Phonak Spice

Hearing Aids
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#404

My audiologist does a test to measure how your ear canal changes the sound as it enters your hearing canal. The theory is that everyone’s hearing canals are shaped differently and the shape affects how you hear. The test works as follows. There is a small box which is connected to his computer that you hang around your neck. There are two wires attached to this box with tiny microphones on the end of the wires. Attached to the microphones are very small thin tubes that are placed deeply in your ear canal. He first places the tubes in your ear and positions a speaker about 3 feet away. A continuous tone is played from the speaker from low to high frequency and the computer measures the sound that is being received at the end of the tubes in front of your ear drums. The audiologist then repeats this test again but this time he leaves the tubes in place and also inserts your hearing aids too. I think the second test measures the sound hitting your eardrum from the combination of natural sound plus your hearing aids. He then takes the results from these two tests and enters them somewhere in the Target software.

I think this procedure calibrates the hearing aids to the shape of your ear canal. Maybe one of the audiologists can jump in and explain this better.

Jordan.

#405

Hello

My Audi has fit the Smart Spices before so has some experience with the Target software. I will be getting the S Smart IX power with custom molds as I have a severe to profound HF loss. My manual programs will be: Music, StereoZoom, AutoZoom, and possibly mute. I will be getting the PioletOne remote and the iCom device. No bluetooth. Will probably program the on-aid button to change volume, not programs. The SoundRecovery program my come into play also.

Big negative with me is the poor design of the on-aid button capabilites. Can’t handle both volume and program changes like my current Epoch aid does. This is going to force me to get a remote which I don’t like at all. Also, I sometimes change volume on right ear only to account for different hearing situations. Can’t do monaural volume changes unless you have the $500 MyPiolet remote! Not good.

Anyway, will report back my initial impressions.

Oh, will correct signature later.

Roger
Sacramento, CA, USA

#406

Rogburr,

Why don’t you try Ambras? Then you have buttons for both volume and program switching

#407

I agree with Jordan: start from scratch, do not copy old settings and start trialling with the default settings from target. It’s my experience as well that these initial settings are remarkably well! Don’t let the audi make major changes afterwards, especially as long as he/she is not familliar enough with spice and target. Small changes should be enough to get the settings as perfect as they can be.

But maybe some people want to much. Is it realistic to demand full sound and optimal understanding of speech in every imaginable situation without being willing to compromise? I guess these devices are so good after the initial setup that we tend to forget they are still aids!

Another thing I did was folllowing the advice Phonak gives on their website: make use of flexcontrol whenever you think you need it to hear better. In Phonak words flexcontrol is not just about volume control but it’s a way of finetuning. Frequent use of flexcontrol will get the devices better adjusted to our needs. And each volume click you make will be logged and that might give proper information for next visits. And in the meantime your brains will get used to the new devices as well.

I had savia’s for 5 years and trialled Exelia Art this autumn but to me the spice series are already 10 times better than the Exelia’s when it comes to how much and easy I can understand of what’s being said! And the special programs autozoom and stereozoom help me in situations where I normally used smartlink like in the car or in a restaurant or at a party.

BTW: I have traditional BTE Ambra’s SP.

#408

Would not Manual AutoZoom control right or left accomplish what you need for Speech. Example is if you have a direct touch programmed slot and you zoom right/back to hear better on your right side, your left HA will also instantly transmit what you right HA hears so that you hear in both ears that side.

#409

I recall from my exelia’s adjustments made in iPFG that it was able to change the volume of each device seperately. I actually asked my audi to do so and she set the software up that way.

I’m not sure if this is still possible in target but probably will.

#410

I thought the Ambras were tube and thin tube devices, not a power RITE like I need. Will take a closer look at them.

Thanks.

#411

I will find out Monday at the fitting. Good to know. Thanks.

#412

When the perceived right ear (bad ear) volume approaches the left (good ear) volume all hell breaks loose in terms of understanding speech. In some situations, depending on how I feel that day, maybe, I have to keep the right volume below that of the left, so I don’t think your approach would help with this particular problem. But thanks for a pontentially good idea.

