My journey with Widex Moment 440 and Oticon Intent 1

Hearing Aids
,
#1

I have bought both these devices to appraise over 60 days and then select one to live with. I thought I would try to document my experiences with both these high-end devices to see if this generates discussion and hopefully be of use to people in the future.

First off, a little about me: You can see that my audiogram is not the usual age-related hearing loss. I’ve lost important speech frequencies and I find it difficult to follow conversation, particularly in a noisy environment. I play a lot of music and also listen to pre-recorded music on an audiophile-level system.

I’ve been wearing hearing aids for about 6 years and am looking for my second pair. My current pair is Bernafon Zerena 9s which at the time were recommended by an audiologist as they were good with music and had all the benefits that others did (in fact they were the same hardware as top-line Oticon but with different firmware/software/sound processing - I believe).

I picked the moment 440 and Intent 1 following plenty of reading around the subject. It’s clear the widex are a hit with audiophiles already and I’ll be interested to hear what impact they have on my music listening. The intent 1s have got decent press and user reviews both here and elsewhere.

2 Likes
#2

My initial impressions on each model before trying them out were that:

  • The Oticons are very similar to the Bernafon Zarena 9s that I’ve had for 6 years
  • The Widex are very slim units and look like they will get on better with me being a glasses wearer
  • The Widex are a different beast to my current berfafons from a control perspective. Everything has to be controlled from the iPhone app which I think will be a PITA
  • I really like the Widex charger unit that I’m about to be given. Being able to just carry around the pebble (which has room for some spare domes looks useful). The Oticon is a dumb USB charger connector but at least it’s USB C
  • I can’t work out how I will turn either of them off! My old HAs I just opened the battery compartment. The Widex don’t even have buttons
  • The oticons look quite big…
2 Likes
#3

It’s remarkably how similar the different software is that the audiologists use. The widex definitely looks cooler with graphical representations of sound frequencies…not sure it adds much performance-wise.

  • The Widex fitting used the actual hearing aids to run the hearing test whereas for the Oticons, the audiologist used a separate device and imported it into Genie

After a week of trying them out, my feelings are that in the last 6 years there have clearly been incremental improvements to hearing aid technology rather than revolutionary. The marketing of the noise filtering abilities of either device far outstrips the actual performance and all the talk of AI being involved (I think this was Oticon) is clearly more artificial than intelligent.….having said that, I wouldn’t be without a set and they are definitely better than my current pair. So if this is the best available then I am glad of it and I will continue my test to select one.

2 Likes
#4

I will nevet try to influence you as I haven’t worn Widex aids but have tried them for only a short test they sounded great. That was anout 15 years ago. I have been wearing Oticon aids for 14 years. As a veteran my aids come from the VA. And my audiologist says that Oticon is best for my needs. My hearing loss started out looking much like your audiogram but as i have aged i have lost more of my high frequency while the rest of my hearing loss has moderated in getting worse. I have the INTENT aids and they are awesome for my needs.

1 Like
#5

@Crom
I agree that the so-called improvements are incremental. In modern digital aids, I can only comment on Phonak, but I guess it will be the same for the other main players. Loads of marketing, in using words/acronyms like “AI”, when it just isn’t that, at all. I’m no fan of the Automatic programmes, that decide what environment you’re in, and switch programmes to what the algorithm decides you want to hear. Guess what, they get it wrong most of the time and take the sound out that you want to listen to.

I have 3 pairs of HAs, and the oldest are the ones I prefer right now (2019 models), they just sound more natural, and speech recognition is better.

Having said this, I used to play in a loud Rock Band (the cause of my loss), and none of these HAs helped me at all. In latter years, I just took them out.

One thing I noticed, as that you use domes. I believe you’re borderline for some form of custom mold, to control feedback and give you better gain where you need it.

Another thing: Does your audiologist specialise in a particular manufacturer? If so, he/she may be more skilled in programming that particular brand.

