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The i110 contains premium technology and is the most powerful hearing aid in the Starkey Z series. It has been designed to give you the best hearing possible in very noisy and challenging environments. It is perfect for people with an active and busy work or social life and need better speech clarity whether they are in a noisy work place, mixing with crowds of people at festivals or parties, in the car, at the theatre or a restaurant.
As with the other hearing aids in the Z series the i110 benefits from Starkey’s 900 sync wireless technology which allow all the programs and features to work together and produce a high quality listening experience in challenging environments. Its wireless capability ensures synchronisation between hearing aids and three dimensional sound quality.
The i110 is available in a wide range of styles and colours so that you can choose the right one for you and your lifestyle. These include In The Ear (ITE), this style is suitable for mild to severe hearing loss and In The Canal (ITC), this style is suitable for moderate to severe hearing loss. The smallest hearing aid in the Z Series is Completely In Canal (CIC). This style is nearly invisible in the ear canal and is suitable for mild to moderately severe hearing loss. The CIC style is the only one in the range not to have volume control and directional microphones.
These smaller styles are available in 5 faceplate colours and 4 shell colours, they are custom made to fit the contours of your ear to ensure a secure and comfortable fit.
The larger, behind the ear styles are still small and discrete, and powerful enough to cope with more severe hearing losses. They are available in a range of 7 stylish colours which include black, slate, sterling, bright white with sterling, expresso, bronze and champagne
The Behind The Ear (BTE) styles also include a BTE mini and BTE power plus. this is suitable for all levels of hearing loss from moderate to severe. The smaller Receiver In Canal (RIC) styles include a micro RIC with multiflex tinnitus option. These are suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss. These styles are available in different power levels to suit your level of hearing loss. The BTE and RIC styles also have a telecoil which is an optional extra in the ITE and ITC styles
The premium technology in the i110 can help in the more challenging listening environments. There are 16 channels for processing and amplifying the sounds around you giving you great sound and speech clarity.
The Acoustic Scene Analyser in the i110 is the most powerful in the range with a level 5 setting. This works with the Audioscapes program to assess your environment and detect whether you are in a quiet environment or if there is wind or machine noise affecting your ability to hear speech clearly. It clarifies the sound of speech whilst reducing background noise.
The spectral IQ program uses ISO clear compression to identify and enhance soft speech without increasing and distorting louder sounds. The compression program can also recognise the high frequency sounds and voices outside of your hearing range and replicate them at a lower frequency, making them easier to hear without any sound distortion.
The Voice IQ2 program can recognise and enhance speech in noisy environments. The speech ID program can recognise speech whether it is coming from in front, to the side or behind you. It works with the Acuity Directionality program to focus the microphones on speech sounds whilst reducing background noise.
The IQ Boost function allows the user to reduce background noise whilst maintaining speech clarity by changing the settings on the Surflink remote control. This is ideal for listening to conversation at restaurants and social events.
The Binaural Spatial Mapping program can assess your environment and make subtle adjustments, such as reducing the impact of sudden loud sounds, to make listening more comfortable.
Spatial Streaming ensures that you always have both hearing aids on the best settings in every environment. It allows you to listen wirelessly to music and TV, via the Surflink Media Streamer as well as making calls on the Surflink mobile phone. The Stream Boost function allows you to boost the sound streaming function for better performance in challenging environments.
If you suffer from tinnitus, the Multiflex Tinnitus program can be set to your own needs to relieve your symptoms. The Purewave Feedback Eliminator works to filter out the sounds of feedback before you even know they are there, without distorting other sounds around you.
Other features include live speech mapping and advanced memory programs, so you can have your favourite settings when you are listening to music or the TV.
These hearing aids also benefit from Hydrashield2, a tough nano coating which can repel earwax and moisture, keeping them working at their best for longer.
Paul Harrison is an audiology expert at Hearing Aid UK, with over 20 years of audiology experience and a member of the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists Council (BSHAA) between 2015 - 2020.
Do not spend hundreds of pounds without getting a second opinion from us.
If you are looking at this page then it is likely that an audiologist has suggested that you purchase this particular hearing aid, so is this the best model for you?
In general, any audiologist will always be recommending to you the model that best suits your needs. Here is a useful checklist to make sure that is the case.
