Your Phonak hearing aid at unbeatable prices!
Phonak Technology Levels
With their long legacy of advanced R&D in the hearing aid industry, Phonak continues to offer up some of the best hearing aids available today. As you may be aware, any Phonak hearing aid comes with one of four price category options when it comes to the tech behind their amazing sound. While all of Phonak’s hearing aids feature Bluetooth connectivity as a basic feature, the price categories have more to do with the automatic programs that each version incorporates to keep you hearing better regardless of where you roam:
- 90 – Premium – 7 automatic programs
- 70 – Advanced – 5 automatic programs
- 50 – Standard – 4 automatic programs
- 30 – Essential – 2 automatic programs
So, what are automatic programs really all about? Well, automatic programs are very important for complex listening situations or environments. A hearing aid with many automatic programs will seamlessly and rapidly change from one program to the next, depending on the acoustic environments you are moving through.
Take the example of a dinner party or family gathering in your home. Imagine that you’re in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on your meal. There is music in the background while guests are chatting in the distance. One of the guests approaches you from behind to ask if you need any help serving. While it may not seem that complicated, this is actually one of the most challenging situations for hearing impaired people.
- The kitchen is typically an echoey, reverberant room, introducing sound reflections that can confuse your ear as to what your guest has just said.
- There is background noise from all directions.
- Your guest is speaking to you from behind. You may be unlikely to even notice that they’ve entered the room.
In this one instant, your hearing aids will understand the complexity of the environment. They will select the “standard noise program” or “intense noise program,” depending how much noise is present. They will understand that a human voice is present and amplify it comfortably, focusing only on the direction it is coming from and reducing the reflections from other parts of the room.
When you walk out into the dining room to meet your guests, your hearing aids will detect the new acoustical environment and readjust immediately and automatically to the new situation. Tadaaa! It’s almost like magic. We like to call it “simple sophistication.” It’s “simple” because you don’t have to touch the hearing aids, change their programming in an app, or interact with them in any way. It is “sophisticated” because the hearing aids are performing a lot of sensitive work for you. They leave you free to be in the moment with your guests and your life, able to appreciate your life better. You might forget that you’re even wearing hearing aids!
The 30-level package may be great for someone who mostly uses their hearing aids to enjoy media, carry on one-on-one conversations, and generally doesn’t hang out in noisy environments with lots of people. For someone who frequently attends meetings and parties, moves around a lot, and generally keeps active throughout their days, the 90-level package can bring a lot more value to their hearing aids. We recommend that our clients try out a few different categories during their free hearing aid trials, to be sure they get the package that is going to work best for them.