I mean, you can get a well fitted hearing aid in Ontario for ~$500. You just can’t get the sphere.
2 Likes
May I ask which provider?
I’ve had experience with oogvoororen, but they’re are others as well such as onlinehoortoestel.nl
I’ve tried oogvoororen a couple months ago and had a very bad experience with them (did not fulfill promises, didn’t show up on appointments at home, nor responded to any of my emails until I said I had enough and wanted to give it back, after which I was told to send it by parcel, not even in person or something). Currently I’m at Horend Goed.
1 Like
I bought my current marvel through oogvoororen. But this time they seem to be understaffed.
I’m on the lookout for something else and am considering local resellers.
Thank you for the link, I’ll check it out
1 Like
I had to ask my audiologist for the Spheric Speech program
1 Like
Today I went to the gym. A place where there are quite a lot of sounds. A great place to try out the automatic Spheric Speech program.
Very surprisingly, I was able to follow the conversations well. Although it certainly took some getting used to. Especially that my own voice was also amplified when I started talking. Sounds around were still present, but I had the feeling that they were less pronounced. Soft voices, especially those of women, are indeed still an area for improvement.
I will test some more these days.
3 Likes
Does the myPhonak app do that with Lumity devices as well? My Phonak Lumity devices always stay in the automatic program unless I manually change it.
The app works the same way for Lumity and Sphere. You can always see what program the automatic mode has selected by hitting the Adjust Program button at the bottom of the Automatic Program page.
Jordan
3 Likes
Thank you. I did not know that. There’s a lot about the Lumity devices that I don’t know. The VA is good about prescribing top flight devices, but they don’t have the time to spend with each veteran, teaching them how to use all the bells and whistles.
Specsavers are putting the I90 Sphere out for £2995 in the UK. (About $3995 US)
Someone is trying to bump their own market share.
Phonak must have taken a serious hammering since the Genesis and Intent launch to go for this.
2 Likes
Thanks. I’ve seen the Sphere I90 go for around $3150 from Sweden and $3500 from the US (seller named Genesis hearing health care) on eBay. But one might have to pay custom fees for the ones from Sweden into the US, I don’t know.
So the pricing sure fluctuates a lot depending on where you look.
I was fitted yesterday for the new Phonak Sphere 90’s. The appointment went well. Though I’m working with a “Licensed Hearing Instrument Specialist” rather than the audiologist under whom she works, I have so far found her thorough and knowledgeable. After the initial fitting I asked about real ear measurement, and she volunteered to do that. After the REM, we increased the high frequencies a bit. I also asked her to bump up the power some, as she initially had me at about 85% of full amplification, and I was finding things to be not quite bright enough. We bumped it up to about 90, which sounded good to me. She didn’t want to go higher until my follow up appt in 2 weeks, even though I’ve been wearing HA’s for about 12-14 years.
As I’m sure you are already aware, the Spheres are bigger than most other HA’s. It’s noticeable when handling them, but once on the ear, I can honestly say it’s been no issue whatsoever. I wear glasses all the time. If anything, I find the larger size a bit easier, since my hands are on the larger side, and the larger HA body makes it easier to locate and press the rocker switch,
My wife and I had dinner scheduled for last night, but our client had a migraine, so we postponed until tonight. I put on the Sphere’s this morning at 8am. I streamed music for about an hour, and used the ‘Spheric speech in loud noise’ program for just over 2 hours at dinner. It’s now a bit after midnight, so I’ve been wearing them 16 hours so far today, with 1 hour streaming and 2+ hours Sphere. The battery levels are now at 48 and 46%. I think it’s safe to say battery life will absolutely not be an issue for me on these aids.
Now, for the question on everyone’s mind - how did they do in Sphere mode? I have to admit, based upon other reviews, I was expecting a little better. Having said that, I was still very impressed. I briefly swapped in the Signia Charge n Go 90 HA’s I’ve been trialing, and they didn’t compare, even when I alternately adjusted the directionality and tried the speech in noise program. Despite many hours reprogramming and trying different settings, I just don’t care for the sound of the Signias, and I’ll definitely be returning them. I also swapped in my Oticon More HA’s, which I’ve been wearing for 3.5 years. I’ve tweaked the programming on them so they are set more or less optimally for my hearing. While they performed reasonably well in the restaurant, they didn’t come close to the Spheres.
