I have been wearing hearing aids for years because I have a moderate hearing loss. They have mostly been NHS hearing aids but back in November I got some private ones to see if they would be better. The ones I chose were the Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio I90 (Yeah, that’s a mouthful.) The reason was that they were described as “game-changing” in reviews due to their AI noise-cancelling capabilities. In this post I will write about my experiences with them so far.
Firstly, let me tell you a bit about them.
Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio
The Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids were launched in August 2024. They are the first hearing aids in the world to have a dedicated deep neural network chip, called DEEPSONIC, to reduce background noise. So they have 2 microchips inside them. One is a normal one, and the other is for the AI. According to Phonak, which makes them, they can reduce background noise by 10 dB, which is a lot.
They are quite bulky compared to normal hearing aids. A bigger battery is needed to power the two chips inside them. But this is not a problem for me. Also, they are waterproof, which is cool, but I haven’t tried wearing them in the shower yet.
As I said, the reviews for them have been mostly very good. Here’s a summary of reviews which I generated from ChatGPT.
My experience
My experience with these hearing aids has not lived up to the hype.
I have read loads of reviews that say they are amazing and even life-changing, but that hasn’t been my experience. When the AI chip kicks in in noisy environments, it’s supposed to be very noticeable, but I don’t notice any difference from when it’s not running. To me, background noise still overpowers people’s voices too much.
There is a phone app called MyPhonak where you can manually decrease background noise and change various other settings. I found that doing it that way decreases background noise noticeably, which is great when I am at a football match. However, it can also distort voices. It would be helpful if it did it automatically and kept voices clear and loud compared to the background noise.
The AI is supposed to make people’s voices in noisy environments crystal clear compared to background noise, but for some reason, it’s not happening for me. I find it difficult to understand what people say to me when I wear them in noisy environments like pubs and restaurants.
My audiologist has changed settings many times and will probably have to change them many more. It’s frustrating because, judging by all the reviews I have read, they seemed really promising. He uses some software to change settings on the hearing aid, and there is a lot that they can change using various sliders and buttons. I don’t think he has had a lot of experience with the infinio sphere hearing aids. So it seems like it’s a case of trial and error when changing the settings.
Some really credible reviews, like this one from a deaf audiologist, say that the hearing aids really do help them. So I’m not sure what the problem is for me. Maybe they need to change some more settings.
Maybe it is the type of earpiece or mould. I first had little dome earpieces, which sit in the ear canal, but they kept needing to be pushed in. So, I asked for actual moulds, which I believed would stay in my ear better. However, they were even worse! The moulds I received were too small, and there was nothing to hold them in my ear, so they kept sliding out even more frequently.
So, I’m currently waiting for bigger moulds. Hopefully, these will stay in my ears better and I will hear better sound.
I bought the hearing aids from Specsavers audiologists and had 100 days to try them. Within this period I could have given them back for a refund if I wanted, but I decided to keep them. I am still hopeful we can get them right. I do get free appointments and modifications to the hearing aids so that is good.
Conclusion
I’m disappointed with how the Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids are working for me. I want it to be “game-changing” for me too, just like it has been for other people. But so far it’s not. I will persevere with them, however, because I still hold out hope that they will help me once we get them right. I will see what it’s like when I get my new ear moulds back and I will probably have to go and see the audiologist again for more tweaking.
Hello Alex, thank you for sharing. I have somewhat of a similar story. I received the same hearing aids just about 3 weeks ago. Before making my decision on which to purchase, I did some research on the internet. Based on all the reviews, the Phonak Sphere’s seemed like the correct choice. However, I am very much in agreement with you, they have not lived up to the reviews. It’s only been 3 weeks, but with all the ‘tweaks’ the Audiologist has done, the Speech in Noise, 2nd dedicated AI chip, with millions of sounds to compare and realize when I am in a loud environment, does not appear to be kicking in. Just had another ‘tweak’ to them yesterday, so we’ll see. But at this stage, I’m thinking either they are defective, or the people doing the great reviews are getting something in return for saying how great they are and they really are not. I would love them to work as advertised, so I am trying to be patient and give this latest ‘tweak’ a chance to get them to work. After my next visit to a loud restaurant, if the ‘Speech in Noise’ does not kick in, I will request them to honor the return policy for a new pair.