A day late and dollar short, I weigh in with my own shot taken of my Phonak Marvel (LEFT SIDE) next to my new Phonak Lumity Life aid (RIGHT SIDE:
Oh, disregard that schmear of brown hair dye on the old Marvel aids. Even tho I put on a pair of EarGear sox, my hair stylist managed to swipe them. 
As for the “waterproof” claim of my new Lumity Life aids? Bwaaaaahaaahaahaaaaaaaaa! 
Not.
I actually don’t detect any discomfort, crowding or issues with the size of the Lumity Life aid - and it’s noticeably bigger than my older Marvels.
Both aids are a snafu if I wear a face mask with elastic straps that go behind-the-ear. Annoying as HECK.
I seem to get more hair rustle with the Lumity aids, but that could be the larger size rubbing into my own sparse hair.
And maybe the chip in the Life aids is bigger? They DO seem to make a noticeable difference in terms of speech clarity. And the AutoSense seems to work better than the Marvels, too. So maybe there is a larger chipset inside?
Add one more: no issues at all in terms of comfort.
Do you wear glasses or sunglasses. I find that bigger BTE’s means you have to find glasses that have very thin temples (things that rest on your ears). Otherwise, your ears get sore and you suffer from noises as the temples rub on the hearing aids. Also annoying when you wear a wool cap in the winter.
Jordan
I wear Silhouette glasses but also many other brands of sunglasses. Cheaper sunglasses give me a headache when they press on my temples, but none of my glasses/sunglasses hurt my ears worn over the aids, despite their arms being thicker than a Silhouette wire frame.
As for wearing those wool caps in winter? Yeah, been there, done that when I lived in a cold climate! I used to wear a Tilley wool hat with ear flaps, so no hair rustle or feedback in winter.
Another possible interesting one-up that MFi HA’s might have over the Lumity with only BT 4.2 is the following:
The Apple Watch Series 8 is a BT 5.3 device and you can get it with LTE cellular connectivity. So, I’ve been wondering when Apple pulls the covers off BT LE Audio whether an Apple Watch 8 GPS+Cellular could be paired directly to a BT 5.3 HA via the LC3 codec, etc. That might allow both handsfree phone calls and streaming from the watch instead of the iPhone.
I have an Apple Watch Series 6 and it only does classic BT so I have to use the Phone Clip+ if I want to pair with my ReSound Quattros. So classic BT isn’t very nice on watch battery life and I think with that arrangement any phone calls still depends on being near my iPhone since my Series 6 is not a cellular device.
Right now, if I want to listen to a podcast while out walking, I have to carry my iPhone with me and especially in the winter wearing heavy clothing and gloves, I’m always worried about dropping the phone on asphalt paving. There are many other dusty, dirty, or wet situations where I don’t want to be carrying my phone with me but it’s easy to wear a pair of sound muffs over my HA’s to protect them from the environment. I have the Ultra model of the Series 8 so my watch is pretty impervious to the elements, too.
Perhaps if a Series 8 Apple Watch could act as a BT LE Audio host, Apple would have made some announcement in releasing the new models. But then they’ve been mum overall on BT LE Audio - maybe the technology is so new in its availability that it’s utility is meaningless to most people right now.
Still, it’s a tantalizing thought that at some point in the future, a Series 8 cellular watch might stand in for an iPhone used with MFi HA’s. The Ultra has a battery 2x bigger than the regular Series 8 watch so one should get double the run time with whatever you connect it to (Apple rates the Ultra as having a 36-hour battery runtime).
Edit_Update: BTW, even without being paired directly to my HA’s, the Ultra is a great cellular device. I switched to Spectrum Mobile as it’s a lot cheaper than AT&T or Verizon to have a plan that supports a cellular Apple Watch. Spectrum Mobile is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). You can only subscribe if you’re a Spectrum Internet cable customer. They’re counting on you doing most of your usage via Wi-Fi at home or connected to Spectrum Wi-Fi hotspots. But when you’re away from home and not near a hotspot, you get to be on Verizon’s 5G cellular network (the Ultra watch is only an LTE cellular device). So, all of the previous is just to give context. With the Apple Watch 6, the watch speaker is small and not very loud. On the Ultra, there are three beam-forming microphones, and the speaker(s) is/are a lot bigger and louder. Whether using cellular or Wi-Fi calling, the wife comes through loud and clear just listening to the watch held near my HA’s (Dick Tracy style) with the speaker volume turned up. The wife says in return that my voice comes across crystal-clear. I don’t think the regular Series 8 watch has the enhanced microphone or speaker system. But while enjoying the easy-to-understand phone calls with the Ultra watch, I got to thinking how much better it would be if it could serve as a handsfree device for a future set of HA’s. Maybe that possibility is still at least a year or two down the road?