Anyway, good luck

1 Like
#6

I get my aids from the VA, I don’t pay for my aids. When my VA audiologist told me he was getting me the INTENT1 aids he made a commit that I have never heard from him, he said the INTENT1 aids are the first aids that he actually was excited about. At the VA I go to I have seen all of the name brand aids and I have even seen widex aids. But he told me when i got my INTENT1 aids that the clinic issues mostly Oticon, Phonak, and Resound aids. But always ask new patients what they prefer if they have been wearing aids from different sources. New patients new to hearing aids are asked a series of questions about their lifestyle, work, and environments. Then make suggestions from that survey.

3 Likes
#7

This appears to be my issue. The shifting sound is borthersome and not necessarily the best for everyone. My new Jabra’s use this supposed AI kinda like the Intent and not a fan. Does the intent shift sounds or try to focus on reducing sounds, while muting sounds i want to hear?
Right now i am using my Outdoor program as my main program because of the shifting sounds the All Around program induces. I am probably going to return these and was gonna try the Intent but i see it seem to use the same type of “steering/beam focusing”. Not a fan…

2 Likes
#8

  • On the first point above, it looks like the VA has finally started to make available the SmartCharger version for the Intent, which is a travel charger that has a built-in battery to charge the Intent for a number of cycle before needing itself to be recharged. It should also be smaller and more self-contained than the current desk charger so that the hearing aids can’t fall out on-the-go. Apparently the mainstream HCP channel still don’t have access to this yet although the VA channel already does. But hopefully it’s just a matter of time before it’d become available to the HCP channel as well.

  • I can’t say for the Widex, but I think for the Intent, a very long press on the hearing aid’s button will force the hearing aid to turn off. This is why the Mute functionality is not available via a very long press on the Intent like with other disposable-battery version of the other Oticon aids where a very long press is reserved for Muting because powering off for them is simply to remove the battery door.

2 Likes
#9

Thank you @Volusiano that is useful to hear. I would like to swap out my Intent charger for the smart charger that you indicated but checking the website it appears that it is not compatible with the Intent. Rechargeable Hearing Aids I hope that this changes soon!

Thanks also for the switch off information - I’ve tried it now and works a treat!

#10

I did not mean to imply that the old SmartCharger for the Real is forward compatible with the Intent. What I meant to say is that the Intent will have its own version of the SmartCharger that is different than the old one for the More and Real and is not backward compatible with the More and Real. It’s designed only for the Intent. And the VA has already started issuing it to their patients, just not the mainstream HCP channel yet.

#11

I have the INTENT smart charger for my INTENT1 aids. I am a veteran and my aids are grom the VA. For the first time in my 20 years of getting aids from the VA I have gotten something before the general public. The INTENT smart charger is really nice and somewhat smaller than the More/Real smart charger. I haven’t gotten 4 charges out of it for my aids with out the charger being recharged. But I must aid that even with streaming and an average daily use of 16 hours i haven’t seen my INTENT1 aids drop below 30% battery life. And even at that the app says i have 6 hours of use left. So my aids will go well over the 20 hours of battery life. I have had a few days that I didn’t do any streaming and the app says that i could get 28 hours our of my aids. It all depends on your hearing loss, how much streaming and your environments. In a very noisy environment the aids will drain the batteries faster than even streaming directly to the aids from the phone.
And by the way the beta version of the app on my Samsung S23 phone stays connected to my INTENT1 aids even when I close the app on the phone. It draws less power from the phone and less power from the aids.

#12

Crom the SmartCharger is available now and I have fit some supplying them with it. It also has a lid unlike the desk model
To turn the Intents off hold the button down for about 3 Seconds and yo uwill see the orange light indicating it is off.
As for the AI I have gone to bars to see how it works and it did what they say. I would intently look at a person having a conversation at even 10-15 ft away and after a second or so I could hear them better than I was able to at the start. Basically, it looks for things we do when intently listening to someone such as tipping head to the side and/or forward slightly.
Hope this helps

1 Like