The Swiss company Phonak makes some of the best hearing aids on the market. While options abound today, Phonak is always a great option, and they make a variety of hearing aids that will suit any number of lifestyles and hearing care needs. Phonak’s myPhonak app is one more way the company is striving to make hearing care as simple and flexible as possible, while also providing high-quality sound and functionality for all users.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it many difficulties, and in-person visits with your audiologist are no exception. While some may wish to visit in person whenever possible, the myPhonak app is an excellent option for most people to receive critical fitment adjustments quickly and easily, from the comfort of your own home or wherever you happen to be!
myPhonak and Better Hearing Care
Especially for new wearers, fitment tends to be an ongoing process. “Fitment” is the name we give to the process of programming your hearing aids specifically for your individual needs.
An initial fitment is typically based on the results of your hearing test(s). While this is a great start, most people find that their fitment requires some adjustment once they start wearing their hearing aids out in the world. Everyone responds a little differently to the way hearing aids amplify sound, and especially for new wearers there needs to be some back-and-forth between the patient and their audiologist, over time, to reach a fitment that is optimally comfortable and effective.
In past decades, fitment adjustment has always required a visit to the office. After wearing their hearing aids for a little while, a patient might encounter some difficulties in certain real-world situations. They would return to the office, describe the issue, and we would adjust their fitment appropriately. This might happen several times in the first weeks of wearing new hearing aids.
The myPhonak smartphone app, through the FitHearing Audiology Network, allows this process to happen remotely through what we call “teleaudiology.” It can be as simple as a video call, where we can see each other and adjust your fitment right through your phone while you describe the issue and check the new fitment, just as if you were in the office!
How Does the myPhonak App Work?
In addition to the process described above, via the “Remote Support” section of the app, your audiologist can also administer a hearing test directly through your hearing aids while on the video call. This makes the teleaudiology functionality of the app useful throughout the entire life of your hearing aids. We can even help determine if your hearing aids are in need of maintenance or repair before you travel to the office to have them checked!
The “My Hearing Aids” section of the app provides status information on the connected hearing aids and any accessories that are also in use. It will let you know the status of your hearing aid batteries, wearing time statistics, whether your hearing aids are set to automatically turn on when removed from their charger, Bluetooth status, and “Tap Control” configuration.
Another section of the myPhonak app, called “Remote Control,” allows you to change the volume and equalization (bass / middle / treble) of your hearing aids in whatever situation you might find this helpful. You can save your equalization settings across a number of programs that can easily be recalled for when you return to the same listening situation. A “Speech Focus” slider helps adjust dynamic noise cancellation, which lets you adjust the relationship between speech and background noise to whatever is most comfortable for you in a given situation.
Using the “Hearing Diary,” you can rate your hearing experience on a daily basis. This helps both you and us keep track of how your hearing aids are working out for you across a variety of situations. It also records how you’re using your hearing aids, and even lets you communicate written feedback to us directly so that we can address your needs accordingly.
If you or a loved one has been struggling with hearing lately, make an appointment for a hearing test today and find out how easy it can be to get your hearing health on track with myPhonak!
