Phonak Infinio sphere - Not really that appealing (after all)

Hearing Aids
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I trialed INTENT1’s and Sphere’s simultaneously for a month. I found the Intent’s slightly better for understanding higher frequency voices and the Spheres significantly better for managing noise in all types of environments. My audiogram shows close to normal hearing up to around 1000 and then falls off the cliff. I wish I could afford both of them. IMO, they each do different things superbly. If I’m home in a quiet situation, wanting to understand what’s on the TV without CC I prefer the Intents. Anywhere in the “outside world”, I prefer the Spheres. I found that I never needed to switch to “Sphere mode”, the HA kicked in when necessary and I never had battery issues. iPhone connectivity and streaming is important to me, and I found the Intents performed poorly and the Spheres better than any other HA I have tried.

I finally decided to stick with my Unitron Vivante 9’s for awhile longer to see how all the AI hype sorts out over the next year or so.

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That’s not a bad option for any Unitron user as the Unitron version of the Sphere is likely to land around March - given the stated 6month technology transition across the group. You might find that they do the ‘Spheric’ stuff with a bit more subtlety and more like what you have now.

Hopefully there’s a way of fitting it into a smaller case as well.

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I had the same wish of WANTING BOTH Several years ago when I was first getting aids I trialed both Oticon (Opn) and Phonak (Marvel)
although not concurrently exactly… I trialed Oticon for a week or two, then the phonak, and then back to the oticon for a time

Based on my experience…and I wonder how much of that was just that one was set up just a bit better…and with programming changes in either everything could have been opposite…
anyway, I found the oticon superior for sound (noise reduction, wind blocking, etc… and also Oticon’s phone app interface was much better)

But for me phonak won out, as I recall for two reasons…
in no particular order
a) Oticon’s didn’t play well with my android phone, required a seperate box
b) Phonak’s autosense meant that I NEVER had to touch the aids to change between environment situation programs

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That is good to know about the intent new sphere user here so hope I made the right choice :slight_smile:

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I don’t think you understood the Oticon OPN enough if you presumed incorrectly that Oticon doesn’t have the equivalent of AutoSense that Phonak has. The Oticon hearing aids are designed such that you should be able to stay in your main program most of the times and it will detect environmental changes on-the-fly and will change environmental parameters for you like noise reduction level and directionality seamlessly, to fit with the correct environment without ever having to even leave the main program.

Phonak, on the other hand, also has something similar with AutoSense, but it requires changing from one distinct program to another, although AutoSense will do it for you to get to a different program with a different set of parameters programmed in. I’ve heard some Phonak users complain that sometimes AutoSense toggles back and forth between programs too often and each time it does a program change, the parameters’ change is too abrupt to their liking. The abrupt change is not the annoying part by itself as long as it’s occasional, but sometimes AutoSense keeps hunting back and forth too frequently, which makes the abrupt changes become annoying. Meanwhile, with Oticon aids, the parameter changes are very continuous and smooth, such that even if they change back and forth frequently, there are no noticeable abrupt changes that can annoy people.

Anyway, I don’t wear Phonak so I don’t have any personal opinion about its AutoSense, just relaying what I heard here. But I do wear Oticon aids (the OPN 1 and now the Real 1), and I just want to chime in and say that Oticon aids do have the equivalent of AutoSense. Having said that, I will acknowledge that Oticon aids can have up to 4 programs to provide different levels of program customization, and they do require a manual program change between these 4 programs. But most of the times, I can get by all day long with just my main program and it works for most situations, even including for music, although manually switching to a music program occasionally might give me a better result. But I just to clarify the incorrect implication that Oticon users have to switch program every time the environment changes while the Phonak AutoSense allows users to avoid having to do this.

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interesting. Yes, that Oticon trial was my first-ever experience with hearing aids. I knew NOTHING

The audiologist showed me how to change manually between the programs that she’d set up… one for the restaurant, one for quiet situations, etc…
So that’s what I did.

Incidentally, she set up similar things in the Phonak but somewhere I learned about the autosense so I leaned into that. I still have a few manual programs set, but I have NEVER used them.

I used to never notice the autosense change that you mention…well really it’s nearly never noticed it and when I did it was so minor as to hardly be mentionable.
When I changed to molded slimtips though, I hear it more with the tighter audio coupling and yes it can be annoying…but I find it has some to do with how they are set up too.

Now I think that I might want to trial Oticon’s again! Did they ever fix the issue for using android phones?

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Thank you. I am 77, technically savvy, iPhone and iPad user. My new Phonak audeo sphere infinio keep losing BT connection and they revert to "automatic’, even though I put then in a special calm program. Also, I never experienced any noise reduction when my husband operates his loud grounding espresso machine! I am returning them for Resound Nexia 9, because these Phonak HA do not like my iPhone or iPad or even me. I stay all day connected, streaming podcasts, or watching sci videos or reading books and these Phonak HA are a pain. Only once they functioned properly giving me message notifications for two hours. Then they changed their minds! I have a pair one year old Resound Linx but they did not last the day and I bought the Phonak HA out of pocket because of the supposedly longer battery and the AI noise cancellation. To older people who want to differentiate themselves as extra bright, you are the minority. Technology changes too fast for many of us to keep up with changes (like every iPhone update changes where things are and what gestures to use!)

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I’m older and use tech, but I want my HAs to do something different. I want them to make my hearing as close to my younger natural hearing as possible by using only a general program, without changing programs or using BT. I hope when I finally get my Spheres through the VA, I will find they do what I want.

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I agree, but this was not my experience now. It depends whether you use iPhone or other smartphone. Also, by the time you get them, Phonak may have improved some of the issues I experience. Good luck.

