Phonak Audéo Sphere

Hearing Aids
#426

I guess there in lies the question…

Calm situations… most modern hearing aids are great.

At the beach (moderate noise) talking to friends the Intents work very well… (my existing Paradises dont) how well will the ERA chip in the Spheres cope?

Meetings (noise) the Intents work well… ERA chip…?

In restaurants (fairly loud noise) the Intents work well… how well will the ERA chip cope?

In pubs, and parties (really loud noise) the Intents work fairly well…I am sure the DeepSonic will be better.

Sometimes I have 18-20 hours days, I have never had to recharge.

Looking forward to a review on the standard ERA based aids or the Spheres in ERA programmes… (ie calm, speech in noise, music, calls, echo rooms etc)

1 Like
#427

Exactly, I think I will go with the Intent 2 because I don’t need all the features from the 1 (but not tested yet). That’s because the Intent have a good way of running. I just want sometimes more noise reduction but then I can just lower the volume.
Will I test Phonak? Sure, but I am unsure about the battery life, this Sphere option would be on a separate programm and not be used in the automatic, to save battery life. If they are that good how it sounds then I would probably life with the situtation to do a recharge step during the day, but they have to be realy good.

1 Like
#428

Yup, that’s what I think as well. Perhaps better battery life and l likely the other manufacturers will catch up. I’d like to try the Spheres, very exciting reviews. However I have just purchased the Intents, will have to wait until 2026 too.

#429

The next generation platform after infinio will be out around summer 2026…

WH

1 Like
#430

Its likely that Phonak will do an optimization next year, and a completely new platform in 2026. They largely seem to follow the tick-tock release pattern.

I would hope the next platform to be a dye shrink and merging of the Sonic and ERA chips functions onto SoC (Neural and general computing) with enhancements and hopefully a resulting better battery consumption.

Sphere looks like the first iteration of a very promising future to me, 2026 will be even better.

2 Likes
#431

And likely with the same processors.

#432

Cliff seems to be of the opinion that the DeepSonic chip works better in all situations. It may be possible to cut most of the functions from ERA besides management of bluetooth, and other minor tasks like Autosense, thus reducing the dye size significantly from the existing twin chip strategy. If Phonak believe this then they would likely put more focus on the Neural processor development and add functions from ERA so 2026 would be Sonic2+.

#433

BTW chatting to Cliff, he is going to release a comparison between Intents and Spheres over the next few weeks which should be really helpful!

6 Likes
#434

We’re all just guessing but from what I saw with Sword chip I’m betting they won’t have new chip hardware in 2 years. My impression is that chip development is very expensive.

1 Like
#435

I agree. I have the Audibel VIA EDGE AI 2400. The supposedly AI is the edge mode. When you select that mode, the hearing aid listens to the environment you are in, and then automatically changes your setting for that environment (restaurant, car, quite, etc). Doesn’t work very well in my opinion.

1 Like
#436

Could have been a home run if they could have solved these 2 issues:

  1. Battery life - 16 hours is not nearly enough. Technical issue as the chip is a power hog. The next gen may solve this.

  2. Charging case that will not likely fit many molds. This is a self-inflicted wound, but could be easily fixed.

5 Likes
#437

Invite him to your son’s wedding, and inform him he must bring a hand-cranked generator!

Congrats, on your Son’s wedding!!

5 Likes
#438

Hey @JordanK Dr. JS suggested a good solution to me. Just buy two pairs! :thinking:

#439

Hmm. Someone has done that. @1Bluejay ???
:wink: She bought the l90 in disposable battery version on top of having bought two pair of l90-rl I think. I’d say she’d had enough of management of battery levels in the day. Maybe she was trying to clean out her audiologist’s warehouse. :wink:

WH

2 Likes
#440

I wonder where my Phonak Marvel’s would fit in on that chart.

#441

After reading several sources and watching some reviews, I have this thought:

With the default settings, the DEEPSONIC chip will only work for 3 hours and the battery charge will go down to 50%, which makes it only last 9 hours (compared to the advertised 18 hours).

The operating time of the DEEPSONIC chip can be extended. However, this will result in hearing aids that operate for only 6 hours.

This is not suitable for people who take long flights or spend more than 3 hours in noisy places.

Furthermore, releasing new hearing aids with LE Audio disabled in the second half of 2024 is disappointing.

2 Likes
#442

Fingers crossed this will be available thru Amplifon. My insurance offers zero coverage if not thru them. I have trialed the nexia, reach, and intent and thought the intent was the best but it is not covered so would cost at least 4-6x as much. Thought maybe the 9050 would come to Costco, but so far no luck. The sphere sounds like it would easily be my best option for my needs.

3 Likes
#443

This reminded me of Oticon Intent not being available thru managed care.

#444

Is there any hope that a version with disposable batteries could come out?

1 Like
#446