I am thinking about new hearing aids. I have been using Oticons from the beginning, Opn 1minirites and then More 1 minirite r’s
My main drawback is speech in noise Restaurants, noisy ones. I don’t catch all the speech right in normal settings but I put up with it, wife helps me. Not sure what the problem is.
But in the noisy situations I really have a problem ANY louder noises irritate me with my hearing condition. I am considering Phonak Audéo Infinio Sphere’s.
First: has anyone heard anything about them offering a version with a replaceable battery?
Second: Is Phonak REALLY the choice for speech in noisy conditions? Originally I was drawn to them because of the Roger accessories. I am really intrigued.
Lastly: Will the Rogers accessory work with my Oticons, or newer Oticons?
I just wonder if I might not be happy with switching to Phonaks due to a difference in sound. Perhaps I should have asked these questions separately.
One major thing to understand is that things will sound very different between Oticon and Phonak, so just bear in mind that you may have to adjust to how different microphones in the hearing aid can perceive sound. That’s been my experience when I did a quick stint with Siemens before going back to Phonak.
1: There doesn’t appear to be any version with a replaceable battery. Many have questioned it, but it seems to be an industry wide thing now where they’re putting rechargeable batteries in that last anywhere from 900-1500 cycle charges before they need to be replaced by the manufacturer.
2: This is very subjective, and imho, depends on your own specific hearing health. Just because a hearing aid manufacturer says their hearing aid is perfect or great for speech in noisy conditions doesn’t mean much if you personally struggle with those conditions. They may work great, but how you perceive sound plays a role too. Even some of the speech in noise or speech in loud noise programs from Phonak don’t work that well for me, others may. The biggest thing here also would be the relationship you have with your audi, and how far they’re willing to take the support you require to help you hear better in those situations.
I have a Roger Select iN that I use with my KS9’s and find that while it does work great in some situations, it still does fall short where a lot of the voices sound tinny or too sharp in the higher frequencies. That may be entirely due to any previous settings that were on the Select that I will have to DIY a solution for eventually. Overall though, they are good for what it’s worth. I’ve had Oticon and Phonak FM systems when I was in school, and they did help me considerably well.
3: My understanding with this is that you will need an intermediary device from Oticon that supports a physical Roger Receiver with a license inside of it. Someone else should be able to chime in regarding this.
Thanks for all that!