Hi, Jordan. I’m not sure what buying molds and having REM done would do to create a further difference in what I already described for the Lumity vs. the Omnia. And just to clarify where I stand relative to the more recent discussion of some folks (Sequoia Woman and Jody) on not getting the results they expected, I think the Lumitys are great and have suggested the sound is probably even better than the Omnias, which I found “quite good” but not as elite in sound as the Lumitys. I’ve had no problem understanding my soft-spoken wife with the Lumitys in noisy supermarkets with noise and other conversations nearby even without wearing custom molds. I almost feel like I have normal hearing when wearing the Lumitys. But I certainly didn’t find the Lumitys are an order of magnitude better than the Omnias and that there’s no comparison between the two. If the Lumitys had a better battery runtime, if the myPhonak app was better, faster, and had as straightforward a graphical interface as the ReSound Smart 3D app - and also, if I could run the myPhonak app on my Apple Watch, something important to me as I don’t want to be tied to pulling out my phone to make an adjustment, and if the Lumitys were available in a disposable battery option, I’d probably be getting the Lumitys instead of the Omnia 962s with a size 13 disposable battery (and a telecoil). I can’t see how getting molds or REM is going to change those decision points. Some of the other factors, such as the relative aggressiveness of AutoSense 5.0 in insuring “comfort” (processing environmental sounds out) play a factor but molds and REM are not going to affect that, either.
I thought Speech Enhancer with the Lumitys would be the deciding factor for being able to selectively enhance the speech of my soft-spoken wife in quiet environments. But I can hear her very well with my Omnias although perhaps not as clearly over as great a distance as I can with the Lumitys. The Quattros weren’t great at picking up my wife’s very soft voice but the Lumitys and the Omnias both are.
In your own review, you allowed that you had to recharge your aids 20 to 30 minutes extra to get through your day, you didn’t use the myPhonak app much at all but could rely on AutoSense and the Automatic program, etc. So, in a way, you at least acknowledge several of the items that were important to me.
A major light bulb that went off in my head was in going to a neighborhood social event several months ago where an older woman remarked she’d been wearing Costco HA’s since 2014 and she really liked them. Obviously, powered by disposable batteries. And she’d been wearing the same HA’s EIGHT YEARS. So, DING, my brain told me right then here I am wearing rechargeables, doomed to a 5- or 6-year lifespan before the nonreplaceable batteries wear out. So, a good part of this purchase is just to buy a set of disposable battery-powered HA’s that is “good enough” that it will always be available as a backup years from now (my Quattros are rechargeable and already in a downward battery spiral).
Here’s a test. With both the Lumitys and the Omnias, I can make out just about every word in this noisy lunchtime restaurant conversation. The noise level is at the same decibel level as the male and female guests and the waitress. I consider this a great performance by both hearing aid brands. The file is on my personal Microsoft 365 business account, and it should only be playable, not downloadable (it’s a .WMA audio format). I invite anyone else with a different brand of HA other than Lumity or Omnia to also give the restaurant conversation a try and see how you make out. When both HA brands already give a stupendous performance with this difficult noise situation, I don’t see how further refinement is really going to make one an order of magnitude better than the other. The Omnia is quite good enough for me, even though the Lumity might be modestly better in sound quality, but that’s not all there is to a hearing aid and its ecosystem. The Roger On could be a decisive factor for the Lumity, but for the amount of use I’d put it to, it’s not worth spending all that moola… My living environment is much quieter and simpler than most folks.
Not sure the link will work on the HT forum. Streaming to your HA’s directly will work best unless your computer sound system is very good. The audio in stereo and the female guest voice is pretty hard to make out over the noise.
https://xml-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/jimlewis_xml_onmicrosoft_com/EYxVGif264xGmxjDsjx0MAYBwFA7VMmC5ovxlqH8uOY0ag?e=3gOq2D