The Reviews Are In: Starkey Genesis AI Hearing Aids

We continue to put Genesis AI hearing aids to the test. In this episode, you’ll hear directly from hearing professionals who have tried them, fit them, and are out in the field right now offering them to their patients. From sound quality and battery life to Pro Fit for hearing professionals, more than two dozen people share their reactions to our all-new hearing technology. Have you tried Genesis AI yet? We’d love to hear from you!   

Link to full transcript

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hello and welcome to a special edition of Starkey Soundbite. For anyone who's been paying attention, you know Starkey just released our all-new Genesis AI hearing technology earlier this year. Featuring an all-new processor, all new sound, all new form factor, fitting software, really all new everything, including the patient experience. It's the industry's biggest leap forward ever in hearing technology. I encourage you to go back and listen to episodes where Starkey's chief technology officer, Achin Bomick, and our chief audiology officer, Sarah Burdack, talk about what makes Genesis AI so unique and special. But in this episode, we want you to hear directly from patients who've worn them and the hearing professionals who've tried them, fit them, and are out in the field right now offering Genesis AI to their patients. So after I'm done blabbering here, what you're gonna hear the rest of this episode are the voices of over two dozen hearing professionals and real-life hearing aid users giving us their first hand accounts of Genesis AI. Take it away.

SPEAKER_14 1:12

Well, I've worn hearing aid since I was uh 17, so it's 34 years now. So um it's it's interesting to see the the transition from where I started to where we are today. Uh but the biggest thing is always anytime we hear, oh, we've got some new technology coming out, we got new technology. I don't get caught up in all the the little stuff. I want to know the performance. You know, how how how how are we gonna do a noise? And and the biggest thing was um last night we were with a big group in a restaurant bar area, sitting at a large table, where there's 10 or 12 of us at this at the table. Typically in a setting like that, because this was a filled, you know, the restaurant was full, um, typically in a setting like that, I might be able to talk to somebody directly in front of me or directly beside me, but anything outside of that, forget it. And so I was amazed at the my ability to understand and actually carry on a conversation with no matter who was sitting at the table. And so I was like, wow, this is the proof's in the pudding, this is good stuff. So that for me, uh that's that's the the biggest, most impressive thing that I've seen thus far with with these hearing aids.

SPEAKER_19 2:32

I fit a lot of Evolve and I fit a set of Genesis AI 24s on a friend of mine. He's a realtor, he's on the phone all the time, he's a dad, he's very got a very busy active lifestyle. He came back a few days later to pick up his TV streamer, and he said, These are the best hearing aids I have ever worn in my whole life. And I was like, Really? Are you sure? Like, why? Like, I you know I'm skeptical, it's a new product. And he said, I can hear everything, and I can hear perfectly in noise. He said, You have to call everybody in your database and tell them to buy these hearing aids. So, but everything that I've been hearing from my patients is that it's very, very clear sound quality, especially in the presence of noise. That's I think that's a real game changer.

SPEAKER_11 3:11

This is by my count, my 18th set of hearing aids uh over the last 19 years. Um, common problems is understanding in background noise, uh, circuit noise, um, stream quality issues, all of that is just so much significantly better uh than anything I've ever worn before.

SPEAKER_17 3:31

I have noticed a huge, huge improvement in my ability to understand speech and noise, which I think is um one of the main things that we're all looking for in hearing aids.

SPEAKER_12 3:41

I was amazed. Um, honestly, I didn't have that big of expectations for him. I've worn hearing aids for 30 years, and so I've tried several, several different types. Um, I can hear so much better. I went from a word back score of 40% up to 72%, which is substantial. I've been that person that's just like nodded all along in conversations, kind of feeling lost, and I really feel like this is my chance to change that.

SPEAKER_20 4:12

It felt normal, which to somebody who's had hearing loss for years, you know, you forget what that what that's like, and then all of a sudden you have it back, and and it's unexpected. Um it was there was this sensation almost. It was almost like a physical feeling of awareness, and it was very three-dimensional and comfortable, and I didn't feel like I had to put any effort into listening. It was incredible. I just couldn't believe how different it sounded, and it was hard to even put in words. I think I was stood there with my mouth open for a few minutes just looking around.

SPEAKER_23 4:48

The technology is amazing, they're super quiet. You hardly know that they're in.