Further note: Spectrum (a Charter subsidiary) is relatively screwed up in that an unlocked BYOD Apple cellular watch requires special technical support to be activated on their network as opposed to a device from them already locked to their network. It took me a week to get my BYOD watch activated. The Internet is full of complaints about this. But I’m on a $14/Gb plan + $10/mo for watch = $24/mo. $38 if I consume > 1 Gb & <= 2.0 Gb/mo, no taxes or surcharges. So, far 2 weeks going, I’ve used 0.00 Gb outside my house even having cellular data on when I go for long walks (I don’t get many e-mails or texts with pictures, etc). Being an old geezer, my principal reason for a cellular watch is to be able to call 911 even if my phone isn’t anywhere near me, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing. And it’s nice to have a watch as an HA user where I can hear clearly and be heard clearly, supposedly even if the wind is blowing, because of the beam-forming mics.
I’m new here and reading this in-depth comparison of hearing aids is so great. Haven’t seen that on other forums. Thanks for writing it.
My question: doesn’t your brain need time to adjust to new hearing aids? And if so, how do you factor that into your review? My audiologist tells me to allow time for this in trying new HAs, and I’ve wondered if the difficulties I’ve recently experienced with new HAs were from my adjustment or from their functionality. (Answer: it later became apparent that it was the HAs—but it took about 4 weeks to settle it.)
Last comment: I’m surprised your audiologist has been supportive of your interest in comparing across brands. I’ve never (in 20+ years, recently started on 5th pair of HAs) found any audiologist who encouraged that enterprise. I’ve had to get really assertive over the years. My understanding is that selling is an important component of their job, and anything that focuses their time and attention outside of the actual sale is a burden for them. That is rooted in how HA distribution and sales have been structured in the US health care system. Am I right? So how did you identify a willing & supportive audiologist? —Nancy
Hi @neroth8! Thanks for your comments.
You question about adjusting to new hearing aids is really interesting because after owning 6+ sets of hearing aids in 22+ years, you typically need to take time to adjust. Here is the strange thing. I was always a long term Phonak customer until I switched from my Audeo Q90’s to Resound (Linx3D) about 5 years ago. I didn’t make the switch because I could hear better with Linx3D. I made the switch because of their iPhone MFi integration. At that time, it took awhile to get used to the Linx3D’s but after many adjustments, I learned to live with it…even thought it felt that I gave up a tiny bit on speech understanding in noise. After the Linx3D’s broke for the 4th time (2 years ago), my audiologist got Resound to upgrade me to the Quattro 9’s for no charge. This time I experienced no adjustment with the transition to the Quattro 9’s. The only thing I noticed is that hearing was slightly improved. A few weeks back I started testing the Phonak Lumity’s and once again, I didn’t experience any adjustment period. The big difference between Quattro and Lumity is that I was suddenly hearing much better. Everything was much crisper, speech in loud noise was significantly better and most importantly, the environmental noises around me (inside the house, outside walking around, etc) absolutely popped open around me. Huge difference. In quiet environments, very similar. In more lively environments, huge difference. But…no transition at all. Totally difference hearing aids with totally different performance…but no transition. More of an excitement to be hearing all this new stuff. I then started testing the Resound Omnia and…the whole world sounded dull again. I actually haven’t been wearing Omnia too much because I’m now having issues transitioning back to the old, slightly dull sound world that I experience with Quattro and Omnia. It could just be (as others have stated) that the Quattro’s and Omnia were adjusted with a totally difference first fit algorithm that is essentially dull, but my brain must have gotten used to the much more lively world of Lumity and it doesn’t want to go back.
