(Right ear: profound. Left ear: severe to profound)
Hi everyone,
This is my reviews regarding the new Starkey Genesis CIC bluetooth and the new Signature series non-wireless.
After 8 years of using Starkey Muse, I thought it was time to upgrade and see how the technology has improved. Once again, I went for Starkey as I accustomed to its sound quality.
High street prices in the UK are a totally rip off and there was no way I was paying up to £4000 for the top of the range aid. My last aid was purchased from Hidden Hearing for £1700 in 2016 and was second tier from the entry level model. This time I researched and found a private audiologist based 35 miles away from me and he also is a professor teaching at De Montfort University in the Audiology department. He also works at Leicester hospital. What a resume and I knew I was in good hands.
From the new hearing test, audiogram has not changed. We first ordered the new Starkey Genesis 24 Al CIC. It arrived and I was already concerned regarding the size. It uses size 312 battery. When the audi fitted me, I could feel it poking out my ear and the faceplate area of the aid was sticking out. Yes the antenna’s now are curved. I was disappointed with the size. It was roughly a bit fatter and bigger from the faceplate area compared to my old aid. I do have small canals; maybe others with bigger canals shouldn’t have a problem. It looked awesome in black colour and fit was tight thanks to the UV coating.
Performance
Bluetooth: I found the bluetooth excellent. For the first time in nearly 8 years I made phone calls with friends and family. The sound was crystal clear and felt like the speaker was talking directly into my ear. Streaming music again was excellent. Didn’t have issue with phone in pocket when on a call or streaming issue. I do have a iphone and was told Starkey aids work well with Apple products.
Battery life
Using size 312, the battery lasted more than 12 days which is insane. I do not stream music or make a lot of phone calls could be a reason for this.
Hearing performance
To the main part. I have been in a quiet world since 2016. Pervious aid the gains were really low in the mids and highs. And also the model only reached 4k frequencies. The Genesis reaches 9.4k but I been told after 8k, most aids taper off. I have really good low frequencies hearing meaning I can hear loud sounds normally but cannot hear no moderate or soft speech. I am a very hard to fit patient
The audi set me on target gain using NAL-2 and I was shocked on how loud everything was. My own voice, his voice, driving the car. The first 2 weeks I struggled. I have not heard this much before and it was over-whelming. But I knew I have to march on as I wanted to improve my life. Since the last time I interacted on this forum, I have been blessed with an healthy son who is under 4 and I wanted to hear every word of his sweet voice.
Slowly day by day, it got better. I understood speech much clearly, one to one speech improved by 90% and I am not asking people to repeat themselves. There is a slight distortion with certain speakers especially with the new found clarity of the high’s. I hope this will fade away once the brain relearns. It may take time as I never had heard high’s before.
Hearing aid capabilities
For the Genesis, the app is great. It enables you to reduce background noise, enable edge mode, less bass or more, mids and trebles etc.
The actual noise reduction is strange. For example, if I am around a lot of machinery, at the supermarket with loud extractor fans and fridges/chillers, it will reduce the background noise depending on how strong you select using the app or what strength level has been selected from ProFit. But if there is a loud sound like a bang, all sound including background noise returns. This may be a software issue which Starkey may fix with firmware updates.
Return of Genesis and trial of Signature
After 3 weeks of using the Genesis, I found aid was slipping out of ear and the fitting was not tight. I also did not like how it prodded out from the canal and we decided to exchange it for the Signature. The Signature is exactly the same as the Genesis but without bluetooth or wireless capabilities. It uses a size 10 battery and has an push button to enable edge mode and change programs. You can also use the t2 remote app to change volume levels or programs.
The aid arrived and yes, it fits my needs. It is much smaller, we also got it made deeper to the second canal meaning despite it being longer than the Genesis, the fit is much better.
I been using the aid 4 weeks now. The performance is same as the Genesis. But I could not live with the loud background noise. No hard of hearing can stand it. This week I set “speech in noise” to the max setting which is 22d noise reduction and finally it works! But the same issue still persists; background noise is reduced but whenever there is a loud sound like a bang, background noise comes back. Then 10 secs later, background noise reduces. It doesn’t make sense why it keeps shifting. I was notified by ProFit there is a firmware update and I updated the aid but I cannot make out any difference. I messaged my audi and he said the Evolve Al had the same issues but it was resolved by Starkey by sending new firmware.
I would give the Genesis 7/10 and the Signature 8/10. I miss the bluetooth connection and the app. I hope Starkey in the next few years manages to make the Genesis more smaller, maybe in the size 10 battery. If they can manage to sort out the noise reduction flutter, then it be a 9/10 from me!
Final note; for someone who has profound and severe-profound hearing loss, these aids have greatly improved my quality of life