So happy this worked out for you and curious what your speech in noise scores are.
I agree with almost everything that Joni and Jordan say. One point to emphasize is how good music can sound. I have Lumitys with active vent receivers and I am blown away with how well they sound. I’m a musician and have always hated how music sounds through HAs. Not now.
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I have a question. I recently purchased the Lumity Life HAs but was inadvertently given the base Lumity during my visit. Was fitted with closed domes and they sounded great but I soon discovered afterwards that they gave me the wrong product. I wanted the waterproof feature so they re-ordered the correct ones and went back 2 weeks to exchange them. When they used the same program on the Life product, I got lots of feedback which I thought was strange, given that the the base Lumity and the Lumity Life are basically the same. So my audiologist changed the closed domes to power domes and that took care of the feedback issue. She did not change the program and said that if I wanted the closed domes on the Life product, she would have to adjust the program to where I would loose some off the high sounds that I need. So I’ve had them for a week and a half or so and cannot adjust to the occluded feeling that I get. In your opinion, how long does it take for one to adapt to that feeling?
You will get used to it after a few weeks. I had feedback on my right side and my audiologist switched to a bigger double dome to get rid of the issue. Caused additional occlusion but I got used to it after a few weeks. Was well worth it given the improvement in comprehension on that side and the increased bass.
Jordan
Perceptive comment regarding the bass. That’s one of thongs I’ve really noticed in listening to music. How well the bass sounds compared to closed or open domes. Amazing. Just need to get past that feeling of full in my ears.
I don’t have nearly the amount, but in case you haven’t tried this here’s how I clean the inside of mine - remove and give a couple quick shots of canned air inside.
Hello @bwilliambaker,
I, too, have the Lumity Life. I opted for custom molds, which I haven’t had in a few years. It took me a few days to get used to having them once again, but was well worth the uncomfortable feeling I had at first. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for about 30 years, so that could be why I got used to them so quickly. I hope that soon you won’t even be giving it a thought!
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Are your molds vented? I think that they may be the thing I’m missing with the power domes as they are completely occluded.
Another update. There is quite a bit of grumbling on this forum regarding rechargeable batteries and Phonak’s decision to go 100% rechargeable with Lumity. I thought I would share my day yesterday to give you a good example of what to expect with Lumity and rechargeable battery life. As a point of reference, I have been wearing Lumity for 2.5 months and this is the first day I didn’t quite make it to bed time on a single charge. I attribute this to Monday being a very heavy streaming day…probably my worst case scenario. Here are the details:
So I got up at 8:00 am yesterday and grabbed my hearing aids out of the charger and started work. I had an all day online Microsoft Teams meeting to attend so I spent quite a bit of time streaming. In other words, it was a very heavy streaming day. By 10 pm (14 hours of total use), the left ear (the one I have set to pair with bluetooth devices) was down to 5%. The right ear was higher at 18%. I checked the health tab within the myPhonak app where it tracks how long you were wearing the hearing aids and what environments you were in during the total time. Here is what it logged:
- Calm Environments: 6 h 15 min
- Noisy Environments: 38 min
- Streaming: 6 h
- Music: 1 min
So total wearing time of 13 h 54 min (14 hours) with 6 hours of streaming and I needed a charge by 10 pm. I usually go to bed around 11:30 pm so I decided to read a book for 20 minutes while I topped up the hearing aids in the charger. At 10:20 pm I popped the hearing aids back into my ears and noted that the charge was about 28%. 20 min in the charger was more than enough to get me to bedtime and it really wasn’t a huge big deal. I suppose it would have been a nuisance if I was out that evening but I think you just have to keep an eye on your battery levels in the evening if you know you had a heavy streaming day. Most days my streaming is 2-3 hours and I always make it to bedtime with 10%-20% left on the battery. For those who don’t really stream all that much, you will have zero issues.
Just sharing this experience to give people a bit more detail on what to expect.
Jordan
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Hey bwiliambaker, I empathize with your lingering dissatisfaction regarding the upgraded Life aids (which by the way are NOT - repeat NOT - waterproof!).
