Phonak announces Naída Marvel, the world’s first super-power hearing aid with universal Bluetooth connectivity

Stäfa, Switzerland, January 15, 2020 – Phonak, the most trusted name in power hearing aids, announces Naída Marvel (M), a fully-connected, multifunctional super power hearing aid for those with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Naída Marvel delivers rich, powerful sound and directly connects to virtually any Bluetooth device including smartphones, TVs, tablets, PCs and much more. Integrated Marvel 2.0 technology like RogerDirect gives wearers the flexibility to stream the Roger signal directly into both ears, resulting in almost 10x better-than-normal hearing in noisy situations and over distance.¹

Naída M: Power meets connectivity

Naída M is the world’s first super power hearing aid that directly connects to both iOS® and Android™, or virtually any other Bluetooth enabled audio device. It’s also the world’s only super power hearing aid to allow hands-free phone conversations as well as the classification of streamed audio signals.² With Naída M, super power wearers can use their hearing aids like wireless headsets while receiving the power and sound quality they’ve come to expect.

“Since the release of its first power hearing aid in 1978, the Phonak brand has been dedicated to creating powerful hearing solutions that deliver excellent hearing performance,” said Jon Billings, Vice President of Marketing at Phonak. “Now in its sixth generation, Naída M builds on this legacy with award-winning Marvel technology. The result is Naída becoming the most powerful Super Power³ multifunctional hearing solution that allows people with severe-to-profound hearing loss to connect to everyone and everything around them.”

Extending Marvel and increasing accessibility

Per the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.⁴ Left untreated, these individuals have extreme difficulty communicating with others, often relying on lip reading and/or sign language.⁵ One study found the societal costs of this degree of hearing loss in the U.S. alone to be nearly $300,000 over the lifetime of each person, most of this attributed to reduced work productivity.⁶

Naída M’s combination of power with unmatched wireless connectivity was specifically engineered to address the unique communication needs of people with severe forms of hearing loss. StereoZoom reduces listening effort in noise by 24% versus a non-directional program and even enhances memory recall with 10% more words recalled in noise.⁷ Naída Marvel directly connects to Roger microphones to help improve speech understanding in noise and over distance¹ while remaining 15% smaller and 14% lighter than previous versions that required an external receiver.

Finally, the myCall-to-Text app provides live transcription of phone calls from the other party in more than 80 languages. This is an ideal solution for people who would like to benefit from additional visual captions when using the phone.

Naída Marvel will be available to the public end of February through licensed hearing care professionals. For more information, please visit http://www.phonak.com/naidamarvel

  1. Thibodeau, L. (2014). Comparison of speech recognition with adaptive digital and FM wireless technology by listeners who use hearing aids. American Journal of Audiology, 23(2), 201-210
  2. Rodrigues, T., & Liebe, S. (2018). AutoSense OS™ 3.0. The new & enhanced automatic operating system. Phonak Insight, retrieved from www.phonakpro.com/evidence.
  3. Phonak Naída M, Datasheet (2019) Technical Data, accessed 13 January, 2020.
  4. World Health Organization (2019). Deafness and hearing loss. Deafness and hearing loss
  5. European Group on genetics of hearing impairment. Martini A (Ed.), European Commission Directorate, Biomedical and Health Research Programme (HEAR) Infoletter 2, November 1996, 8.
  6. Mohr, P., Feldman, J., Dunbar, J., McConkey-Robbins, A., Niparko, J., Rittenhouse, R., & Skinner, M. (2000). THE SOCIETAL COSTS OF SEVERE TO PROFOUND HEARING LOSS IN THE UNITED STATES. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 16(04), 1120-1135.
  7. Winneke, A., Schulte, M. & Latzel, M. (2019). The effect of spatial noise processing in hearing aids on neural correlates of listening and memory effort: an EEG study. Manuscript in preparation.

Bluetooth® word mark is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such mark by Sonova AG is under license.

IOS is a trademark of Cisco Technology, Inc.

Android is a trademark of Google LLC.

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Customs can’t be far off now.!

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Any idea if the Naida Marvel comes with both rechargeable and disposal batteries? As in size 13 or 675 disposal battery. The Oticon Xceed does, so maybe Phonak will follow suit.

Not currently, but I’m not sure which form factors may be on the way

More details here: Phonak Naída™ Marvel | PhonakPro

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It’s a SP, pretty weak for me. No UP will be developed?

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Xceed uses disposal batteries only

At some point lostdeaf I think we all need to look at (poster’s results from trialing X brand power HA) versus claiming this power HA is weak or that power HA is weaker than some other. When I see a Super Power aid chart showing a range down to 100, 110 decibel I’d say that SP aid is equivalent to an Ultra HA.

