Phonak Audeo Infinio Sphere 70

I just got the HA listed in the subject line after using Costco’s Preza 862 DRW HA since July 2020. I felt my hearing got worse and that the Costco HA and technicians could not help me with the hearing loss I have. I went to my ENT who has audiologist and sells hearing aids. I am near the end of the second week with them. I do hear better, but there are two big down sides. One, volume increases and decreased at times. When listening to songs on the radio or singing songs at church the volume changes. When my grandfather’s clock chimes the hour, at 6 o’clock and above the sound increases a good bit. Two, sometimes when talking to a person within 2 feet the sound for me and the person sounds as if the voice is coming through a megaphone or pipe. The audiologist has made adjustment after the first week. I am also dealing with Eustachian tube dysfunction, which does not help in evaluating these units. I am getting that addressed tomorrow. Has anyone else on here had the experience I am having with the Phonak HA

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This could be that the Autosense changes the programm and went into the Music program. In the Music program all of the noise reduction features are turned OFF and the microphone characteristic is set to omni directional.
→ The audiologist should check the settings of the Music programm if it have a different (louder) volume level as the Calm Situation program.

If this happens in noisy places it can be that the autosense changes into the Speech in Noise programm with microphone direction to the front,
Alternatively the autosense may have switched the aids into the Spheric speech in noise programm where the Ai processing with DNN Speech enhancement and noise reduction, so the speech will clearly stand out above the noise.

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The next time when this happens you could check and find out what Autosense program is currently activ.

With the MyPhonak App you can always find out what Autosense program is active., if you touch “Adjust program” at the bottom of the screen when in Automatic mode, the app will show you which program Autosense is using at that moment.

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Thank you much for your insight. These are things I do not know about and at this point am not supposed to use. I do not have the HA paired to my phone. My Au wants me to use the HA as programed. I go back on the 31st and hopefully my ear condition will have improved. I have 30 days to try them and if not happy, I don’t buy them. If these two issues cannot be resolved, I will be moving on to another Au and try another hearing aid. I am not paying for something that I am not totally happy with for $6200.

I suggest you check out ZipHearing, The last time I checked their price was about US $3,800 for a pair of Infinio Sphere 90’s which includes fitting and one year of continued adjustments from an audiologist in your area. They offer a 45 day trial period. It might be a good idea to call them and see if they have one or more audiologists which they work with in your area. Details can be found on the ZipHearing website.

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Using the app to check what program is running isn’t changing how they work. But without knowledge of which program it is, the audiologist is pretty much guessing, based on your description.

Also, no streaming from the phone? I’d have walked out. So important to me.

WH

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I have had HA for 4 years plus and there is still so much I do not know. :frowning_face:

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I am now using the app, more adjustments have been made. Still some fine tuning to be done. At times in areas inside with background noise, my voice and the one I am talking to has a megaphone sound quality. I had issues where the sound would go up when my grandfather clock was striking the hour, always started at the 6th strike and up. That is pretty much gone. Had a similar issue when congregational singing at church, the sound would go up, then way down, almost like listening in stereo then switching to monaural. The last adjustments and being able to select the Music setting seemed to cure that problem. Initially I was told I had a 30 day trial, now it is extended until June. I guess they really want me to buy them.

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I understand.

I have had similar issues.

Early on it felt as if everyone talked in code. Sometimes it still does.

I’ve watched too many youtube videos, and bought books trying to learn.

My dispensing audi never set them up right; that’s ok. I’ve moved on.

I’ve thought often that the way to go is with self programming. However, I have limited computer knowledge and use a Mac computer.

I’m very grateful for the time and skill of the Pros that help us here.
And Im grateful that Phonak has helped so much. My HA’s are 3 years old. They were replaced by Phonak under warranty.

Currently I am frustrated with all the adjustments, many I don’t understand how or when I should tweak them. I still cannot understand my wife at times. I am not convinced they are worth the $6200. I was face to face with a lady about 2 feet apart and I could not understand half of what she said. We were in our church family worship center before the service started, so there was a lot of talking in the background. I thought I should have been able to understand her better. The HAs were set on automatic with an equalizer preset to speech, no other adjustments.

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I have no idea what Speech in Noise program or Spheric speech in noise program is.

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I don’t know what Autosense Program is. Maybe my audi is not explaining things well to me.

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Sounds like how I started

Your hearing loss is worse than mine

I have Phonak Audeo Paradise P90R’s. They run autosense 4. More recent ones have better autosense 5 I think

What hearing aids do you have?

DaveL

That’s an understatement! These are the basic things any customer should be told, time to do some research/reading, use the search function from right here on hearingtracker to find a lot more information on your HAs, lots of good information you won’t find just anywhere else.

See here. Find Infinio Sphere brochure for consumers and then for professionals.

There are basic questions:

  1. Which receiver power you have? P or UP?

  2. Which acoustic coupling? Domes? Earmold (diameter of vent)? With your loss, earmold with small vent (ideally 0.6mm pressure vent) is almost mandatory if you don’t have occlusion effect.

  3. Did you have REM? If so, did you audi managed to reach the target gains?

  4. Maybe Audeo Infinio Sphere is too low power and you need higher power HAs like Naida (there is no Naida Infinio on market, maybe soon)

  5. Maybe Oticon (e.g. Intent with 105 receiver) could be better for achieving high frequency targets in REM. Oticon receivers reportedly has better high-frequency amplification.

On MyPhonak it says Audeo I70 Sphere. The full name is listed in my original post.

Receiver has 3P on it and I have domes.
No REM even discussed.
My first experience with an Audi, and at this point I am not impressed. My previous HA were Costco.

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Congratulations! I wish I had yours.

So I have Power Receivers. They made a difference for me.

Try something. When you’re having trouble hearing put a finger in each ear. Is it louder?

Do you have domes?

And do you change your wax guards?

Edit…
I found my Audi wasnt setting up my hearing aid right

Domes.
I had open domes. So the sound from my receiver was leaking out away from my ear drum. I heard better if I stuck a finger in each ear

Domes are open, closed, or power domes. They’re silicone. They have to fit right and be the right kind

I’ve ordered moulded inserts a week ago. I’ve resisted for some time

Guess I’m old and stubborn. I had horrible problems with my first in the ear hearing aid that was moulded badly

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I figure there are two kinds of shops.

Hi-Bye after a Target First Fit

Ones that are passionate about what they do

I hope your issues can be fixed by someone who really. Knows what to do

I truly respect the Pros that help us here. I hope they can comment and help you

We can increase volume. When you do that does it help?

I have to go up two clicks

DaveL