Lumity or Lumity Life, that’s the question

Choosing a hearing aid is no simple task.  Even when you’ve narrowed down the brand to Phonak, one of the biggest and brightest brands out there, there are still so many models to choose from.

By far, the most popular Phonak hearing aids are the classic Audéo Lumity, and its “waterproof” version, the Audéo Lumity Life.  Many people ask us, what is the real difference between these two hearing aids.  The answer lies in the details, and we’ll give you some background technical information which we’ll break down for you here.

The IP code or Ingress Protection code indicates how well a device is protected against water and dust, as defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  Mostly, the IP code aims to quantify in simple terms the degree of protection from water and dust.  So, instead of previously saying that an electronic device is “waterproof”, we can now be more specific and say that it is certified, for example IP68, the first digit corresponding to the maximum protection against fine dust (on a scale of 1 to 6) and the second digit corresponding to the maximum protection against water (on a scale of 1 to 8).  The higher the number, the more waterproof and/or dustproof it is.

Indeed, the entire range of Lumity hearing aids (L-R, L-RT, L-RL) are all certified IP68 according to IEC 60529 standards meaning that they were not damaged after continuous immersion of 60 minutes in 1 meter of fresh water and after 8 hours in a dust chamber. This is a good degree of waterproofness for a hearing aid!

In addition to being certified IP68, the Lumity Life (L-RL) model also passed more stringent tests immersed in 50cm of pool water and in salt water, known to be more corrosive to electronics.  In addition to this main difference, the Lumity Life is also slightly larger than the classic Lumity (L-R) model, as it incorporates additional mechanical casings and electrical enclosures to protect it against dust and water.

Even though we sometimes refer to Lumity Life as “waterproof”, we hope you now appreciate that the entire Lumity range of Phonak hearing aids is IP68 certified, and they all have a relatively good degree of “waterproofness”.  However, if you are a person who tends to sweat a lot or if you wear your devices while practicing sports, the Audéo Lumity Life might be the right compromise between good listening and good protection for your hearing aids.