Another lyric 4 update. I’m now over six months in the use of Lyra 4’s latest iteration. I thought the following pieces of data might be useful to know for those who are looking for more info.
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For doggone sure, make certain that you have a back-up pair of aids. I have a pair of Rexton’s I got from COSTCo before subscribing to Lyric. Why? Because one or the other of my aids, for reasons about which only speculation can provide info, has suddenly “dropped dead.” I routinely have carried my Rexton’s as backup for trips out of town or for when my AuD has been unavailable, e.g., over Turkey Day when I was out of town for 5 days running. Digital in one ear and Lyric in the other. Done. Hearing again.
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As Kevin 6 has accurately said, positioning of the Lyric 4 is critical. After several trials, we now have it down accurately, and since she discovered that placing it deeper into the canal worked far better, that’s what we’ve done and there is no movement of it, no occlusive effect.
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Sound quality remains for me to be the single biggest plus. Despite no digital correction, I can hear my colleagues in meetings, friends at dinner in packed restaurants. And having some binaural capability has been absolutely remarkably good, especially when I’m in training contexts in which I MUST know who is to my left, rear and right positions. So much for the prior rotten COSTCO advice that I HAD TO HAVE Cross-aids. Left ear for me is severely to profoundly impaired in critical speech range, but, I’ll tell ya what, I sure as hell won’t change out my Lyric 4 to get Cross-aids.
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Lyrics are in deep enough so that I can use air pods but they are clunky enough as to deeper insert that I choose instead to use my AirPods ProMax headset. They are for me a perfect combination with the Lyric. One potential downside, however, is that they MAY reduce Lyric battery life because of the sound level of input from the headset. I had one Lyric "go dead’ after a long listening session (Chris Botti on Trumpet at his Boston Concert). My AuD told me Phonak had no data on any causality.
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One really good recommendation from my AuD was this; in anticipation of the need for a replacement aid because the battery just died, use the digital backup for 4-5 days to let my ear canal “rest” from the aid’s continuous presence. Works wonderfully as to mitigating the “itching” phenomenon.
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XS wax production has not been a continuing issue beyond the initial insertion. Convenience is 10/10. I have begun to do rock wall climbing and it is enormously reassuring to know before going up the wall that I do not have to worry about an aid dropping off and falling 50meters. AND I can hear my belayer below me, even when ambient noise level in the gym rising, no matter where he places himself below me.
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As to all the above: YMMV
I’ve got six more months or so to go. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I spend 7k to improve upon what the Lyric 4’s give me, even in the presence of the too often “going dead” events. (If memory serves, probably x3 in six months). And my CPA indicates I’m in line for a $3600 tax deduction as it’s a medically necessary intervention given my work. YMMV on this as wel.
HTH, Anthony