I am a lifelong hearing aid user in my 20s who has always used Phonak. I have flat moderate loss in both ears. I currently have Phonak Audeo 90s circa 2015. I’m in the market for my first pair purchased as an adult and I am feeling very overwhelmed, especially as my needs from my hearing aids as a teacher tend to be different from the average user. I’ve been looking into the Phonak Infino spheres, but a big concern I have is battery life. Because of my job, I’d likely spend more time in sphere mode than the average user. I’m also hesitant to switch brands, as I know people who have used one brand their whole life can find switching difficult. I know upgrading my hearing aids will greatly improve my quality of life, but it’s such a big purchase and I’m really struggling with weighing the costs of different options, especially considering I am a user who would benefit from some of the more advanced features out now. But I also know pretty much anything will be a big upgrade from what I have now. Any advice on making this decision would be much appreciated!
Folks here probably view me as a shill for Zip. But honestly, if you are considering the Phonak Infinio Spheres or any other of the premium brands you should check out the ZipHearing website. You will fine the price about half the price of some local audiologists, yet you will have a local audiologist. You have already expressed some pretty good reasons for going with Phonak, so I would start there. ZipHearing works through a network of local audiologists and when I called them the audiologist I was already using was in their network. I believe the price of the Infinio Sphere 90 is about $3800 for a pair and that includes the initial fitting and one year of follow-ups. It also includes the normal 3 year manufacturers warranty and loss protection and a 45 day no questions asked return period. They also handle most other brands as well, so check out their website. I have purchased from them and have been very happy, including a return which was refunded overnight. Phonak is a good choice for a teacher because they have the Roger line of accessories. In the final analysis, however, any of the regular brands have very good hearing aids and I am sure you will get some good recommendations. I wear the Infinio Sphere 90s and am very happy with them.
I actually already did a consultation with Zip hearing and had an appointment with a local audiologist! I really liked the audiologist but she was not very up to date on new hearing aids and has never fit an infinio or Infinio sphere. She’s also the only audiologist at the practice and is leaving in a month which scares me to commit to that office for three years not knowing who the new audiologist will be. I reached out to Zip if there are any other Zip partners in my area and hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon.
I use Healthgrades a lot to find doctors. Try it for audiologists in your area and see what’s out there.
The best prices are at Costco. Some stores have the Sonova (parent of Phonak) product which is the Sennheiser Sonite R which very similar to the Phonak Lumity 90 (previous Phonak model). I believe they charge $1600 for a pair which includes fittings and adjustments for the life of the aid. Costco uses hearing aid specialists rather than audiologists but for most of us that is fine. Not all Costco stores carry the Sennheiser yet but most are expected to soon. Costco also gives you a six month return period in the US.In any event, depending on where you live Zip should have more audiologists.
Few things to consider:
Firstly, I think whatever you get now will sound very different to what you had 15y ago. They will all sound better for sure. So I think, don’t get too hung up on brand as you will probably find the sound signature has changed for everything.
Phonak also have, in my opinion, a good noise blocking speech enhancement mode which is seperate from sphere mode, but still works really well. You might find this serves a lot of your needs. What I’ve noticed a lot of users do, is say hey the sphere mode is rubbish because it only lasts 7 hours. they forget 2 things. Firstly, Phonak still has the standard noise suppression tech which is good. secondly, they’ve never used sphere mode before. it definitely isn’t needed in all situations.
Another thing to consider is that with Phonak, you can adjust your programs, so in sphere mode you can choose, by yourself how big the sphere bubble that lets peoples voices in is etc. you can fine tune it to your situation, which may be helpful to you.
Phonak also have a good range of connected accessories with the Roger devices. You could get one of the mics and stic it somewhere strateegic in your class etc to pick up peoples voices. the other brands hav similar things but I think not as robust connectivity solutions. The roger stuff gets a lot of love.
Maybe give them a trial and see how you get on. I’m not in the US but zip hearing do decent reviews and seem to be good at thinking about the solution that’s right for the customer from what I can gather.
@JordanK wears the Sphere. He might know about battery life?
