yes. contacting him soon. Thanks
You use phonak Bolero B-SP?
No @fontez, I predominantly use Phonak Naida Lumity 90 UP BTE’s, using NAL NL2, fitting formula. I also am most fortunate to have other aids, Marvel 90 RIC’s, with 105db custom receivers, Naida M70 SP BTE’s, and Paradise Naida 90 UP BTE’s, I occasionally rotate all these aids, for a few weeks at a time, each set of aids has 2 x Roger X License’s (03) installed, all the Licenses came from 1 second hand Roger Select iN, that had a very dodgy battery, which I replaced… Cheers Kev
I will be interested in hearing of your experience with Phonak HAs and Roger On device. The best of luck in getting a good fitting, device activation, and then quick use of the 2 apps you will need.
Another item I use a lot is Google Meet for all my meetings. It now has good closed captions in most languages (83 at my last count). I operate great with the good sound thru Roger Device dirct to my HAs (a bit more stable than Bluetooth on my equipment), a good image to lip read and have other visual queues, and closed captions. It seems like a lot but actually just the Closed Captions are what is extra as compared to f2f meeting in a quiet spot. Probably MS teams and other services can do something similar.
Trial Xceed 1 now. Words comprehension is still poor. Meeting friends in bar and restaurant for a drink but understanding of words is around 50-60%. Will trial Phonak BTE P70 soon. Have to learn a lot from the master @kevels55. who is familiar with Roger & Phonak.
CI is not suitable for me now.
Thank you for the kind words @danka… In all truth, I am no master in anything, just someone with an inquisitive mind, whom loves to dabble… In many ways, I appreciate that I am most fortunate, I could not afford to buy all the Roger devices, I have, well not new! But it is nice to be able to purchase them second hand, try them out, and hopefully pass on that relative information, to folks on this forum… That can save folks, time and money, especially if you buy within the grey market, but given the price difference between new and used, for some folks, the used market is their only option, as they’re priced out of the retail market… And let’s be honest, the prices changed by Phonak, for Roger ALD’s, are way over the top, they are taking the proverbial P!$$, but most shameful of all, they charge those exorbitant prices, on the back of folks disabilities, not only do they suffer in silence, they are being fleeced by Phonak/ Sonova in the process! Phonak could easily make these Roger ALD’s more affordable to the HOH masses, thereby elevating the stress created by hearing loss, and our inability to communicate effectively… Instead they hike the price up, effectively pricing the vast majority out of a better listening experience, shame on them!!! Cheers Kev
Soon enough we will get rid of all these old fashioned ALD ‘s.
The problem is not if they are working, they are more or less perfect tools. But at the moment you’ll have to ask yourself if it still is a good investment.
Airacast is coming up that fast now that it want be long and these devices will be all obsolete.
If you have the capable HA’s to connect the accessories you’ll need, don’t have to be high tech to do the same job with the recent available BT protocols.
So bye buy Phonak Roger.
You’re exactly right here Kev, especially since the Marvel range included “Roger Direct”. It would cost them absolutely nothing to have the software license included. They could still have fleeced non-Phonak users, but they choose to fleece us all (or at least try to)!
Yeah Peter, there is a fair bit of deception going on, as most folk reading their (Phonak) blurbs, are under the elusion that any Roger can connect to Marvel/Paradise/Lumity… Phonak tell them, all these aids have built in Roger Direct, but conveniently neglect to tell them, they will need 2 x licenses in order to do so, at £350 a pop… IMO, that’s deceitful, as most folks, have laid out a large chunk of their disposable income on buying their aids, only to be hit by a double whammy of forking out more, for licenses!!! And of course the Roger Roger ALD’s… R&D costs would have been minimal, as the US Military would have paid for much of the early development of Roger… Activating Roger Direct in all Phonak devices would have been a generous gesture to the HOH world, instead it highlights what Phonak is really all about, making as much money as possible, and thereby exploiting folks disabilities… They have no shame!!! Cheers Kev.
Yeah @Emile030… I am ever hopeful Auracast will bring many benefits to the HOH world, but it doesn’t appear Phonak are equally enthusiastic about Auracast, Phonak don’t do freebees… They have already stated (In press releases) they won’t be releasing Auracast for the foreseeable future, this is the largest manufacturing hearing aid company in the world, and unless they can find an angle for exploiting us guys, then we can take them at their word! Cheers Kev.
