Wind noise with Phonak Marvel

Yes, I may have to consider using them.

www.gearforears.com is the place where I got them.

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Speech in Wind is available but only in the PREMIUM M90 and the ADVANCED M70 versions of the Marvel:
(click to expand image)

@Zebras has pointed out that I previously posted about the wrong HA’s. M90’s, V90’s, it’s all the same to me! I have corrected the text and image of my post. Thanks, Zebras!

Source of link: see my 2nd post below

BTW, strictly ignorant suggestion here relative to my experience with Quattro’s. Don’t know if it has anything to do with the way Windblock works with the Marvel V90’s. With the Quattro’s although wind noise reduction is available under Sound Enhancer in any of the basic programs a provider would typically set up for a user, according to ReSound’s Audiology Online course, wind noise suppression works best when the HA mics are set to omnidirectional mode in the Outdoor program and one mic on each HA is set to listen to noise that occurs for one HA but not the other (wind noise) and that noise is specifically suppressed. Just suggesting Phonak users look into whether Windblock works better with some default programs than others. I don’t remember reading about this upfront in the Quattro manual and was surprised to learn about it in the Audiology Online course. Would be great if Phonak Windblock works well no matter what basic program you use-or maybe Autosense is smart enough to detect wind and switch to the program(s) that suppress wind best?

V90 is not the Marvel. V90 is Venture.

I can’t see it on the Marvel range.

Sorry about that. The right page for the Marvels, which does does show Windblock for the M90’s and M70’s is at this link and I will update my post above, noting that you corrected me. Thanks! :smiley:

https://www.phonakpro.com/us/en/products/hearing-aids/audeo-marvel/features-audeo-marvel.html

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WindBlock and Speech in Wind program works a totally different way.

OK. 3rd time is the charm! :smiley:

Maybe the answer is that Phonak feels that they’ve reduced wind and hair noise SO MUCH in the redesign of the microphone inlets for the Marvels that they no longer need a special Speech in Wind program. That any sort of suppression that was specifically engineered FORMERLY into Speech in Wind has been taken care of by the HA redesign and by having wind noise reduced by Windblock (like what would be the difference between Windblock and Speech in Wind, except that Windblock’s so aggressive it takes out speech and Speech in Wind is smarter and more conservative?).

In the following March, 2019, Audiology Online course, Phonak says the microphone inlet redesign has dropped Marvel wind and hair noise 5 dB below that of the Belong model line. (see under Fig. 1 label and also much further down under Microphone Inlets)

In this February, 2019, Audiology Online course about the Marvels, it’s mentioned that Binaural VoiceStream Technology is back and it’s used in a bunch of speech vs. noise enrichment functions, including speech in loud noise, speech in 360 degrees, or speech in wind. But I get the idea that whether or not there is a specific Speech in Wind Program, the BVST in the Marvels is supposed to maximize speech recognition, including when there is speech in wind, unless that is an ignorant line by the instructor that she just recollects out of the past.

(see under Fig. 1 listing for BVST or search page on that)

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@jim_lewis I’m not very good at explaining so I copied and pasted.

So what makes this different from other wind noise cancellers? Firstly, it’s a binaural and not a monaural system meaning that it uses both hearing aids to communicate with one another. They work together to deduce which side has more and which side has less wind noise. Once known, the speech signal is relayed from the hearing device with the better SNR to the one with the poorer SNR.

But it’s only the low frequencies that need help, right? The low frequencies are most affected and it’s these that need to be replaced on the more affected side. The high frequencies are usually unaffected by the noise, allowing the hearing aid to keep these separate, untouched and intact.

As we can see, it’s not only the wind noise that’s attenuated (i.e. providing comfort) but it’s the better speech signal transferred to the poorer side that enhances speech understanding in this challenging acoustic environment. The maintained high frequencies allow localization cues to be retained.

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I wear glasses and have no issues with the Ear Gear socks. gearforears.com

Thanks for all the contributions, it’s all very interesting.
One question I have is if the wind causes your aids to become very noisy, do you notice a significant reduction in the noise? My experience is the noise continues with no reduction at all.

