Phonak introduces Paradise, a new paradigm in hearing aid sound quality

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Phonak introduces Paradise, a new paradigm in hearing aid sound quality

Paradise technology takes breakthrough Marvel platform to the next level with motion sensor hearing helping consumers to rediscover the wonders of sound.

  • Crisp, natural sound, brilliant speech understanding, and personalized noise cancelling
  • Universal connectivity enhanced with new Tap Control, Motion Sensor Hearing and multiple Bluetooth® connections
  • Personalized digital solutions via empowering smart apps

Stäfa, Switzerland, August 19, 2020 – Phonak, a leading global provider of life-changing hearing solutions, today announces next-generation Paradise hearing technology and introduces Audéo™ Paradise, the multifunctional hearing aid that delivers an excellent hearing experience with industry-leading wireless connectivity. With a host of newly developed hardware and software features working perfectly in sync, Paradise gives access to subtle layers and textures of sounds in numerous environments. An integrated motion sensor detects when the wearer is moving and having a conversation and can automatically steer the hearing aid microphones for brilliant speech understanding. With Paradise hearing aids, consumers can have hands-free conversations while connecting with popular voice assistants like Siri®, Google Assistant™ or Amazon Alexa® via a double tap of their ear.

A New Paradigm in Sound Quality

Audéo Paradise is the first hearing aid to benefit from Sonova’s new sound processing chip, PRISM (Processing Real-time Intelligent Sound Management), which allows a host of newly developed hardware and software features to help consumers rediscover the wonders of sound from the moment they are fit. The hearing aids deliver crisp, natural sound in any environment for excellent sound quality. In quiet situations, soft voices over distance are enhanced by a speech enhancer. With Motion Sensor Hearing, the hearing aids can detect when the wearer is moving while having a conversation and will automatically adjust the directional microphones to focus on the direction of speech. Paradise wearers will also have more control over how they hear thanks to a new personalized noise cancelling feature in the myPhonak app.

“When creating our latest hearing solution, we turned to nature for inspiration,” said Martin Grieder, Group Vice President of Marketing for Sonova. “Hearing is such an intricate part of our existence and fundamental for our overall well-being. Nature is also the source of so many sounds that can soothe, relax and comfort us. What better way to rediscover sound than with a hearing aid inspired by nature itself – Phonak Audéo™ Paradise.”

Universal connectivity

Phonak’s breakthrough universal connectivity features have also been enhanced for more ease-of-use. With new Tap Control, consumers can activate popular voice assistants, answer or reject calls, or even pause or resume audio streaming by tapping on their ear. Multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections are now possible, allowing the wearer to easily switch streamed audio from one device to another across virtually any smart device or operating system.

Personalized Digital Solutions

With Paradise, Phonak also introduces a suite of personalized digital solutions so that hearing aid wearers can get the most out of their new hearing aids. Through the myPhonak app, consumers can now easily adjust the level of background noise, and even receive a hearing test directly through hearing aids without leaving their home. The Phonak Hearing Screener has also been upgraded so that any person can quickly receive a hearing assessment online.

Phonak Paradise is powered by proven lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology and provides a full day of listening including audio streaming(1). Audéo Paradise will be available for pre-order by licensed hearing care professionals as of August 19, 2020. It will be offered in all performance levels across four models, all Roger compatible, including the Audéo P-RT, a lithium-ion rechargeable model with telecoil.

For more information, please visit

For consumers
Audeo Paradise page: Phonak Audéo Paradise Hearing Aids | Phonak
Phonak Paradise Technology page: Phonak Audéo Paradise Hearing Aids | Phonak

For professionals
Audeo Paradise product page: Phonak Audéo Paradise Hearing Aids | Phonak
Phonak Paradise video

(1) Expected battery life of 16 hours, including 8 hours of AutoSense OS 4.0 listening paired with 4 hours of BT classic streaming and 4 hours of TV Connector streaming

About Phonak

Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak, a member of the Sonova Group, was created in 1947 out of a passion for taking on the most difficult hearing challenges. Seventy years later, this passion remains. As one of the industry’s leading innovator, we offer the broadest portfolio of life-changing hearing solutions. From pediatric to profound hearing loss, we remain committed to creating hearing solutions that change people’s lives to thrive socially and emotionally. We believe in creating a world where ‘Life is on’ for everyone.

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Just published this a couple minutes ago:

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Still wondering where BT LE Audio is in Phonak’s game plan. Look forward to BE LE Audio in some HA of the future and don’t plan to rush out to buy the latest and the greatest just right now. But for folks that absolutely need a new HA or always want the latest, there’s always no time like the present to be shopping for a better HA - and trying to figure out just what the best might be! - Phonak sounds pretty good! And then there’s always the price for the top gun stuff!

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I do daily Google searches on LE Audio and I’ve never seen any hearing aid manufacturer mention it. I’m assuming that they want us to buy what they’re offering right now and not be distracted by thoughts of what might be available in 2021 or 2022.

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They also probably want some phones to be available that have it.

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It’ll be interesting to see how many of the new features in the App will also be usable / available with the Marvels.

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Most of the features are only available in Phonak Paradise 90 wich cost around 6000 euros here in Europe. So not many people can afford it :confused:

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At least a lot of Marvel’s will be dumped 2nd hand. Very nice! Especially, since I am still on a Belong series.

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Ok, they definitely have some features I’d like to try.

