BEST CROS & BiCROS Hearing Aids of 2025

If you're looking for the best CROS and BiCROS hearing aids, then you're watching the right video.

Hey guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona, and in this video I'm talking about the Best CROS and BiCROS hearing aids of 2025.

If you're someone with single-sided deafness, one of the absolute best treatment options that you have is CROS treatment. CROS stands for contralateral routing of signal and it basically means that you're taking sound from your bad ear using a CROS transmitter and sending it over to a hearing aid in your good ear.

And if you also have hearing loss in your better hearing ear, we call this BiCROS treatment because we are also amplifying the sound once it gets over to your better hearing ear.

Generally speaking, treating single-sided deafness with either CROS or BiCROS is a lot more complex than just treating a standard case of hearing loss, which means that it is a very good idea to find a hearing care professional who follows comprehensive Audiologic best practices.

And the best way to find one of these extremely rare providers is to go to my website, HearingUp.com and finding a HearingUp network member in your area. HearingUp members have been vetted and are committed to following comprehensive Audiologic best practices when fitting and programming your CROS hearing aids.

So if hearing your absolute best is important to you, finding a HearingUp network member in your area is an absolute must.

That being said, let's go ahead and take a look at all of the best CROS transmitters that you can get here in 2025 starting with the Phonak CROS Infinio.

The CROS Infinio from Phonak is a rechargeable CROS transmitter that's compatible with the Phonak Audeoo Infinio R. This CROS transmitter is not compatible with Phonak's new sphere Infinio hearing aid, which means that you will not be able to get all of the cool features of the deep sonic chip for using AI to separate speech from background noise, but you do get access to the new ERA Chip released in late 2024.

Phonak's new version of this CROS transmitter has much better battery life than previous generations of their technology. This means that you can get at least 16 hours of battery life on a single charge with this CROS transmitter as opposed to around 11 hours that you had previously get.

Phonak has always been known as an excellent option to treat single-sided deafness because they've been doing CROS and BiCROS treatment at a high level for decades. At this point, all the way back to when you actually had a wire that connected the CROS transmitter over to the hearing aid in your better hearing ear inside the professional programming software, your hearing care professional can adjust the CROS balance to make sure that they're actually overcoming the head shadow effect for you so you can hear all the sounds on your bad side in your better hearing ear.

The CROS Infinio can also be connected to the MyPhonak smartphone app, so you have full adjustment capabilities and you even have access to remote care with your hearing care professional streaming from pretty much any smartphone is also possible using this CROS transmitter. Although when you're streaming audio into your better hearing ear, the CROS transmitter is not active.

Another exciting thing here is that phone did upgrade their Infinio platform with Bluetooth version 5.3, which means that you get twice the range of Bluetooth connectivity with these particular devices. And this new version of Bluetooth will also give you access to Bluetooth LE audio and Aura ca. Whenever that becomes more widely available, you'll be able to get a Firmware update from your hearing care professional with these devices.

You also get access to the full lineup of all of Phonak's excellent wireless accessories, namely the Partner Mic as well as the full line of Roger Microphones, including the Roger on Roger Select and Roger Table mic. For individuals who continue to struggle in background noise situations, even though they're using the CROS overall, the Infinio CROS from Phonak is an excellent choice for CROS and BiCROS treatment here in 2025.

Now, something else that is extremely important when it comes to having success with CROS treatment is real ear measurement. Real ear measurement is a way for your hearing care professional to verify that the amount of sound that is being transmitted from your CROS side to your hearing aid side is actually overcoming the head shadow effect as well as meeting your hearing loss prescription on your better hearing ear.

I am serious when I say this that it is quite literally impossible to correctly program your CROS transmitter to your hearing aid if you are not doing real ear measurement to verify this fitting.

Now, if you would like to learn more about verifying a CROS fitting, I will have this video linked down in the description next on this list of the best CROS devices that you can get in 2025 is the Oticon CROS Px.

The CROS Px by Oticon is the rechargeable CROS transmitter that is quite literally compatible with like almost every hearing aid that Oticon has ever created. This includes the Oticon Intent, the Oticon Real, the Oticon More, the Zircon, the OPN S, the Play Px, the OPN Play, the Exceed, the Exceed Play, and even the Ruby.