I don’t notice a lot of wind noise reduction with the outside program on my KS8s. However there is a significant reduction with the Ear Gear “socks”. Not sure if the Outside program can be adjusted to reduce the wind noise any more than what it is.

Wind sucks through hearing aids. It’s better than it used to be. I find experienced users are more impressed with new wind programs because they know what the old ones were like, new users are not because even though it’s better than it used to be it’s not great.

I wonder if it makes a difference how occlusive one’s fit is? With an occlusive fit and Resound technology, I’m usually not bothered by wind. So I’m not hearing any low frequency components of wind directly to my ear drums and the wind/noise reduction of the HA’s otherwise does a good job. Focusandearnit liked ReSound’s wind suppression, too.

Really? I thought it blew. :rofl:

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FWIW, I’m wearing a pair of IICs and wind is never an issue. I can even comfortably drive with the windows down

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My lockdown exercise walks were disturbed by wind noise when I was wearing my NHS Danalogic hearing aids. The only solution I found was to wear a hat with a flap that came down over the aids. A hood also worked but with the disadvantage that the movement over the ears caused its own noise. The Ear Gear covers did not stop the wind noise.

I also had problems hearing dialogue on some TV films so I decided to spoil myself by buying Phonak Audeo Paradise P90-R hearing aids. After reading the marketing material, webinars, youtube vieos and all the glowing reviews online I thought all my hearing problems would be over. During a walk in medium wind I found the top-of-the-range Phonak aids were no better than my free (to me) NHS aids. Having read about the wonders of AutoSense OS 4.0 and all the other programs I was dissappointed that the whooshing noise was worse on the Phonak.

After watching the “Speech in Wind” webinar on phonakpro.com I decided to contact Tech.Support@phonak.co.uk.
I asked if they could send me a link or some advice that I could pass on to the audiologist so we could get the latest “Speech in Wind” program added to my aids? The reply I received was as follows:

“As the manufacturer we rely on a network of audiologists and hearing professionals in the UK who are fully trained on our products and software. Your audiologist will already be familiar with how to improve your hearing instruments for use in wind. Please contact them to arrange this. If they do need any assistance this would be at their discretion, and we would be happy to advise them during your appointment.”

I ended up sending 2 more emails and received two more similar replies. I could not see why they advertised an email address for support if they were not prepared to answer a technical question. If my audiologist knew the answer I would not be contacting them. The following quote came from their second reply “Our mission at Phonak is to change the lives of as many people with hearing loss as possible, and we achieve this by creating and supplying ground-breaking hearing technology to Hearing Care Professionals on a wholesale basis.” It was like questioning a politician.

For basic everyday use I have not found the Phonak aids any better than my NHS aids and there is no difference in understanding TV film dialogue without using the TV connector. The definite advantages of the Phonak aids are:

  1. The connectivity, allowing 8 bluetooth devices to be paired and 2 to be connected at any time. Streaming music from my phone is excellent and streamed phone calls are very clear.
  2. The TV connector is the only reason I have not returned the aids because the sound is exceptional with much clearer dialogue.
  3. The aids look much better with the wire instead of the earmould tubes on the NHS aids (The only type available in Wales).

Their tech support link is for hearing aid professionals. That was the pro website that you were on. They want to be nice to you, but they don’t really want to talk to you for a lot of reasons, the primary one probably being that they don’t have the manpower to start answering consumer questions. It’s a big company, but also not a big company.

But yeah, wind sucks for all hearing aids. I like the widex wind noise management the best right now, but It’s still not great. Wind is acoustically really hard to deal with.

I use this to lower wind noise while cycling. Very effective, cost almost nothing.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07RWWQ3K4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

First I make a small hole with a pen style soldering iron. Then after removing receiver dome I slip the foam over the HA. Moreover it keeps the HA firmly in place.

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EarGear is also pretty effective. (basically a sock to put over the hearing aid.)

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