I jump from Bernafon Zerena 9 (which is technologically equivalent to OPN1) to Oticon Real 1.
For overall. Been wearing Since 13 Dec 2023 so I don’t have much to add, please take it with grain of salt. I find it approximately 30% improvement for me and it is not placebo. Oticon Real1 just definitely work better than Zerena9. I feel like I finally breakthrough the barrier of impossible. 30% improvement may sound not much but it is BIG for me. I used to focus every mental effort very hard to understand what people say and shamefully ask them to repeat 2-3 times. Real 1 just make it easier effort.
Oticon marketing hype is not all that hyped after all. OR Technology advanced in 5 years apart have something to do with it. Oticon Real 1 is using DNN to sort out the background noise and speech. I guess its work for me. I am so happy with it.
I am DIY, I do explore every option and feature in the Genie2 and experiment with it as much as I can. Now Real1 is clear-cut winner.
To compare the Real1 with the Zerena9 using an analogy, let’s liken it to race cars.
Imagine the Zerena9 needs 600 horsepower to cut through the wind resistance to reach speeds of 300km/hr.
The Real1, on the other hand, can accelerate to 300km/hr with just 450 horsepower because it has better aerodynamics.
In other words, the Real1 uses less Gains to process sound than the Zerena9 to achieve the same level of hearing. It’s an interesting comparison, possibly due to the newer technology in Real1, which is 5-6 years ahead.
Hope you get what I say.
I used to laugh at new feature “Wind” and “Sudden Sound” stabilizer. I take it back.
I didn’t realize how much I work with fans in my office. And I had no idea how annoying it is when the wind passes through the hearing aid while driving with the windows down.
The Wind Stabilizer really helps a lot in this regard. It smooths things out so well that I hardly notice any wind noise. When I work with a fan blowing in my face, it usually creates a whooshing and whirring noise that interferes, but this feature makes it disappear completely.
For Sudden Sound, I have no idea. I guess it not useful for me because I don’t get struggle with Sudden Sound. I kind of like it.
Bernafon Zerena9, I have to use Remote Microphone such as Bernafon-Soundclip (in Oticon is called ConnectClip) to hear people speaking in the heavy background noise. With Real 1 I have pretty confident I can rely on hearing aids alone without Remote Microphone. I bought ConnectClip but… I very rarely use it!
The Oticon Real 1 sounds slightly different from the Bernafon Zerena9 (which is roughly on par with OPN1 technology level). However, when I conducted tests and adjusted the gains to match my hearing loss,
I found that the sound signatures of Oticon and Bernafon are very similar. But Real1 use less gains to achieve what I want to hear.
Oh bummer. Mask wearer speak still suck! it’s so frustrating. No matter what, it’s still difficult to hear people wearing masks clearly. Even though it has improved significantly and become much easier to understand.
If you expect to hear better with Mask wearer speaker. Don’t be. You will disappointed. But still better though.