Keep in mind that this rechargeable CROS transmitter does not actually fit inside of the newest hearing aid Charger by Oticon, which is the Oticon Intent, but it does fit inside the same charger as the Oticon more and the Oticon Real.

In terms of performance to Oticon CROS, PX works the best with the Oticon Intent, the Oticon more and the Oticon reel hearing aids because all of these hearing aids use their deep neural network for sound processing. This deep neural network is basically an artificial human brain that gets fed with a ton of different sound samples, in this case, 12 million different sound samples for it to identify what makes speech, speech and noise noise, and it does this much more accurately than a human made algorithm would.

The whole purpose of doing this is to help you better separate speech from background noise when you're in a noisy situation and the Oticon programming software, your hearing care professional can easily switch between a CROS or by and they can adjust the CROS balance, not to mention they can fully customize the amount of amplification that they're putting into the hearing aid in your better hearing ear.

And if you happen to have a high frequency hearing loss in your better hearing ear, there is really no hearing aid that is better than an Oticon hearing aid.

If you want Bluetooth low energy with Auracast capabilities, the Oticon Intent hearing aids have you covered, but you do not get this feature with some of the older generations that this CROS transmitter compatible with.

If you would like to use an assistive listening device, you can still use the Oticon ConnectClip to act as a remote microphone in a noisy situation for you. You can still use the Oticon Companion app to make adjustments on your hearing devices and if you have an Apple Watch, you also get this Oticon companion app on the Apple Watch so you don't have to break out your phone every single time you wanna make an adjustment.

If getting a CROS transmitter from a company who has virtually mastered CROS and BiCROS treatment here in 2025, I would highly recommend that you at least consider the Oticon CROS Px.

Now, one thing that is hugely important for individuals with single-sided deafness is auditory training. When you only have one functioning ear, it is incredibly important that you get the most out of that ear. And the best way to do that is to do auditory training with LACE Ai. Pro LACE AI Pro is an auditory training app that has been used for over 20 years and over 80 research articles validating its ability to significantly improve how well you hear, particularly in background noise.

Research shows that training with LACE AI Pro can result in up to a six decibel improvement in signal to noise ratio, which is massive. To get LACE AI Pro you have to purchase a license and this license gives you lifetime access to this app, including any new features that they roll out in the future. But for Dr. Cliff channel subscribers, you can get LACE AI Pro at a significant discount that I'll have linked in the description.

That being said, the next CROS transmitter to make this year's list of best CROS devices in 2025 is the Signia CROS Silk charge and GO IX.

The Signia Silk is by far the smallest CROS transmitter available on the market right now. It is also an instant fit device, which means that your hearing care professional can fit you rather quickly with it because they do not need to take a custom ear mold of your ear canal. They can actually fit it with a rubber dome or rubber sleeve. However, if they choose to, they can still make a custom ear mold for you that attaches to the end of this device for better retention inside of your ear canal.

Not only is the CROS Silk device compatible with the Signia Silk charge and GO IX, but it is also compatible with the invisible in the canal and completely in the canal version of the Insio IX.

Now, you may have caught on that the name of this device is rather long, but the charge and go part of its name means that this CROS transmitter is actually rechargeable. Now, previous generations of this Signia Silk CROS transmitter used a size 10 disposable battery, but they have gotten away from the disposable batteries and just in the nick of time because these new battery packaging laws that basically prevent you from getting your batteries out of the packaging makes it very difficult to use disposable batteries anymore.

Now I will say that actually programming and verifying the programming of this CROS transmitter is very difficult to do, but once you get it done and get it done well, the performance of this tiny little device is pretty impressive.

You can also control some of the functionality of the Signia Silk devices with the smartphone. It doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity, but your phone will actually emit chirping sounds to communicate with your devices. So if you actually wanna make volume adjustments or program adjustments, you basically enter those adjustments into your Signia app and it will make a chirping sound to send those adjustments into your hearing aids.