SPEAKER_08 4:54

Goodness, my first impression is the noise management, the Edge Mode Plus is impressive. Um, it works so good, it was almost unsettling at first because I felt like I wasn't hearing well. And then what I realized is I wasn't hearing the noise well, but I was understanding voices perfectly, maybe better than I ever have.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

I have a very mild to kind of mild, moderate loss in the high frequencies result of I don't know how many ear surgeries over a lifetime. And um, I have always I've had hearing aids, obviously being in the industry, but I've never worn them consistently. And when I do wear them, I feel a need to go and adjust them probably every single week. Um, get in there and tweak them and play with them. And since putting these on yesterday, I forgot that I had them in uh the very first day. And today, sitting in there listening in the auditorium, I actually played with it. I turned them off, took the hearing aids out, and I was really overwhelmed because I didn't really think that I needed hearing aids. I do. I do. So, from a sound quality standpoint, for me, this has really been an eye-opener. Um I'm I'm really I'm really pleased.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

I have been an audiologist, it will be 30 years this August. So I fit a lot of hearing aids and I fit a lot of Starky hearing aids. Um, this particular patient had been using halos, so she was coming out of halos, and the minute I turned the Genesis hearing aids on, she went, I can hear. And that's just not something we hear all the time. So I was thrilled. Um, she said it sounded so natural. She loved um the quality of her voice, which was unusual. She said my voice sounded very natural, so that was very exciting.

SPEAKER_16 6:44

Well, it's just phenomenal how well they work right out of the box.

SPEAKER_21 6:48

I don't even know how to express how wonderful they feel.

SPEAKER_15 6:51

I was blown away when I got these. In fact, I looked around behind me because I was hearing things that I hadn't heard before, and it seemed like they were so close that uh I had to look, and it wasn't that close, but I was hearing so much better and further. Uh, and comfortably in a noisy environment was just awesome. So it's just so much more comfortable, especially the different ranges of hearing it's softer and the louder. I just could not believe how much better I could hear in a noisy environment and comfortably too.

SPEAKER_22 7:24

The clarity is just absolutely incredible. I've been wearing herids for about three and a half years so far, and I've tried many different um manufacturers, technologies, different um types, and this has been the only one that has in the situations that I've encountered with noise, it has been the best clarity to hear people with the with the noise factor, I feel. So normally with a lot of um the noise, I have issues with trying to distinguish what people say. Um, I feel like this makes it so it's not as exhausting to hear what they actually have to say. And I feel like I I'm not concentrating more on their facial features, I'm actually enjoying the conversation.

SPEAKER_09 8:18

So uh they're super quiet, they're super clear. I've uh been in the industry a long time, and I always listen to every manufacturer's hearing aids because I have a notch at 3 and 4,000, and I've never been able uh to wear anything comfortably that also gave me the benefit, and these have checked all the boxes, and I've been able to wear them all day, every day, and quiet, clear, and comfortable.

SPEAKER_18 8:44

Uh yeah, I started when I got here wearing mostly BTE, Power Plus, and uh really only got maybe 60% of the words that I was hearing, so I was really struggling. And then when they fed me, it was a dramatic change. Uh basically jumped up to 80%, and I was hearing things that I didn't think I could hear, and I never thought I could wear a wick, but now I'm wearing one, and it's amazing. Uh hear things so much more clear, especially in crowded environments, and uh I can hear some things that are a little crisper than I did before, so it's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 9:23

My receptionist has a much worse loss than I do. She has bad tis and discrimination issue. I told her to try them for three days, let me know. She called me back in 10 minutes and said, This is the most amazing thing. I can hear stuff that I haven't heard in years, and I mean little things. She never hears little things. And for her, she just giggled the whole time because it was so much different. She couldn't believe what she could hear. And every time I call her, I say, How's it going? She said, Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is great. So it's the sound is amazing.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

My first impression is unbelievable, total game changer. Um, it the clarity of these is totally different from what we've been used to. The sound quality is unbelievable. It is so clear, it's I have to remind myself that they're in my ears because of how clear they are.

SPEAKER_10 10:10

I had a patient, he only had his hearing aids for like a year and two months. His um word recognition scores dropped from 80% down to like 40 some percent. And he was looking for me to help him, and I'm going, I don't know that I can do anything more than what you've got. I mean, your hearing aids are programmed, they're they're set, really, your measurements done. I don't know that I can do anything else. I said, but there's some new technology that's out. If you're interested, I'll get it for you, let you wear them for a couple days, and tell me what you did. He came back in after wearing them for two days. He did not bring his wife with him this time. And when he came in, he had the box in his hand, and I'm like going, Okay, well, he's not gonna take them, you know. He comes in the office, he sits down, and I'm like, Okay, so what'd you think? He says, Do you take a credit card?

