Negative experience with Phonak infinio sphere i90

Hearing Aids
1

Hi all,

I am 30 years old and was diagnosed with moderate to severe hearing loss in Febuary. I was issues a pair of phonak bolero m-70s by the NHS here in the UK initially. These were mostly really helpful but not that great in loud settings. I decided to try a private vendor and trial the Phonak infinio sphere i90s, which I have had for just over a week, but I am not impressed with them at all. Speech is difficult to understand even in calm environments sometimes with these, which I didn’t experience with my NHS issued pair. I have also found that I have to turn them up to around 8/9 (out of 10) for them to sound a similar volume to my old pair, whereas I usually just kept the boleros on 5 out of 10.

I have also noticed that my right one seems to sound a bit quieter than my left, although it is difficult to tell sometimes, I’m not sure if I’m imagining it.

My left ear has been fitted with an open dome and my right ear a closed one, but I am aware that the sphere mode can’t noise cancel as effectively with open domes (or so I have read), however I did expect that with these hearing aids being a few generations ahead of my previous ones, they would be better in other situations. I expected a bit more from them, especially because I’ve heard many people rave about them.

Has anyone experienced similar, or have any advice to share on things I should discuss with my audi?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

OK, you’ve got a couple things going on that I’ll comment on JUST from my own experience. I’m no audi, but, yes, I’ve walked in your shoes.

Maybe the Sphere is overkill? Look at my snake belly audiogram. I do A-OK with a fabulous, zany-colored pair of Phonak Lumity Life 312s. They deliver on speech clarity and do pretty decent in noisy places.

I get that your RIGHT ear has less hearing than the LEFT one, so perhaps that’s why the closed vs open domes? Again, overkill? I have soft silicone power domes on my speakers and except for them never staying seated in my ear canal, they do FINE. Well, maybe I’m different than you being deaf as a cinderblock in BOTH ears.

Don’t give up. #1 priority is to find a competent audi or person to fine-tune your Spheres. It’s a journey! I actually had my audi copy/paste the settings from an OLD pair of Phonak Marvel aids into my new Lumity Life profiles. That got me 95% to a perfect world. Then I went in for several more sessions to tweak this or change that or add a program or feature. Consider these aids an investment in time and money with the goal being QUALITY of life. Be persistent, cuz YOU are the one living in these aids.

My audis are always astounded at how HORRIBLE I say the aids are when I get them right from the factory with the REM fitted settings. But hearing is nuanced. I’m either used to a different kind of world or these tools used don’t work for me.

Also! I have definitely noticed that my RIGHT aid is very quiet compared to the left one. If I pop in just the right aid, I can’t hear much at all! But if I put in just the LEFT one, I could probably get by with some issues. When BOTH aids are in … WOW! It’s a beautiful world. Phonak aids seem to deliver a rich, full, natural sound to me - whether that’s speech, my own voice or music. I was wondering if this is due to the “master” aid being perhaps my LEFT one? No idea, but I think with any pair of aids, one is designated the “master” even tho you can control volume and programs by pressing a switch on either aid. Perhaps someone else here can chime in?

Don’t give up, but you are in for a ride now with the new Spheres. Hey, what if you tried out the 312s (one generation older)? You never know. They are slim, small, light, COLORFUL (yeah, that’s important to me!) and very very good. GOOD LUCK - keep us posted.

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@kieranlikesjiujitsu Welcome to the forum and I hope you will find here what you are looking for.

That seem strange that the Bolero could help you but not the state of the art Sphere Infinio, there seem to be sum ting wong in your setup.

I suggest you write down your observations and feed them back to your audiologist.
Those pair are one of the best on market at the moment, you will be hard pressed to find better, especially that you already used to Phonak’s sounds.

Have you done REM at your private audiologist?

Good luck

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This is the holy grail for us hard of hearing. Welcome to the club.

I suspect you are dealing with improperly programmed aids. Your point about open acoustics is what I have read as well. Maybe your hearing loss doesn’t need the Sphere technology at this point. Or try closed doors in both ears. Get them properly programed with REM verification.
Good luck

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