What about the Spheres didn’t live up to my expectations? As some others have mentioned, I had minor difficulty hearing my wife’s voice, while our male dinner guest 5’ away came through loud and clear. At least some of this I attribute to my wife having been sick for the last 10 days or so. Her voice is nasal-sounding right now, and she’s speaking at a lower volume than normal for her, so her enunciation is diminished. I’m curious if or how much this improves after her voice returns to normal. As well, I had to bump up the HA volume a bit, which I suspect is due to the 90% amplification level vs full prescription.
While the Spheres didn’t eliminate or reduce the background noise to the degree I expected, they did do a great job of bringing up the speech levels and (especially) clarity. I’m wearing vented domes, so I’m sure custom molds or power domes would likely improve the reduction of background noise. I was definitely able to follow the conversation much better and with less effort than usual.
I haven’t yet connected the Spheres to my Noahlink and Target software to look at the programming, as I wanted to test the original fitting first. I’ll probably start tinkering tomorrow.
Another big question for me was how well the Spheres would work for me while playing guitar and other instruments, as well as listening to music. I am happy to report the Spheres do live up to my expectations in this area. They sound soooo much better to me than the Oticon Mores do for music. There’s no trace of the Oticon ‘warble’ or pitch shift, not even in the autosense program. They sound very natural (for hearing aids) for music in a way I could never get the Oticons to do. I don’t even need to switch programs, as the default program sounds great, as does the music program.
I’m sure I’ll have more observations as I settle into wearing the Spheres, and again when we increase the amplification level. I typically wear HA’s roughly 18 hours a day, so I should get a good feel for these pretty quickly. I’ll report back later.
9 Likes
I have tested every big brand (except Widex) and my favorit so far is the Oticon Intent 2.
I got the Sphere yesterday for testing because I read good things about those hearing aids.
We have started directly from 110%, I don’t see the reason to lower it as if it would be to loud in some situation you can drop down the volume at your own.
I have set a separate spheric programm to compare this new feature, so far it wasn’t loud enough and I couldn’t find a big difference on normal situation.
What I don’t like is that the voice are tending to explode somethimes (problem was also on Starkey Genesis), the voice is then louder and could hurt sometimes. I think this is done consciously to don’t miss anything, but for me it can be more a torture.
I can say that I have no big problems with Oticon Intent, understanding in noise is good but it is somethimes hard to handle the ambient noise. Starkey Genesis was more relaxing, but I didn’t liked the sound of those hearing aids, all what I can say is that those were my favorit before Intent came out, we will see if Phonak will kick out the Oticon or not.
I’m happy that the App has improved greatly in the time I’ve used it.
I’ve found that simple features (Clarity button for instance) greatly improve my hearing. Terrible before I use Clarity/Somewhat better after.
If you’re having issues understanding women’s spoken voice, try using the APP. Hit the “Clarity” button you show above, and save the program for use. Then it will boost mid and high frequencies. It makes a huge difference for me.
And I can use this to my advantage when my Dr uses a surgical mask. Without Clarity and a volume increase I don’t understand. With Clarity and a jump in volume I’m ok.
2 Likes
I’m very grateful I have workman’s compensation.
Except they normally don’t prescribe top end hearing aids, at 5 year intervals. And rumour has it that there are further price reductions coming.
I’m happy you get top-end. And more frequent replacement.
BTW I believe there is a class action lawsuit against 3M for the hearing loss and tinnitus that might have been caused by the insert type ear plugs supplied to those who served and fought in battle.
My hearing loss started when I worked in a 3M factory and power house.
Wow! For DYI fitters, that’s definitely a steal!
Sphere battery update: On the 2nd full day with the Sphere 90s, I wore them for 19 hours, 18 minutes. I did no streaming, and spent no time in the ‘Spheric speech in loud noise’ program. When I put them on the charger after 19+ hours, I still had 61% and 62% charge remaining.
10 Likes
If one looks at settings for “Spheric Speech in Loud Noise” in Target (see screenshot below), it says that the clarity strength can be adjusted via the mobile app. However, I cant see where to do this. It just has the usual stuff. Does anyone know what they are referring to?
you must be in a environment with speech in loud noise that the hearing aids get automatically into the programm “Spheric speech in loud noise”. Then you can adjust the Clarity strenght setting.
Whatch this video
3 Likes