Phonak Infinio Sphere 90 review

Hearing Aids
#1

Hi

New to the group but here are my thoughts on the Sphere 90 version.
I have been using the trials for a few days and have been testing them everywhere I can.
They are hands down the best aids I have tried. I am currently using power domes to get the full effect.
I have been wearing them about 14 or 15 hours a day and still have 50% battery life left.
Give them a try I think for those that are in loud environments a lot it will really help.

Below are some of the comments I sent to my Audiologist.

I changed the domes to the power domes, and the sound with the spheric speech mode works much better now.(I went back in for adjustment after I replaced the domes.)

Here are my thoughts after trying them in many different places.

These comments are based on my previous aids. (Phonak Paradise with a Cros in my left ear.)
I am still getting used to having a normal aid in my left ear again.

  1. At church today in a small group environment, they worked much better than the Roger On.
  2. I tried them in 2 restaurants. I must make sure that everyone is directly in front of me or to the right side of me. I think it will get better after I start getting used to having a left hearing aid again. I can hear them ok, but I can’t understand them.
  3. It does not filter the sound for the other person when on phone calls very well. They need to use the spheric speech mode for this since it has good noise cancellation.
  4. I like having the left hearing aid again since it really helps with directionality.
  5. Overall, the sound quality is better than my previous aids.
  6. They need to build the spheric speech mode into the Roger On.
  7. My guess is the ActiveVents will work well with the new spheric speech mode.
  8. I have great battery life after getting the aid replaced. I used them 14.5 hours and still had 50% left on the batteries.

Greg

Update:

After another week of use I would say in both loud and quiet environments than work better than my previous aids.
I think you will need to try them for yourself to see if you get the same results.
Yes they are pricing, but if you want to hear your best I think these are worth a try.
When trying the Sphere mode you need to be in loud environment like a restaurant to see how well they perform. I have the power domes and can hear everyone at the table. I have not had to use my Roger on for any reason this week.

Also, thank you Zebras for showing us how to use the Voice Isolation setting on an Iphone.
It works very well and I can talk to all of my clients now and not worry about back ground noise that they may be hearing.

Greg

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#2

Of those 15 hours of use, how many were with Spheric mode on?

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#3

Your Audeo Sphere was on manual Spheric Speech Clarity program or AutoSense (automatic)? Maybe the noise wasn’t getting through the threshold to activate the Spheric Speech Clarity program.

I am quite surprised. I thought Roger On, which can provide a +20 dB SNR, is unsurpassable compared to AI with a declared +10 dB signal-to-noise ratio.

Do you mean that if there is noise in thatbplace where you are during a phone call, it is disturbing to the other person? Or vice versa?

4, 6, 7 - totally agreed. I am quite surprised you have CROS on the left side. Do you have a low WRS score in your left ear? You are ideally eligible for MAV if you don’t have excessive wax problems.

Shpere mode vs Roger ON: has anybody tried them both?
#4

1.5-2.0 hours and a lot of streaming

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#5

pproducts… so you wear the new HA’s 14/15 hrs a day and still have 50% battery life?? please break down about how many hours of AI noise canceling mode you were in and how many hours of streaming did you do … why i originally didn’t buy phonak 2 yrs ago was because of poor battery life … I’m a heavy TV streamer…

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#6

I was using them in manual mode.

To me it seems to work different, the Speech is clearer and easer to understand. It’s like it can isolate the speech better. I will probably still have to use the Roger On in some environments but just sitting at a table in a loud restaurant the Spheric mode works well.

The other person can hear pretty much everything you are doing. So if you are typing on a keyboard or doing other work they can hear it. I usually have to answer calls with a better headset because of this. My Iphone also does a better job at noise cancelation than the aids.

My WRS is really low and what I do hear sounds pretty bad. I was using 2 of the Paradise aids before I started using the CROS and for me overall I was able to understand speech better when I was using the CROS.