If in doubt, feel free to give us a call. That's what we're here for. In the meantime, read all about our review of the best hearing aids here
If you have significant hearing loss in both ears, you should be wearing two hearing aids. Here are the audiological reasons why:
Localisation: The brain decodes information from both ears and compares and contrasts them. By analysing the minuscule time delays as well as the difference in the loudness of each sound reaching the ears, the person is able to accurately locate a sound source. Simply put, if you have better hearing on one side than the other, you can't accurately tell what direction sounds are coming from.
Less amplification is required: A phenomenon known as “binaural summation” means that the hearing aids can be set at a lower and more natural volume setting than if you wore only one hearing aid.
Head shadow effect: High frequencies, the part of your hearing that gives clarity and meaning to speech sounds, cannot bend around your head. Only low frequencies can. Therefore if someone is talking on your unaided side you are likely to hear that they are speaking, but be unable to tell what they have said.
Noise reduction: The brain has its own built-in noise reduction which is only really effective when it is receiving information from both ears. If only one ear is aided, even with the best hearing aid in the world, it will be difficult for you to hear in background noise as your brain is trying to retain all of the sounds (including background noise) rather than filtering it out.
Sound quality: We are designed to hear in stereo. Only hearing from one side sounds a lot less natural to us.
Fancy some further reading on this topic? You can read about why two hearing aids are better than one in our article, hearing aids for both ears, here
For most people, the main benefit of a rechargeable hearing aid is simple convenience. We are used to plugging in our phones and other devices overnight for them to charge up. Here are some other pros and cons:
For anybody with poor dexterity or issues with their fingers, having a rechargeable aid makes a huge difference as normal hearing aid batteries are quite small and some people find them fiddly to change.
One downside is that if you forget to charge your hearing aid, then it is a problem that can't be instantly fixed. For most a 30-minute charge will get you at least two or three hours of hearing, but if you are the type of person who is likely to forget to plug them in regularly then you're probably better off with standard batteries.
Rechargeable aids are also a little bit bigger and are only available in Behind the Ear models.
Finally, just like with a mobile phone, the amount of charge you get on day one is not going to be the same as you get a few years down the line. Be sure to ask what the policy is with the manufacturer warranty when it comes to replacing the battery.
Looking for more information on rechargeable hearing aids? Read our dedicated page on the topic here
For most people, the answer is yes. But it's never that simple.
The majority of hearing problems affect the high frequencies a lot more than the low ones. Therefore open fitting hearing aids sound a lot more natural and ones that block your ears up can make your own voice sound like you are talking with your head in a bucket. Therefore in-ear aids tend to be less natural.
However the true answer is we can't tell until we have had a look in your ears to assess the size of your ear canal, and until we have tested your hearing to see which frequencies are being affected.
People with wider ear canals tend to have more flexibility, also there are open fitting modular CIC hearing aids now that do not block your ears.
There is also the age old rule to consider, that a hearing aid will not help you if it's sat in the drawer gathering dust. If the only hearing aid you would be happy wearing is one that people can't see, then that's what you should get.
Most people can adapt to any type of hearing aid, as long as they know what to expect. Have an honest conversation with your audiologist as to what your needs are.
Generally speaking, six or more. Unless it's none at all.
The number of channels a hearing aid has is often a simplistic way an audiologist will use to explain why one hearing aid is better than another, but channels are complex and it is really not that straightforward. Here are some reasons why:
Hearing aids amplify sounds of different frequencies by different amounts. Most people have lost more high frequencies than low and therefore need more amplification in the high frequencies. The range of sounds you hear are split into frequency bands or channels and the hearing aids are set to provide the right amount of hearing at each frequency level.
Less than six channels and this cannot be done with much accuracy, so six is the magic number. However, a six channel aid is typically very basic with few other features and is suitable only for hearing a single speaker in a quiet room. The number of channels is not what you should be looking at, it's more the rest of the technology that comes with them.
As a final note, different manufacturers have different approaches. One method is not necessarily better than any other. For example, some manufacturers have as many as 64 channels in their top aids. Most tend to have between 17 and 20. One manufacturer has no channels at all.
Hearing aids are easily lost, misplaced or damaged and typically are one of the most expensive personal possessions an individual can own. We offer hearing aid warranty coverage for £80 per year per aid. Find out more about this service we provide here
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When we refer to a product as 'Latest Launch', we mean it is the latest to be released on the market.
When we refer to a product as 'New', we mean that the product is the newest hearing aid model on the market.
When we refer to a product as 'Superseded', we mean that there is a newer range available which replaces and improves on this product.
When we refer to a product as an 'Older Model', we mean that it is has been superseded by at least two more recent hearing aid ranges.