allow him to do comparisons, he and other youtube channels get hearing aids for free to try out to do some youtube review and probably get paid to do some advertising for such and such hearing aid and manufacturers they don’t want the competition to be mentioned.
I think it’s very bad, in my country Croatia, there is a well-known forum for general things and we have a topic about hearing aids and it is very rarely written in it. I discovered more information here on the hearing tracker and on youtube channels from various audiologists and studied the features myself.
And I think it’s bad that people who don’t do that, they often buy an expensive hearing aid and don’t see that that expensive hearing aid doesn’t bring anything more special than the competition that costs half the price. And because of that, I think the merchants here take too much advantage of people when they sell products.
In general, audiologists are reluctant to make detailed comparisons between specific hearing aids except to review a certain aspect (e.g., how bluetooth features work in the latest generation of HAs).
In my opinion this is because the “professional” standpoint of audiologists is that there is no overall “best” HA, that different HAs are appropriate for different requirements, and that proper configuration of a given HA for a person’s hearing loss is very important. Naturally, this point of view places considerable emphasis on the role of the audiologist (or hearing instrument specialist, etc.) as opposed to someone with hearing loss “shopping” for an HA based on technology or specifications alone.
They may also be wary of appearing to disparage any of the mainstream HA manufacturers by highlighting gaps in their product lines, but I’m not so sure about that as it’s not unusual to hear complaints about what’s not great from audis in the context of videos and other more limited reviews as it is. Personally I think they want to avoid giving the impression that you can pick an HA based on specs alone, and may also wish to maintain something of the “gatekeeper” role (even those who do provide quite a lot of information online don’t want to be totally systematic in this regard).
I believe that the whole industry is upside down and backwards. Who’s the client?
I’m happy that I live about 5 miles from the head office of Sonova, Phonak in CanadaThey won’t talk to me. After all, why would they? I’m not their client. My audiologist is. I’ve been in his office when he talks to them on my behalf.
I believe that the magic in our hearing aids is the setup. And my audiologist does that.
It’s certainly possible to start one. Most of the HA manufacturers post technical data on their websites. It would be a matter of compiling this information exhaustively, and then deciding how to incorporate subjective feedback from users… this could be tough, considering how cranky we as HA users tend to be!
And where did you get this information?
My audiologist…Roughly two years.
Check out the reviews for the Paradise and Lumity models. They were done about 2 years apart.
It’s just a fact:
2022: Phonak Audéo Lumity, Phonak Virto Paradise
2021: Phonak Naída Paradise
2020: Phonak Audéo Paradise, Phonak Naída M, Phonak Virto M, Phonak Brio 4…
So true! Airlines have the “diamond” “ruby” all the way down to “tin” before you can even board on top of which you’ll never have space to put your overhead bag in if you’re a TIN MAN.
I guess I’m lucky with my aids tho. With my cinderblock ears ain’t NO choice but the biggest, most powerful Shelby Cobra BTE. So I get the perks that come with that receiver. 