#413

Hello Jordan, Merry Christmas!!!
I guess my audiogram is similar to yours. I am going to buy my first aids, and after researching a lot, I have almost decided (99%) to buy a pair of new Widex Clear Passion 440, what is not released in USA yet…but anyway I would like to get your feedback about the Phonak Smart IX or the new AMBRA. Are you really hearing well on noisy enviroments? Can you have normal conversations at almost any place? Please, let me know your feedback as detailed as you can. Thanks in advance.
My Audiogram:
…250 500 750 1000 2000 4000 8000
L… 15 15 30 55 70 65 60
R … 15 25 50 60 90 105 110

#414

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to post an update on my experience so far.

Having had a poor experience after the Phonak rep made adjustments during my second fitting, I went in and my audiologist reprogram the hearing aids to the previous settings. This was done by selecting a previous date in target. It all went quit smoothly and I noticed a significant improvement in my hearing since. Things still sound a little too trebly and there is still a slight distortion to my own voice.

I think I know what the problem is. The previous settings in target were configured when I had the power domes. I now have custom cshells and my audiologist did not run the target software to account for this change. Whereas I used to notice a significant amount of program switching with the power domes, I really don’t notice much with the cshells. In fact, I have multiple programs that I can manually switch between on the mypilot and I really can’t tell much of a difference between them. Voice sounds just seemed more natural with the power domes. Speech and sounds were more natural and full. There was definitely more base. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that I had complete occlusion with the power domes compared to less occlusion with the cshells (very small 1mm vent). By the way, the cshells are much more comfortable. I could not wear the power domes for more than 5 hours at a time due to a burning sensation in my right ear.

Anyway, my next fitting appointment is in 10 days. At that time I will ask my audiologist to redo the fitting from scratch and leave the recommended Target settings alone. Regardless, these are great hearing aids and I am very pleased with them. They are definitely better than my old Micropowers.

I’ll post my experience afterwards.

Happy Holidays!

#415

Hi all,

I wanted to post an update on my experience with the Audeo S Smart IX’s. I had my first followup visit with my audiologist last week. Wish I could say everything went swimmingly, but I know this forum needs to be about all experiences - both positive and (in my case) frustrating.

I met with my Audiologist with three major priorities:

  1. Address intermittent feedback on my right side
  2. Adjust the sound to be fuller/richer vs. too “trebly” to my liking
  3. Make adjustments to the iCom to improve activation delay and music streaming.

The first issue was addressed relatively easily. We moved from the open tip to the new torpedo tip which I already had in my left ear. I found that I liked the torpedo tip a lot on the left - it gave me better sound with very minimal occlusion. We added it to the right, and reran the setup tests. It gave much better “headroom” for us to avoid feedback.

From there, we started working on the second issue - fuller, richer sound. I had noticed that my own voice sounded very “crispy” - an overprocessed “edge” as I would speak in the auto program (the music program was much better – potentially because we had removed a lot of the processing). The audiologist started making adjustments. We got his voice to sound really good but had a lot of difficulty isolating the issue with mine. As he would try to remove the trebly sound, things would get muffled. As he tried to fix that, we’d go back to overprocessed “crispness”.

I had been reading this forum a lot and knew that all the tweaking might be causing its own issues. We even started over. Running the tests from scratch and making no tweaks, but I wasn’t happy with the initial sound profile. Still very pitched to the highs and “overprocessed” for my liking.

We had to end the session at that point – both of us feeling a bit frustrated - knowing that we had sophisticated instruments and a sophisticated program but not feeling we were able to get them where we wanted. We ended up reverting to the program I had walked in with just to get me on my way with something that was working pretty well for me.

We didn’t even get to focus on things like iCom, where I was also looking for some tweaks to improve music-listening.

Today, we have a followup session. The audiologist has allocated a lot of extra time for me (he’s great by the way – really focused on trying to make sure things work well for me and a good listener as I try and describe what I’m hearing and where I would like the sound to go). He will call Phonak tech support if we get into issues again. Didn’t think we needed the rep with us at this point but offered to call them in for my next session if needed.