I have been wearing the Sphere’s since they launched last year and have tested the battery life using the Sphere mode in just about every type of listening environment. Couple of points:
- When you don’t use the Sphere mode, the batteries in the Sphere hearing aids are big and the hearing aids will typically last two full days with regular use and lots of streaming.
- The Sphere mode is only triggered when the noise exceeds a certain threshold set in Target. I think this is 75 db but I know it can be adjusted.
- AutoSense (the automatic program) is very fast to respond to noise and the Sphere hearing aids will switch in and out of Sphere mode very quickly as the noise levels increase and decrease. This allows these hearing aids to use the Sphere mode very efficiently and to save battery life.
- If you remain in Sphere mode continuously (I don’t recommend this), the Sphere mode will chew through the entire battery life in about 6 hours. These hearing aids come with a 3 hour Sphere mode time limit per day to prevent you from doing this but you can manually override it.
- Most people overestimate how much time they are actually in environments loud enough to trigger the Sphere mode. Most noisy environments are not continuously noisy and AutoSense will flip Sphere mode on/off as required to conserve battery life.
- I could see the battery life being an issue for someone who works in noise all the time for an 8 hour shift. Examples that come to mind are restaurant workers, factory workers, etc. These people may want to consider some of the other brands (Oticon, Resound, Starkey) which don’t do as good a job on noise as the Sphere’s…but have longer battery life.
That being said…the Sphere’s ability to cut through noise and provide hearing in crazy noisy places is spectacular. Just bear in mind that more closed fittings improve the Sphere AI Noise reduction capabilities.
Just my 2 cents…
Jordan
I add only that traditional directivity and noise cancellation are also very good in the Infinio R or Infinio Spheres.
However, I don’t know if the Infinio Sphere has a non-AI Speech in Loud Noise program like the Infinio R, which uses StereoZoom 2.0 technology.
A non-AI Speech in Loud Noise program is a bit different from a non-AI Speech in Noise program.
Yes…there are two noise programs. One is the Spheric AI Noise program and the other is the traditional (Stereozoom) Speech in Noise program. AutoSense flips between the two depending on the level of noise. The traditional Speech in Noise program is also what gets used when you hit the 3 hour max for the Spheric AI program.
Jordan
I have both the Phonak Sphere i90 and the Starkey Edge AI 24s. I got them around the same time. I bought the Starkeys from a local audiologist when I first needed hearing aids. I bought the Phonaks from Injoy Hearing about a month later. I purchased the Phonak’s because I wanted a more affordable backup set. I primarily wear the Starkeys during the week and the Phonaks on weekends—but if I forget to charge one pair, I’ll swap to the other.
Here’s my experience with both:
Tuning is everything.
My local audiologist tuned my Starkeys in person. Injoy tuned my Phonaks remotely. Both did a great job. I’ve only needed a couple of minor adjustments since the initial setup. Just give the person tuning them the feedback to meet your needs!
Your own voice will sound different at first.
One thing that took getting used to was hearing my own voice enhanced. It was distracting, especially during presentations. But after a few tweaks—and a little time—it’s much better.
Battery life is solid.
I typically wear mine 14–16 hours a day in mixed environments: quiet office, loud spaces, etc. At the end of the day:
Starkeys: about 30% battery left
Phonaks: about 50% battery left
Both will easily last a full day, even with late meetings.
Example: Yesterday, I was at work by 7am and my last meeting was over with at 8pm. Work + non-work commitments.
Size and comfort.
The Starkeys have a smaller behind-the-ear profile and are less noticeable—especially important for me since I have short hair. The Phonaks stick out a bit more, but it’s not a dealbreaker. Honestly, the smaller, more discreet design is a big reason I prefer the Starkeys. Some of that size difference comes from the battery and the AI chip(s) inside.
About the AI modes…
I generally avoid using the AI modes unless I really need them. Both devices will “learn” your environment in AI mode, but over time I feel like they start picking up background noises I don’t care about. It’s like they start second-guessing what I want to hear. The longer I stay in AI mode (2+ hours), the worse the sound balance feels to me.
