Well I’m truely shocked that Phonak was able to keep LE Audio a secret for so long ; ) but why for the life of me I can’t find anything from Phonak on Android and LE Audio in the marketing blurb ( it just says 5.3 Bluetooth) can someone please find it, I wonder why only it’s mentioned Auracast ready and not the usual LE Audio “with” Auracast ready, am I reading too much into this.
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I’m feeling extra cynical after the green ball blitz, but “ready for LE Audio” could mean “theoretically, if we ever get around to doing it”. It would be nice to see some commitment to do it. A time-frame would also be nice.
And in the number storm, did anyone catch any relating to battery life. All that processing plus Bluetooth classic audio makes me wonder.
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Well if they did manage to get both versions, we know that classic is the “hog” of the town, but if they are using LE Audio then that’s a power saving strategy for them, otherwise it’s BLE 5.3.
Phonak also releasing Sphere backpacks, designed to hold the lead acid battery to power your HAs…?
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I don’t think Matthew understands the nuance. I say ‘nothing to see here’ until Phonak put something in writing.
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Coverage from Karl Strom:
Sorry @flashb1024 I hijacked your top post too to get the news to the top. Thanks for accommodating!
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From Karl’s article: “Although Infinio RICs come with a telecoil, the ERA chip is Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) Audio enabled, making it Auracast-ready”.
Auracast doesn’t necessarily follow from Low Energy.
“The hearing aids are said to provide 16 hours of battery life.”
With or without streaming? You really wouldn’t want it to be any less than 16 hours.
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It is now confirmed that the new hearing aids are Auracast ready. You can see this directly on the Phonak website. Hearing Care Innovations | Phonak
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Good catch, updated that line (they are auracast ready)
Don’t think they’ve said yet.
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Does anyone have a link to the original data for Phonak’s “speech-in-noise” study with the Sphere? Was this an independent double-blind study published in a peer-reviewed journal, who were the volunteers and what was the noise type, or was this just done “internally” with an in-house fanclub?
Just remember that for centuries people believed that Stradivarius violins sound better than anything produced since, until the instruments were properly tested…
e.g.:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1619443114
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None of the evidence seem to be available, and it is not peer-reviewed.
Peer reviewed studies prior to launch are virtually impossible to pull off.
Phonak often announces thing and provides the studies later, but here is the reference.
Wright, A., et al. (2024). Spheric Speech Clarity applies DNN signal processing to significantly improve speech understanding from any direction and reduce the listening effort. Phonak Field Study News retrieved from Evidence Library | Phonak
and
1 Raufer, S., Kohlhauer, P., Jehle, F., Kühnel, V., Preuss, M., Hobi, S. (2024). Spheric Speech Clarity proven to outperform three key competitors for clear speech in noise. Phonak Field Study News retrieved from https://www.phonak.com/evidence
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That study is on DNC including just 18 volunteers wearing Lumity HAs, and another paper discusses how AI might be used in general. Like for medicines, one would like to see hard data- not the patient testimonials that marketing likes to feed us.
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Dont shoot the messenger!
Yes of course better data would be great, however the regulatory requirements, development process and risk to patient health is vastly different for medicines versus hearing aids.
At the end of the day, if the hearing aids don’t work, they won’t sell. You’ll know pretty quickly if they do work because the other manufacturers will rush to make their own AI denoise DNNs.
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I know, I always ask the same question, but unfortunately it’s the main aspect I look for in every new hearing aid: could you tell me if the Audèo Sphere will also be suitable for severe/profound losses like mine?
Thanks
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Phonak says its Audéo models are suitable for severe/profound hearing loss:
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With Sound Recover yes, they’ll work for you. Without, you won’t have any chance of getting the highs as the Audeo only goes to 105 dB max.
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This quote from the HT article by Karl Strom on Infinio Sphere, originally cited by @flashb1024
(see Phonak Audéo Sphere - #117 by AbramBaileyAuD for the full-article).
Along with some others from the media, I had the opportunity to try out this app function during a demonstration of the Audéo Sphere Infinio RIC. We were in a very noisy conference room with a lot of background noise and piped-in music. As I faced and talked with Phonak Research Audiologist Anne Miller, I could hear her voice very clearly and with good sound quality. Then, as she walked around me, I could variably hear or not hear her, depending on my adjustments to the DNN within the app. However, Anne’s voice was almost completely attenuated if she was speaking behind me and the conversational volume suddenly rose in a group in front of me. So, listening intent remains a tricky part of the AI-driven hearing equation. It’s not perfect, but having tried out countless hearing aids for over 30 years (and now with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss of my own), I was very impressed with the device and how well it zoomed in on speech in a crowded, noisy, reverberant room.
The smartphone app could have an interface with avatars of different voices it hears around your head in relative clock positions to the direction you’re facing. If you tap on an avatar for a voice to your right, that voice is temporarily made louder relative to overall room noise. You could go from avatar to avatar of speakers around you. Long press on the one you want to hear in preference to the others, and the DNN locks onto that one as much as possible and follows that voice wherever it goes (or your head goes, if you turn to look at something while you’re still listening to your preferred speaker). If you could have a version of the MyPhonak app on a smartwatch like the Apple Watch 10, maybe if you turned to look at what you wanted to hear and tapped (or double-tapped) your thumb and index finger together, you could immediately switch speech focus in the direction that you were looking from whatever you’d locked onto before in a difficult listening environment (Apple already has gesture control for the Apple Watch 10 introduced in the fall of 2023).
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Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but I am somewhat disappointed that Audeo isn’t L-shaped. It would be an improvement to align the two microphones more horizontally to improve their effectiveness.
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I suspect a lot depends on what you’re used to. If your current aid is a RIC with 105 dB receiver and you’re moderately satisfied, I’m guessing the Audeo Sphere will work. If however you’ve been using an UP BTE and like the power, I’m guessing you’d find a RIC lacking. No harm in trying it out if that’s accessible to you.
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Given Phonak’s reputation for clever and inventive solutions, I believe they can develop devices that support disposable batteries. They could slightly increase the size of the devices or explore other innovative ideas to accommodate these batteries. After all, the customer is king, always! 