Now, this CROS transmitter can also be set up in CROS or BiCROS mode. I will say though, that when you're using BiCROS mode, you're rather limited to the amount of amplification that you can actually put into your better hearing ear. So this device really isn't suitable for anyone that has more than a moderate level hearing loss if that's you and you still wanna stay inside of the Signia family. Signia also has CROS transmitters for the receiver and canal technology that you should check out as well.

But if a completely in the canal CROS transmitter option is what you're looking for, you should really consider this Signia CROS Silk charge and go IX here in 2025.

Alright guys, if you're enjoying this video so far, do me a huge favor and click the like button. It really helps out my channel, and if you are not yet, subscribe to the channel with notifications turned on. Go ahead and do that as well. It is greatly appreciated and let me know down in the comment section if you use a CROS transmitter and which CROS transmitter you use and how much you like it.

Alright, and the last CROS transmitter to make this year's list of Best CROS devices in 2025 is the Starkey Edge ai Rick RT CROS.

Now, Starkey technically has a rechargeable version of this CROS transmitter and a non-rechargeable version of this CROS transmitter, but I prefer the rechargeable version for the same reasons why I did not like the disposable battery option for Signia.

Starkey has been doing CROS with their technologies for around nine years or so, and they have gotten way better at it. The really cool thing about this particular CROS transmitter is that you get basically all of the other benefits of the Starkey Edge AI hearing aids, the Edge AI hearing aids now use an integrated deep neural network on their G two neuro processor chip inside of their hearing aids, and it really shines when you use edge mode plus Edge mode plus, which you actually have to toggle on, gives you a significant improvement in signal to noise ratio anywhere between 10 and 13 decibels depending on the environment that you're in.

This gives you a huge advantage when you get into background noise situations if that's a high priority that you have with this CROS transmitter. Heck, you know what? Go ahead and just listen to it yourself. Range anxiety. Our goal at Starkey is with the fear from hearing aid users that they'll miss out on one of life's most important moments due to running out of battery life and their hearing aids.

I mean, this Edge Mode Plus feature could quite honestly be the difference between you hearing and understanding what someone is saying and you just pretending to hear and understand what they say.

The way that Starkey has their deep neural network integrated into their G two neural processor chip actually lowers the battery drain of using this deep neural network. Although with 51 hours of battery life on a single charge, I doubt that you'll ever run out of battery when you're wearing this CROS transmitter.

The Edge AI CROS is also fully customizable by your hearing care professional, and if you have really bad hearing in your better hearing ear, your hearing care professional could even hook you up with a custom ear mold on your better hearing ear to trap in more amplification and give you better hearing.

Yes, this Edge AI option is also equipped with Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast. So if that's something that's important to you, this is definitely a hearing aid to consider. And if you're impatient and you don't wanna wait for Auracast to become more available, this particular CROS transmitter is compatible with the RT version of the Rick Hearing aid, which means that it has a telecoil in it.

The only real issue that I see about using an Edge AI CROS transmitter is that the Edge AI platform does not yet have access to a remote microphone for help in difficult listening situations, but I would hope that Starkey does eventually release a remote microphone at some point in 2025.

Well, there you go. Those are the four best CROS transmitters that I think are available here in 2025. Let's go ahead and do a quick recap and keep in mind that I did list these in no particular order. I think all of these devices are great depending on what your specific wants and needs are, but here we go.

First we had the PHonak CROS Infinio. That now gives you proven CROS and BiCROS performance with all day battery life.

Second, we had the Oticon CROS PX that provides CROS and BiCROS compatibility across almost every Oticon hearing aid. Going back years third, we had the Signia CROS Silk charge and GO IX. That is the smallest rechargeable completely in canal CROS transmitter in existence.

And fourth, we had the Starkey Edge ai Rick RT CROS that gives you unrestricted access to every feature of the Edge AI hearing aids, including edge mode. Plus, just remember all of these CROS transmitter options for individuals with single-sided deafness work substantially better when you go to a hearing care professional who is experienced in treating single-sided deafness.

But assuming you're able to find one of these excellent hearing care professionals, you have some fantastic options when it comes to CROS transmitters here in 2025.‍