Even with my incredibly cinderblock ears, I get by with soft silicone double dome “power” domes on my Lumity Life aids. The sound is incredible - especially bass for music. Now you could go back to your audi to tinker with that higher freq issue, or like some DIYers here, get the phone app which may let you play around with settings a bit. I don’t have that phone app, so I don’t know how that works.
I think OCCLUSION is actually VERY difficult to get used to. It makes you feel like you have a stuffed up head or sinus condition all day long. So I’d try to get some kind of venting and adjust the frequencies to compensate.
I’ve tried custom molded silicone tips and these softer, OTC power domes, and prefer the sound from the cheaper power domes MORE - go figure!
Hearing is such a nuanced thing, you have to listen to your gut and go from there. Be politely persistent. After all, the audies are there to make these adjustments for us cuz the aids are so complex that many folks simply don’t want to get the official software and then launch in to outer space to learn that system. We. Just. Want. To. Hear!
Thank you and that makes sense. It’s funny that in my right ear, the power dome actually feels fine while the power dome in the left ear feels like the ‘stuffed up’ condition you’re referring to. But overall, the sound is fantastic for both ears and I hear much better with these in crowded environments that my previous Resound Quattros with closed domes. If I could just find a solution for the left ear, I think all would be good. I wear size M in the power domes so maybe moving to a small size would help that? But then again, how much would my audi have to adjust the sound to accommodate that smaller size. Always a trade off, I imagine.
Mine are vented. I can see how that would make a difference.
I was just going to suggest that! Experiment! Sometimes I just have to wear a size smaller dome in my LEFT ear, as that would be more prone to swelling during the night. I nearly always wake up with a bit of swelling in my ears (like stiff joints I imagine).
As long as your aids are programmed to work together, and you can get them tweaked to sound perfect “stereophonically” I think it should be fine to try a different size on the one aid that feels so tight.
Jordan, just curious what does phonak say about battery longevity if you drain your batteries down below 20% all of the time?? I don’t understand with todays technology how they can’t copy what Resound has… my 2 yr old Resound 1 HA’s wearing them on avg. 15 hrs. a day and streaming usually 6 hrs a day I still have 40% battery life
The issue is that Resound uses Apple’s proprietary low power bluetooth LE (people here refer to it as Apple MFi or Made for iPhone). Phonak uses the older Bluetooth Classic protocol which uses quite a bit more power. When I tested both Phonak Lumity and Resound Omnia, I found the batteries for Phonak lasted about 18 hours a day with moderate streaming. The Resound Omnia’s seem to last around 30 hours.
Does that answer your questions? When Phonak adopts the newest Bluetooth LE protocol and both Apple and Android support it, the battery life will be much higher.
Jordan
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jordan, no my question was does running your battery down below 20% all the time cause your over all battery life to deteriorate faster… as in what is battery life warranty?? 2 yrs??
I don’t know what Phonak says, but it’s generally accepted that keeping batteries in the 20% to 80% charged range is best for longevity.
Regarding why Phonak doesn’t replicate Resound. They’ve chosen a different path. They sacrificed battery consumption for broad Bluetooth compatibility. My understanding is that it’s paid off as sales of their Marvel and Paradise aids were very good and it sounds like Lumity sales are also strong.
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Missed warranty part. I have no idea what warranty would be like on a replacement battery. Warranty is sometimes dependent on who you’re buying from so confirm with them. Most Phonaks that I’ve seen sold in the US come with a 3 year warranty and it is usually possible to ship them back near end of warranty and get a new battery (likely a new hearing aid).
The invoice for my Lumity’s shows 3 years manufacturer’s warranty and 2 years loss/damage.
Jordan
When you transfer the fitting from one hearing aid to the other, the feedback measure typically doesn’t transfer and needs to be run again, which may explain your sidden feedback with the same settings and acoustics.
If you have a couple power domes to play with, try just cutting a slit in the outer flang of the left power dome, essentially adding a little bit of venting. Smaller may also work. REM always has to be re-done for whatever the final acoustical choice is.
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