Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio: Everything We Know So Far 👀

[@uu3j]

Doctor, I love you from Iraq. I hope to meet you so that I can treat my hearing, which caused me great sadness and prevented me from going out with friends because I cannot hear people 😔💔

[@BrianVallotton]

Checking on this with my hearing doctor today! I have Widex Moments but the Bluetooth is the main thing that I am interested in. It drives me nuts that I am tethered to my phone only. I am a new subscriber.

[@HearSoundly]

This could be a nice upgrade for you if you are hoping to connect to multiple devices! Phonak and Sennheiser are the best at that currently. Welcome to the channel!

[@BrianVallotton]

@@HearSoundly Thanks for the encouragement on my strategy... I play guitar at church every week and I was thinking that for live sound I could always still wear my Widex Moments on Sundays... I understand that the Widex on Music setting are hard to beat. Do you find that to be true? As a Moments user do you think I would be disappointed in the PhonaK sound overall? Thanks for interacting with me. I like your presentation style. Casual and informative! God bless.

[@Brightsparks1960]

Great explanation of the potential of onboard AI processing for HA users. Looking forward to the review as I feel sure this will be a great feature enhancement, with real benefits.

[@HearSoundly]

I’m excited about this one as well! Lots to look forward to!

[@boxof64]

Received this HA today, 1st in my Dr's office!

[@HearSoundly]

How are they?

[@agentred8732]

How are you liking them??

[@efthimis_antonopoulos]

Phonak is so amazing! UNBELIEVABLE Products!

[@Jetboat2000]

Ultimately, people like me that rely on hearing aids will decide whether or not these are worthy of the hype; I hope they are and I am looking forward to a road test.

[@HearSoundly]

Same! I’m very curious to see how these hold up.

[@MartenKruysse-fm9ic]

Sounds promising. How does the AI software affect the battery charge? Is the Sphere Infinio the same size as the Lumity L-R?

[@Pro_User_HA]

I wonder if Phonak extended patients eligibility for MAV receiver (ActiveVent). Until now, they can't have hearing loss in 1000 Hz bigger than 40 dB and in 2000 Hz bigger than 70bdB...

[@eddyblatt]

Great review, as an Oticon Intent wearer (which also has a DNN) what is the difference, is Phonak Sphere chip using AI for noise reduction only, what about directional clarification, Oticon Intent has 4D sensing which I quite enjoy, I turn my head towards a person speaking and the AI focuses on that person, in my (1 week in) experience with Oticon Intent, I can hear whomever I look at more than if I look away from the person, it really works. At the end of the day, I’ll stick with Oticon, but I am still curious of Phonaks new sphere chip is that going to provide more improvement than Oticon for speech in noisy situations, as so far I am impressed with Oticons handling of a noisy room, but it is still requiring me to switch manually to program 2 to get Oticon Intent’s noise reduction benefits?

[@HearSoundly]

Great insights and questions here. Based on what I've read, Phonak is mostly using their AI to focus their denoise program. That might also connect to their approach to directionality as well but I need to dig into this further. The technical difference between what Oticon and Phonak are doing (to my knowledge) is that Oticon has pre-trained their sensors and models using AI and a deep neural network while Phonak is actually running net new AI calculations onboard the devices. It's a nuance that I'm still getting my head around but I can imagine the onboard nature will be big for future breakthroughs in the category

[@albertomainardi4867]

That’s amazing!

[@martymalinowski6352]

So what happens with the current Phonak Lumity product line? I demoed those and the phone interface with my Motorola is perfect, currently doing a Jabra 300 demo that will absolutely not work with my phone. Will the Lumity price drop?

[@williamrieger9904]

I just love how these companies can make you want to spend another 7-8 thousand dollars every two years

[@Jean69100]

I was thinking the same thing. They think money grows on trees

[@rinas.6264]

Yup.....

[@lionmangolf]

You should only spend about 5k per pair & no more than every four years

[@user-fv9mt6pe6f]

What manufactures offer cross over hearing aides. My son has total loss of hearing in his right ear?...and would like to have conversations on his right side transferred to his left side.

[@HearSoundly]

Signia ReSound Phonak and Oticon are the leading brands for this type of device.

[@boxof64]

Question! Curious what the +/- are for a single HA wearer? I’m switching over to Phonak from Oticon. With Oticon I can only turn the volume up (with the right side HA) and have to be tethered to Bluetooth to turn the volume down. With Phonak you have full function (with one HA) on the rocker switch. Also, Bluetooth does not sound great for my type of hearing loss - 50% loss in one ear, I hardly have any bass left (SSNHL). So BT sounds "tinny and scratchy.” Thank you for the great intro and I’m looking forward to your in-depth review. New to hearing loss and a new subscriber! 🎉

[@HearSoundly]

Phonak kept the rocker switch which, to your point, is great for single sided wearers. Bluetooth streaming sound-quality is a tough one since most domes aren't as good at keeping sound in your ear canal as a typical earbud. We'll get into Bluetooth more in the full video.

