Phonak ActiveVent Mini Review

Hearing Aids
#45

Hi Everyone,

I am a DYI hearing aid guy – meaning I have the Phonak software, and I recently got a nice pair of P90-R hearing aides used (I have been using M50 13T for the last 3 years with Medium open vents). My hearing loss is getting worse as I get older but is more severe at the higher frequencies and pretty symmetrical.

I was able to get a Phonak Active Vent Starter Kit off of eBay and set up the hearing aides to use this with the 3rd largest size of the temporary silicone tips. I would say streaming sounds better, but I expected the Bass to come in a bit better – they are still very tinny.

The switching is a little annoying but nothing I couldn’t adjust too. I guess if these work out well, I would order Titanium Slim Tips from my audiologist. BTW new AV receivers seem to cost around $75 each vs. $25 for the normal ones.

I don’t have coverage so if the are failing every 4 months, that will get annoying – but I would image you cold clean them with steam and compressed air / alcohol if they got clogged and bring them back to life.

If they don’t seem to work well I wll go back to medium vented domes. I definitely prefer that to the Titanium vented CShells that I got a few years ago (just my opinion).

I guess there aren’t too many people sing these Active Vents yet…

doberwiler

#46

Still loving mine every day!

WH

#47

Hey WhiteHat, do you know if there’s some sort of fitment chart for these Active Vents? I’m asking because I’m usually fitted without a vent on earmolds now. I figure if I don’t have a vent, I wouldn’t benefit from it.

#48

This is the only Fitment chart I could find. It appears your loss might be outside the requirements for the ActiveVents.

PH_Candidacy_editable_form_ActiveVent_Receiver_EN_V1.00_027-0642_02.pdf (143.9 KB)

2 Likes
#49

Phonak ActiveVentTM Receiver Candidacy checklist

I posted this before, but here you go again.

WH

3 Likes
#50

You are correct.

…

1 Like
#51

@berettadm1 @WhiteHat @Neville Thank you for confirming my suspicions, this community is great. :slight_smile:

#52

I’ve been wearing Activevents for 2 months now and I have to say that my experience has been very disappointing. I believe I have the only set in use in New Zealand, as no one seems to know anything about them. I go to my audiologist with issues, he calls Phonak for support and basically gets frustrated because they never answer his questions.
I have opened tickets with Sonova with questions and basically get brushed aside. They say to contact my audiologist (see above) or ask more questions. After I answer their questions, I get no more responses.
I am ready to return these things because They are not working properly and there seems to be no support to get them working.
Reading the literature, these things should be exactly what I need, if they could be made to work as claimed. As it is, I am paying extra to hear worse than before.
My satisfaction with Phonak has crashed from a solid 10 to less than zero. I could not recommend Phonak to anyone at this point.

#53

What’s the problem behind them and what is your audiogram?

#54

I’m trying out phonak HA’s with the active vent reciever wires… is anyone else using them and what has your experience been with them … are you having to replace them every 6 mos?

#55

Sound is “tinny”. In a noisy environment they constantly open and close. App that is supposed to be able to control them is not available. One titanium shell does not fit (keeps falling out), Phonak’s fix was a longer receiver, which has nothing to do with the shell not fitting. Sound is horrible compared to my original titanium receivers. Phonak just seems to not care. Just brushes me and my audiologist off.
Audiogram shows mainly high frequency loss.

#56

Cent you just go back to a std receiver?

1 Like
#57

Yes, I have. I don’t see a future with these.

1 Like
#58

So, I just picked up an ActiveVent starter kit. Fitted them up with my L90-RL Lumity HAs using Target etc.

So far, they are not performing as hoped for. It may well be that they are just not fitted correctly (by me). I used the “first fit” settings Target determines based on my Audiogram and the MAV receivers and Universal SlimTip dome that fitted me most comfortably. My regular receiver domes are the Power Domes.

I do hear them opening and closing when going into various programs - so they sound like they work fine.

The Automatic Calm setting (which has the AVs in Open mode sounds too shrill and metallic on the high tones. Eg when playing the guitar the high notes are “off”. When streaming music (domes closed) the sound is horrible. As if the only thing playing are the high notes - there is no bass whatsoever. The regular PowerDomes produce a full rounded musical sound when streaming.

Checking my audiogram against the suitability chart I would have thought I would have been a good candidate for the AVs. So I’m not sure what is going on.

#59

Your Power Domes are already a pretty “closed” fit so I wouldn’t expect any benefit of ActiveVent unless you were trying to solve some kind of occlusion problem. Were you having some issue with the Power Domes? If not, I’d stick with them. If you want to try something different, I’d consider custom molds. How were you fit with the Power Domes? Did you have REM? I suspect you’re underfit in the highs. What are your word recognition scores?

2 Likes
#60

Thank you for your helpful response MDB!

I fit my own HAs (DIYer). Have been doing so for the past 12 years. I have been to audiologists at various points in time. Usually, to get a hearing test done under my insurance plan. Although of late, I find I get better results using AudioDirect with Target and my actual HAs. So, I fitted the Power Domes myself and that is indeed what Target recommended for my Audiogram/AudioDirect results. No REM (although I have had it done in the past with noticeable benefits - its just not something I’m prepared to pay extra for at this point in time, but no doubt an improvement can be obtained with it.)

Speech Audiometry for MCL is 75% in both ears (as of June 21).

I was merely curious about the AVs. No occlusion issue with the Power Domes to speak of - they work for me better than Open Domes. Custom Molds might work better - not sure.

#61

I’ll probably list the starter kit on eBay. (If anyone is interested pls message me - they are size #2).

#62

Just put them on eBay. Starting bid is $80.

#64

Silcone Slim-Tips are also available in 4 sizes alongside the Titanium SlimTip, I use both

#65

Hi, I am interested in hearing about anyone’s experience using the Phonak Active vent receiver. My new hearing aids will have the active vent, and I am interested in getting the pros and cons. I am hoping that the receiver will help with some of the streaming issues that I have as well as helping with the sound leakage that I get (that generally annoys my family). Thanks