Phonak ActiveVent Mini Review

Still loving mine every day!

WH

Hey WhiteHat, do you know if thereā€™s some sort of fitment chart for these Active Vents? Iā€™m asking because Iā€™m usually fitted without a vent on earmolds now. I figure if I donā€™t have a vent, I wouldnā€™t benefit from it.

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)

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Phonak ActiveVentTM Receiver Candidacy checklist

I posted this before, but here you go again.

WH

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You are correct.

ā€¦

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

Iā€™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.

Whatā€™s the problem behind them and what is your audiogram?

Iā€™m trying out phonak HAā€™s with the active vent reciever wiresā€¦ is anyone else using them and what has your experience been with them ā€¦ are you having to replace them every 6 mos?

Sound is ā€œtinnyā€. 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), Phonakā€™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.

Cent you just go back to a std receiver?

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Yes, I have. I donā€™t see a future with these.

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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 ā€œfirst fitā€ 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 ā€œoffā€. 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 Iā€™m not sure what is going on.

Your Power Domes are already a pretty ā€œclosedā€ fit so I wouldnā€™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, Iā€™d stick with them. If you want to try something different, Iā€™d consider custom molds. How were you fit with the Power Domes? Did you have REM? I suspect youā€™re underfit in the highs. What are your word recognition scores?

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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 Iā€™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.

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

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

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

Hi, I am interested in hearing about anyoneā€™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

Good: Very clear streaming, both music and phone calls/ video teleconferencing etc.

Bad: Some do not like the click noise when the receiver changes mode.

Other: The wax traps are easier to change, but I feel like they are not as effective as the regular receivers take.

When in closed mode (listening to streamed content) you may be really cut off from environmental sound. A lot. (I wear a light on my hat so my wife knows Iā€™m streaming and not ignoring her!)

Coming up on two years with MAV receivers in a couple months.

WH