As far as you other question goes, I’ve been with my audiologist for 20+ years and we have a really good trusted relationship. He knows I will buy if the new hearing aids being tested provide good incremental benefit so he is eager to let me be the guinea pig for new stuff coming out so that he can use the info I provide to help fit other patients. I’m also younger than many of his patients (I’m 59) and I have a busy personal and professional life (IT Exec) so he knows he will get lots of good information from me and I don’t waste his time. He gives me as much time as I want to test and has no issue with me testing 3-4 different brands/models before I make a final decision. Thing is…as an experienced (and fussy) hearing aid user that uses all the bells and whistles, you know fairly quickly if the hearing aids are helping or driving you nuts. I can tell right now Lumity is better for me than Omnia and I’ve only be playing around with both for a few weeks.
Only downside I’m finding with Lumity right now is that the rechargeable battery life is less than Omnia (Lumity = 18-20 hours with streaming, Omnia is closer to 30 hours with streaming) and the myPhonak app is still a bit buggy. Funny enough, Lumity’s bluetooth streaming is more stable than Omnia’s MFi. With Lumity, I rarely have one or both ears cut out while streaming. Omnia seems to be ok direct to iPhone but as soon as you connect to a device via the Resound Phone Clip+, it is less reliable and it sometimes cuts out. I would also prefer to have a battery in the charger case with my Lumity L90-RT’s. I know I can go with the Lumity Life to get that feature but I’m not sure I want the larger sized hearing aids.
The other hearing aids I am thinking of testing are one of the new bluetooth ITC’s that have just come out. I like the form factor of the new rechargeable Custom by Resound ITC’s (they look like Jabra ear buds) but I’m so spoiled by the Lumity’s rich sound environment, that I’m not sure they will work for me. I’m also thinking the full occlusion with the custom ITC’s will drive me bonkers. Maybe a better thing to try next is to get my audiologist to swap the standard receivers on the Lumity’s for the Activent receivers. This will give me the advantages of both an open and closed fit hearing aids.
I will keep you all posted and share my observations as the testing continues.
Jordan
If full occlusion will drive you bonkers (ITC) then activevent may not be for you either. You’ll be occluded when on the phone, streaming, speech in loud noise, etc.
I’ve learned to be accustomed to the occlusion for talking on the phone. Streaming has not been a problem for me. I’m not certain I really like the speech in loud noise. But I go to the Roger on pretty quickly.
WH
Omnia user here on 2 month trial and i’m keeping it, I can only pick resound, first fit is pretty bad for experienced users. I hate resound in general but due to I have a Cochlear Americas nucleus sound processor on the other ear. so i’m stuck with that one. I wish they would’ve gone with Oticon for their streaming partner…
Problem i am having is the high freq isn’t very audible in a first fit
Thanks much. I am turning my Omnia 9 back tomorrow and trying Starkey’s newest. Omnia was problematic from the start. Connecting to my iPhone 12 initially took 3 attempts. With my hearing recruitment I was not happy with the Marie receiver so changed to the Resound standard receiver. Initially would not connect with the native PC software. The audiologist spent 20 minutes on the phone with Resound and we connected but after hang up we lost the connection and we’re never able to complete the programming. An upgrade to IOS blew out partial support for the Apple Watch which has still not been fixed. Lumity was not available at the time so I will be trying Starkey Evolve AI. Hoping for success.
Wow, the firmware is so buggy, ugh WTF, resound, you think they would release something that wasn’t buggy. This is the first time I have a buggy brand new hearing aid in my 30 years of wearing them…
Hey Jordan. Activent receivers would be pointless and expensive for you. They are designed for people who have normal or mild hearing loss in the low frequencies, and would therefore be fit with an open dome. If your activent opened up, you’d lose all the low-end amplification that you require. Activents need to be changed every 6 months and they are $$$.
Thanks for that advice, Louie. Since I have decent low-frequency hearing and have been wearing occlusive molds to keep out noise and boost bass when streaming, I had idly been wondering if I’d want to get Activent receivers if I decided to go with Phonak for my next set of HA’s. Your comment convinced me that I should stick with occlusive molds (~1 mm vent). I don’t fancy buying a new set of Activents ~every six months! ($$$).
