Phonak Naída Lumity

Phonak Naída Lumity (Naída L) is the Behind-the-Ear (BTE) style of powerful hearing aids in the flagship Lumity product line of Phonak—which is the top brand of the world’s largest manufacturer of hearing aids, the Switzerland-headquartered Sonova Group. Although prices vary by location, you'll pay somewhere between $1,900 and $3,300 per device depending on the technology level you choose.

Below we'll tell you what you need to know when considering the purchase of a Lumity Naída hearing aid, including its features, technology, and pricing.

Launched in August 2023, Naída Lumity is the successor to Naída Paradise and represents Phonak’s most powerful hearing aid to date. It is currently available in two models: Naída Lumity L-PR is a versatile rechargeable BTE, and Naída L-UP is an ultra-power device with a disposable size 675 battery designed particularly for people with severe to profound hearing losses. Both BTEs come with Phonak's well-known "Made-for-All" Bluetooth^® wireless technology that streams audio from compatible Apple^® and Android™ smartphones and devices.

These hearing aids include features based around Phonak's latest AutoSense OS 5.0 operating system that prioritizes the most crucial requirement of hearing aid wearers: speech understanding. AutoSense OS 5.0 can be thought of as the “core technology” for both Naída Lumity models; it's an AI-based machine-learning system that continuously analyzes the environment 700 times per second and automatically adapts to the wearer's unique listening environment.

Naída Lumity connects to the myPhonak app (or myPhonak Junior app for kids), allowing you to personalize your listening experience to suit your needs. Importantly, Naída L also connects with Roger accessories for enhancing hearing in challenging listening environments, whether you're watching TV or listening to a lecturer from a distance.

Phonak Audéo Lumity, a Receiver-in-Canal (RIC) hearing aid that shares the same technology and chipset as Naída L, earned a 2023 Expert Choice Award from the independent hearing aid testing lab, HearAdvisor.

If you purchase from a local hearing provider, our pricing research suggests you should expect Naída L to cost around $4,000-$6,500 per pair, depending on the model, technology level, and the severity and complexity of your hearing loss (more severe and complex hearing losses can require more clinical time and costs).

Naída L is available in 4 technology levels (L30, L50, L70, and L90) that offer progressively more adjustment bands and advanced features as you move to the higher technology tiers (see details below). The hearing aids come in 8 different colors.

Key Naída Lumity technology

• AutoSense OS 5.0 – New AI-driven operating system within the hearing aid
• StereoZoom 2.0 – Improved automatic directional microphone system
• Dynamic Noise Cancellation – Spatial noise cancellation that uses beamforming microphones to improve speech in noise (L70 and L90 only)
• SpeechSensor – Detects from where the speech signal is coming then directs and automatically adjusts directional microphones (L90)
• EchoBlock – Better comfort and speech understanding in reverberant rooms and surroundings (L90)
• Speech Enhancer – Helps you hear soft speech in quiet situations for better understanding from a distance (L90)

Some of these features need to be activated by your hearing provider for you to use them. More detailed information about them can be found below and on HearingTracker's Phonak Lumity page.

Differences in Naída Lumity models and technology levels

From an audiological perspective, the main difference between the Naída L-PR and L-UP is that the L-UP is designed for the most severe hearing losses, while the L-PR should be suitable for most hearing losses ranging from mild to severe. In terms of the appearance, this means the L-PR can use both a slim-tube and standard (slightly larger) tube, while the L-UP is limited to the standard tube for higher volume levels. Additionally, the L-UP uses a 675 battery while the L-PR is rechargeable.

But there are other more subtle differences between the models. The rechargeable Naída L-PR comes with a motion sensor and tap controls, while the Naída L-UP model does not. This means the L-PR can detect if you are moving to make better processing decisions, and you can answer your phone by tapping the aids without fumbling for a button or opening the app. Although the L-UP model doesn’t offer tap control, it does include a telecoil (t-coil) for connecting to t-coil-equipped landline phones and the large-area loop systems often found in places of worship, theaters, and lecture halls, while the L-PR (disappointingly) does not. See the section below titled “Naída Lumity Model Comparison” for other differences between the models.

As noted above, Naída Lumity comes in 4 technology levels (L30, L50, L70, and L90) that offer progressively more adjustment bands for programming the aids and advanced features. For example, Dynamic Noise Cancellation and Sound Relax are offered in both the L70 and L90 tiers, while Echo Block, Speech Enhancer, and Speech Sensor are offered only in the L90 tier. A more detailed description of Lumity features is provided on our Phonak Lumity main page and also see the table below titled “Naída Lumity Technology Levels.”

Controls for Naída Lumity

• Push-buttons: The button on the body of the hearing aid is used for controlling volume control and/or changing up to 3 pre-set programs for places like restaurants, watching TV, or music listening. For Bluetooth-enabled phone calls, a short press on the upper or the lower part of the button lets you accept an incoming call, and a long press rejects an incoming call.
• Tap control: For Naída L-PR (70/90 tech levels), you can control various functions by simply tapping on the hearing aid. Your hearing provider can set up these functions which include accepting/ending a phone call, pausing/resuming audio streaming from a connected device, and accessing your smartphone’s voice assistant (e.g., Siri, Alexa). While this is a handy feature, some wearers have noted that it’s not as simple to operate as they had hoped; using the tap control takes practice for some while others may choose simply not to use the feature.
• myPhonak app: While tap control is “a nice feature to have,” the myPhonak app is extremely useful. At a basic level, the myPhonak app allows for volume and program changes, and the use of the equalizer to change tones for increased bass and treble. The app also connects remotely to your hearing provider, potentially saving you trips to their office, and the provider can perform real-time adjustments to your hearing aids. With Lumity, the myPhonak app has also added new controls so you can adjust the strength of the speech focus and noise reduction, and also control StereoZoom 2.0 (discussed below).

