Recently I have been upgraded with BTE Oticon Engage 105 PP hearing aids on the U.K NHS. I wore them for about 6 weeks, with moulds, and although they were very smooth, I never really tested them properly. I had a few weeks where I was away, and had covid. I concluded from wearing them around the house, that they were not powerful enough. I am on the cusp of needing a super power hearing aid, and the audiologist agreed that after trying to tweak the feedback management system of the Engage, that I would need the Xceed.
The Xceed SP 2 (or UP 2 - highest power version) is what the U.K NHS dispenses. I understand that the Xceed 1 is the premium model and can scrub 9dB of noise, whereas the Xceed 2 only scrubs 5dB. I assume the Xceed 2 is only available because of the budget.
The audiologist decided to switch me from NAL-NL2 to DSL v5.0 Adult. This raised my eyebrows somewhat. I have never used this fitting formula, to my knowledge. She explained that it would help with the gain in the upper reaches.
You may be wondering why I am posting a review of the Xceed. After all, this is a 2019 hearing aid. Other people have posted reviews, although I haven’t seen anything in detail. What is interesting is that this is the first time I have really experienced the Open Sound Navigator, which as I understand, was first introduced in the Oticon OPN. There have been a lot of posts about this on here, and some like from @1Bluejay who is predominantly a Phonak user who tried the Oticon and had bad experiences in terms of noise, and switched back to Phonak. I have been fortunate enough to wear private Phonak hearing aids, whilst also being supplied with Oticon hearing aids from the U.K NHS. But I never experienced the Open Sound Navigator, Oticons 360 degree all around embracing sound platform. Until now.
The first thing I have to say, and I am really lucky in this respect and I feel almost bad in posting a really positive experience is that the REM and the fit I have had from my NHS audiologist has blown me away. I have rarely had a first time fit that has been absolutely superb in every respect. The balance of soft and loud sounds and general speech comprehension is just unbelievable.
I get into the car and put the radio on. The experience is similar to the Phonak APD 2.0, in that the loudness of the radio is coming through at a much lower volume than with the NAL-NL2. I can hear the engine, fan and the radio all at the same time, but I can hear the words on the radio. Among this noise I can also hear my daughter in the car. This is roughly the same experience with the Phonaks, but I believe I am getting more of all of the sounds coming through at the same time. It is a comforting experience in a way, as I don’t feel I am being deprived of anything. Sometimes the problem with Phonak is that the background noise lowering deprives you of what you want to hear at the same time. This is obviously Phonak’s attempt to giving you a chance to understand what is being said, whereas Oticon has the opposite philosophy - to give you a chance to try and comprehend what you want hear in amongst the mass of noise.
I went into London with my eldest daughter at the weekend. We visit the museums and go on the London Underground. For those of you who haven’t experienced it, the London Underground is loud, very loud. When the train is moving, it has been very difficult for me to comprehend speech in the past. I turn to my daughter and talk to her, and I can understand what she is saying in amongst the noise of the train. I have to move a little bit closer, but that’s what other people tend to do on the train, as it is so loud. The announcements come through in above the noise of the train, and these are the loudest announcements I have ever heard. The Phonak aids would have suppressed the train noise, but not these.
We get to the Natural History Museum and are walking through the packed Dinosaur section. It is one of the loudest experiences I have ever had in a crowd. In hindsight I should have turned my hearing aids down a touch. I had a bit of difficulty here and did not comprehend what my daughter was saying. However, in the Science museum I decided to switch back to the Phonak Naida SP and suddenly I had difficulty understanding my daughter. The room we was in wasn’t that crowded, but just very high ceilings and poor acoustics. I switched back to the Xceeds and my daughter sounded crisp and clear with excellent gain. I am now puzzled. The Xceed have outperformed the Phonak’s on this one occasion. The Phonak were in calm situation and sounded Okay, but the Xceeds were more lively.
I keep the Xceeds in, and we go to a Cafe that normally presents the usual problems for HOH people. Staff that you have to hear over the counter and metallic sounds and crowds. These however don’t bother the Xceeds that much. I can hear my daughter above the loudness, but I have to concentrate a little. But unlike hearing aids I have had in the past, her voice comes through loud and clear. There is no attenuation.
We go to the British Museum. My daughter does a lot of the talking as she is studying Greek and I have no problem understanding her. We go home and on the train, again, it is no problem.
The following day I ordered the Connect Clip. I have seen some negatives about this. Some don’t like an intermediary device. I don’t care personally. It duly arrived and I paired it to various devices. My experience with it is mixed. As a back up that is free, I am not complaining, but it is not as good as the direct connection to my iPad. There can be a bit of crackling. However, the audio with spoken conversation was very good.
Next up, McDonalds. This can sometimes be a problem. I placed an order and one person was calling out numbers. This is from where there is a lot of noise (>70dB), and in the past I have had to concentrate to hear the exact number being called. Not on this occasion. I can hear the caller perfectly - every number.
Battery life. These Xceeds take size 13 batteries. This is the biggest plus point I have seen. Helped by the low consumption Mfi (I assume) I have been wearing these aids for 8 days, and the battery life is at 50%!!! So that means that they are going to last approx 14 days.
My head is now in a spin. I will be doing further tests in noise, as I seemed to be now sucked into the Open Sound Navigator benefits and landscape. I am now feeling very conflicted. I have worn Phonak aids predominantly for the last 30 years, with Oticon aids supplied on and off by the NHS during that period. The Phonak aids have prevailed recently because of easier connectivity. However, noise problems have always been an issue. The issue now is that the Phonak Spheres are here and Phonak appear to be ahead of the game, and I use Roger heavily in difficult situations. However these Oticons are making me wish that I had bought them in 2019.
I am going back to Specsavers to try and get a better fit with the Phonaks Naida Lumity, as I believe now through this experience that it doesn’t match the quality of the NHS REM. I think it goes to show that the fit has to be one of the most important considerations of this whole process.
