Specsavers UK Advance Elite or Phonak Lumity 90

[Gary_S]

I have a hearing loss than I haven’t really done much about until recently. I visited my GP for a consultation and assessment a couple of years ago and was fitted with a single NHS hearing aid. It made absolutely no difference to my hearing and after a few weeks I simply stopped wearing it. I should have gone back to my GP practice at that point, but didn’t.

Last week I booked an appointment at Specsavers for a further assessment, encouraged by my partner who is getting increasingly exasperated by having to repeat everything! This was a much more thorough assessment and I’m considering which hearing aids will best suit my needs. I struggle to hear the TV, especially when there is background music or sound effects over the dialog. Listening in the car is difficult because of road noise. Family occasions are challenging when there are multiple simultaneous conversations. I haven’t been to the cinema, theatre or a concert for some time. I imagine these are all familiar issues. Bluetooth connectivity for streaming Microsoft Teams meetings, TV and mobile phone calls (Android) is appealing. I mentioned this to the audiologist and she suggested I consider Phonak. I was looking at the Specsavers Advance Elite but only have their star rating to go by rather than the detailed model specs. Browsing through the forum I see mostly good reports about the Phonak Lumity 90, which is available from Specsavers. It’s a jump in price from the Advance Elite but I’m happy to pay a reasonable difference if the Phonak aids will deliver an improvement in my hearing and quality of life.

From my audiogram does it look as if the Phonaks would be a good choice? Specsavers offers a 100-day money-back guarantee, which is reassuring, but I’d like to trial a set of hearing aids that are likely to be suitable from the get-go rather than a pair that is unlikely to offer much if any improvement.

Any advice would be very welcome.

[glucas]

I think the Advance Elite is the white label Unitron equivalent of the Phonak Lumity 90. If this is the case then it should match the performance of the Lumity and would save you £800 or so.

General advice - try them in very noisy environments. If you stick with Specsavers, might be worth comparing with the Phillips 9040 and Signia iX.

Try and get Real Ear Measurement (REM) performed on the aids.

It sounds like you had a really bad experience with the NHS. My local audiology dept is pretty good. I have Oticon aids and REM was performed on them.

Otherwise, the Lumity 90 is an outstanding hearing aid. But only if it works for you!

[PeterH]

Your hearing loss, according to your Audiogram sounds worse than your description of your loss. Both ears seem very bad, and I wonder why you were only issued with one hearing aid??

Personally, I’d steer clear of Specsavers, as they lock their hearing aids (as do the NHS), and the NHS aids are free, and often at the same spec as the Specsavers Elites, which are expensive.

The audiologist is more important than the actual hearing aid model, as one that spends time fine tuning them, will help you most.

I’ve had NHS aids until early this year, but I wasn’t getting the best out of the service, so went to a private audiologist. I had to buy new aids, (I chose Phonak Paradise) and the audiologist cured everything regarding TV and crowded rooms.

Peter

[kevels55]

Welcome to the forum @Gary_S Thats a fairly hefty loss, for a RIC aid (Receiver In Canal). I would be inclined to go for a BTE… I’m not surprised you are struggling unaided, its going to take some time for you to relearn sounds/speech! Basically from, 750hz to 6khz, you are in the severe/profound threshold, and as such you will still struggle in moderate/loud background noise, even when aided…I don’t know if Specsavers do REM (Real Ear Measurement) if so, please request it… A BTE with custom moulds, will give you a richer & fuller sound scope, Phonak have just released their Phonak Naida Lumity 90 UP BTE with 675 batteries, 10 to 14 days run time depending on how much you stream? Also available from Boots Hearing Care for £2995 for the pair, fully fitted… I pick up mines next week…Good Luck in your choice, Cheers Kev

[glucas]

Think frequency lowering could be used here to address the 105DB loss in those high frequencies of the OP.

[michael1]

I think this loss looks like a Naida case @Neville
My local Boots are asking £3400 for naida lumity up. Are you getting a special price @kevels55 ?
If you do go to Specsavers tell them in advance you want rem, it might save you some time.