I have an app’t on the 19th to get in to my audi and have her add the “mute” function to my Phonak Lumity Life aids. From what I understand, MUTE is not the same thing as the aids being OFF.
So if I can just MUTE the aids, since they’re paired + connected to the Roger ON iN, I should get 100% sound from the Roger device only. I think that may the solution for me to hear in noisy places. Granted, the Roger has a very tin-sounding, harsh, public address system kind of quality sound, but still, if I was able to comprehend SPEECH in those noisy places better than just using my aids in the “Speech in Loud Noise” dedicated program, I’d use it!
Exactly. Muting the hearing aid mics so only the Roger mics are providing sound should give you much better sound and better hearing in noise.
I would ask your audi to work on this at your appointment. The Roger sound can be adjusted separately in the Target fitting software.
WILL DO. Part of my frustration here is that I have to spoon-feed the suggestions to my audi, otherwise they won’t happen cuz the audi is not trained on Phonak accessories.
Phonak does us customers a HUGE disservice by selling top-performing aids and accessories with ZERO customer support set-up assistance. For every pair of aids or accesory sold, the company owes it to themselves to help the customer understand how to USE these things.
They could offer a half-day workshop once a month to walk us through features and address issues. Instead, we have to quack into the vacuum here and hope someone has experience or knowledge to steer us in the right direction.
Thanks for your advice!
Once again, I believe that Phonak has the best customer service in the industry. However, their service model is to work through their network of trained audiologists. They just cannot, and should not, be expected to deal directly with some of the individuals and some of the issues raised here.
Now if you use Phonak aids and accessories and use an audiologist who is not trained or knowledgeable about them that is a problem, but not a problem that Phonak customer service can resolve other than perhaps referring you to a different audiologist.
We in Asia are at the mercy of the Audi/Clinics because of our understanding of HL. Many of the seniors are not particulars about their HL as our livestyles are simple. The kids or grand children look after them. They just go the coffee shop nearby for their daily foods and chit chat with their firends. UK & USA are advance in their understanding of HL. Many of the veterans have HL due to the war or nature of their works.
Tinkering with ALD and one generation lower HA’s will help us a lot. Asia is a low-income countries ans could not afford the high end HA’s.
Learning from you during the golden years is very enjoyable and interesting.
Looking into the possibility of CAD of making my own acrylic or plastic ear mold using the existing molds for 100dB mic or Phonak BTE. If not possible, just buy silicon and mold one out of it. Maybe go handicraft shop to ask for help!.
Cheers Dan
Hello Dan, I very much appreciate your input, and yes, I would imagine, it is extremely difficult in low income countries to get any kind of service or indeed basic hearing aids, there must be millions of folks in Asia whom would benefit from hearing aids, unfortunately they are priced out, by sheer economics… That brings home to me, how fortunate we are in the west, we have choices, and you have none or very few options… That makes me sad! I don’t have the answers, but you have my extreme empathy… Hearing aid manufacturers could do a lot more for Asia, if they wished, there is a lot of perfectly good aids, that probably end up in the trash, why not recycle them, to where they might be highly appreciated? Unfortunately, the world isn’t a level playing field, those that have, and those that have not, grows rapidly, and ever distant… Take care, cheers Kev.
Phonak has local area reps and they will help with hard cases or where the audiologist is not trained on a function. Your audiologist has to schedule them.
You could also mention that you would love to stay with your audiologist if they get fully trained and up to date. This month.
Yes! I agree that Phonak can not sustain one-on-one support for every customer’s needs. But my dream is that someone (either affiliated with a hearing aid maker or not) start a business that charges MONEY (yes, I’d pay!) to service & support my Phonak aids and accessories. Like the Best Buy Geek Squad. No house calls needed. Just put out an email invitation to learn all about the Roger mic, or how to pair + connect to multiple BT devices. Or when to see an audi if the fix requires Target software (or even better, training classes so WE can install and use the software ourselves - it can’t be rocket science).
Take a look at this thread, it’s a good start1