Tried a different headset and it was better. So I also ordered a new one to try. I’m on PC based calls much of the day. Both of the ones I have are “on the ear” but there was a difference. You may be right about how they react to straps or pads, but I used that headset for years with no feedback. I also tried unvented power domes and it had no impact on feedback. Every dome was about the same.
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Perhaps the different positions of the microphones on the Lumity, its shape and material composition (reflectivity, etc.) is enough to make a difference.
@JordanK Two new mind bogglers to report–I went to a noisy bar with my husband who has normal hearing. He was sitting across from me at the table. I could hear everything he was saying, but he asked me several times to repeat what I was saying. Finally I asked him if it was noisy. I could barely hear the noise in the bar, but could hear everything he was saying, and he couldn’t hear me! WOW!
Next was Subway (sandwiches). I have always had trouble hearing the person making the sandwich when I order because of the plastic partition between us. I always rely on the fact that I’ve been there countless times and I have memorized the order of their questions–bread? Cheese? Toasted? etc. This time I could actually hear what they were asking! Such a small thing, but big to me because it’s been decades since I’ve been to Subway and have been able to hear when I place my order!
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Hi @jonifoz
That’s exactly what I am experiencing. Every single day I hear something weird and I realize that it’s not weird…it’s just something I haven’t heard in a while. Its ranges from mechanical noises in the house to people speaking behind me, etc. It’s not always perfect. The biggest challenge so far seems to be situations where there are multiple people speaking in close proximity. The Lumity hearing aids can deal really well with background noise and clatter in a restaurant but if there are multiple conversations going on really close to me, the Lumity hearing aids aren’t sure which conversation is the one I want to focus on and it usually picks the loudest speakers.
I’m now almost 5 months using the Lumity hearing aids and I am still super happy. I have worn hearing aids for many years and have cycled back and forth between Resound and Phonak. I can honestly say that the Lumity hearing aids are a cut above anything else I have tested or purchased. They are spectacular.
Even the rechargeable batteries haven’t been as big of an issue as some on this discussion forum have made them out to be. They do last at least 18 hours each day and once or twice a week I have to drop them into the charger for 30 minutes if I have had a very heavy streaming day. Not all types of streaming chew the batteries. The fastest drain occurs when you are streaming Teams/Zoom/Skype calls where you are listening and talking at the same time. This is the biggest battery hog. When you are just listening to audio on your iPhone or watching TV through the TV Connector, they drain quite a bit slower. The other trick is to TURN OFF bluetooth on devices when you are not listening to them. This seems to save battery power too.
Very happy Lumity is working out for you. Keep posting observations.
Jordan
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Hi @JordanK. I have had Starkey, Resound, and Siemens over 30+ years. I agree, nothing compares to my Lumity aids. I consider the rechargeable batteries a convenience. I watch TV through the TV Connector, and I don’t do near as much streaming as you do. I have never come close to draining the batteries empty, but I do notice more of a drain on days I leave my bluetooth on, even if I’m not using it.
I love seeing your updates and hearing about your discoveries.
Joni
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Just to inject some other reality into the discussion, when I was trialing both the Lumitys and the Omnias, my wife and I had dinner in a VERY noisy Chili’s bar with ~bare surfaces everywhere. We sat at a high bar table on high bar chairs in the center of the bar with a speaker constantly blaring directly overhead and lots of clatter of dishes and silverware and conversations in the background everywhere. So I’d say the signal-to-noise ratio was very bad. If I sat next to my wife (around a corner of the table, two connected sides), I could hear her with either hearing aid reasonably well. If I sat across the small table, about 3 to 4 feet away, I couldn’t hear her very well with either set of hearing aids in my ears. I wasn’t wearing occlusive molds for the Lumitys. That might have helped them do better and ensure better directionality. I think that’s a sine qua non for great hearing in noisy situations if you have good low-frequency hearing, as I do.
I think if you really are going to be in a very difficult noise situation with any brand of hearing aid, there’s no escaping that you will need a remote mic. Anyone who doubts that should view Dr. Cliff’s videos on how a remote mic can provide a SNR enhancement of up to 25, whereas an SNR enhancement of beyond 5 to 8 or so for HA’s gets dicey. All these reports are subjective in that the exact noise situation is not nailed down, but I’d certainly say in the Chili’s restaurant situation, I was up at the level that no HA could deal with the noise in that bar. (it would be interesting to see how real-time AI processing of sound such as discussed in the following thread: Restoring speech intelligibility for hearing aid users with deep learning can handle such situations. Perhaps that considerably enhances the inherent SNR limits of HA’s). The hearing tracker ratings of how various HA models handle speech in noise also provide another opportunity where you can actually listen to the test recordings of various brands and get a sense of how relatively good any one brand might be without actually trialing the brand (the best way in the end).