[kevels55]

Yeah @michael1…TBVH and upfront, I am getting a £600 discount, I am not sure exactly why? But if past experience is anything to go by, Boots always do some kind of promotional discounts, could be a loyalty discount? I bought my last 2 sets at Boots, Marvel 90 RIC’s & Paradise Naida 90 UP BTE’s. This time round, they are allowing me a free trial/assessment, with no upfront payment, which in my book is a no brainier They asked me… And if I like them, I will probably be asked to do a review, I will not get them for free, but they will probably knock something off that £2995 price quoted, hopefully… In truth, what you see, is what you get from me, I have no intention whatsoever of doing a favourable review, unless these Naida Lumity’s truthfully merit praise, I am not expecting miracles, but perhaps, a subtle improvements over the Naida Paradise UP’s, but who knows, they might be a big improvement? Speech in noise is for us guys the “Holy Grail”, any improvement in that direction, then they will be keepers… Cheers Kev

[glucas]

Boots are doing a sale at the moment. I thought they were charging £3600, but now it’s £2995 for the premium range:

If you get £600 off that, then it’s drinks all round on you!

[Neville]

I would probably lean towards a BTE, yes.

But I would also echo what Peter has said–that loss appears to be much more severe than what Gary is describing. Is it right? That loss looks like Gary wouldn’t understand speech at all if his eyes were closed. That loss suggests that most day to day sounds are inaccessible to him. That loss makes it feel surprising that he’s been getting by unaided all this time.

If that isn’t his experience, I might suggest getting a second test done somewhere.

If that IS his experience, then it is going to be a bit of a long rehabilitation road and I’m not sure it matters much which he chooses for his first set as long as it is powerful enough that it COULD hit prescriptive targets, he may take some time to be able to manage that gain. The practitioner will be more important. Something with easy to use accessories would be good.

[kevels55]

Yeah @glucas, that would be nice As @Baltazard says, every little helps! Especially if you are a pensioner… I am looking forward to picking them up next week, I will start a thread once I have them… Cheers Kev

[kevels55]

Hi @Neville, thank you for your professional input, as always, Tis very much appreciated on this forum… Personally, I can have a rudimentary conversation unaided, within certain limitations, it all depends on whom I’m speaking to, it has to be fairly quiet, and I have to see their face, I am an excellent lip reader… Cheers Kev

[Gary_S]

Enormous thanks for all the comments and suggestions, very much appreciated. I realise now how much of a newcomer I am to hearing loss and the technology available. This forum has been invaluable over the past few days. To be honest, I didn’t think my loss was that bad. It does take some effort and focussed attention to hold a conversation in a quiet environment and I might not catch everything first time, but it is still possible. Admittedly, I do rely on non-verbal cues (facial expressions and lip movements) to help. Clearly my audiogram tells a different story. Given this, I’ve decided that a second assessment, as @Neville suggests, really ought to be the next step before I start looking at hearing aids. I rather wish I’d asked for advice here before my recent hearing test, but I feel much better prepared now and have a raft of extra questions to ask the audiologist. Thanks again.

Gary

[craftycrocheter]

Why was you only given 1 hearing aid?! Both of your ears are significantly bad. I was given 2. I would try the NHS again before parting with your money. They might be able to give you very good hearing aids that are similar to what you would be paying for (as long as it is not Danalogic because that is all I am given by NHS and they are not the best/always breaking)

[Gary_S]

I really don’t know why I was only given one hearing aid, @craftycrocheter. The GP who initially tested me found a loss of hearing in both ears but then went ahead with just the one aid. I thought that was unusual and said as much, but assumed that’s how an initial NHS consultation went. A little naive, perhaps. He was also very disparaging about referrals to Specsavers or Boots, so everything was handled in-house at the practice. My experience there wasn’t especially positive, and doctors’ surgeries aren’t my favourite places to be, which is why I decided not to return.

Gary

[craftycrocheter]

@Gary_S Your GP tested you and gave you a hearing aid?

