I haven’t posted an update in a while about my Lumity L90-RT hearing aids so I thought I would share a short update.
I have now been wearing these hearing aids since Sept 2022 (4+ months) and I am still extremely pleased with my decision to buy these hearing aids. No…I don’t work for Phonak and I’m not a Phonak shill. These hearing aids are really spectacular when it comes to understanding speech in a very wide range of conditions and nothing I have ever worn comes close. I have tested Lumity in many different hearing situations and I continue to be amazed at how well Autosense 5.0 works in just about any environment. It’s not always perfect but it significantly better.
This last weekend I flew from Toronto to San Francisco to spend the weekend with some of my high school friends. Flying is stressful for hearing impaired people because you have to deal with all kinds of speech issues in a variety of noisy situations. The airport in particular has always been a bit of a nuisance because you are required to communicate with a variety of people as you arrive at the airport and eventually board the plane. Canadians travelling to the USA clear USA Customers in the airport in Toronto so you have to speak with someone at the check-in counter, then at security and finally at USA Customs before heading towards your gate. Once at the gate, you have to be able to hear the boarding instructions and flight departure information. All of these things are a struggle for hearing impaired people and not all hearing aids deal with these challenges well. That being said, Lumity passed with flying colours. I had no issue understanding anyone at the airport. This included people wearing masks and announcements over the PA system at the gate. Once on the plane, I had zero issues understanding the stewardesses or any of the announcements during the flight. The whole thing was a breeze and I didn’t have to change programs or adjust the hearing aids even once. I was super thrilled because flying has always a challenge over the last number of years.
The other thing I have been able to figure out is that the rechargeable batteries in the Lumity hearing aids are fine. I have come close to running out of batteries on a few days over the last four months but I haven’t actually completely run out. On days where there is minimal streaming, the batteries never run down below 25% - 30%. On heavy streaming days, I don’t get much more than 17 hours of battery life so if it looks like it’s going to be a long day with lots of streaming, I avoid battery issues by dropping the hearing aids into the charger for an hour while exercising, showering, reading, etc. One short charge at some point in the day gets me through the heaviest of streaming days. For me, this is 4-5 hours of streaming and this only happens a few times a week.
What I have noticed is that listening through the hearing aids alone doesn’t chew up battery capacity. The Phonak TV Connector doesn’t chew power either. Most of the big drain comes from Bluetooth Classic streaming for use cases that involve BOTH audio and the microphones on the hearing aids. Basically Zoom or Teams video calls, etc. This is where I see a big drain and the need to top the charge in the day. I don’t even think this is a design issue with the batteries or hearing aids. Bluetooth classic is just a battery hog but the huge benefit over the Apple MFI standard is that you can connect these hearing aids to just about any Bluetooth enabled device without having to use an additional connection device. It’s basically a tradeoff that could be fixed in the future if Phonak and the mobile phone companies support the Bluetooth LE audio standard.
The complaints about the myPhonak app being difficult to use are somewhat warranted. Truth is…I rarely touch the app because AutoSense 5.0 handles just about every situation quite well and I never need to fiddle in the app. I only go to the app to mute the microphones or to check battery life and every once in a while I go to the app to check my listening stats for the day/week. AutoSense 5.0 is really good and this has diminished the need to adjust with an app.
Other than that, I am happy with my purchase. Hearing better is the ONLY thing I care about. I am more than willing to put up with a tiny bit of battery anxiety if it means less stress in noisy situations. Everything other issue is secondary to hearing better and Lumity certainly delivers on that promise.
That’s my latest update. Happy hearing.
Jordan