So in the near future I will be getting hearing aids, as my hearing has started to deteriorate. The place where I am getting them from either has hearing aids from Oticon and Signia, and non-MfI hearing aids from Phonak that work with accessories called the Roger Partner Mic.
Is there any actual benefit to getting the Phonak as accessibility is concerned, and what would you say the minst useful features and best sound quality among these options are? Thanks for the input!
By Mitchell, 22 December, 2019
Forum
Hardware and Accessories
Comments
mFI or not
Hi,
As I understand it the Phonak is more a universal Bluetooth situation. So you are not locked into iPhone. However, what I hear from those who have tried it, connectivity and latency between the Phonak and iPhone are problems and make it not a comfortable experience at this time.
mFI aids are typically more responsive. I use Starkey Livio AI and they connect when my phone unlocks very quickly. (For what it is worht I understand Starkey has started supporting Android's equivalent hearing aid support so you are not locked into iPhone. I however do not know what other manufacturers are doing this yet but in theory it will resolve more of the issues going the generic route Phonak does over time.)
Jonathan Mosen wrote a blog article about his experiences and I encourage you to read that if for no other reason than to get ideas of what to consider. I don't have the link but Google will find it.
As for sound quality this is subjective and lagely dependent on your hearing. You can also trial different models and since this is your first pair, you may find the extra work worth your time. I used to use Phonak, this is before mFI was a thing, at the time Phonak served me well. Each manufacturer uses a slightly different sound processing algorithm as well, so one may work better for you than another
Lastly, AppleVis is a good place to ask as you have done. Even more users are on the blind users hearing list and I think you'll get even more help there. You should be able to subscribe in the usual manner by sending mail to blindhearingaidusers+subscribe@groups.io