So, I started trialing the Lumity L90-R today. My audi just used my old audiogram and did not do REM. I’m fitted with a minimally vented closed domes. The domes look something like the following (not sure it’s the exact same, though).
When I went to get my ears cleaned on 11/18, I had a mild infection in one ear, so I haven’t worn HA’s in 3 1/2 weeks while I treated my ears with 2% acetic acid otic solution (in a PEG base). So, it’s hard to tell if my impressions of the Lumity are based on wearing no HA’s for the past few weeks or my memory of wearing ReSound Quattros.
I would say that the sound is decidedly better than the Quattros and there is decidedly more bass in listening to external sounds and in streaming. Of particular note, in listening to a favorite podcast where the host speaks pretty rapidly, not really pausing for breath, I can hear him quickly inhaling between words(!), whereas I never noticed that before with the Quattros (but then I am usually out walking with lots of ambient noise when streaming, not sitting at my kitchen table). If you want to try the audio with your own HA’s, here the podcast (it’s one of Melvyn Bragg’s best shows):
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Electron
The Lumity Music program is quite good. And relative to the Automatic program, I would say any Oticon More/Opn user coming to Phonak who wants to hear everything might want to use the Music program as their daily driver. In switching between Automatic and Music, I noticed all sorts of background sounds are being suppressed in Automatic and one is much more aware of one’s environment in Music. Everything, including music and voices, sounds louder to me in Music than in Automatic. For the Quattros, the Music program is definitely less processed, just like the Phonak Music program, but not amplified as much as the ReSound All-Around program - so the Quattro music program sounds quieter than the equivalent ReSound “automatic” program. Since I’ve only had the Lumitys a few hours, a verdict is probably premature, but I’d say the relative perception of music in the car vs. road noise when using the Music program is definitely an improvement over the ReSound Quattros. I’d turned up my car audio bass to help the Quattros, and the bass is almost too thumpingly loud for comfort with the Lumitys!
It will take some time to get used to the myPhonak program. It’s definitely less intuitive and more complicated than the excellent ReSound Smart 3D program. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and I scarcely wait for anything when launching the ReSound Smart 3D app. But there does seem to be an annoyingly long pause before the myPhonak app chimes and says, “CONNECTED” to the Lumitys. Since I’ve turned off background refresh for all apps. maybe I need to allow it specifically for the myPhonak app to speed things up?
The ReSound Smart 3D app is mostly about volume adjustment and relative amplification of bass, midtones, and treble with some cut-and-dried choices for directional focusing, noise and wind reduction, etc., in specific programs. With myPhonak, it takes more hunting to get to bass, treble, and midtone adjustment. But on first glance, it seems all the sound processing adjustments are available in any program. If I open Music program adjustments, directionality adjustment seems to be available in myPhonak but it’s not in the ReSound Smart 3D Music program. The label on the Phonak adjustment is Speech Focus, so maybe an experienced Phonak user could tell me if that focus adjustment is only going to work when the Lumity thinks speech is heard or whether I’m going to be able to focus on any sounds that are in front of me if I apply that adjustment in the Music program???
Another nice adjustment available in the myPhonak app but not in the ReSound Smart 3D app is Dynamic Range Adjustment. I can decrease the volume of loud sounds or increase the volume of soft sounds, which might come in very handy with my soft-spoken wife.
So far, after just a few hours of use, I really like the Lumitys. I am having custom molds made to try the Omnia M&RIE receivers and try the greater high frequency amplification with the Omnias that one gets by using the NAL-NL2 fitting algorithm. Right now, I’ve done next to no streaming with the Lumitys and my battery is dropping about 12% in two hours - so I’d predict if I do my usual 1 to 1 1/2 hours of streaming a day, I’m only going to get about 16 to 18 hours wearing time out of a full charge (about what Phonak says to expect). I have all iPhone notifications sent to my HA’s so I don’t have to be around my iPhone or try to hear the much fainter chime of my Apple Watch. Perhaps getting a fair number of classic BT notifications in one’s HA’s is more of an HA battery drain with Phonak than ReSound and that may be part of why the charge is going down 12% per 2 hours?
I think if the Lumity had a better rechargeable runtime (or offered a disposable battery option) and also could be used as a MFi HA (if one wanted) and the myPhonak app worked on my Apple Watch, going with the Lumity might be a no-brainer. So, I want to see how the Omnia performs given its best chance to show its stuff before I make any hasty decisions.
Perhaps it’s a stupid thought but it’s too bad that with an HA you have to choose between classic BT and MFi. Maybe if BT LE Audio ever truly goes mainstream and Apple and Phonak both fully implement the spec, the classic BT/BT LE dichotomy will vanish and one can have one’s cake and eat it, too. I probably won’t live long enough to see that happen…
Edit_Update: Have to say, though, the domes I’m using with the Lumitys are relatively ineffectual at controlling noise entering my ear canals. I can get considerable active noise cancellation by cranking noise suppression all the way up in the myPhonak app, but I can’t approach the noise suppression level I can get with the Quattros when wearing occlusive custom-made silicone molds with either no vent or a 1 mm vent. So, if I go for the Lumitys in the end, I will be definitely opting for custom molds. I would recommend those to anyone if you really want the best speech-in-noise listening experience!
Wind noise suppression with the Lumitys on Automatic seems to be excellent but the wind today has only been relatively mild - maybe I need to get the wife to blast me with her hair dryer (on the Cool Air setting!).