Slightly better in normal everyday situations, but much, much better for speech in noise. Sorry if I wasn’t clear about that.
@billgem, would you go so far as to say that, for you, the Holy Grail of great speech-in-speech-noise performance has been found? I think that’s what many of us here, certainly myself, have been searching for with only limited success.
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@Bill, I’m having trouble getting my imagination around what “speech-in-noise” scenarios you’ve trialed Whispers in. The two examples you mentioned in your first post are different from my definition of “speech in noise” - mine would be something like telling fish stories with my friends (who own a medium-sized commercial mechanic’s shop) while loud work goes on all around, in a reverb-filled, cavernous shop filled with sounds ranging from impact wrenches, to grinders, to popping tire beads, etc.). That’s where I had my first “WOW” moment with my aids, when I switched over to my Speech-in-Noise program.
Without trying too hard to force equivalencies, can you tell me how Whisper has performed for you in a similarly noisy situation?
Yes, for me it has. 
I can’t invent situations, Jim. I don’t spend time in machine shops. I don’t think that even normal hearing people do well with harsh machine noise. In fact a lot of people wear headsets in those situations so their hearing won’t be damaged. I do spend days at home when yard equipment can be ear splitting and Whisper handles that much better.
The company specifically talks about helping users handle restaurant mouse better. I was recently in a full banquet hall with 80 people and I could hear normal conversation at my table great and some at other tables as well. I spent today in a hospital where acoustics are terrible. Whether it was in crowded hallways or a noisy cafeteria at lunch time, I had no problem hearing. I’ve only had these HAs for 5 weeks and am retired, so there are limits on my range of exposures.
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@billgem: That’s fine, Bill. (I’m not trying to irritate you, but I have never attended a kids’ soccer game - never had any!)
The banquet example is a noisy situation that I can connect with. I can imagine cafeteria and hospital noises, too. I rarely go to restaurants, but I drive old vehicles out of necessity. Auto garages are more familiar to me, and my HAs have to allow me to function in that milieu.
I wonder if you can chronicle some kind of A/B/C comparison of your hearing experiences going forward, Bill, especially if you encounter difficult environment scenarios, then share it with us as you go.
A. With the Whisper brain.
B. With only the Whisper ear piece, but with the brain turned off.
C With the OPN 1 that you currently own.
A description of your environment, like indoors or outdoors, if indoor, whether there’s a lot of reverb inside due to high ceiling or not, how crowded the place is, and how noisy the place is, what kind of place it is, etc. Whether it’s noisy due to lots of people talking, or noisy due to background music, or due to mechanical noise like fans or tools or cars, etc.
It looks like @d_Wooluf has created another thread to discuss non-performance issues for the Whisper on already, so to keep this thread going with performance-specific discussion, it’d be great to document and share that level of details with everyone.
And of course anyone else who is trialing the Whisper (I think @x475aws so far for now) who’s willing to share their experience here via the A/B/C format above (with C being whichever HA they currently have) would be greatly appreciated as well.
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I should be able to start next Friday.
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Yes! What do I have to lose but $75 for the fitting?
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The more the merrier! It can only be good for all of us if we can get more and more anecdotal experience from more folks who try out the Whisper.
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The audiologist who carries the Whisper in Austin has a mobile office (i.e. she travels to people’s homes!)
!)
I’m sure that if she can afford a complete mobile set-up, she’s prolly driving a Tesla, so yeah, no sound.
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Tomorrow will be a week since I got Whisper. I’ve been wearing them exclusively. My wife says I appear more comfortable than when I’m wearing my Quattros.
Overall I’m hearing speech better, in random interactions in stores and in the building where I live (store clerks here, and people in my building, are still masked). Decided to go out to eat today, partly to see how conversation went. Didn’t get into the nice restaurant we had planned (it’s Sunday, and eating out is back) and ended up at the diner next door. Small place where the main noise challenge was the kitchen, a few feet from us. Conversation was easy, no straining. Conversation on the walk back to the car, with traffic noise on a main road, was also easy.
So overall I’m pretty pleased. There are issues, like some feedback, the music program needing adjustment, and app problems. I’m confident that they’ll get resolved. Next scheduled visit to the office is a week from tomorrow.
I heard about Whisper through an email from my audiologists’ office. They’re a very ethical and service-oriented and busy organization that sells all the major brands of hearing aids, and this was the first time I ever received any marketing material from them. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t promote a product that wasn’t in their patients’ best interests. So I started out more inclined to believe in Whisper than most people on this forum.
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@x475aws: Thank you for posting your experiences. I hope you don’t mind my asking 2 questions I have.
- At what point does a sound scene become so complex that the Brain must be deployed? and
- How well do the earpieces perform on a stand-alone basis?
[Bill’s narrative suggests to me that if I were to be able to get by using the earpieces alone for a good portion of the day, I’d be assured of always having enough “Brain Power” to get through my 18+ hour days.]
[Addendum: I realize, too, that there may not be cut and dry answers for these questions, but I’m sure that Whisper must have provided you with some guidelines. That’s all I’m hoping to understand - just the general “instruction book” operation guidelines …]
The Brain can be charged while in use. Its charging port is Micro USB, so I suppose you could attach a power pack if you’re moving around.
Right, there are no cut and dry answers to your questions. The user manual doesn’t give any guidelines.
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My successes and disappointment from today’s errands. Comparisons are to same situations with my Quattro aids.
At the counter-serve burger place, I heard the masked female cashier’s actual voice, sounding just as I’d expect, giving me the total price and asking whether my order was to stay or to go. Usually I assume she’s saying that, and answer accordingly.
At the supermarket deli counter, I heard the masked male clerk’s actual voice, again sounding quite natural, asking “what can I get you?” and “anything else?”. As opposed to assuming he’s asking something like that and going ahead with my order.
At Trader Joe’s, the masked male cashier wasn’t the usual TJ’s friendly type, and didn’t greet me before he started tallying my groceries. At the end I think he threw me a “thank you” or “have a nice day”, but I didn’t catch it. So that was disappointing, but it wasn’t really an interaction.
Edit: Just realized that I’ve been going around with volume setting, on the app, of 2 or 3 out of 10, where the default is 5. That’s good for comfort at home, but might affect speech comprehension outside. As long as the Brain isn’t restarted, it retains the volume setting. So turning off the earpieces doesn’t reset volume (and program) to default.