Phonak Lumity L90 vs Oticon Real 1 for a dental student

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hey, i have moderate - moderately severe hearing loss and i haven’t committed to a HA before, i got the Phonak Virto B Titanium around 2 years ago and wore them for a while and they were very uncomfortable to wear in terms of how they felt inside my ear. Now i’m about to get new HA and decided to go the RIC route as it seemed much more comfortable.

I went to some audiologists and did tests and tried both oticon and phonak hearing aids (not the same models) and was suggested either the Real or Lumity.

Now the thing is that i’m a dental student and just started clinical work, which involves being in a very loud and noisy environment (dental motors whirring all the time around) since our university clinic has 16 chairs in one big hall, in addition to that there’s the patients as well and other teachers and classmates all talking around me and with me. The studying language is not even my main language so i’m facing all kinds of troubles comprehending anything anyone is saying and i find myself having to make them repeat 2-3 times at least before i understand, especially since all of us wear masks.

The reason i’m providing this background is because i’m very confused on the choice that i need to make, both HAs are the same price, i won’t have any chance to try either of them even for one day outside the audi office unfortunately. The confusion comes in terms of how each of them handles sound, the oticon with the less filtering and more open soundstage, and the phonak with all the noise cancelling technology and whatnot. I’m not sure which accomodates my situation better and as a student they’re very pricey and i wanna make the right choice. I went through all the forms discussing both HAs and it only got me more confused.

Any insight on which i will benefit more of and will be more convenient for my situation to help me understand people better is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance, below is my audiogram.

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#2

@Tige_S Hello and welcome to the forum, I hope you will find here what you are looking for.

Are you based in Turkey?

#3

Thanks! Yes, i’m based in Turkey.

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#4

Probably neither in my book. Given your chosen profession, flat loss, hygiene and continuous mask use, I’d look at an in the ear aid (ITE/cic) and spend the time getting used to it being fully automated.

Own or Genesis. Don’t go too heavy on the features, you’ve got a relatively mild loss and the microphone positioning/spacing isn’t necessarily going to be optimum. Perhaps not a CIC in your situation as you don’t want things getting blocked/upset by small amounts of perspiration/wax.

The biggest ‘debate’ is whether you go Rechargeable or not. That depends on your work/social pattern.

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#5

I was thinking because @Tige_S is a student, maybe he/she can get a cheaper second hand hearing aids from ebay (£500 max for a pair) and do the fitting on pay as you go basis at a local audiologist in Istanbul!!!, this will save him/her some money.
Not sure if there is an import tax in Turkey if buying from Western Europe or if there is ebay in there, or maybe facebook marketplace.

#6

Thanks for the suggestions, curious as to why you wouldn’t suggest neither?

In terms of ite/cic, as said in the post i tried that option with the Phonack virto and it was a very bad experience to say the least, the hearing aids are always noticeable in my ear and quite straining.

#7

Phonak haven’t traditionally made the best/best fitted CIC/ITE product in my book.

Two reasons why I’d still consider an ITC though:

1, You have a flattish loss, most RIC fittings for your level of hearing would heavily bias towards high frequency, which is going to sound overly sharp - drills/other machinery (Venturi flosser?) and suction, even worse.

2, Practicality: continuous mask use in your day to day environment is likely to cause you some issues with entanglement.

That said, you could do worse than try a RIC: any demo units available?

#8

Unfortunately, for anything from outside the country we have to pay %100-%150 in tax, so the options for buying second hand are non-existant. My only option is buying new, and i do wanna invest in the best technology possible since i will be using it in “extreme” conditions, a new pair is around $1500, might not sound like much but it does hurt based on what i’ve got haha

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#11

Do you have an Android or iPhone phone?

#12

It might make sense to try the aids you already have again. New programming and perhaps some physical adjustment to make them more comfortable.

One reason why I am partial to Phonak is because I travel extensively and Phonak has a terrific international support network including in Turkey .

#13

I have an android, is the oticon connectivity with android very bad?

#14

I’ve been trying them again for the past 2 weeks, we did program them again and all, the thing is it still feels very bad inside my ear since it’s iic style, and i only got 1 at the time, but my hearing loss requires 2, so instead of buying a second one of them and living with the discomfort i wanna upgrade completely, if i had 2 already i would try to live with it but since it’s only 1 it makes sense to buy a new set.

I’m starting to lean towards the Phonak L90 for connectivity and the noise attenuation, because as i said my environment is very loud in nature so it feels like having the oticon paradigram will be stressful and might cause more problems understanding people in contrary to Phonaks filtering

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#15

OK - If you only have one that makes sense.

Another thought, and maybe not appropriate, but - your hearing really isn’t that bad, and your profile is flat - very much like mine is. You might find that you could get by with one of the new OTC aids or even something like Bose or even AirPod Pros. If there is a way you can try them it might be worth a try. They actually do work for me, but, not as well as the real thing.

#16

I appreciate the suggestion, but in my work environment, it wouldn’t really be appropriate to walk around wearing AirPod pros even if they might get the job done. Regarding the otc option, where i live i’m kinda only limited to the big brand options, i’m not sure what HAs do you mean by otc but around here all they sell is oticon, phonak, signia and the other few known brands and they’re all around the same price range. I’m fine with investing a bit more for something that feels natural and would be okay to get a high end device if it will be even 1% more helpful in handling my patients because i struggle a lot with it even though my hearing loss isn’t that drastic.

#17

OK, I understand. My mild loss had a profound impact on my work before I got the right aids and connected with the right audiologist.

But I also understand student life in Turkey and the crazy high prices with the current exchange rates.

#18

Can you please elaborate on the comment “the microphone positioning/spacing isn’t necessarily going to be optimum.”

#19

It was just an observation about the dentist’s likely head orientation and where a direction field might be most/least sensitive both in the forward horizontal and vertical plane combined with a complex noise field from various equipment. Lecturer/assistant speech positions might not be great also.

While a CIC using natural pinna directionality will work and sound normalish based on pinna cues and orientation without attempting to manipulate the directional field.

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