SPEAKER_13 11:02

Uh all the other stuff, yes, it's nice, but is understanding speech in the presence of noise. I mean, that's just not just for me, but all my patients, that's the number one thing by far. And so what uh I noticed the most, I think the ease was just uh going into, especially when I went into edge mode for speech enhancement. Um, it was the speech was not getting drowned out by all of the other stuff, uh, like the all of the people at the restaurant or the road noise on the bus and all the people talking on the bus and at the reception. That stuff was not overpowering, and I could very easily understand speech. I guess maybe the adjective I might use is clean. Um it just that's the best way I can describe it. Is it just is a clean sound, it doesn't have any to me what which might be a little fuzzy or dull. So I've worn hearing aids for half my life, um, and this is no comparison to any of the other technology that I've ever had.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Hey, it's me, Dave, again. Of course, sound quality is the most important feature of any hearing aid, but it isn't the only Genesis AI feature that professionals are excited about. Listen as they tell us what else they think their patients will love.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Easy uh feature for me to pick is battery life. That is, I think, the major feature now is that we have about a 51-hour battery on average on the full-size 41 hours on the mini RIC is what it's coming out.

SPEAKER_08 12:31

The battery life, I think, is huge.

SPEAKER_17 12:34

So, uh what is it, 51 hours with the ricks? Um, I think that's great. I mean, if I happen to forget to charge some one night, which I probably won't, but if I did, I can rest assured knowing that I can at least go some of the next day with the with the charge that I do have.

SPEAKER_07 12:52

I travel quite a bit. Um, I've never seen them not be half down after a few, you know, eight, ten hours of service. Uh this right here now we're day two and it still says full.

SPEAKER_11 13:05

Battery life has that's a godsend. Uh, it really is. Um traditionally, that has always been a major hang-up uh for rechargeable AIDS. So, again, if we're able to get 40-some odd hours out of them in three years, that's a huge point.

SPEAKER_22 13:23

The battery life is mind-blowing, to be honest with you. The battery life is just gonna be um, that in itself is incredible.

SPEAKER_18 13:34

I haven't experienced rechargeable hearing aid before, but yesterday, you know, in crowded environments and all that noise and simulation, I assumed that it'll drop down really quickly and it would be like a 20-25%. When I got back, you know, to the hotel where we were staying, it was still really high, like in the 50s and 60s. I was very surprised how long and how well the batteries would be lasting, and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

The battery life is also a huge, huge change, going from you know 16 to 22 hours to now almost 51 hours. So I think that is absolutely unbelievable and uh pretty impressive. Battery life.

SPEAKER_07 14:16

You know, at this particular point, uh I've had them since yesterday. My phone still tells me they're fully charged.

SPEAKER_05 14:24

The the rechargeability and the battery life is humongous. You know, we have patients who, even though we tell them, hey, 24 hours on a battery, well, usually after about a year or two, that battery doesn't last 24 hours. So having that added cushion of 51 hours, even if it drops, you know, 20, 30 percent, we st we're still at at least a day.

SPEAKER_17 14:45

I think that patients are really going to love the lower profile. Um, just the fact that they're even more discreet and visible.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I think just the ease of the use and and the really from my own personal experience, I don't feel the need to have to take my phone out. I don't feel the need to have to adjust the volume control or change the programs, which is what most of my patients want. They'd want them to be able to put them in, leave them alone, and go on about their life.

SPEAKER_23 15:14

With the AI and the 80 million adjustments an hour, if people who don't want to mess around with their hearing aids, the set it and forget it, and it's it's automatic adjustments in each each environment, I think, are gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_16 15:32

Um, the number one thing that I think people are afraid of when they see all the uh uh uh 24, 22,000 calculations a second and all that. Well, I don't need all that. Well, this uh product is so advanced, it's simple. You can uh the the dispenser can set it up to where they're absolutely pardon the expression, idiot proof.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

They don't have to worry about the hearing gates getting damaged. Uh in uh California, we have a lot of people with swimming pools, and I've had so many people that forgot that they're wearing hearing gates jump in the pool and then they come back thinking they're gonna be uh broken. And uh so over here, of course, if uh they happen to jump in and forget it, the hearing gauge should still be workable. Uh but the biggest thing is the showers and uh and the rain, and so I think that is a huge selling point where if they forget it, they don't have to worry about their investment.