I like such molds because I think they also help improve the clarity of my speech understanding a bit, too, as well as addressing the previous issues I mentioned. My main hang-up is that I’ve wondered if I’m increasing the chances of an ear infection by helping to keep the humidity within my ear canals very high. Thanks for any advice you might have about that concern and if it’s a real risk, the best ways of minimizing such a risk.
It’s certainly plausible that a fully occluded mould would increase the risk of infection. Do your moulds have a vent? Looking at your audiogram, I’d recommend at least a 2mm vent. There’s no way you should be fully occluded. If you are, perhaps the regular use of some dry-ear spray to evaporate any moisture in the ear could minimise the risk of infection??
Thanks for the suggestion about a dry-ear spray. A review article posted by MDB in 2017 led me to read a 2006 Widex white paper on venting and its pros and cons. I agree with the 2006 Widex paper that for the “naturalness” of hearing with a vent, you can lose a bunch of speech clarity, depending on the acoustics of your ear canal, the timing of your HA’s in processing, etc. I do a lot of noisy stuff, so I particularly like keeping the noise out. That’s why Phonak invented Activents in the first place. There are certain situations where open venting just doesn’t cut it. According to Phonak, that’s places like noisy restaurants and when streaming, where you might not want the streamed bass escaping your ear canals (what goes in easily can come out easily, too!).
Thread started by MDB in 2017 (it’s on a review paper): Article on open fit vs closed fit
2006 Widex white paper on venting mentioned in review cited by MDB: Article on open fit vs closed fit - #12 by jim_lewis
Widex pulled its original posting of the white paper, perhaps because the paper was from 16 years ago or maybe something to do with Widex’s acquisition by WS Audiology. So, there are several posts by me in the same thread trying to find a viable link for other forum members to download the paper in its original form to read.
Edit_Update: Actually, the Widex Pro site now has an archive of older “evidence” papers that go all the way back to 2000 or so.https://www.widexpro.com/en/business-support/evidence/#archive Many of the papers include Kuk as the lead author, as he was for the 2006 white paper. So, for whatever reasons, Kuk’s 2006 paper has been tossed from the Widex Pro archives but it’s hearingreview.com version is still available to read (https://hearingreview.com/practice-building/practice-management/fitting-tips-how-do-vents-affect-hearing-aid-performance).
Here’s a 2005 paper by Kuk, still in the Widex Pro archives and available to read on the web at hearingreview.com without having to download a PDF that reaches similar conclusions as the 2006 paper, which was more in detail. From the 2nd paragraph of the concluding Discussion:
The current study results were obtained with an ear-set that offers minimal occlusion of the ear canal. The advantage is clearly seen in the elimination of the occlusion effect. The disadvantage, however, is seen in the magnitude of the SNR improvement offered by the adaptive directional microphone. In this study, an average improvement of 1.8 dB SNR was observed between the adaptive directional microphone and the omnidirectional microphone. The same adaptive directional microphone, when evaluated in other studies where the vent diameter was typically less than 2.0-2.5 mm, showed a directional benefit that varied from 4 dB12 to 4-6 dB.13 In another study19 where the Diva adaptive directional microphone was fit on individuals with a more severe hearing loss (and consequently no venting was used), an even higher directional benefit of 6-8 dB was reported.
Efficacy of an Open-Fitting Hearing Aid | The Hearing Review
Thank you for your report Jordan–It is the only way we can actually know about these new devices or upgrades. Please keep it up. Sadly, in some cases, like mine–the only way to find out about them is by buying them and using them. We have no option to do a comparison before purchasing.
My pleasure! It’s my way of giving back to the community and helping others who struggle (like me) with hearing loss.
As of today, here is my update: Phonak Lumity is quite superb and feels like it is much more sophisticated in adapting to, music, noise and many other complex hearing environments. Resound Omnia is good but doesn’t feel like a major step forward (compared to Quattro) other than the addition of their own version of StereoZoom.
I might try having the audiologist refit Omnia with a different first fit algorithm and see how that goes.
Jordan