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Yes, I understand the point that there is a limit in terms of SNR that current technology cannot help with. However, there are improvements with every iteration of a HA. I think these improvements help - and they matter. 25 years ago I could not go into a bar (with analog instruments). If music was on louder than 70DB everything was drowned out. 15 years ago, it was possible, but a struggle and I could not make out speech with clarity. 5 years ago it was a lot better, speech was delivered with clarity but I still had problems in noise. Now, it is a lot lot better. Yes, if it is 80DB and I am in a group - it is not a solution, but I can at least talk to people side by side or in front of me - even if I struggle with the group. As Jordan says, the HA cannot zone in on the talker of interest.
I am excited but I am also sceptical about hearing tracker ratings - because I don’t yet understand how they model the real world scenarios and how they know how to interpret the efficacy of each aid in terms of what comprehension will be delivered. It’s one thing to remove noise, but if the signal of interest is also removed, then comprehension doesn’t result. Therefore for me, anecdotal reports, subjective as they are, are very important.
If deep learning restores intelligibility then those who came up with it should be given the Nobel prize for science. That would be amazing.!
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According to Abram, the hearing tracker ratings are based on a human reviewer listening to the BEFORE and AFTER recordings. But still, there is quite a bit of subjectivity and relative memory (and good hair day, bad hair day attitudes?). I still like the idea of being able to hear the BEFORE and AFTER recordings (can’t remember the exact setup).
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Seems like Lumity (and Omnia) both do a good job of removing noise when there is a single speaker. The issue I’ve noticed is that the directional microphones get mixed up when there are multiple conversations going on from different directions. Dr. Cliff should try testing both of these scenarios with his testing setup. First test being one speaker in noise with the speaker standing in different positions around the test dummy. Second scenario should be multiple speakers standing around the test dummy while there is noise in the background. This is the true “torture test” for all hearing aids and is the best estimate of how the hearing aids will perform in crowded restaurants.
The interesting thing is that my old Phonak Audeo Q hearing aids had StereoZoom 1.0 which basically focused the front microphones narrow and forward when in extreme noise. That meant you had to be looking at the speaker for the hearing aids to be effective in extreme noise. The new version of AutoSense 5.0 is way more sophisticated in that the microphones can now move dynamically in noise to allow you to focus on conversations coming from the side or back. This works fantastic provided there isn’t another loud speaker nearby speaking from a different direction. It solves the issue of hearing someone sitting beside/behind you in a noisy environment (i.e. driving in the car or talking to someone on public transit). It just gets mixed up with there are two or more loud speakers with their speech coming from different directions.
Jordan
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Jordan… I’m glad the lumitys are working out for “YOU” … Please do not say that myself and the others who have voiced there displeasure over battery life have made a bigger deal out the rechargeable batteries than should be… because in my honest opinion the lumity battery life is FAR below what it should be compared to other brands… also you have a routine that fits your lifestyle and in previous posts you have said you put your HA’s back in charger everyday for about 30 minutes and now you say only once or twice a week… which is it… this forum is to discuss ALL the good and bad of each brand of HA not to nitpick about others who disagree with you …
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I think it’s important to keep in mind that Jordan’s previous HA’s were the Quattros, and since all three of us (Ureout, Jordan, and me) have been Quattro users in the past and have at least trialed the Lumitys, I hope we’d all agree they are a big step up from the Quattros. And I can really understand Jordan’s enthusiasm. If they had a bit longer daily runtime, I might have chosen the Lumitys over the Omnias. But I didn’t want “planned obsolescence” of a rechargeable battery after I’m out of my warranty period, which I experienced with my rechargeable Quattros. My audi actually asked which HA I thought was intrinsically better, and I told her the Lumity (and she seemed surprised, although she told me she fits most of her patients with either Phonak or ReSound HA’s, while she carries 5 brands!). But I didn’t think the Omnia/Lumity difference was anywhere near as distinct as Jordan finds it, and I wanted all the other stuff you get with a MFi HA plus the longer runtime with a size 13 battery and the much better Smart 3D app. The myPhonak app has considereable power, maybe even more than the Smart 3D app. It’s just much slower and clunkier by comparison. And I can’t control or adjust my HA’s from my Apple Watch like I can with the Omnias. Maybe Jordan’s streaming usage has changed since he first got his Lumitys and that’s affected how often he needs to recharge during the week?