I do think one of the major issues here in the U.S. at least is that Phonak has released the HAs and Target software without doing training. As I understand it, they are trying to fly under the radar of the FDA by not being overt about launching and Marketing the Spice line here (its not even on their US website). This is related to the issues Widex is experiencing with their Clear 440 wireless product. Phonak’s application for the Spice didn’t delve too deep into its wireless capabilities. Widex’s did, and the FDA is now asking all sorts of questions (radiation emittance, interference with other frequencies). They have not approved Widex to release its product in the U.S. even though they had approved nearly identical products from Phonak and Oticon based on the applications these two companies had submitted (focused primarily on their hearing aid capabilities vs. wireless)

I’m glad that Phonak is able to get their product out, but the government scrutiny is making everyone concerned that they could stop sales of all wireless products (which no one wants to happen). All the players met with FDA in December to try and get things going. The meeting was supposedly positive. Widex was hopeful they would get the approval to release the Clear 440 here in January. Last I heard, though, this was not looking likely to happen. . .

Here’s hoping my session today goes well. Any thoughts or input would be welcomed.

Chris

#416

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was traveling a bit over the last week.

The short answer to your question is that I can hear much better in very noisy environments with these hearing aids. Other new users are reporting similar results. If you go back through all the messages in this particular discussion topic, you can read all the notes that I posted on the new Spice version of the Smart IXs. I really like these hearing aids. The key new thing in the Spice release that makes hearing in noisy environments much easier is the StereoZoom. Also…they have upgraded the processor in these aids to a much faster version and this seems to do a better job of sound processing. The only negative so far is that Phonak has significantly changed the programming software and many of the audiologists are still trying to figure out how to use the software properly. I didn’t have this issue because my audiologist is very tech savvy and learned the software by setting up a set of Spice Audeo Yes hearing aids for himself (he is also hearing impaired).

Have a look through all my posts in this thread and let me know if there is something in particular you would like to know. I have no experience with the Widex hearing aids but I did test the Resound Alera 9s prior to getting fitted with the Smart IXs.

Jordan.

#417

Thanks Jordan. You´ve mentioned about you tested Resound Alera 9s prior to Phonak. Why did you incline on Smarts? Alera 9s is my third option I guess…My audiologist on fact is very enclined on Aleara´s against Phonak´s. She told me that even Phonak´s has more power, Alera´s sound are cristal clear, and have more features to hear on noisy environments. What´s your thinking? Thanks.

#418

I’d say your Audiologist may get more margin on the Aleras. I’d also say that the opposite was true about hearing in noise. Especially access to Stereozoom which is a street ahead of what the Aleras have.

The Aleras win on the wireless accessory stakes though.

#419

How does stereozoom function with only one good ear? anybody trialing or purchased a spice aid with this condition? seems like there might be a benefit in having 2 hearing aids just to take advantage of the stereozoom feature even though for all other situations the aid on the deaf ear will not be doing anything.

Considering that the aid can pass sound information from one aid to the other, I would imagine it would just be a program change to convert one aid to behave as a croslink type aid.

#420

ZoomControl will be more suited to this purpose, but you are going to be running through batteries very quickly (3-4 days I’d guess). You might find more cost performance benefit in the mid range Spice such as the Smart S V which also has ZoomControl.

#421

Finally got some smart 1X’s ordered and got a few questions…when I get time I will have to reread this thread again from the beginning.

What is a reasonable price for the icom and mypilot remote?

How many different programs are there and how many do you have access to with the mypilot remote.

I will have to spend the weekend reading all I can so I have some idea what I want when I go see her next week. Any things to make sure she does when she programs them? I am not sure if she has sold many of these and how familiar she is with them.

thanks
Phil

#422

Hi Phil,

Don’t know if this is a reasonable price, since my audi billed my health insurance, but the myPilot was $575 and the iCom $325.

Although I’m trading the Smart IXs in for Ambras next week, they both have five programmable slots - StereoZoom and AutoZoom should be there, and Music. Soind-in-Noise must be in a slot also, the last one is your choice.

You can access any of them, plus Automatic (akaSoundFlow) which is what I have it default to.

#423

ZoomControl will be more suited to this purpose, but you are going to be running through batteries very quickly (3-4 days I’d guess).

Full time Zoom Control can reduce battery life to 2 days … which I have heard is the main reason why Phonak haven’t released a CROS variant.

Also, you might want to set the audiogram for the dead side to be 0dB i.e. perfect. This will kill audio output & thus save battery power on the dead side.