[@boxof64]

@@HearSoundly Thank you! Looking forward to the rest of your review

[@LouieYumz]

How is the battery life that was the deal breaker for me to pic Oticon. I am in my 45 day window love the sound of Phonak but Oticon battery was the deal breaker I was go to bed on on charge with no charging Phonak I would have to charge them on my lunch break to get a full day

[@jeffer2350]

I have the Phonak L90 Audeo (2023 purchase) Mine had terrible battery life when I first got them, but then they did a Bluetooth update and it has easily made it through a full day without running out of battery charge now.

[@howardlenow]

I haven’t seen Phonak put out anything about the battery life of the new Infiniti Sphere. Do you know how this model is rated?

[@wesnorman]

Does the Sphere Infinio come in CROS? Or is it only available in the Infinio?

[@HearSoundly]

Good question! To my knowledge CROS is only available in Infinio. I’ll get to the bottom of this

[@herbster22]

How are these for musicians, live music playing and concerts??

[@HearSoundly]

Good question! My current answer is based on past experience with Phonak. The key here is finding an audiologist who can set up a good music program for you that limits the distortion of live music. In automatic Phonak hearing aids might detect some musical notes as background noise and suppress them. With the right audiologist that should be avoidable but may take some playing with.

[@jeffer2350]

Hopefully the next model will be an improvement because I have the 2023 top of the line Audeo and do not like using them to listen to music. I have tried to use them in movie theaters and ended up leaving the theater in the middle of the movie because voices were distorted such that I loss information on the plot of the movie. For music, I basically switch to my earbuds and deal with improper balance on the volume (my right ear has much higher hearing loss than left ear). The Audeo works well for hearing voices and does well for phone calls. Bluetooth is okay.

[@nehanagpal1450]

How do these compare to Starkey Genesis AI?

[@HearSoundly]

We don’t have a hands-on comparison yet, but we will be sure to cover this in our future video!

[@hedgetrimmer123]

Do you know whether they use the same receivers - 4.0?

[@HearSoundly]

We will find out. We haven’t heard about this changing but will confirm

[@catfify]

Does the new Phonak Infinio hearing aids contain a T-coil?

[@HearSoundly]

Yes, to our knowledge you can opt for T-coil if you'd like.

[@robertgloverjr]

Does this new "Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio" support the new "Bluetooth LE Audio" standard with Auracast?

[@HearSoundly]

It has the capability built in but not turned on. You will need to go back in for a firmware update in the future when it’s more widely available

[@jeffalfred5785]

Any word on a longer battery charge ? how long a charge lasts...

[@HearSoundly]

We'll find out! Not of the exact specs between Infinio and Sphere Infinio yet.

[@texgirljen1]

16-24hours. Max out at 3 hours of sphere speech in loud noise(can be turned off in Target. )

[@vegasman53]

Yes how much will these retail for .

[@HearSoundly]

Likely 4500-7500 depending on the retailer. We list some partners on soundly.com

[@ChristopherPerkins-ww3bl]

@@HearSoundlyor buy online

[@plastechfish]

Are they waterproof the the Audeo Life?

[@HearSoundly]

The new infinio is IP68 rated which means it can be submerged for up to 30 minutes without impact

[@plastechfish]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@georgephx]

Yup and the battery lasts a whopping 7 hours

[@stevencaseymiller8376]

16 hours. 7 hours if you leave it in background noise mode.

[@konracciesla]

it has a charger, scrap metal, do not buy it anywhere, phonak b titanium for 312 batteries, where

[@aztravelguy]

AI as a marketing tool for anything is a turn off, at least two studies say. As you point out, AI isn't new to hearing aids, nor are deep neural networks. So yes there's advancement in the technology, but consumers are growing weary of companies tripping over themselves to plaster AI branding all over their products. Plus AI is still not fully baked, as many LLMs prove, and why Apple is delaying their AI. Also, I'm disappointed there's no move to LE Audio. Perhaps they decided there isn't enough out there using it (phones, TVs, public spaces) that it wasn't worth the hassle a switch would entail. Though it becomes a chicken and egg situation. Need devices with LE Audio, but need places and consumer tech with Auracast. Someone's got to jump. I'm a die-hard Phonak wearer for about 18 years, ReSound before that. I'm on Lumity for now, and probably will be until the generation after Infineo. Still good to keep up with advances. Any word on battery life improvement, or if disposable batteries return to Audeo?

[@HearSoundly]

Fair points and good questions! Infinio actually does have LE audio and auracast capability built in but not activated. You will have to get a firmware update to unlock that in the future. The line from Phonak is that they are focused on connection tech that people can currently use. I think they feel good about their Bluetooth classic connection style.

[@kalebanderson6564]

@@HearSoundly is the bluetooth connection just as good? Or are there some drawbacks to it?

[@Pro_User_HA]

​​​@@kalebanderson6564, 6 time more power of Bluetooth, which gives 2 times longer distance and more stable connection.

[@mariaj9235]

you have to ask for disposable battery unit.. I have Phonak Audeo on batteries. At times I have to be in HA 16-18 hours and recharable will not do it