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I’ve been wearing the new Phonak Sphere’s for 3 months and I almost never force them into a program other than AutoSense. I find that AutoSense does a very good job of switching to the most appropriate program and frankly, the switch is so seamless that you don’t really notice it all. The one exception is when AutoSense switches to the new Spheric AI program. You don’t hear it switch but the background sounds suddenly sound a bit odd so you know it switched.

The one situation where AutoSense does struggle generally occurs when there is very loud noise and very loud music playing at the same time. Think of sitting in a very noisy restaurant and you are sitting at a table that is just below a ceiling speaker that is playing loud music. In this situation, AutoSense does have issues deciding on whether you want to hear the music or focus on speech. This is the one place where I do manually select either the Music program or the Spheric AI program.

Jordan

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32

Thank you. Your experience confirms this HA is close to what I want.

33

The Oticon Intent support android ASHA, and the new BT LE Audio, so yes.
With an older phone you’re limited to ASHA, which gives you streaming from your phone for media, and for phone calls, you have to use the phone’s mic, or use the accessory ConnectClip for hands-free.
With Pixel 7a & up to the 9 series, as well as Samsung S23-24 series you get full hands-free, and LE Audio from compatible devices.
Phonak has not yet implemented LEA, but states a future Firmware update will enable it.

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34

I am on my 2nd week of a trial of the Phonak Infinio Sphere. They seem far better that the previous set of Phonak’s I had. Much better in noisy environments. For me the worst places were were ambient sound was higher and there were multiple speakers, these are far superior. I also have not fiddled with the various ‘programs’, will do so when I get my own pair to play with. I realize that more audio processing will yield shorter intervals between recharges, but I put in 12-14 hour days with mins and they seem to work fine and there is still plenty of time left on them.

Ray

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35

I have a pair of Phonak Paradise HAs. The quality has been terrible. They are less that two years old and the left aid has failed twice and the right once. Fortunately, I have my twelve year old Phonak’s that are larger and more robust that still work perfectly. I am fortunate to have them as backups. The “new and improved” small aids with their tiny buttons and poor quality are terrible. I av very unlikely to ever purchase Phonak again. Their audio processing is superb but the physical implementation is horrible.

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@jlgreer1 , I don’t know about your lifestyle, but perhaps you need the Audeo Life or Infinio’s robustness, which is more than IP68. I guess your backups are BTE?

I have Paradise 90-RT for 4 years with no problem, but maybe my environment is milder for it

Despite this being more advertisement, the link below gives good insight into Phonak’s newest lineup:

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Thank you for the tip.

I am retired. I treat my HAs with care. I have never had a failure with any HA in 30+ years until I purchased the Paradise units. As I mentioned, I use my old Phonaks for backup. The Pardise are just junk and make me reluctant to invest in another pair of Phonaks.

Jeff

38

I must say after wearing the Phonak Naida Paradise and Oticon Xceed.

The Naida Paradise feels more fragile over the Oticon Xceed.

It didn’t fail on me but it does feel more fragile.

I am now a full time Oticon Xceed user. Don’t own Phonak anymore.

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39

I’ve had mine now since mid November, I’ve worn hearing aids for 26 years and I have been through 8 pairs in that time. Mostly when I have changed it’s generally been a bit better each time with the amount of different channels and programmes each time. My hearing in that time has deteriorated from Moderate to Severe and now I am on the edges of Profound.

I have recently had KS10s, Paradise, Lumity and now Infinio Spheres. All the Phonak devices have been fitted by the same audiologist (and the KS10s reprogrammed too). You probably all know him as he is Matthew Allsop from Hearing Tracker. Prior to this I have had Sigma, Hansaton and Siemens and I trialled and returned Jabras.

The Infinio Spheres are without a doubt the biggest groundbreaking things I have ever experienced in my life. The Sphere AI is quite frankly game changing. In the time I have had them I have travelled across Scandinavia, flown, cruised and trained. I have used them at football matches, in pubs, restaurants and work situations. Autosense is better, all the programmes are better but Sphere AI is another level good. It is like someone turned off all the noise and left just me and whoever I am talking to in the room at times.

To be able to have a conversation in a packed football stadium with my son is something I have not been able to do for a few years now. With the Spheres I can talk to him without even thinking about it.

As for the battery, I have never been below 30% in a day and some of them have been 18 hour days. The battery life on these things is magnificent, if I don’t use the sphere stuff I reckon they could go for two days easily. I have had days when I have put them in the charger on 66%! They are crazy.

The charger has three charges of battery life anyway so for weekends I don’t even bother packing a plug if I go away.

I will still get a few tweaks, mainly because I enjoy chatting with Matthew but overall all I can say is WOW and I am not easily moved by generation to generation usually.

I am finding I am using my Roger On v2 less and less as the hearing aids do the job so well. I stream loads, both to Roger and Bluetooth. Remarkable. Phonak have lifted the bar FAR beyond anything I have experienced before. As a Gen 1 this stuff is only going to get better too, marvellous.

I wrote about them here on LinkedIn

Phonak picked it up and ran with it too :joy:

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Totally agree! I have been wearing the Sphere’s for 3 months now and they really are the biggest advance forward in hearing aids in quite some time. Your observations mirror image what I have experienced.

The biggest thing is that I no longer fear going to noisy places and events. It’s magical at times.

Thanks for sharing.

Jordan

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41

Remember you can get any one of the built in programmes tweaked and they can be tweaked individually. It is worth noting when they do things that you didn’t expect and discuss that with your Audi. If they are good then they will be able to change that part of the programmes to behave different and kick at different trigger points. Everyone hears slightly differently and you may need a modification. I would say for any new pair of hearing aids be prepared to go back 2 to 3 times to your Audi to get things tweaked well. If they don’t like this, get a better Audi.

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