This thread has been really interesting to me as I have gone from Phonak/Unitron, to Oticon, and now back to Phonak over the last 30 years.
The analog/hybrid Phonaks and Unitrons I had in my teens and 20’s were my absolute favorite hearing aids. The first time my audiologist had me try digital Phonaks I wanted to throw them across the room but fortunately at the time Unitron still had a hybrid version so I got that. By the time I was in my 30’s my only options were digital and I still hated the Phonaks and their speech focus and program switching but fortunately by then I had an audiologist that was able to get me some Oticons. They weren’t as good as my Unitrons (to my ears) but at least they let me hear the world beyond just speech. Back then I believe my WRS was still 50%, maybe higher. I recall whatever it was I was still borderline for CI evaluation based on it despite my profound loss.
Now I’m in my 40’s and post pandemic and after three years of no left HA and lazy use of my right my WRS is on the floor. After reading the discussion above this may explain why now I love my new speech focused Phonaks. The better program switching in the Lumity is what won me over the more natural Resounds I was trying but also I realized just how much I had been missing in conversations and being involved with friends and family.
Still, when the next generation of Oticons come out I think I will give them a try and see if I can get my brain back on track. At the very least they might be good backups for solitary walks and listening to music.
It was a quick trial, only five days. I admit it ended when I started getting used to Phonak’s ‘sound profile’ again. I didn’t wear my More in the last three days. During this time, I also started tweaking the Lumity myself. Here are my final thoughts:
I managed to make music sound a bit better with a DSL dedicated program, but still not good enough (I wouldn’t be able to keep this DSL program anyways, since I prefer NAL-NL2 overall). I mean, streaming music from my iPhone was excellent (considering I have domes with the Lumity), but my guitars sounded awful – especially my acoustic guitar. The difference is this: I want to pick up my guitars and play them with my More. I DON’T want to play them with the Lumity.
I paired the Lumity with my TV and watched a movie. It was really nice; the audio was synced and full. That’s something I’ll miss (I don’t have Oticon’s proprietary TV adapter).
I still have the impression that the human voice is crisper and clearer with the Lumity, but perhaps not much compared to my More. Most importantly, I don’t think this extra “clarity” was enough to better aid me in challenging situations compared to my More. In two or three occasions, I had a hard time understanding people, and I suspect I fared better with my More in the past. Conversely, I am pretty sure in some cases the Lumity was better than my More.
The myPhonak app is way better than Oticon’s Companion app. It allowed me to fine-tune the Lumity, either manually (noise reduction, speech focus, and dynamic) or choosing one of a few preset equalizers (comfort, clarity, speech, and surrounding). I did hear a difference messing around with these options, and I can save anything I like into a new program. Oticon has nothing like that.
Autosense 5.0 is smoother than what I anticipated. However, in some situations, I still heard the transition from one program to another, to the point where it was starting to bother me. It also happened while streaming audio from my iPhone, which was very distracting. Anyway, I think that I could’ve improved that; I just didn’t have the time. This issue wouldn’t keep me from buying the Lumity though.
Wind block isn’t good. Even at Phonak’s top of the line (L90) and with the feature cranked all the way up, it does not do a good job. My More is much better.
I needed to give the Lumity a quick charge in the last three days. If they were my main hearing aids, that would be routine. In two years, I boosted my More twice, on exceptionally long days. It’s a lot more convenient with my More; I put them on and don’t even think about the battery… as they are going to last until the end of my day with no warning chimes urging me to charge them.
More and Lumity are excellent and expensive hearing aids. I can’t justify shelling out the dollar amount of another More to have the Lumity. For the sake of an exercise, if I were choosing my first hearing aids, I’d pick the More (or most likely the Real, which is Oticon’s next generation). Here is why: 1) music is great with my More, whereas I couldn’t make it sound even OKish with the Lumity; 2) Oticon’s open concept works fine with my mostly conductive hearing loss; 3) the More sounds more natural, less processed; 4) battery; and 5) wind management.
If I had the extra cash for two sets of hearing aids, here is why I’d go for the Lumity: 1) myPhonak app; 2) universal Bluetooth; and 3) clarity of human voice.
It seems like streaming music is OK but live music, especially with a percussive acoustical instrument like a guitar, is not where the Lumity shines. It immediately makes me wonder what the input microphone wide dynamic range level of the Lumity is. I tried to Google this information from the Phonak website and elsewhere without much success. Googling the Oticon input level showed 113 dB SPL. The best seems to be the Resound LINX Quattro at 116 dB SPL.
I think many older HA models only has 96 dB SPL. I think the Phonak aids are 113 dB SPL like Oticon aids, but I just can’t verify it via a Google search or from the Phonak website. But this can make a difference in how playing a live acoustic percussive instrument sound, especially if you’re the player and you sit right next to your guitar. It would explain why streaming music, which doesn’t depend on the input mics, sounds fine, but live music as a player sounds worse. It has everything to do with how the input mics on the hearing aids can handle the live sound, and the input wide dynamic range level matters a lot here.
I’m curious with the Lumitys if you tried turning down the volume when playing guitar? I have KS9, similar to Phonak Marvel and I find that turning down the volume 3 notches makes my classical guitar sound much richer. I assume this is because the trebles aren’t getting as much emphasis and it lets the bass strings contribute more to the sound. Anyway, a simple thing to try. I’m guessing if you wanted to play with it you could come up with a custom guitar playing program that would be quite pleasing to your ears.
I did! The problem is that while my classical guitar sounded less processed at 3-4 notches down in volume, it also sounded dull. That does not happen with my More.
If I did not have my More to A/B test them, I’d probably get used to the sound of the Lumity and be happy with it. There’s something Neville mentioned that might help explain what I hear:
I just couldn’t make my guitars resonate right with the Lumity. They sounded odd and unatural, like comparing the sound of a decent pickup/amp vs the unplugged instrument. Maybe with an extra week or two I could figure out how to improve it, I don’t have that time though.
This information shown in your is for the output sound pressure that the receiver can produce, so this is the output end of the receiver/speaker. I’m talking about the loudness level that the input microphones (not the output receiver/speaker) can accept without having to be compressed to avoid distortion.
Below are 3 screenshots from my Google searches. The first one talks about what a good input wide dynamic range should be (between 110 to 115 dB SPL). The second one shows that for Oticon aids, it’s up to 113 dB SPL. The third one shows that the ReSound LiNX Quattro can even handle up to 116 dB SPL (the best I’ve seen so far).
Yes. I don’t expect that particular issue to be impacted by opn versus non.
However, while it’s fun for the OP to try the lumity, I don’t there will be a big enough difference in function to be with him upgrading so soon. The Oticon Mores are good heading aids.
I’m sure you probably know this already, but just for folks who don’t know, the Real is supposed to have even more superior wind and handling management compared to the More. Sudden Sound Stabilizer is another new feature in the Real as well. Both features have received good feedbacks from folks who had the More and upgraded to the Real. And this is from active folks who ride their bikes in the wind or drive with the car windows down, not just the occasional breeze of wind from a walk.
For those who would like to know, after trying my new Oticon Xceed 1s for a time, I’m happy to say that the wind block really is far superior in these than in any Phonak I have ever owned. Voices and all sounds remain crystal clear and nearly front and center, with the wind dialed way down.
Not sure how Oticon does it. But it truly is brilliant.