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Hey @Ureout
Not sure I deserved your salty comment. I’ve spent quite a bit of time helping other people on this forum by posting my own very detailed personal observations. I think it’s a given that everything EVERYONE posts here are their own personal observations and experiences. I don’t think anyone is confused by that and most people know that what works for one person’s hearing loss and lifestyle might not work for another person. That’s why everyone should find a good audiologist who can help them test many different hearing aids and then figure out what works best for them.
I will say that I’m sorta sick and tired of the way a few people here manage to ruin every useful discussion thread by diverting the topic into an argument about the evils of rechargeable batteries. If you don’t like rechargeable hearing aids and they don’t fit in with your own lifestyle…don’t buy them. There are lots of other options.
Just to clarify on my own personal observations about the battery life of Lumity…
I’m a busy executive in the IT industry. I get up at 7 am and put on my hearing aids and rarely take them out until midnight when I go to sleep (17 hours). I typically stream 4 hours a day during the business week and quite a bit less on the weekends. I stream to my iPhone, my work laptop (using Microsoft Teams and Zoom), my Peloton exercise bike and my TV via the Phonak TV Connector. On heavy streaming days (usually 2-3 times a week), the batteries just barely last until the end of the day so I typically drop them into the charger for 20 minutes when I shower after a workout. On low streaming days, my Lumity hearing aids are at about 20% when I finally take them out of my ears at midnight.
The ideal setup would be a battery that gave the Lumity hearing aids the same run time as Omnia. Omnia is able to last 30 hours because it utilizes Apple’s MFi protocol which consumes less power than Bluetooth Classic. That being said, the Lumity hearing aids work so much better for me than any other hearing aids that I have tried that the slight inconvenience of having to top up the charge for 20-30 minutes a few times a week is inconsequential. I buy hearing aids to hear better and Lumity gives me a huge lift with speech comprehension. That’s really the only thing that is important to me and many other hearing aid users.
Make sense?
Jordan
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I think since battery technology is an important feature difference between Lumity and Omnias and the thread was started as Omnia vs. Lumity features, it’s pretty hard to escape battery runtime, long-term battery lifetime, etc., as a differentiator and say that the only thing that matters is sound quality. I agree with you that posts should avoid talking down other posters, although, unfortunately, that sort of thing happens in a number of threads on this forum from time to time. Thanks for all the great information you’ve provided about the Lumity. I found it very helpful.
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Thanks! I knew you’d chosen the Omnias but wasn’t positive why. I was thinking it was battery related, but wasn’t sure. Thanks for reading my mind. 
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Btw, about batteries (sorry, Jordan 
): I realized that my Lumities use more battery in loud environments (when the Speech in Loud Noise mode activates) than if I stream over Bluetooth. Yesterday, spending 5 hours in a very noisy pub sucked up 40% of the charge.
I agree that rechargeable batteries are a great disadvantage with the Lumity but I love them anyway as my priority is speech understanding in any situation. And they charge up very quickly, as a 15 minutes charge can give you back 20% of juice.
So I’m not so worried about battery ageing, because getting the habit of charging them 20 minutes would give them enough power to last for the rest of the day when they’ll be very old.
There is an excellent proverb for this situation:“it is a small flock that has not a black sheep.”
I have been following this forum for some time and every day I read everyone’s posts and learn new things. At the same time, through the comments, I’m starting to get to know the people who write here. I notice, as in real life, there are good people and less good people. I want to thank you for your fairly objective comments. 
Don’t care about mean people.
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On this occasion, considering that no one has the courage to say STOP, I dare to write to some (especially one) who only know how to write offtopic, hate the Phonak brand and worse, launch unfounded accusations against those who wear Phonak or who express their opinions objectively. I’m sick of them. Is there really no moderator to warn them? Every day one is looking for attention and followers for his brand. In almost every topic, he praises his brand (even if it has some flaws) and for him the other brands are nothing. Unbelievable! Because of people like him, this wonderful forum can lose many users. Sorry for this off topic message but someone had to write this. I have been patient too much!
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The solution is to mute whoever you don’t want to hear from. Click on your avatar in upper right corner. Then the little person icon, then Preferences, then move to far left screen and click on Users. Mute whoever you want. Modrators have taken a pretty hands off approach so this is the best option.
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I put one poster on ignore and selected a timeframe of forever. It’s so nice not to see those posts that litter just about every thread.
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Thank you for speaking your mind. Spoken very well. I feel the same way. It’s ashamed this member derails and tarnishes this fine forum. So many come here for unbiased information about hearing aids and hearing loss.
I too wonder how moderation allows it to continue.
As mentioned the ignore function is available but that’s not the right answer for those looking for a forum to learn from. The new members just don’t know the difference.
Thanks again for sharing.
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