Phonak Lyric Review: My Pros and Cons After Wearing It
Dusty Potter, BC-HIS, has fit hearing aids for over 20 years and now wears Phonak Lyric. An honest first-person review: how it sounds, the pros, the cons and who should skip it.
Discover How to Reclaim Your Lost Hearing for Better Speech, Conversation, and Everything You Do… without changing batteries, daily hearing aid hassles, or anyone even seeing the solution!
Looking for Lyric cost, candidacy or fitting details? Those are on our Lyric hearing aids page. This post is my own review as a wearer.
Here's my story….
I've been in the hearing care industry for over 20 years, 14 of them have been as a practice owner based out of right here in Wichita Falls. I'm a second generation board certified hearing instrument specialist. I have two hearing aid related patents with my name on them. I'm the former president of the Texas Hearing Aid Association, and the longest serving board member in the over 75 year history of the Association. I currently sit on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Advisory Committee on fitting and dispensing hearing instruments. I'm not bragging, but it's safe to say I have a pretty extensive knowledge of hearing loss, hearing instruments, and the available technology for correcting hearing loss that's available out there today.
but…
I'm also a musician. I majored in music at MSU, and actively still play guitar and bass in several musical projects around town. I also had a history of ear infections as a kid that took their toll on the function of my ears. My ears have taken some real abuse over the years. For most of the time, I absolutely knew better.
And then the problems started…
I was in my late 30's when I first noticed that my hearing wasn't as good as it used to be. My wife was becoming more and more difficult to understand. She and the kids were constantly complaining about how loud the TV was. I was having a hard time holding a conversation with a group of people in a noisy place. As the signs of the loss began to mount, I finally went into the office and asked Donovan to run a legitimate hearing test on me. I had tested myself a few times after I began noticing, but I also knew it was impossible to get an accurate hearing test on yourself (one of the reason self fitting hearing aids are such a bad idea for most people- but that's another subject for another time), and I wanted to know where I stood.
After he ran the test… there it was. A moderate hearing loss. My hearing was actually was bad enough that I had fit a lot of happy patients over the years with hearing instruments, who actually had better hearing than I did. I was an owner of a hearing practice who had fit literally thousands of people with hearing aids… and it was time for me to get some.
Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to try premium hearing instruments from just about every manufacturer. The technology has come a really long way. It's really incredible what many of them can do in terms of producing a good sound quality, reducing background noise, connecting to wireless devices like cell phones, and they even have rechargeable batteries now. They are a great solution for hearing loss for many people.
But the truth is… I'm bad about wearing them.
It's not really a problem with the hearing aids. They work great. But, a lot of days, I'll just forget to put them on. Sometimes, I'll wear them, but I'll forget to charge them at night. Also- as a musician, I have a really discriminating ear. The digital sound processing in modern hearing aids can do great things for speech understanding, but it can also come at the cost of things sounding less natural. For example- I would never use them to play guitar and sing. I would just take them out.
Also- if I'm being totally honest, I'm only 44, and I'm a bald guy…. there's not a good way for me to hide them without any hair.
I'm a little young to not have at least a little issue with people seeing me wearing hearing aids. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but unfortunately, I do. Hearing better is obviously critical to my quality of life, but I really wanted another solution.
So, I decided to look into the Lyric Hearing Aid by Phonak. We were already dispensing hearing aids from Phonak in our practice, and we had found them to be a very high quality product. No one hearing aid brand is best for all users- everyone has different needs and it's important to balance the needs of the individual patient with the capabilities of the manufacturer… but overall, Phonak makes a great hearing instrument with reliable build quality and a unique advanced feature set.
Lyric is really different, though.
- This product is placed into the ear by a certified professional.
- It stays there for months at a time.
- You don't change batteries.
- You don't take it out. You leave it in the ear 24 hours a day.
- You do have a small tool that you keep on your key chain that can be used to turn them on and off and change the volume if you want, and can also be used to take them out in an emergency… but otherwise, you really just walk around with them in.
