Has anyone had either a good or bad experience they care to relate with the Widex passion 440 BTE HA? I live in the US so it is not the clear model which has not been released yet, just the passion.
I recently purchased the Widex Passion 440 BTE’s. I can only say I love them. I was determined to purchase CIC type of aids and tried two different ones but to no avail. The occlusion problem was so bad I couldn’t stand them at all.
Not wanting to give up I finally tried the Passion 115’s and was very pleased. The only reason I finally ordered the 440’s was they had more features and more remote control programs.
I can tell you I couldn’t be happier. They sound so good I forget they are in at all. Some of the other models would accent the high’s that I was missing so much that I noticed it all the time. The Passion 440’s do such a good job I just don’t notice them after while. I am very pleased because I was just about to give up.
Being a newbie I can’t compare to other brands or models but for me they are wonderful.
I have had the widex passion 440s for one year now and I was trying to find out how they compare to the hearlens by Starkey. I do like the 440s but would like to have “invisible” aids. The 440s are better than the oticon deltas I had before, and sound is in no way distorted. The are very good for music. I tried phonaks smart, but musics distortion was very bad. I have the remote control feature and this is very helpful for some circumstances especially meetings seminars or one on ones where people have soft voices. My ear piece is a problem. Nothing would stay in. I have upside down thimbles in my ears. They come out too and the microphone slips through on one side and I have to push it back. But, for sound quality, they are very good and I have tested a number. Still, I am intriqued by having ivisible aids, which the Starkey unit is supposed to be.
Before I got my Passion 440’s I tried the Starkey OTOlens which is completely in the ear and invisible. They sounded great and you could not tell I was wearing a HA at all. There was just one problem, occlusion. They sounded great as long as you didn’t speak. Hearing your own voice as if you had your fingers in your ears wasn’t cutting it for me. Also when I would chew something even slightly crunchy it was so loud I had to stop to hear someone speak. I too wanted very much to have these completely in the ear and out of sight and nothing hanging on your ear but after trying two models of the CIC I gave up. Maybe the future holds some promise of improvement as I like the concept but I just feel the technology isn’t there yet.
Thanks for the comments. I just got my Widex passion 440s today and so far so good. They are much, much better for sound than the phonak smart ix’s. The sound is slightly better than the agil pros for me with voices being slightly more distinct. They are more cosmetically appealing than the oticon agil pros and fit to my ears much better, with a thinner receiver wire that is less noticeable. The only issue is that there are only large and small pre-made open domes, no intermediate which would probably be the best fit for me. The smaller ones produce more occlusion echo so I am using the larger ones. However they are the softest,most flexible domes of any model I have tried yet and the larger one does fit despite the fact that I have relatively narrow canals, but my ears are a little sore after wearing them for 9 hours. I like the remote control and am using the acclimatization and comfort settings which I like. I ate in a restaurant tonight and had no trouble hearing although the primary setting picked up a little to much ambient noise, it was fine in the acclimatization mode. The TV mode helps a bit with the TV but every other sound in the room in this mode is just loud and annoyingly high pitched. Do either of you have any usage tips? Thanks
I too am getting used to my Passion 440’s. I am playing with the remote control but must admit I don’t use it much during a normal day. I do take it to restaurants and experiment a bit to try and eliminate some background noise. The accumulation mode seems to do pretty well but I must admit I can’t notice much difference. When I am at home I sometimes use the TV mode when I am having trouble with certain programs. It seems like only a few programs on the TV give me problems with speech but there must be something about the way they mix the sound with certain programs that gives me trouble. So I use the TV mode and it helps. The only problem with that particular mode it you can hear a nat fart 30’ away. It makes the HA’s very sensitive and you can hear every little thing in the room.
Soooooo it seems to be a constant feeling my way along as I adapt to this new way of life. Over all I am very happy with my Passion 440’s. The other day I was playing golf, while I was taking my practice swing I noticed the distinct swishing sound as the club went through the grass. It was a sound I had forgotten I was missing. Great to have that back.
