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Edited

Hi everyone,

I’m a Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio I90 user and I’ve been struggling with the same issue for months now: constant background hiss/static/white noise especially during Bluetooth streaming (music, podcasts, calls). It’s only noticeable on one side (right ear) and it gets much more prominent when the microphone is muted / streaming is active.

Over the past months three different people (my audiologist + two Phonak reps) have fine-tuned the fitting in the same office. Each of them added/changed something (NoiseBlock, DNC, TK/Expansion, mic attenuation, balance adjustments etc.). The result feels a bit “all over the place” now — the sound is not coherent anymore, one side feels thinner, the balance is off, and the hiss is still there.

I’m considering asking my audiologist to do a completely fresh First Fit (reset to factory defaults and start over with the current + the latest receiver settings).
Has anyone here tried this after multiple fine-tuning sessions? Did it help bring back a more consistent sound, or did it make things worse? Is there any downside I should be aware of (apart from losing all custom tweaks, of course)?

I know First Fit is supposed to be the clean starting point, but after so many changes I’m afraid it might feel like starting from zero again. Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all :heart:

11 people in this conversation14 min readJump to latest

It might be helpful if you would post your so the members here could see what you are dealing with. For what its worth, I had a problem which sounds similar to yours. I am a person and adjust my own hearing aids and I was able to solve my issue, for the most part, buy turning off Sound Recover 2 on the offending ear and then adjusting it up slowly. Also helped to turn the volume down on my right ear. That solution may very well be unique to me. A reset is a is a reasonable place to start. Good luck.

Edited

Thank you, that’s really helpful.

My is already uploaded in the forum, so feel free to take a look.

The SoundRecover 2 point is very interesting — especially because the hiss I experience is not constant and seems to depend on the type of sound and the speaker, and it’s mostly on one side.

I’m not adjusting the devices myself, but I will definitely ask my audiologist to review the SoundRecover 2 settings on the right side.

Appreciate your insight — this gives me a new direction to explore.

@Eleinor said:

I’m considering asking my audiologist to do a completely fresh First Fit (reset to factory defaults and start over with the current audiogram + the latest receiver settings).

Resetting is not necessary to get fresh programming. Starting a new client would do this.

What receiver settings are you thinking about?

What domes/molds do you have? What power receivers are you using? Was done during your fitting? We need to know the basics before fine tuning help.

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it.

You’re right — I understand that technically a “new client” fitting profile could achieve a similar clean starting point as a First Fit. My concern is that after multiple fine-tuning sessions by different clinicians, the current fitting has become inconsistent and difficult to track, so I’m looking for a truly clean baseline.

To answer your questions:

  • I’m using custom SlimTip molds (acrylic).

  • Current receivers are 1M on both sides.

  • My audiologist is now considering switching the right side to 1S due to suspected over-amplification and perceived hiss.

  • has not been performed recently (and I’m not sure it was done properly during earlier fittings).

The main issue is not constant noise, but selective:

  • The hiss appears mainly during Bluetooth streaming (music, calls), especially with certain voices or sound types.

  • It is not present in silence and not with all speakers (for example, some voices are completely clean).

  • This makes me think it may be related to gain/compression or signal processing rather than pure device noise.

Additionally, AutoSense seems to misclassify environments quite often:

  • speech being treated as music

  • music as speech

  • even simple environmental sounds triggering unexpected programs

This leads to sharp, uncomfortable sound and inconsistent speech clarity.

Because of this combination (misclassification + accumulated adjustments), I’m considering a full reset approach to rebuild a stable baseline before further fine tuning.

Any thoughts on whether focusing on REM + gain/compression adjustments would be a better first step than changing the receiver?

Thanks again — really helpful to get input from someone experienced.

In reply to @WhiteHat

Thanks, that’s reassuring.

My main concern is not losing previous settings, but that after multiple adjustments by different clinicians, the current fitting feels inconsistent and hard to interpret.

That’s why I’m leaning towards a clean baseline — not because I think something irreversible happened, but because I’m no longer sure which changes are actually helping.

Good to know rollback is always an option.

In reply to @Eleinor

@Eleinor said:
  • The hiss appears mainly during Bluetooth streaming (music, calls), especially with certain voices or sound types.
  • It is not present in silence and not with all speakers (for example, some voices are completely clean).
  • This makes me think it may be related to gain/compression or signal processing rather than pure device noise.

Is this hiss in both ears? Since it’s when streaming the issue could be in a streaming program not other programs.

