GN Resound Vivia Review

Time for this audiologist to put her money where her mouth is! I have always said that I am loyal to hearing aid brands only until such time as something better is available. We all know I have been in love with Widex for a long time, and I continue to be so for many applications, but the latest model has serious issues for a huge section of my patients (and me).

This is what led me to try out Resound's latest generation, Vivia. Resound are a good manufacturer, and their Linx2 aids saved my job not too many years ago - the first ever aid to allow me to speak on the phone.

Between the Linx and the Vivia, there have been some very robust offerings. In the case of the ONE aid, possibly a bit too robust (huge!). Omnia was decent, but I was still lacking a Wow Factor, and I am in the business of finding Wow Factor for people.

So here I am, wearing Widex for at least 8 years, trialling every aid that comes out as far as I can. This time I put on the Vivia micro-RIE (receiver in ear - see above) and the first thing you notice is that they are tiny.

Size

The size of this new Vivia aid is minuscule! For a fully-featured RIC aid, with 30 hours of battery life, it’s tiny! No one should worry about people seeing their hearing aids, but still… it is nice when they are discreet!

Sound Quallity

Sound quality in terms of richness and accuracy is very good. Certainly no worse than any current competitors. If you need frequency lowering like I do, then you will be even more impressed by the sound quality*. As I said previously, Widex’s Allure does not have any frequency lowering tech on board, and this is crucial for all of us with steeply sloping audiograms.

Performance / AI Technology

I watched the latest seminars on Artificial Intelligence in hearing aids, and I’m starting to get on board with it! AI has been in use for ~6 years in some aids, helping users in certain environments**. Resound Vivia has had the benefit of machine learning/AI in the actual build of it. It has been trained to recognise speech in a multitude of background noise scenarios, and then trained again to cut out the speech from the noise.

And it shows! It really does show in this model, the speech in noise performance (I was trying the Vivia 9 Ultra Advanced model) is definitely, noticeably improved versus other aids I have used. It is a noticeable feature, but welcome. I believe Resound have struck the balance between making it obvious to the user that speech is being artificially enhanced / background is being artificially reduced. It will be a balance that all manufacturers will be working on for years to come. But by golly it is EXCITING. It is the most exciting thing to happen to hearing aids in 5 years or more, and I cannot wait to see how it progresses.

Anyway, all you need to know is that is is good in background noise, better than any other I have tried so far. You may or may not like the ‘feel’ of it, but if you have a severe loss and still avoid going out to noisy places, you need to try this out.

General Sound

The Vivia is pretty quiet. In terms of expansion (how much you hear soft environmental sound), it’s very quiet. Moving from Widex or Signia to these would be a shock, an ‘are they on?’ moment. But then when people speak, you realise you’;re hearing them clearly, and when something happens, you are aware of it. It’s for all those people who say ‘I only want to hear what I want to hear’. You know who you are. 😀

Summary

Hearing aids are so personal. Matching a person to a set of aids is a skill, and I already have a mental list of those who I think will want to trial these aids. Vivia will not suit everyone. But - I am happy to say it’s very impressive.

GN Resound Premium Charger

If you want to try these out, book an appointment with me for a test and mention this aid specifically, so I can make sure I have the demos in stock for you. Happy to respond to queries, prices for the range are between £2300 for a single aid & services, up to £4800 for a pair of top tier rechargeable. 5 year warranty and lifetime audiological services are included as standard, along with expert advice on demand.

Sally

©️ Sally Jackson BSc RHAD MSHAA

Senior Audiologist

Hearing and Tinnitus Care

* Compared to other brands that use frequency compression, Resound’s frequency transposition sounds much more natural and less ‘clashy’. Compared to Resound’s own One/Omnia model, the latest rationale has produced much more agreeable speech/environmental sound. Cannot fault it!

** Users select an AI function in their phone app, the aids then analyse the sound environment, select the best guess fix from the database, apply it to the aids there and then.

©️This article is copyrighted to Sally Jackson. You are welcome to link to it, or copy it in full with credit to the author. If you would like a write up specifically for your own purpose, please contact sally@hearingandtinnitus.co.uk