Oticon vs Phonak: What Two Hospitals Post Under One Code

How the two brands were paired

Comparing an Oticon price from one seller with a Phonak price from another mixes two markets. Here each pair comes from one hospital's own price file, posted under 45 CFR 180: the same hospital, the same HCPCS code, V5257, and the same price type, the discounted cash amount, which is the charge for a person who pays cash.

Two hospitals in our archive post both brands under that code with a price transparency page we could read: University of California Davis Medical Center in California and Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, both in files dated April 1, 2026. Each amount is what the hospital posted, not what an insurer pays and not a retail price.

UC Davis Medical Center: Oticon Intent against Phonak Audéo

UC Davis lists each device under its own label. Under V5257, with the labels as printed in the file:

• HC INTENT 1 MINIRITE R-MON-OTICON: $1,180.66.
• HC INTENT 2 MINIRITE R-MON-OTICON: $804.14.
• HC AUDEO I50-R-MON-PHONAK: $595.30.
• HC AUDEO I30-R-MON-PHONAK: $424.75.

Each brand's two rows carry different numbers in their labels, and the two brands' rows name different product lines. The file does not say what services, fitting or follow-up visits each amount includes.

Inova Fairfax Hospital: Oticon Intent against Phonak Sky

Inova Fairfax's file has the same kind of rows under V5257:

• HC HEARING AID BTE OTICON MONAURAL INTENT 1 MINIRITE R: $1,352.50.
• HC HEARING AID BTE OTICON MONAURAL INTENT 2 MINIRITE R: $931.
• HC HEARING AID BTE PHONAK MONAURAL SKY L50-PR: $649.
• HC HEARING AID BTE PHONAK MONAURAL SKY L50-M: $622.

These Phonak rows are not the counterpart of the Oticon Intent rows. They are labeled Sky, and Phonak presents its Sky Lumity hearing aid as a pediatric model: "Phonak Sky Lumity gives children a hearing solution for every step of their journey." At Inova, these rows compare a children's line with a different product line.

Who files Oticon and Phonak devices with the FDA

On the FDA's device identification records, read through openFDA, devices under the Oticon brand name list Oticon A/S and Sbo Hearing A/S as labelers. Devices under the Phonak brand name list Sonova AG and Phonak AG. A labeler is the company named on the device record; the record does not by itself show who owns whom. Our pages on Oticon hearing aids and Phonak hearing aids cover each brand's other hospital lines and records.

Phone connections each maker documents

Neither maker's page covers both brands, and the documents name different models from the hospital rows:

• Oticon More: Oticon writes that Android devices need to support Audio Streaming from Hearing Aids (ASHA) to allow direct streaming to Oticon More.
• Phonak Audéo L-Fit: its user guide says the hearing aid "can be connected to up to two devices and paired to up to eight devices".

Check the guide of the exact model you are offered: these rules belong to the models named, not to every hearing aid of either brand.