Hiss can be known as floor noise I think. It usually happens with people that have good low frequency hearing, you don’t. Have you noticed streaming volume to be louder or softer than needed?

More help will start soon since giving us good information.

Thanks

Thanks, that’s a very helpful way to look at it.

The hiss is not present in both ears — it’s mainly on the right side.

It is most noticeable during Bluetooth streaming (music, calls), but it is not constant:

- It depends on the type of sound and the speaker.

- For example, some voices are completely clean, while others trigger the hiss.

- If there is no incoming sound, there is no hiss.

That’s why I’m not sure it’s simple floor noise.

Regarding volume: I often feel I need to reduce the overall volume because certain sounds (like high-frequency or sudden noises) become too sharp or uncomfortable — but then speech clarity suffers.

Also, I’ve noticed that AutoSense sometimes misclassifies environments (e.g. music vs speech), which may also affect how streaming is processed.

So I’m wondering if this could be related more to gain/compression or signal processing rather than baseline noise.

Thanks again — really appreciate everyone helping to narrow this down.

Just out of curiosity has a replacement of the receiver giving the problem been tried?

I had a receiver replaced due to certain voices and sounds being off on one side only, which in my case solved the issue, the receiver in question was only 2 weeks old at the time.

In reply to @Simplicity

Thanks for the suggestion.

The receiver has actually already been replaced once (both were quite new, around 4 weeks), but the issue has been present from the very beginning — especially during streaming.

Also, the hiss is not constant and depends on the type of sound and program. For example, in a manual TV program speech sounds much more natural and the sharpness is gone.

Because of that, it seems less likely to be a hardware issue and more related to processing / gain / program behavior.

Still, I appreciate the idea — it was definitely something I considered earlier as well.

In reply to @Raudrive

Thanks — I understand the idea behind trying an S receiver on the right side to reduce possible over-amplification.

My concern is that speech understanding is already sometimes borderline for me, and since the issue is not constant (it depends on the type of sound and the active program), I’m not sure if reducing overall power is the right first step.

Interestingly, when I switch to a manual TV program, speech becomes much clearer and the sharpness disappears, which makes me think the problem might be more related to processing or program behavior than pure output power.

I’m open to trying it, but I’d definitely want to make sure speech clarity is not compromised.

Thanks again for the suggestion!

In reply to @raylock1

Thank you, that’s really interesting.

I actually do have Phonak Target as well, but I haven’t taken the step to program my hearing aids myself yet (no Noahlink so far). I’ve been more in a “learning and observing” phase.

After so many fine-tuning sessions with different professionals, I’m starting to understand more of what’s happening — but at the same time I’m a bit cautious about making changes on my own.

Out of curiosity — when you adjusted things like SoundRecover2 or gain, did you find it relatively straightforward to hear what was improving vs. making things worse?

I sometimes feel that small changes can have quite complex effects, especially with AutoSense involved.

Thanks again, really appreciate your insight.

@Eleinor said:

Out of curiosity — when you adjusted things like SoundRecover2 or gain, did you find it relatively straightforward to hear what was improving vs. making things worse?

If you download the sound file from Phonak (You use Target to do that) you can test the changes as you make them. But in the real world, I make small changes and then wear the aids for a day or two to see if there has been an improvement. lt takes a good bit of time to get the aids just like you want them or at least the best they are likely to be.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you.

I really like your approach of making small changes and then testing them in real life over a couple of days — that feels much more realistic than trying to judge everything instantly.

At the moment, I feel like my current fitting is a bit “all over the place” after multiple adjustments, so I’m thinking it might be better to first get back to a clean baseline before even considering making changes myself.

But it’s very helpful to hear how you approach it — especially the patience part :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks again!

If you are going back to a baseline, you will probably want to create an AudiogramDirect using Target. That is basically an created using your hearing aids and Target. Target will then also show the targeted settings based on that measurement as well as the audiogram inputted and will use it if you wish (which you will want to do).

That’s a very interesting point, thank you.

I’m aware of AudiogramDirect in Target, but I haven’t tried it yet. At this stage, since my current fitting already feels quite inconsistent after multiple adjustments, I think I would prefer starting from a clean baseline based on a clinical first.

Maybe later, once things are more stable, AudiogramDirect could be useful for fine-tuning.

Really appreciate the suggestion — it’s helpful to understand how others approach this.

Don’t know what it is, but it’s clearly NOT the M receiver. You don’t need an S receiver.

You say mainly streaming. When does it happen when you are NOT streaming? Does it happen across all streamed devices?

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