The myPhonak app in the Apple app store or the Google Play™ app store shows ratings of 4.1 and 2.6, respectively, which represents a substantial improvement over their previous 1.7 and 2.2 ratings from a year ago. Most complaints revolve around ease of use, maintaining the Bluetooth connection, and the hearing aids staying in the selected program.Unfortunately, lackluster ratings for hearing aid apps are fairly common in the hearing industry—primarily due to connectivity issues that in some cases go beyond the purview of hearing aid manufacturers. So it’s good to see at least some progress in this area.

myPhonak can be used on Apple iPhones with iOS^® Version 15 or newer, or Google Mobile Services certified Android™ devices with Bluetooth 4.2 and Android OS 8.0 or newer.

Personalizing your Naída L device

You can personalize your Naída L to suit your own needs and preferences. For example, you can adjust your hearing aids to how you like them in a specific listening situation, and then save and label that as your “restaurant,” “classroom,” "dinner table" program setting. HearingTracker Audiologist Matthew Allsop explains how to do this in the video below.

Other important features of Naída Lumity hearing aids

For the most part, Naída L shares the same advanced features as the rest of the Phonak Lumity product family. Below are some of the ones you should know more about.

StereoZoom 2.0 for zooming-in on speech in noise

As part of Phonak’s SmartSpeech™ technology, StereoZoom 2.0 is a new automatic directional microphone system that enhances spatial awareness in low-noise environments, gradually moving to a more focused directional pattern as the noise level increases. In other words, when in quieter listening environments, the microphones will attempt to pick up sound from all directions around you, but as noise increases, so does the focus or strength of the directivity in the directional microphones. So it is adaptive to your current listening environment and is intended to be unnoticeable and seamless.

StereoZoom 2.0 can be adjusted in the programming software by your hearing provider, and you can also control it with the “Speech Focus” slider within the myPhonak app. This gives some control over how “focused” you would like the hearing aids to be for talkers who are in front of you.

SpeechSensor for speech all around you

Phonak’s SpeechSensor, which is also a part of its SmartSpeech™ technology, detects which direction dominant speech is located and enables you to hear speech from the side or from behind to be amplified. In this way, you're not completely shut off, and the directionality isn't confined to the front only. Several manufacturers have now developed similar technology to engage 360° hearing. The ability of the hearing aid to minimize noise from in front of you and hear speech from the side or from behind can be advantageous in certain situations like driving in a car or conversing in meetings.

SpeechSensor and StereoZoom 2.0 do not work in isolation. Obviously, you are also hearing sounds amplified in the frequency (pitch) regions you need them, and other aspects of the hearing aid are also engaged as needed.  For example, directional microphones may be engaged at the same time as noise reduction, compression, etc.

Hands-free connectivity for both Apple and Android devices

Phonak is known as a leader in hearing aid wireless connectivity, and that tradition continues with the Lumity hearing aids. Lumity is compatible with both Android and Apple products and other Bluetooth-enabled devices such as tablets and laptops. It currently uses Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technology, but is also compatible with many older Bluetooth phones. It incorporates both Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) protocols allowing for “universal” connectivity. (However, this version does not allow for Auracast broadcasts, a technology that is only now starting to emerge on the audio market.)

You can be actively connected to two different Bluetooth devices and pair up to 8 devices for direct streaming, in stereo, to your hearing aids. The hearing aids also act as a hands-free device, meaning that during phone calls, there is no need to speak directly into the cell phone as the microphones on your hearing aids act as the input.

Battery life of Naída Lumity

With the rechargeable Naída L-PR, Phonak says you can expect 16 hours of hearing aid use, even if you spend up to 4 of those hours streaming Bluetooth audio and 4 hours streaming TV.

We did not find expected usage for the new L-UP hearing aids. However, HearingTracker's forum members report receiving about 11 or 12 days of use with a size 675 batteries in the L-UP predecessor (Naída Paradise L90) and we suspect this has not changed substantially. However, battery life depends a lot on your hearing loss level, use of streaming, and time spent in complex listening environments.

When the battery level is low, you will hear two beeps and will then have about 30 minutes to change the battery (this can vary, depending on the hearing aid settings and battery). This is why, particularly for more severe hearing losses, you should always keep some extra batteries handy!

Final verdict

You can think of Naída Lumity as Audéo Lumity's bigger, more powerful, versatile sibling. Naída Lumity L-PR is a rechargeable BTE, and Naída L-UP is an ultra-power device with a disposable size 675 battery designed particularly for people with severe to profound hearing loss. The rechargeable Naída L-PR comes with a motion sensor and tap controls, while the battery-powered Naída L-UP model does not; however, the L-UP comes with a telecoil while the L-PR does not. Both contain some of the best and most advanced features you'll find in a BTE and are strong choices for just about anyone, but are particularly suitable for adults with more complex fitting needs and/or severe hearing loss.