Just an update in my third week with the passion 440’s. I found them excellent in noisy restaurants and could hear just about everything said at my table despite great noise around us. Of the 3 aids I trialed this is the only one I can actually use at work which is a very acoustically challenging enviornment. Word clarity much better for me than phonak or oticon and the sound is more real. The wire is very thin and the aid so small most people I meet usually don’t know I am wearing a hearing aid unless they look closely or I tell them. Road noise in my car is less with these than the other 2 aids I trialed. Walking on the street the comfort setting really cuts out a lot of the harsh traffic noise. I find the Zen program somewhat relaxing late at night as well. The TV mode I find just too annoying to use due to echoing that occurs. The music mode is a bit better to listen to music with than the other settings. Wore them to a very loud Elton John concert and by putting them in and having it set on the comfort setting (at a very low level) the sound was not as painfully loud as with the aids out. Love the remote and the ability to change the settings so easily. The only issue I had was that one of the domes got stuck in my ear and I had to have an ENT take it out. I learned a valuable lesson that you need to ensure each time you insert a RITE aid you need to check that the dome is firmly on the receiver. By the way the ENT told me she saw this all the time and once took 3 domes out of one person’s ear.
Thanks for the imformation ,Captain ,that you went from Otolens to widex passion 440s. I am apprecating my 440s even more, and for the present will probably stop thinking about havingt “invisible” hearing aids. In short, it will be effectiveness of the hearing aid over vanity.
Just a little bit surprised that most of the people here are for widex. I agree 100%.
I am and live from/in Spain.
Because I cannot afford to work without my hearing aids (communication matter), I decided more than one year ago, to have two pairs of aids, then I bought: 1- widex passion 440 BTE, very expensive in my country, and 2- phonak Audeo Yes IX BTE, it was much cheaper in here and I bought it as a spare. I acquire them in two different places from two different audiologists.
Sound quality is much better with the widex without any doubt, though I always thought it was due to the audiologist. But now, after reading this post, I am starting to think that it could be the trademark. So it just raises the big question: Are all brands of digital aids the same? 
Nevertheless I disagree with some comments here, my understanding in noisy places is far behind normal, sorry to say, with both aids brands. Though in noise, widex also outperforms phonak.
Brian thanks for the comments but they come from the heart. I have a huge vanity issue and don’t want my HA’s visible in any way. However at the end of the day it is about being able to hear better and I finally realized that if I truly wanted to hear better I must be a little more open minded about my goals and current technology. I truly believe the technical innovations are moving fast and in the near future we will be able to achieve quality hearing and have it less noticeable. My 440’s are great because if I don’t point them out no one notices them at all, however I will continue to pay attention to new improvements and innovations. That is why I will watch this board and pay attention to any improvements as they come about. I am excited about my hearing improvement and look forward to the future to see what is in store for us all.
Cactus, One thing I have learned this year is that all digital aids are not the same, as each company uses different algorithms to reproduce sounds and people may find one particular brand better than another. No hearing aid is as good in noise as normal hearing, but for me the widex is the best so far. Your issue may be due to your own hearing deficit or the way your brain is wired, but I would suggest going back to your audiologist to see if he can adjust them for you to be better in noise.
Hello,
Interesting posts. I am trying Widex Mind 440s, custom hardshell earmolds. I had Widex Senso for 5 years with the open fit eartips. Occlusion became very bad, and I tried several tulip style eartips and a soft custom eartip to no avail.
The audi I have ended up making a new earmold, very deep in the canal. He is convinced that the Mind 440s are what I need, although I will try the Clear Fusion 440s next.
Anyway, for me anyway, the audi’s fitting skill to make that custom earmold, as deep as possible, was key to eliminate the occlusion.
I relate to some of the earlier thread comments, i.e. the climatisation mode to tone down the traffic noise or loud overhead fans in some grocery stores, and that the tv mode picks up so much extraneous noise.
I have the CIC but was well used to the BTE with my earlier HA and would not have any concerns about either style now.
Good luck with yours.
Lynn
Sorry my ‘english’, but I will know is Passion 440 better or much better music- and speech-sound -quality than Passion 115?
I have now Passion 115 and they hear good for me. For me Passion 440 is ‘little or much’ coustly than 115. Passion 115 pay nothing for me, but 440 maybe little over 2000-3000 €…
Hi everyone!
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Suhana
Clear 440 is launching in the States in two weeks
This is an option well worth considering