SPEAKER_07 16:21

In my situation, I'm actually a boater, I'm a licensed uh captain, and uh so I'm always on the water around the water. I live on the lakes, on a lake, and I live in uh in Florida during the winter on uh Charlotte Harbor, so I'm always there. Water's always been an issue uh just because of the environment. So I really think this is going to be a you know a game changer uh with the ability to not have to worry. And people that sweat a lot, things of this nature, at times uh that would be an issue for them with microphones. Uh, I think that's going to be just solving all those problems.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Guess who? That's right, it's me, Dave, again. Even though Genesis AI has only been out a few months, we asked the hearing professionals we talk to about ProFit, our all-new fitting software that was designed with input from their peers across the globe. We know change is difficult, which is why we made Profit to be as easy and intuitive as possible. And from what they've been telling us, it is. Again, here they are in their own words.

SPEAKER_19 17:28

I like Profit. You know, it's different, and so change is hard, but I do like the flow of it. I can see why there was the reorganization because it seems to make sense.

SPEAKER_23 17:36

Super quick, to the point, like everybody's been saying, the four clicks uh is definitely saves a lot of time.

SPEAKER_16 17:45

It's almost too easy. If you know Inspire, you'll be able to use Profit. It's no problem.

SPEAKER_11 17:50

I liked Inspire. Profit is better. Um we fit pretty commonly. Uh Starkey's our primary, but we fit uh quite a few competitive users as well. The Profit is by far and away the best software out there.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Finally, for those of you keeping track, we're hearing that the sound quality in Genesis AI is life-changing, that the unprecedented battery life is game-changing, that the waterproof rechargeable styles will be huge for peace of mind, and that our new fitting software is enabling professionals to be more efficient and to get first fit out of the box quickly. Knowing all that, the last thing we asked the hearing professionals we talked to was who they thought the ideal patient for Genesis AI would be. Most didn't hesitate when it came to who they had in mind.

SPEAKER_17 18:43

I mean, I can't think of a patient that these wouldn't help. Um, so good question. And no, because I feel like everyone could benefit from these.

SPEAKER_23 18:54

Every patient who walks in the door, if it's the best technology, the best sounding hearing aid, every patient should have it.

SPEAKER_19 19:01

Anybody who's struggling in noise, I think that's gonna be a no-brainer that I should definitely recommend the product for somebody who's struggling in noise. I fit a lot of premium products because my patients want the best. That's they come to my clinic, I don't fit a lot of entry-level or even mid-level, it's mostly premium. So the people who want the best sound quality, that's gonna be the product I recommend.

SPEAKER_21 19:21

I've got a lady who's 96 years old and she lives in a retirement community, and she still struggles in that dining room. I can't wait to bring her in, and her hearing aids are less than two years old. Um, if I don't let my patients know about this change, about this wonderful technology, I'm not doing my job.

SPEAKER_12 19:41

I think it'd be ideal for all of them. Um absolutely amazing. Uh, I think everyone should try it. Anybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 19:49

I really feel like it would be a disservice not to tell anyone about these, not from a sales y approach, but just from, you know, I'm concerned for their best hearing, and I think this might be it.

SPEAKER_22 20:01

Do I have a ideal? I have many ideal patients that I definitely will try to get them in and get these new hearing aids on them just so that they can encounter what I'm encountering right now.

SPEAKER_09 20:15

I think every patient's the right patient. You know, it's always best to offer the best abilities to hear and the best product. So I think everybody's gonna want to demo or try or experience this. The ideal patient in mind is gonna be everyone.

SPEAKER_11 20:31

All of them.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

There you have it. The reviews are in. It's one thing for us to tell you how great Genesis AI is, but it's a completely different thing altogether to hear it from patients and professionals themselves. If you are still unconvinced and you want to experience it for yourself, go to StarkeyPro.com, click on Contact Us, and follow the prompts from there. And if you enjoyed this episode of Starkey Soundbites, please rate and review us on your preferred podcast platform. Share with your friends, your colleagues, your network, anyone uh who you think might benefit from this episode. You can also follow us or hit subscribe to be sure you don't miss a single episode. We'd also love to know what's on your mind. What questions do you have for our hearing experts? Please send an email to soundbites at starkey.com. We'll be featuring your questions and getting some answers from our Starkey experts on future episodes. We'll see you and hear you next time.