GN Resound Vivia 9 - critical review

Balance is everything. Not all people, even those with similar audiograms, find the same benefits from certain aids.

Factors include:

1. Previous aids worn

2. Previous frequency lowering strategies used

3. How soon you started wearing aids after hearing loss occured.

4. Personal preferences re: sound quality, how much listening effort you’re willing to employ, what background noise levels you can tolerate.

5. Tinnitus and hyperacusis.

6. Whether you consider spending money on aids a priority, necessity, luxury or last resort.

So this is Fran’s review. Fran has a severe/profound high-frequency loss just like mine:

  Here is a summary that maybe helpful.

I Liked they were not so loud and the ‘natural’ sound I experienced.

They didn’t work much better than what I have at present which is Widex Moment.

I feel we are at the beginning of AI hearing aids and the technology is likely to get better so patience is useful.

The charging case was more sophisticated and solid than widex’s

I feel excited about AI technology in hearing aids so am interested in new developments. I wonder how you feel about them presuming you have tried them?

My reply is basically that I saw a meaningful difference and changed immediately from Widex Moment, but that if I was purchasing at full price I may have waited a while!

Auracast is something we haven’t discussed. Auracast is technology to replace Loop (Telecoil) with mass Bluetooth transmissions. In the theatre and cinema, we will be connecting to Auracast instead of Loop.

Even more exciting, Auracast will be in home devices, so you’ll be able to connect any aid to any Bluetooth device, privately or publicly, with a cheap component. Manufacturer proprietary hearing accessories will be obsolete as we can all purchase these devices with a common platform. It’s exciting, and it’s in my new Vivia 9’s, alongside a handful of other new aids.

Review of Auracast dongle coming soon!