[Gary_S]

Yes, that’s right. I was expecting an initial screening and then a referral for a more in-depth assessment. Instead, I was fitted with a single hearing aid there and then. No detailed instructions on how to use it, no advice on or equipment for cleaning, nothing about a follow-up appointment for fine-tuning or further testing. All in all, not a great experience.

I should add that the GP I saw is the practice audiologist.

[PeterH]

Very unusual I must say.

I’ve been referred to Hospital Audiology, and they’ve dealt with me ever since. My GP’s involvement ended on referral

Peter

[Neville]

@Gary_S

To be honest, I didn’t think my loss was that bad. It does take some effort and focussed attention to hold a conversation in a quiet environment and I might not catch everything first time, but it is still possible.

I think sometimes over a long time, while hearing loss creeps up slowly, one can forget what normal hearing is like. People with normal hearing can carry on a conversation across a few rooms, with no visual access, without much effort. They can chat at a noisy pub with only a little more effort. But in addition to that, there are a lot of sounds that are just present all of the time. You wake up in the morning in the middle of the city and you hear the birds singing outside your closed window. The neighbour’s kids in the yard are loud and cute or loud and annoying and their trampoline squeaks. Everything you touch makes a sound, like a keyboard clickity sound or a fabric against fabric hissy sound, or a thumpy footstep sound, or a seashell hand against ceramic mug sound. If you have long hair, it makes a sound dragging against your shoulders as you move. Your furnace and computers and lights make humming sounds that sometimes you don’t notice until the electricity goes off. Your floors creak and the wind blows through everything. Mosquitoes in the room keep you up with their buzz.

If your audiogram as indicated here is correct, you still have good access to low frequency sounds like, say, tires on the road, but the highs are gone. Without lip-reading, the consonants in speech are gone–actually, someone can probably speak quietly not that far from you and you’ll miss it all. Hearing aids will give you back SOME of the sound you’ve been missing, and when they do things are probably going to be loud and sharp and sound like they are all on top of eachother because your brain hasn’t heard them in some time. Have you ever taken an arm out of a cast? Getting the wrist function back bears some relation to how long it was in the cast, some relation to age, some relation to effort, and some relation to the amount of damage that was done in the first place.

I don’t mean to scare you off. I think you were poorly served so long ago when you first got a hearing aid and it has put you in a bad place. I think that the journey you are undertaking now is worthwhile and important. But it is going to be a journey, and the subtle differences between hearing aids is probably not going to make much difference for you for a long time. So don’t worry about that. Find a practitioner you feel good about, who has at least a few years of experience under their belt, be clear to them about your buget and then jump in with their recommendation and do the work with them. Communicate your obstacles clearly and take their advice to heart.

Alternatively, something is funny with the inputted audiogram and your hearing is better than it looks.

[user1186]

Neville has given excellent advice here. I would agree that the ‘best’ hearing aid is only what works best for you. I trialled the Phonak Lumity which I was told was ‘the best’, but it wasn’t great for me. I ended up with the Specsavers Elite (which in my case - Australia - are Signia Pures). The audiologist has been great and I’m very happy with them. They also saved me $3k! They have the 90 day money back guarantee - so not a ‘free trial’ but as good as. Best of luck.

[Gary_S]

Thank you, @Neville. You’ve accurately described the high-frequency sounds missing from my hearing range. Apart from noisy pigeons, most birdsong is inaudible. Violins in a classical concert are, if anything, reduced to tuneless squeaks; the upper notes of a piano all just ‘plink’ identically. Essentially, the colour is missing.

A second hearing test pretty last week pretty much confirmed the results of the first. The audiologist suggested Phonak Slim 90s, which I tried during the consultation and were comfortable to wear. Without a great deal of tweaking, I could notice an improvement to my hearing straightaway albeit distorted especially in my left ear. I’m not sure how these compare to the non-slim version Phonak Life L90-RL, that’s something I’m actively researching.

Thanks again for your comments, @Neville. Very much appreciated.

Gary