Widex Moment Hearing Aid Review
Pure Natural Sound
Widex has just released its latest hearing aid range on its new premium hardware platform; Widex Moment. The Widex Moment is the successor to Widex’s Evoke hearing aid range. The main unique selling point of the Widex Moment hearing aid range is that it offers wearers an improved wearing experience by significantly enhancing the hearing aid’s sound quality.
One of the challenges for wearers of hearing aids, particularly first time wearers, is that the hearing aid wearing experience is not like normal, natural hearing. Although the hearing aid significantly improves speech clarity, for many wearers, the sound can be a little artificial. The main reason for this artificial sound, is that sound processed through the hearing aid (processed sound) hits the eardrum slightly later than direct sound that has bypassed the hearing aid (unprocessed sound), e.g. sound that has come through the air vent or around the hearing aid.
It is the combination of this processed and the unprocessed direct sound that causes a detrimental effect to sound quality. Essentially the wearer is hearing the same sound twice, but with a slight time difference between the two (in the vicinity of 20-30 milli-seconds). Although the slight difference between these two sounds is not significant enough to be perceived as a echo, it is still perceived as a distortion. Hearing aid wearers will often comment that their hearing aids sound slightly distorted and/or metallic. This effect is particularly noticeable for first time wearers.
How do you make a hearing aid not sound like a hearing aid?
The simple answer to this question is to make sure that the delay between the processed sound and the unprocessed sound is zero! The concept is easy to understand, but extremely difficult to achieve. Widex took up this challenge with their Moment hearing aid range. They developed an ultra-fast processing path in the hearing aid chip that processes sound in less than 5 milli-seconds. The end result is significantly improved sound quality, particularly in less challenging situations e,g, listening to speech and music in quiet situations.
This ultra-fast processing is available to wearers in a dedicated program called PureSound. The PureSound program is recommended for first time wearers and for experienced wearers in specific situations where optimal sound quality is desired. However it should be noted that to achieve this ultra-fast processing, some advanced features such as directionality have had to be deactivated. It is therefore expected that in some challenging situations (e.g. challenging, noise places), wearers would need to access their normal (standard processing speed) programs to get the benefits for the required advanced features (e.g. directional microphones).
Watch the video below to learn more about the Widex Moment PureSound technology.
Connectivity
The new Moment hearing aids can be remotely controlled via the free “Moment App”. This app is available free for Apple and Andoid phones. Like its predecessor, the Widex Evoke range, the Moment App supports SoundSense learn. This is a machine-learning technology that assists wearers to fine-tune and optimise their hearing aids in real-time in the situations they are having difficulty hearing. This technology was explained in our detailed review of the Widex Evoke two years ago.
The Moment features full wireless connectivity including “Made for iPhone” connectivity for direct wireless audiostreaming from Apple devices. However it is rumoured that with a future software update, the Moment hearing aids will support direct Bluetooth audiostreaming with selected Android phone supporting the ASHA standard (Audiostreaming for hearing aids)
The Moment Hearing Aid Range
The Widex Moment has been released across a number of RIC and custom styles, including: (1) mRIC D – lithium-ion rechargeable (pictured), (2) RIC 10 – micro size RIC with 10A battery and (3) RIC 312 D – standard size RIC with 312 battery). It should be noted that only the RIC 312D and mRIC D support “Made for iPhone” direct Bluetooth streaming. This is denoted by the “D” in the product description.
The new Moment mRIC D is Widex’s first lithium-ion hearing aid. In fact, it is the smallest lithium-ion rechargeable hearing aid on the market. Lithium-ion rechargeability has been hugely popular with wearers, making the hearing aid wearing experience much easier and more convenient for many wearers as they do not have to do regular, fiddly battery changes.
Our conclusion
Since the development of the first digital hearing aid over 20 years ago, Widex has had a good reputation of releasing hearing aids with good sound quality. Widex has taken this to a new level with the release of the Widex Moment. We believe that these hearing aids will be very beneficial for first-time wearers or wearers that have previously rejected hearing aids because they did not sound natural. It is also great to see that Widex has finally released a Lithium-ion rechargeable hearing aid option.
Sounds of Life offers the Widex Moment at Brisbane’s most affordable prices:
Moment Lithium-ion Rechargeable Range
Premium – Moment 440 mRIC R $4250
High-End – Moment 330 mRIC R $3500
Mid-Range – Moment 220 mRIC R $2500
Entry-Level – Moment mRIC R $1990
Moment Standard 312 Battery Range
Premium – Moment 440 RIC 312 $3990
High-End – Moment 330 RIC 312 $3250
Mid-Range – Moment 220 RIC 312 $2250
Entry-Level – Moment 110 RIC 312 $1750
Moment Micro 10 Battery Range
Premium – Moment 440 RIC 10 $3990
High-End -Moment 330 RIC 10 $3250
Mid-Range – Moment 220 RIC 10 $2250
Entry-Level – Moment 110 RIC 10 $1750
Moment Custom Range
Premium – Moment 440 ITE/ ITC $3990
High-End – Moment 330 ITE/ ITC $3250
Mid-Range – Moment 220 ITE/ ITC $2250
Entry-Level – Moment 110 ITE/ ITC $1750
About Sounds of Life Sounds of Life Audiology is a leading, independent hearing aid specialist. We offer affordable hearing aid pricing on quality hearing aids (including virtually invisible hearing aid technology) from the world’s leading brands including Siemens, Signia, Phonak, Starkey, Unitron, Resound, Bernafon, Oticon and Sonic Innovations. Contact Us today on 1300 744 432