  • tap on pinna to pause/play streaming (not HA, but ear)
  • 2 simultaneous BT devices - I just touched the point where I have the need for it, and is really annoying to remember that I first have to kill the phone BT in order to push the stream from the computer (got newer laptop than my old one, this one has BT so I’m discovering new things :rofl:)
  • dynamic noise cancellation - let’s see if it’s any better than marvels
  • motion sensor hearing - this one seems interesting, can’t imagine how that works

DAMN, just saw that they DID limit some features to rechargeables only - tap ear control and motion sensor hearing.

I hoped they won’t do such things :frowning: Now I need to test rechargeables to see if those two features are worth the trouble. R isn’t made for me.

Not to mention that they still think that only non skin color worth mentioning is black. They dropped out white, probably bc of high return rate bc it was so slippery. At least I can be happy that they didn’t drop the black as well.

I see they now have 4 additional programs (marvel has 3) and will be releasing new Target sw (still not available)

I hope they’ll release Target soon so that I can dig into it to see what exactly is or isn’t available. I’m disappointed with this release. Pushing people into rechargeables if they want all features just isn’t cool. If space was issue, why not build a bigger case and offer options. They’re already really small, half cm longer I definitely wouldn’t mind.

Currently I’m keen to buy marvels and not even wait for trial, and wait for the next generation. Or maybe another manufacturer, by then I expect that even I will have the ASHA phone :rofl:
But roger still won’t be easy to connect with another manufacturer I guess :confused:
And there I was so revved up in waiting the new release. Note to myself - don’t forget that you’re not the target audience, like ever.

I think the real future of HA is in really custom HAs - you pick set of features and they build it for you. Compromise would be then only the size, but for us who don’t mind banana on the ear if that means better quality, that’s perfectly fine. But I doubt we’ll see that in our lifetimes, since this current options still bring money.

Yes, paradise still has contact charging, so I expect the charger is the same as for marvels, and that one (regular size) was IMO bad.

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Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, you confirmed my suspicions, they didn’t improved the charger.

About connectivity, you don’t have to repair even with marvels, but you have to shut off BT in phone if you want it to connect to the laptop for example. Maybe in your case is similar - if you paired and connected with two phones which are both in the vicinity, macbook won’t stay connected until you disconnect one phone and release one of now two handles. My guess is that it has some sort of priority with connecting, putting phone first.
You can try that. If it works, please report, I’m curious :smiley:

Sound quality of your music streaming could depend also on your music program. For my case, what phonak thinks I need and autogenerates isn’t what works best for me. Of course, open fit can’t compete with closed fit of earbuds, however, if you wear smaller receivers (S, M, I managed to do it with P as well) - you can buy that foam ear protectors that don’t go into the canal but just sit on the top (usually they come on plastic shaped wire to hold them on the opening), instant improvement! :smiley:

It’s nice to hear that other side didn’t feel the noise issues when you’re on the bike and phone call.
With marvels, when I turn on the fan in otherwise quiet room, other side immediately says that my voice is more metallic and less clear. Doable, but annoying for the other side.
On the street on the other hand, other side didn’t have problem with noise of passing trucks, so I guess they do something differently in those two environments. I wonder, did you notice similar thing with Paradises, did you maybe manage to test otherwise quiet environment with a fan nearby?

I guess call popping sounds on the bike ride is probably BT issues. Without bike but outside in wider streets, where do you need to hold your phone? Does backpack, jeans pocket and similar locations work, can you turn your head without interruptions of the signal?

I’m glad you’re happy with Paradises! It’s great when you’re target audience and you like what they created for you :smiley:

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Excellent review Abram! Thank you!

Jordan

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Yep saw that too. It’s pretty crappy that the new features are only available on the 70 and 90 series devices. Of course all that will feature heavily in their advertising, pushing people upmarket. Making them more money, of course. (Oh and as @Blacky pointed out some of the features are also limited to the rechargables only too.)

I don’t see anything about the rumor that they’d support Roger without needing to get licenses so that’s no different.

I still don’t understand talking to my phone to ask it to do stuff so that’s completely useless for my use cases (to be fair I’m not a customer for these anyway).

@AbramBaileyAuD your pre-market review won’t help @spectrumplay with his belief that we’re all secretly Phonak employees… :smiley:

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Haven’t you gotten your bonus check from Phonak yet? :grinning:

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Hey,
Did you tested how much time those hearing aids need to switch from bluetooth source to their own microphone?
I often listen the music on the go, and sometimes, people need to ask me something and with my beltone hearing aids it take forever to turn that music off and go back on default mode so i can hear their question. This is really annoying for me.

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Also reading about Paradise - it looks like the double tap & noise cancellation is only on the rechargeables not available on 13Ts.

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Great review. Thank you. I’ve been following comment for this Paradise. One feature I know I would use is the double tap to mute streaming hen needed. I stream music and audiobooks and then my DH wants to talk. How well did this feature work ? I also notice it is only available on rechargeable models. :cry:. I’m a battery girl. I might have to take a relook IF I want this feature. :thinking:

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To summarize, tap control and accelerometer / motion sensor hearing are only available in the rechargeable models, and only in certain performance levels. As @Junkyard said, most of the new features aren’t available until the P90 level. Average retail price according to Hearing Tracker (for Marvel M90s) is in the $7000’s, which is 6000+ euros.

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More great information from @DrCliffAuD (Dr Cliff) :

He does a great job of calling out the custom program bug (where custom programs are lost when connecting to the audiologist’s fitting software)… and also makes a strong case against “first fit acceptance” … Which I loved.

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I think MFi and ASHA will be irrelevant after Bluetooth 5.2 … If you’re going to wait, I’d wait for that.

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No, I will try to remember to try this.

Front pocket of pants

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