That said—the AI mode does help in really noisy settings. Example: in an echoey meeting room or restaurant, it helps me zero in on the person I’m talking to. Since you’re an educator, I imagine lunch or recess duty could benefit from that feature. I’ve definitely used AI mode in loud school cafeterias to filter out the chaos and catch the conversations that matter.
Bluetooth quirks.
Still working through some Bluetooth issues. Sometimes I have to turn Bluetooth off on my phone or other paired devices. If I forget, and my phone rings, it automatically lowers the hearing aid volume in preparation for the call or alert—which can be really distracting, especially in the middle of a conversation or meeting. Thankfully, I can manage this from the phone, not the hearing aids themselves.
That said, it is nice when I’m expecting a call and hear who’s calling without even looking at my phone—especially during those meetings that should’ve just been an email.
Connectivity bonuses.
I like that the Starkey’s support Auracast and Bluetooth LE (BLE)—super easy to connect. If you want to pair with a computer, I highly recommend the FlooGoo FMA120 USB adapter. The Phonaks use standard Bluetooth and also work great with the FlooGoo. Most modern phones (iPhone, Galaxy) support BLE too.
Bottom line:
You really can’t go wrong with either. Both have great sound quality once tuned properly and both will take a little time to adjust to.
If battery life is your top priority, I’d lean Phonak. But for me, both easily make it through a 16-hour day.
If I could leave you with one key takeaway: get them programmed by a qualified professional (whether local or online). A good fitting makes all the difference—and they can (and should) be fine-tuned over time as you adjust.
It seems that your biggest concern is battery life. Have you considered keeping your old pair, and on days that you need more battery power if that be the situation, you could recharge the new pair will using the old ones. I believe that they charge fairly quickly. Also the Infinio without the spehere would not have the potential battery problems
Hi, I started with Phonak Lumity follow-up by Infinio for a testing period of 3-4 months. I was not fully satisfied with the sound Quality in particular when I practise organ. I tried Star Key latest model and Oticon. I will stick to Star Key as best hearing aids for my specification. They are expansive though.
Another option to save some money and stay with the Phonak design would be the Sennheiser hearing aids at Costco for $1500. Not the Spheres but newer than what you have now.
Might worth looking into.
Good luck
According to this article (thanks to @kevels55), there is Speech in Loud Noise (with underlined StereoZoom 2.0, so it’s probably not a misspelling) in Infinio Sphere. Strange, in Target software, there is only Speech in Noise.
Source:
Hi Bell,
I’m a retired teacher and wish I could have had the Infinio Spheres my last few years of teaching. My guess is you will not have to use the Spheric mode all day but to have it available is game changing. Another thing to look at is accessing Vocational Rehabilitation services for help paying for your hearing aids. Please feel free to get in touch with me for more info.
Hello. I have had the Phonak Sphere 90 power receivers since Feb. Tho the hearing aid specialist said the power receivers use the battery much faster than regular (which would go all day); I haven’t had issues with battery going below 52% on days I wear more than 16 hrs a day. Tho I usually only stream 4-6 hrs a day. Likely, you could consider taking a portable charger with you and use your current pair if you get a lunch- to get more of a charge. I really like the availability to set different programs to different sound situations and think you will be glad for the new technology.
You haven’t had any acoustic feedback problems with your earmould, have you? Feedback can cconsume a lot of energy.
I’ve always had ear molds to get batter sound, prior to these. But these come with a “power dome” that fits pretty deep in ear and didn’t need ear molds, tho thought I would. If I manually turn up volume too much (theatre or soft voices where presets don’t quite work) there can be feedback when I move to a quieter area or enclosed area (car) but goes away when I set back to zero. I likely will have Hearing professional adjust up a bit on next visit to see if I can get a little boost vs a whole setting
Talk with him about a deep-seated earmold with minimal venting. I am waiting for a cShell with a 0.6 mm diameter vent; I will see about the results.
Now I have power domes, and I find them unreliable mainly due to the low feedback threshold.