Resound Sensia Review - New GN Hearing Aids Road Tested!

Very exciting month for me, as I have been trialling GN Hearing / Resound’s tiny new hearing aids - Sensia - versus Signia MaX. More on the MaX later, here’s the Sensia news first:

Sensia are the same body size as Vivia, which is to say minuscule. They tuck neatly behind the ear, sitting up top where they can pick up forward-facing sound. This may seem annoying if you’re used to NHS ones that hang down the back of your ear, but it really helps pick up sound from front/sides.

If you read my Vivia review, you’ll know just how deeply impressed I was with the GN noise reduction. AI trained, and wow, it’s impressive. It is very much abnormal to hear so little noise in what your eyes tell you is a noisy place. The person in front of you is also a little quieter when you switch it on, but you realise over the next minute or two that you can hear them. Uncanny!

So, if Vivia already had some amazing noise-reduction on board, thanks to it’s Deep Neural Network (DNN) capability, what does Sensia offer? It has only been about five minutes since Vivia was released, so I was keen to understand. And I was disappointed, as I always am when a new version comes out too quickly. The difference is that the DNN (remember, that’s the super new AI noise-reduction) has been mingled with the first programme on the aids. It’s now automatically turned on, instead of you pressing a button. This is the next logical step for hearing aids - make the best noise reduction, then have it available automatically, when the user needs it. I figured this would be a way off, years maybe, and I still think I am right.

In theory, the next generation of aids should give you access to all the sounds you want, at the level you want them. When you enter an extremely noisy place and are struggling to hear a voice, the aids should ‘know’, and switch on DNN for you. That’s the perfect hearing aid, the dream hearing aid that doesn’t exist yet.

Sensia quickly notices noise, and turns on the DNN, it definitely does. The processing is whip-quick. However in practice, this means everything goes dead quiet, seemingly at random. For instance:

I walked into my empty kitchen, where the stereo was playing. A fraction of a second later, the stereo noise disappeared and everything was quiet. It was eerie and annoying.

This is just one moment of my day where there was sound, and I wanted it! Other examples were driving in the car, where I couldn’t tell how loud my music was, and didn’t hear either the car engine changes, or the ambulance coming up on my right. There were multiple scenarios, all day long, where I could say I didn’t want that noise reduction/DNN to engage.

When you’re hard of hearing, you still need to be in some control of what you hear. For safety, for understanding what’s happening around you. For pleasure, as there are many things that are noisy and pleasant. For connection to the world.

With sound disappearing frequently, it is discomfiting and it threw me off balance in a way.

So, I think the tech is working to reduce noise as well as in the Vivia, and that was/is excellent. I think maybe slightly premature on the Sensia, to attempt intelligent/automatic severe noise reduction.

Your experience may vary, because my hearing loss is profound, and these settings are usually stronger for worse hearing. But. I recommend turning off that feature, and keeping the aids with optional/user-initiated DNN.

The only other thing to note is the wind noise algorithm, which seems to have taken a noticeable step up. I’ve not noticed a single bit of distortion, and it’s been a blowy few days.

One day, I am sure it will be perfect, but for now I can safely say that Sensia is as good as Vivia or better. When you put the amazing DNN, solid sound quality, good little app and a button option, together with the absolutely tiny size and amazing variety of connections (iPhone, android, fully working Auracast) it is the best all-rounder on the market.

Disclaimers:

Of course this sounds great doesn’t it? And it is! But not every aid is suitable for everybody, and if your audiologist recommends something else, ask them why. Is it because that’s all they have to offer, or is it because they feel something else would better suit you? If so, why? Do you agree? No audiologist will have a problem with being asked for their rationale, in writing if you want to show it to others. If they do, please take your business elsewhere.

As with all technology, this is accurate at the time of writing only! Next month may bring new changes! Book a new appointment if you haven’t been in for a while.

Sally Jackson BSc (Audiology) RHAD MSHAA

Senior Audiologist & Owner of Hearing and Tinnitus Care, Brighouse West Yorks

Hearing and Tinnitus Care never writes with AI. Copyright Sally Jackson - please email prior to reproducing.