Virto V70 Hearing Aids

We have said it before, we believe Phonak to be one of the premium hearing aid manufacturers in the world. Their new Venture platform is outstanding, delivering an excellent experience to their wearers. In our last article we discussed the Virto V90, the new top of the range custom hearing aids. This time we will look at the Virto V70 which is the advanced or upper mid range technology level. Phonak has decide to retain a lot of the high end features on the V70 and they are fantastic hearing aids working exceptionally well in all but the noisiest environment. Let’s take a look at them.

Designed for you

The newest custom hearing aid range from Phonak. The Phonak Virto V Custom Product family is designed for customisation to you. The devices are individually crafted and tailored to your hearing needs. The Virto V range automatically adapts to your specific listening situation and allows you to better understand speech. They are designed to fit perfectly into your ear canal for ultimate comfort, Phonak say that there is no other hearing aid this small, capable of this much performance.

Feature Rich

The Phonak Virto V70 contains some outstanding technology. It has 16 sound processing channels and a wide range of programmes and features to help you to hear in challenging environments. The V70  also benefits from Phonak’s Binaural VoiceStream TechnologyTM   which allows one hearing aid to recognise speech sounds and transmit the speech to both hearing aids in real time. This technology works alongside various other features to give you the best hearing clarity in different challenging listening situations.

The Virto V70-Nano is the smallest and is an “invisible in the canal” or IIC aid. The Virto V70-10 NW O is the smallest of the Virto’s, slightly larger than the Nano. The 10 means it takes a size 10 battery, NW means no wireless so you miss out on all of the features for which wireless is needed. O stands for omnidirectional which means that you don’t get the benefits associated with dual microphones. The Virto V70-10 O is the same as the previous model but with wireless and the Virto V70-10 is again the same but with dual microphones squeezed on. Moving up to the Virto V70-312 you have a larger “half shell” aid that takes a size 312 battery. The largest of them all is the Virto V70-13, a “full shell” aid that takes a size 13 battery.

AutoSense OS

An outstanding automatic feature that seamlessly alters your hearing aids to your changing listening environment. AutoSense OS accurately captures the precise listening environment you are in, changing when it needs to, to provide you with a comfortable, seamless listening experience throughout your day.

Speech in Loud Noise

The feature helps you focus in on the single voice you want to hear from a noisy crowd. When noise reaches a level that makes understanding one person in a crowd difficult, StereoZoom, Phonak’s excellent microphone management system is automatically activated, allowing you to focus on the voice you want to hear and ignore the noise you don’t.

Speech in 360°

Understand speech from any direction. The Speech in 360 feature automatically selects the direction of speech and sends this speech signal from one hearing aid to the other, improving clarity and speech intelligibility without the need for you to face the speaker.

Programmes

It is also a multi programme aid and the programmes include;

Automatic Programmes

• Music, giving you better clarity when listening to your favourite music.
• Comfort in Noise, reduces loud noise to make your hearing more comfortable.
• Speech in Noise, focuses your hearing to the front, reducing noise behind you.
• Calm Situation, adjusts your hearing aids for comfort and better hearing in quiet environments and one to one conversations

Manual Programmes

Speech in 360

Automatically selects the direction of speech and streams this to the other ear, improving speech intelligibility without the need to face the speaker.

Speech in Loud Noise

Zooms in on a single voice in a diffuse noisy environment, improving speech intelligibility.

Acoustic Phone

This programme is designed to make it easier to talk on the telephone. The hearing aid on the telephone side transmits the speech to both hearing aids simultaneously, which improves speech clarity whilst reducing the sound of distractions in the room.

Features

Stereo Zoom

This directionality feature is designed to focus the hearing aids automatically on the clearest speech sound they can pick up. Ideal for noisy environments where there is background conversation.

Zoom Control

Rather than just focusing on sounds in front of you, this directionality feature can focus on speech sounds to the side or behind you. This is ideal for situations where you cannot easily turn to face the speaker, such as when you are driving and trying to listen to directions from your passengers.

UltraZoom

Directional microphones allow you to pick up the sound from all around you giving you a wide range to hear sound. The ultrazoom feature narrows this range to focus on a small area where someone is speaking. This gives you better speech understanding and reduces the effect of background noise.

Speech in Wind

When you are outside, the sound of the wind can drown out all conversation. This feature works out which hearing aid is getting the better speech signal and using the Binaural VoiceStream Technology sends the speech to both hearing aids. This improves speech clarity and also reduces the effect of wind noise.

Flexcontrol and FlexVolume

The Flexcontrol and FlexVolume programs give the wearer more control over their hearing. It enables the wearer to fine tune their hearing aids for better hearing in different environments.

Whistleblock

This feedback elimination feature recognises the feedback sound and removes it before you know it is there.

NoiseBlock

This noise reduction recognises continuous background sounds, such as traffic noise through a window, the dishwasher or office photocopier. It can reduce the volume of this sound so that speech is clearer and easier to understand.

Windblock

This wind reduction feature removes the sound of the wind when you are outside.

SoundRelax

Sudden loud sounds can be unpleasant or painful for those with hearing loss, particularly when it is amplified by your hearing aid. The SoundRelax noise reduction feature can soften the impact of sudden loud sounds without distorting the other sounds around you.

Real Ear Sound

This feature allows the hearing aids to mimic the way the ear naturally listens. This, as well as the receiver in canal design, means that it is easier to determine the direction the sound is coming from.

DuoPhone

This feature is designed to make it easier to talk on the telephone. The hearing aid on the telephone side transmits the speech to both hearing aids simultaneously, which improves speech clarity whilst reducing the sound of distractions in the room.

SoundRecover

This feature takes the high frequency sounds which are outside your hearing range, such as children’s voices and high pitched sounds, and makes them easier to hear.

QuickSync

Changing the volume or setting on one hearing aid will automatically change the other hearing aid as well. This synchronisation makes sure the hearing aids are always working together.

Tinnitus Balance Noise Generator

This new feature helps to relieve the symptoms of tinnitus by generating a pleasant sound.

Phonak has a range of accessories which are fully compatible with the Virto range. These include a remote microphone and TV link which streams sound wirelessly to your hearing aids via the Phonak ComPilot. The ComPilot can also stream sound from multimedia devices such as smart phones, computers and MP3 players. The Phonak remote control app allows you to change your smartphone into a remote control for your hearing aids.

Connect & Communicate

Phonak Virto V is compatible with the Phonak wireless communication portfolio. These accessory wireless devices deliver quality sound, ease of use and support you across many different situations that you face on a day to day basis.

Phonak Easycall

The Phonak EasyCall connects hearing aids wirelessly with any Bluetooth enabled cell phone. It binaurally streams the phone call directly to the hearing aids for maximum speech understanding.

Phonak Dect II

The Phonak DECT II is the ideal phone for use both at home or in a small office. The phone signal is streamed wirelessly to both hearing aids simultaneously. This provides unmatched sound quality and great understanding.

Phonak Conversation Set

The small and stylish Phonak ComPilot Air II Bluetooth streamer, combined with the RemoteMic, transmits a distant speaker’s voice directly to both hearing aids over a distance of up to 20 meters (66 ft).

Phonak Entertainment Set

TVLink II, combined with ComPilot II provides high quality stereo sound directly to both hearing aids when watching TV or listening to music. 24 hours continuous streaming time and 30 meters range.