Jabra EP20 Microphone Sensitivity

I think the replaceable filters are a response to a design flaw. There have been numerous complaints about mic sensitivity degradation, witness this thread. The mic filters clog up with moisture. At first they were getting audio technicians to replace the internal filters, as they did with mine back in December, but that isn’t a workable solution given the number of complaints and the frequency of the requirement to change the filters. These external replaceable filters look like a workable solution. Time will tell.

I’m sorry if my comments confused you. They are over a few weeks and are answers to comments from different posters.

My friend has been wearing hearing aids, from Costco for several years, and he knows how to change the wax filters and keep his ears clear of wax. He was surprised that his new Jabra hearing aid specialist told him his hearing aids both failed after 10 days of use from earwax.

When I first was fitted with the Jabra E/H Pro 20s, mine exhibited the same problems, just one at a time. When I brought them back the folks at Costco told me the problem was earwax. Obviously, from my experiment that was just B.S. They didn’t realize that the hearing aids had a manufacturing defect and made the assumption that earwax was the problem. When the hearing aid specialist fitted the repaired aids, she told me that they, the Costco employees, were going crazy cleaning their customers Jabra hearing aids.

My little experiment showed that they, the Costco employees, were wrong about the problems being their customers fault. I did practically nothing for five weeks to my hearing aids after they were replaced by GN, and had no problems until the right one stopped working. By changing the wax filter and the dome on both hearing aids, fixed the right one. This makes sense. Going five weeks with minimal cleaning seems reasonable regardless how much earwax you produce. 10 days is a ridiculous period of time having the hearing aids stop working.

GN has or had a problem with their product and figures ethat they could just blame the customer. It obviously didn’t work. I was about to exchange mine for a different brand had I needed to return to Costco within the first 10 days with a stopped working hearing aid. So far, I’m willing to give them a few more weeks before my trial period ends.

They only come in rechargeable batteries from Costco. They carry the Jabra brand direct to Costco customers. They sell similar hearing aids directly form Jabra’s website for people who don’t live near a Costco. They will give you an online hearing test and send them to you pre-adjusted to your prescription along with telephone or online aftercare. Jabra hearing aids are made by a long time hearing aid company called GN. They are originally from Denmark, but the ones sold here are made in the states. They sell the same products under other brand names such as ReSound,
Beltone, Interton, Danavox and Falcom. They also manufacture headphones under the Jabra brand.

I have Nexia 9’s about 4 months … after two months the body microphone on one quit working completely, sent in to Resound and they were both replace and they worked fine to about two months.

Now the problem with the Nexia’s is whenever I cough or the aids hit my glasses the volume goes down for about 20 seconds. this happens also when streaming for phone or TV, this does not happen with the Omnia’s or Jabra 20’s (which I also have) … so time to send them in to Resound again for replacement.

So…another country to hear from . I have been wearing (Costco) hearing aids for about 20 years. Up until these, they were non-rechargeables and always spent the night in a dryer. I am a waxy guy, but I never had any issues with any of the devices or fitting services I got from Costco. When the warranties were about to run out, I would return the aids for service, just in case.

I have had my Jabra EP20s since January 2023. If memory serves, they have been returned for service (replacement) 5 times for various reasons. I have struggled with microphone sensitivity the whole time I had them. I was getting them cleaned every week to two weeks. I was told that I didn’t clean them properly. When I pressed the fitters, they agreed that lack of proper cleaning shouldn’t cause the mics the plug up that quickly.

Around the beginning of this year, they changed the shells for a new design that they said wouldn’t plug up. They looked just like before with a small hole for the mics. Those were good for about a month before I started having mic issues again. They sent them in for service (again) and when they came back, the mic holes looked different. Reading this forum, I learned they were filters.

I was in Costco today getting an adjustment and I asked about a filter kit for the mics. I was told that only technicians could change the them.

I have included a photo of what the mic openings look like now.

@mrschwarz said:

I have included a photo of what the mic openings look like now.

Thanks, that’s what we needed to see.

Yes both aids do the same thing
Mine are not the microphone filters … I removed the case of one of them and the filters were not pluged .
I think Resound has a quality control problem with the compluter chip in the Nexia. Some work forever and others fail in different ways.

Thanks, I will call them and ask them where are my filters.

I sent the nexia’s to resound, and just got them back (Replacements) and they work as they should, no longer cutting out when I cough or touch my glasses.
The replacement aids have a different serial number starting with 2526, so I thing they are a new production run … and do NOT have the microphone filters, they also do not have the red and blue plastic inserts for R & L … just a open hole, clearly they did not pull a R & L off the shelf.
The last replacement came back un-programed … this pair were programed with my programing, maybe they loaded my program’s to test if it was causing the problem.

I hope they have fixed the problem with new production.

I have now had the new Jabra EP20 hearing aids with the replaceable external mic filters for a year now. They worked really well for the first few months but they have now degraded to the point that they provide no benefit - I can hear equally well (or badly) with them in or out, despite fairly regular changing of the external filters. The big problem is that the degradation is so gradual that one doesn’t realize it until they get to the point where there is obviously no benefit to using them.

I’m going back to Costco to see what they can do. These are the fourth pair of replacement H/As that I have been given in less than 2.5 years of ownership. I am very disappointed with these devices, not a good experience at all.

Yes, I clean them regularly and change the wax guards, but that has little effect on the microphone sensitivity.

I am sorry you’re having that problem. This is all new to me. I have had no problem with my Jabras; if anything I hear more than I want to . I use the Hear in Noise function quite often.