- No one see them because they sit deep in the ear canal. You can even use headphones, talk on the phone, sleep and take a shower with them- pretty much anything but scuba dive, sky dive, or get an MRI. The battery lasts a few months. When it runs out, you come back into the office and have it replaced.
This sounded perfect to me- for my situation.
However, I wasn't able to get my hands on the product to try it.
Phonak is VERY restrictive about who they allow to fit these products. This product requires a high level of skill and a really well equipped practice to do it properly. No one within 100 miles of Wichita Falls was certified. There is an application process to be considered, and after that, several rounds of classes and discussion, and then a mandatory, intensive in office training.
I decided that if this was the right product for me, and I knew there were a LOT of other people in the same situation, I wanted my practice to be able to offer the product.
I'm proud to say Wichita Falls Hearing is now Lyric Certified. I can also tell you that I'm now wearing Lyric Hearing Aids. The sound quality is phenomenal. When they were first placed in my ear, Derek asked me "How does this sound?", and then kept talking for a bit so I could evaluate.
I could only think of one thing to say…
"Normal".
Like I said, I've tried a lot of hearing aids over the last few years. How these are MOST different is that they don't SOUND like hearing aids. They sound like… well… hearing.
- The TV is at a comfortable volume.
- I can hear people whisper from several feet away- even if they aren't facing me. Music sounds great.
- After three days of wearing them, I can tell you, I have to think about them to know that they are even there. I just walk around hearing.
- If I wasn't sitting down to write this article, I wouldn't even be thinking about it.
It's surreal how effective they are, and how not only are they not uncomfortable, 95% of the time, I'm not even AWARE of them. I can't say that about any other hearing aid.
A couple of things about these- they aren't for everyone-
Wondering how this applies to your hearing?
A free 30-minute evaluation at our Wichita Falls clinic gives you clear answers — no pressure, no obligation. Most patients leave with a plan they can act on the same day.
First off, they aren't cheap. Lyric is sold as a yearly subscription that includes your replacement devices. For the current price, what's included, financing and insurance, see our Lyric hearing aids page.
For me, it's worth it. But it's hard to compare to a traditional hearing aid, and it isn't in everyone's budget.
Secondly– Not every ear can tolerate these, and they don't work for all hearing losses. If the skin in your ear canal is overly sensitive, or too thin, there's a chance it won't react well to the product. The Lyric devices have an impressive fitting range, but some patients have a hearing loss that is too severe for this to do the job, and a traditional hearing aid is required.
A measurement and evaluation of the health of your ear canal is part of the fitting process, so we can tell whether this should be a good match or not.
Like every hearing aid we fit, Lyric comes with our 60-day money-back guarantee. That's twice the 30 days Texas law requires. You do pay for the devices, so it isn't a free trial, but you have 60 days to decide if Lyric is right for you. See our office for details.
Lyric Hearing Aids: Pros and Cons
Here is a short recap of what I have covered above.
Pros
- No one can see them. They sit deep in the ear canal.
- You wear them 24 hours a day for months at a time.
- No batteries to change and nothing to charge.
- You can sleep, shower, talk on the phone and use headphones with them in.
- To me, they sound like normal hearing, not like a hearing aid.
Cons
- Cost: they are sold as a yearly subscription, and it isn't cheap. See what Lyric costs.
- You come back to the office to have them replaced when the battery runs out, every few months.
- Not every ear can wear them. Sensitive or thin ear canal skin may not do well.
- They do not fit every hearing loss. A severe loss may need a traditional hearing aid.
- You cannot scuba dive, sky dive or get an MRI with them in.
I can already tell that Lyric is the right solution for my hearing loss. If you'd like to find out if it's right for you, read how Lyric works, what it costs and who it fits, then make an appointment below. We'll do a free evaluation of your hearing and your ear canal to see if it's a good fit. If it is, you may be able to walk out the door hearing better the same day you come in. If not, there is no cost to you, and as always, no obligation to buy anything.
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Ready to take the next step?
Your first hearing evaluation at Wichita Falls Hearing is free and takes about 30 minutes. We'll give you straight answers about your hearing and walk through your options together — no obligation to buy anything.
Or read more from our hearing care blog