#7

I had only used the Spheric mode 1.5 to 2.0 hours and a whole lot of streaming and phone use and had 50% battery left for the day.
On a normal work day I answer the phone through out the day and then do about 1 or 2 hours streaming and maybe 30 minutes of the Spheric mode I still had about 65-70% battery at the end of the day.
I think the aids will easily do 24 hours. With the Paradise aids I would have to charge them in the middle of the day so I am very satisfied with the battery’s.

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#8

Very surprising - in dr Cliff’s video review manual Spheric Speech Clarity is enough for 7-8 hours only.

Does Sphere program works concurrently with Roger program?

Also I’m surprised, I tried CROS to Paradise, but didn’t feel benefits at all (maybe because without REM it was), and drained much energy from battery.

So Phonak indeed improved energy efficiency with Bluetooth. What phone you have? Iphone?

#10

I was in manual mode only when needed for about 1.5 to 2 hours. I was in Automatic mode the rest of the time. Dr Cliff is probably correct if you kept it in Spheric mode it would only last 7-8 hours. That is what the app is estimating and so for I think the app is pretty conservative. The app never shows more than 16 hours for regular use and never shows more than 6 or 7 hours for Spheric use. I have used my aids for 6.5 hours today and it still shows 86% and 15 hours and 6 hours.

For my use I will never be in Spheric mode for more than a few hours a day so it will meet my needs well.

I was hoping they would work together some how but as far as I can tell the Sphere program doesn’t have anything to do with the Roger program. It still switches to the Roger program as it always has.

It worked really well for me, but it does drain the battery faster.

iPhone, the Bluetooth also seems to work better as well. I had pretty much given up using Bluetooth with my Paradise aids at work, but so as long as I’m in a quiet environment I have used it a lot.
I used Bluetooth heavily yesterday and the right hearing aid was about 5% lower than the left hearing aid.

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#11

Your audiogram is different from mine, but I would like to know how you feel in the cinema compared to before. If you have the opportunity to try it in this situation, it would be interesting to know if you understand the dialogues better, if the directionality is good, if the surround effect is felt, etc. etc.

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#12

Not surprised the Bluetooth works better. The Sphere’s have Bluetooth 5.3 which is more energy efficient, 4x faster and has a much higher range.

Great comments here. Looking forward to more people posting real life observations.

Jordan

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#13

Cliff was basing that on the estimated battery life remaining prediction within the app.
Perhaps their battery life prediction algorithms aren’t perfectly tuned just yet?

#15

@pproducts compares conservative app prediction vs. apparent much better real-life experience.

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#16

@pproducts
Hi Greg,

This sounds very encouraging for the future, although I’m not sure which comparisons are really about the Sphere, or just that you have stereo hearing again. Either way, I’m pretty sure Sphere will work better with two aids, rather than one.

I agree that Roger devices are crying out for this chip. They could make a huge amount of money out of it. Regarding phone calls, my Marvels and Paradise aids all get the same complaint (from my wife) of very loud background noise. I shall have a fiddle in the Target software to see if I can get a better balance, so she can hear me, and not everything around me too.

Peter

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#17

If you have an iPhone, selecting this feature (voice isolation) which you can only turn on when on a call, really helps. Still not perfect but it helps.

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Also I push my right hearing aid forward so the Mic is closer to my mouth, a bit.

Hope this picture helps.

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Not sure how that would work with the tiny Audeo tho as I have the Naida.

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#18

@Zebras
I’m on Android, but they may have something similar, I’ll check it out.

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#19

How do you get that menu on the iPhone?
I guess it only works with MFI HAs and not Phonak?

Thanks!

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#20

@DamonHill

I have Phonak Naida P70 UP. When on a call, it’s either swipe up or swipe from right top corner, depending on what iPhone you have.

It’ll show Mic Standard so just click that.

This feature is available to my Dad without hearing aids as well so it’s not a hearing aid thing but a feature.

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#21

I wonder if it’s something that was introduced in the newest versions of iOS… I have an iPhone with iOS 15 (second last version) and that microphone modes don’t show up…

#22

@DamonHill

Yes it properly did come with either iOS 16 or 17.

That’s a shame iOS 15 doesn’t have it.

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