I would say yes and no, but certainly, Phonak Lumity 312 battery-powered was the missing piece of the puzzle in the Lumity family, until Phonak introduced it to the market in February 2024. Read more to learn who might and should be interested in battery-powered Phonak Lumity 312 versus Phonak Lumity rechargeable.
Recently I helped a patient out of Philipins choose Phonak Lumity for a monaural fitting (single-sided deafness). The patient needed management of his hearing loss on one side only. Thanks to him for inspiring me to write this article.
What are the differences between Phonak Lumity 312 and Phonak Lumity rechargeable?
Phonak Lumity 312 is smaller in size compared to the Phonak Lumity L series. Phonak Lumity 312 is IP68, so in terms of water and dust resistance, it has the same rating as the other members of the Lumity family although it has a battery door. More importantly, it lacks the following features compared to Phonak Lumity rechargeable:
It doesn't have the double-tap functionality
It doesn't automatically detect the movement of the wearer to switch between front-focus mode when the wearer standing still, and omnidirectional when the wearer starts walking.
What are the tap control and motion sensors in the Phonak Lumity L series?
The Tap Control feature allows users to activate popular voice assistants, answer or reject calls, or even pause or resume audio streaming by simply tapping on their ear. Phonak is using the new motion sensors to power the feature. It means that you can do more with your hearing aids without worrying about the buttons. It is only available on the rechargeable version of Phonak Lumity.
The Lumity range offers motion sensors onboard the rechargeable versions. The motion sensors are used to help the hearing aids understand if you are in motion. If you are in motion and having a conversation with someone, the aids understand that and change how they work to help you hear them better. Again, this is only available on the rechargeable versions.
Who should consider Phonak Lumity 312 over Phonak Lumity rechargeable?
In my opinion, the following group of people should consider Phonak Lumity 312 as it can offer more benefits than Phonak Lumity rechargeable:
Long-term investment - Those patients looking at their purchase of Phonak Lumity as a 5 to 10-year investment better consider the battery-loaded version of Phonak Lumity. The reason is that the rechargeable batteries used in Phonak Paradise and Phonak Lumity can degrade in about 2 to 3 years forcing you to send them to Phonak to replace the batteries. That would cost you 2-3 weeks of not having the hearing aids, and about £200 to £250 cost every 2-3 years.
Single-sided deafness - The two features that Phonak Lumity 312 lacks compared to Phonak Lumitty rechargeable have little to no effect when fitted monaurally. So my recommendation is to save a bit more flexibility with the battery-powered version.
A lot of streaming - Again, if you do a lot of streaming or Zoom meetings your Phonak Lumity will be drained faster with its classic Bluetooth. This may put you in a position where the run time of a fully charged Phonak Lumity starts degrading in around 2-3 years from the start. My recommendation to high-streaming users is definitely to consider Phonak Lumity 312.
Severe to profound hearing loss - Same as above the batteries of Phonak Lumity hearing aids will be drained faster when they need to pump more sound in the ear canal for the patients with severe to profound hearing loss. That means faster degradation. Unless you are prepared to invest in a new set of rechargeable batteries at about £200 to £250, you are better off with a battery-powered Phonak Lumity 312.
Patients with irregular work schedules - If you work in a very irregular work or lifestyle then charging your hearing aids routinely may become a pain in the neck. This group of people would include nurses and medical team, flight attendants, young mothers, those travelling a lot for work or leisure and so on. My humble advice is that battery-powered Lumity would make your life much easier.
Is Phonak Lumity 312 as water resistant as Phonak Lumity rechargeable?
Yes, the rechargeable and 312 battery versions of Phonak Lumity are IP68 water, moist and dust-resistant. Having a battery doon in the battery version of Phonak Lumity does not make it a lower-grade hearing aid when it comes to water and dust resistance.
What are the general features of Phonak Lumity hearing aids?
UltraZoom Premium: UltraZoom is the adaptive multi-channel beamforming technology, which improves speech intelligibility within noisy situations.
Dynamic Noise Cancellation: User-customisable noise reduction that is active in very noisy situations
Speech Enhancer: Boosts soft voices in quiet situations helping you hear them better.
EchoBlock: EchoBlock improves the listening experience in reverberant environments like large assembly halls, places of worship and rooms with reflective surfaces.
Tap Control: Activate Google Assistant or Siri, answer and end phone calls, and pause and resume audio streaming, all with a simple double tap on your ear or the hearing aids (only available on rechargeable models). Only in rechargeable versions.
Motion Sensor Hearing: Powered by an ultra-low power motion tri-axial accelerometer that delivers better hearing than ever while on the move and in conversation (only available on rechargeable models). Only in rechargeable versions.
New StereoZoom 2.0: Stereozoom 2.0 enables better speech understanding from the front by 16% in a noisy environment. The SpeechSensor feature combined with StereoZoom 2.0 will also deliver 15% better speech understanding from the back and sides.
New SpeechSensor: An automatic feature that is designed to provide 360-degree speech detection adjusting the aid's microphone modes to ensure that you have more access to speech from the back and sides.
SoundRelax: SoundRelax cushions otherwise unpleasant impulse sounds without affecting speech clarity or causing unnatural perception of other sounds.
WindBlock: WindBlock utilizes a wind identification and classification system, that automatically and adaptively suppresses wind noise.
Real Ear Sound: Real Ear Sound simulates the performance characteristics of the pinna (outer ear). This restores localisation and the ability to experience natural sound perception.
DuoPhone: Improves understanding on the phone by automatically streaming the caller's voice to the other ear, so that the voice is heard in both ears simultaneously.
SoundRecover2: The next generation of SoundRecover further improves audibility and utilises an adaptive frequency-lowering algorithm.
What are the different technology levels of Phonak Lumity 312?
Please see the following tables for Phonak Lumity technology levels and features that the user could have at each tech level.
Table 1 - Phonak Lumity AutoSense programs
Table 2 - Phonak Lumity additional manual programs
Table 3 - Phonak Lumity features
Table 4 - Phonak Lumity features (continued)
What are the improvements in Phonak Lumity over Phonak Paradise?
Please see the following comparison table that illustrates the improvements in Phonak Lumity over its predecessors.
Where best to purchase Phonak Lumity 312?
Phonak Lumity can be purchased at Specsavers, Boots Hearing and other local and independent audiologists. Please see the best price of Phonak hearing aids on HearingNow.
I have a pair of Phonak Lumity hearing aids, how do I insure my hearing aids?
Please see this link for more guidance on hearing aid insurance.
Update, August 2024:
In August 2024 Phonak released Phonak Audeo Infinio, a new technology platform for its hearing aids with a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) and deep neural network (DNN). The premium version of Phonak Infinion called Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio had a dedicated chipset to manage AI processing for optimum speech intelligibility in noisy environments. Please follow this link to learn more about Phonak Audeo Infinio.
References:
Please do not hesitate to contact us or request a call back or book a free online consultation with one of our audiologists if you have any questions about Phonak hearing aids.
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