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.
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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
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Thanks, @user1186. That’s a question I put to the audiologist who carried out my second assessment: How will I know a particular hearing aid is best for my loss? What are the criteria for making the right choice? I’m not sure there’s a straightforward answer as hearing loss is a wholly subjective experience. What was it about the Phonaks that made you decide they weren’t for you and the Specsavers Elite a better choice?
I think the only way is to trial different ones and see which ones you like better. My first audi told me the Lumity were best and anything else would have inferior quality of sound. However, as the Specsavers Elite were $3,000 cheaper I figured it was worth trialling them too. For me personally, I preferred the sound of the Elite (rebadged Signia Pure). The Lumity sounded too sharp to me, I was bothered a lot by sounds like my footsteps etc. I know this is something you have to get used to, but it was noticeably less of an issue with the pures. I also at times felt disoriented (maybe from the focus beams changing?), I have never noticed that with the Elite. This may have been a setup issue but I don’t think so because the audi was very accommodating and experienced. I was also attracted to the Own Voice Processing of the Signias, which has helped a bit but there’s not a huge difference in my opinion. Also, specific to me, I am a female in my 40s and I have long hair. My hair interfered badly with the Lumity to a debilitating extent and this is almost a non issue with the Pure, I can only assume due to the location of the microphones. The Lumity had amazing features and app functionality, but I find I need to tweak the Elite much less often so I don’t really mind that the app is basic. The only way I would say the Lumity was vastly superior was in terms of Bluetooth connection and streaming sound quality. However, as this is not a priority for me, it was worth the trade. Best of luck with it all.
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Thanks again, @user1186. Some really useful things to consider when I start trialling my first HAs. Sadly, my days of luxurious hairgrowth have long gone, so that won’t be an issue for me! 
Gary
A lot of differences that people experience from one brand of hearing aid to another are just programming differences that get a lot smaller when the devices are matched using real-ear measures. Additionally, clinicians get to know you and your preferences over time, and often if one brand isn’t working out and you move to another, when they set up the new ones they apply all the things that they learned about you from the first ones immediately, which makes it seem like the second set is better from the get-go. And then on top of that, your brain adjust over time to sounds you haven’t been hearing, so it’s also difficult to know from the start if, for example, the distortion that you hear at the high frequencies (if it’s not in the hearing aid, but the clinician should be able to listen for it) is something that will calm down over time as your auditory system re-adjusts, or whether there’s just too much damage in certain spots and gain needs to be limited in those areas. So yeah, apart from making sure a hearing aid has all the special features that you might need, there isn’t necessarily a “best” hearing aid. You just need to go for it.
The Audeo Slim sound is the same as the Audeo L90-R Life. The life is chunkier and a bit more waterproof. In both cases, it’s not impossible but it is unlikely that a dome will be optimal for you, and you might want to ask about custom tips. Phonak claims that their embedded custom tip is not compatible with the slim (you can still get a slim tip), but I can’t imagine why and I’ve just ordered them separately and put them on without problems other than having to hack about with the software a bit extra. Either choice may limit your power (and stable gain at the high end) a bit realtive to a BTE.
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My hearing loss is in the range of severe to profound. I recently was fitted with Phonak Audeo Lumity 50 hearing aids. I have been very pleased with them. I can hear the TV (Without any additional equipment.) I can answer my iPhone by tapping the hearing aid and the sound is streamed to the aid. Best of all… I can hear my wife!
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Thanks for this, user1166. I’m now seven days into trialling the Phonak Lumity 90s and am slowly getting used to the experience. Still need a few tweaks to the settings to improve the quality of the sound but so far things have been reasonably positive. As @Neville mentioned in an earlier post, it’s definitely more of a journey than a qiuck fix.
Gary
I know this is an old thread, I am new to the forum and just wanted to share my experience and maybe get some constructive advice on the above topic. I currently have Phonak Audeo M30R in both ears, purchased in Boots UK in Jan 2019, and have been very happy with the service received. Recently I had my annual assessment, and they said that my hearing had deteriorated quite a bit from one year ago, and referred me to my doctor for further investigation. No further info yet. Hopefully the Audiogram result is visible to you. They suggested that the Phonak Lumity 90 would be a better solution for my hearing loss, and that advances in hearing technology has advanced since 2019.
I have had to have mine adjusted quite a few times in the last year, and I’m still struggling with TV, in car with female grandchildren (ages 17 and 21), and loud places, especially with womens voices. The adjustments have meant, as explained to me, that the ‘tinniness’ has increased to enable me to get more clarity of speech, volume is fine.
I decided to go to Specsavers to compare results and advice. Basically they have given me more or less the same advice, and recommended the Advance Elite 72 (£1000 cheaper than Phonak 90).
They also said it was a Phonak Lumity 90 with a Specsaver logo and uses the same wire and ear domes etc as Phonak. I read on here though, that someone said that is not the case? Just wanted some clarity on that.
Also they have offered me 100 day no quibble return if I think they are not suitable for me, they also said I could try out the Phonak Lumity 90 for four weeks at no extra cost to compare if I want to, and choose either to pay the extra, or carry on with theirs. Any thoughts or advice, there is no pressure from them at all to take theirs or any other hearing aids, I just have to cancel the appointment if I change my mind. It all sounds good to me, it’s just that why would they say they are Phonak if they aren’t?
Yes. It’s not the Phonak Lumity 90. It’s a Unitron Moxi V-R which is a rechargeable from the Vivante range of Unitron.
I was sold one a couple of months ago and was told it was the Lumity 90. But there were a couple of giveaways. The app took me to the Unitron website. The aids look exactly like the Unitron Moxi V-R!
Still. I was not worried. For a few reasons. Firstly, it sounded very similar to my previous KS-10, which is the Costco version of the Phonak Paradise. Secondly, it has the Sword chip, which is the same as the Lumity. Thirdly it connected to all my Phonak devices, including the TV Connector and Roger oN iN. Finally, I know that Unitron is a sister company of Phonak, both under the Sonova parent company.
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Hi,
Thanks for replying. So do you find them to be ok, even at that price. I suppose the plus is, if they are not suitable for me, there are options.
Yes. They are good aids. The price (£2000) and the 4 year guarantee makes them a very good deal. It also makes sense that the aid is compatible with any Phonak devices.
I think the 100 day trial means you have nothing to lose. Also if you are used to Phonak and they work for you then it’s worth looking at.
Of course, there are other options but maybe not cheap - like the Oticon Intent. Unfortunately Specsavers don’t sell them as they had a bust up over their contract with Oticon. At least that’s what the audiologist told me.
Specsavers are doing Signia and Philips but I’m not sure if they are available in the cheaper Advance range.
Do you know if they are V3, 5, 7,or 9? Thanks
I really don’t know but I believe they have all the features. So they should be a 9.
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Unitron and Phonak are the same, everything just has a different name, they share the same accessories as well.
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Are they locked? either from Specsavers or Boots?
Yes. They are locked (with Specsavers anyway) I tried connecting using Target. Did not find the aids.
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The white label stuff often is, the proper branded stuff usually isn’t.
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Just out of curiosity, did you try Unitron TrueFit software.
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No. I have no knowledge of it. Can it be downloaded?