At some point all HA’s start to distort if maxed out beyond there limits, but I wouldn’t knock the Xceed, nor the new Naida Marvel unless you personally have tried it. Of course if your hearing loss is beyond the limits of these new “power aids” I don’t think you can blame the manufacturer. And unless someone tells me different I’m going to group SP and UP HA’s in the same category, since when you compare HA fitting range charts for both - they pretty much match up. Maybe not perfect but very, very close.

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I’ve lost the hearing in my right ear suddenly and my left ears in not the best. I’m trialing a left ear Phonak Marvel M90 right now. The understanding and sound is much better than my left Oticon OPN 2. Will the Naida M be offered as a bicros? The reason I’m not trailing a Phonak Bicros System is because I was told Phonak doesn’t have a bicros system with bluetooth.

I believe, Oticon does bicros with bluetooth, but they are new to bicros I think I read. Bluetooth is a must for me in a bicros hearing aid system. Otherwise, I’ll just wear a left aid with the best hearing scenario for me.

I disagree. If Phonak has released UP versions of their HA lines in the past, why not a UP version of Marvel aids? What is preventing the advanced features of a UP technology making it into a high power Marvel hearing aid for us profoundly hearing impaired folks?

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Looking at the dB graph it shows fitting with HE11 680 which has a bit lower dB than the standard HE11. I suspect the fitting graph for the HE11 would be basically the same as the previous Naida UP aids.

Maybe the new SP Naida Marvel aids fit the losses of the old UP aids?

Cramps - so you don’t think the Naida Marvel description “as a fully-connected, multifunctional super-power hearing aid for those with severe-to-profound hearing loss” is the right description for someone with a profound hearing loss?

Well I really need to start seeing some major differences between SP and UP hearing aids, because I think we are all searching for the same thing. So if a Super Power hearing aid is for someone with a severe to profound hearing aid what’s an Ultra Power aid for? Someone with a profound loss to deafness? Don’t think so. Bottom line I think most HA users with a severe to profound hearing loss would try both Super Power hearing aids and Ultra Power hearing aids. Equally

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Splitting hairs. Just check the MPO and Max gain and fitting charts etc and ignore the terms like super and ultra. These are marketing terms and don’t enable comparison between brands. Also, hopefully UP is on the way, but I don’t have any insight

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The new Naida Marvel goes up to SP. No UP version yet. UP would require the 675 battery because more gain is needed for those with severe profound hearing loss. I wouldn’t buy a new bte aids for those with very profound hearing loss with the smaller 13 battery like the Starkey and others. Hopefully Phonak comes out with the Naida Marvel UP with same specs as the
Naida B UP version and better Bluetooth connection.

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How long do you typically get out of a set of 675 batteries? Your low frequency loss will suck batteries down quickly I would assume.

These Phonak Naida Marvel aids have the needed gain for your loss. Not sure how long the size 13 batteries would last.

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Time and maxed out resources; their RITE models have been selling like hotcakes so this is where their attention is.

My sources tell me this is it for Naida M, no UP model planned for this platform. The peak gain of the SP is only a few dB shy of the previous UP model, so the real limitation is battery life.

Bit of a strange call by Phonak because they have always been known for high powered devices!

This is a screenshot, and it looks like it is a RIC:

That’s too bad if Phonak will not come out with the Naida Marvel UP version. The SP max gain is 75 dB and the B UP gain is 82 dB. I had a pair of Widex Super Power 440 aids with the max gain of 73 dB and couldn’t barely understand speech.
I would have to buy the B UP version or the Xceed aids. I will be trying out both. I don’t need lots of gain in the low frequencies, it’s the middle and high frequencies l need the most. Having most gains in the low frequencies will result in the loss of hearing the mid and high tones. The 675 battery life is 2 to 2.5 weeks depending on volume setting and number of hours per day.

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Strange. I emailed phonak about this precise hearing aid the day before this announcement and the answer I got was maybe in the fall of 2020. My audi called phonak the day before that and he was told July 2020, some time around the hearing convention. Who runs the show at phonak?

What I’ve heard from Phonak is 1) They are having some difficulty building a UP and 2) They don’t expect a Marvel CROS.

An ultra power hearing aid is harder to build. Who knows for sure, but it has definitely sounded to me like the intention was still there. Given their history of supporting profound hearing loss, I’d be surprised if it didn’t come out eventually. Eventually might still be a year or two away though.

It will likely have the option to use standard or slim tubing - IMO they try to make it look as discreet as possible in these pics!