T-Coil vs. BlueTooth

I don’t know what a T-coil is but I do know something about bluetooths. They are fine but they all are not equal. Banafron’s Southgate is not dependable unless you have your cell phone close to the unit. The microphone is poor and you really can’t depend upon it. Rexton’s RCU unit seems to work much better with a cell phone and connecting it to a computer or iPod. Rexton is made by Siemens and is identical to their HA sold directly by audiologists. There is a new RCU unit to be available sometime during the summer called miniRCU.

I am on the phone - a lot. Mainly on my cell phone. I have been wearing a BT headset ever since they came out 7-10 years ago. The last few years I’ve worn it virtually all day. All though I finally admitted I needed HA - I never had trouble hear phone calls.
Fortunately, I am able to use an open fit HA. That allows me to keep wearing my BT headset and use other phones - normally. My BT headset is the type that fits on the ear, not protruding into the ear - where the HA now resides. I have the Motorola 710 - but there are many other brands. I would have been really depressed had I been required to get the type of HA that blocked the ear and required me to get additional equipment just to use the phone.
…mike

Mike: If it comes down to that be certain to trial a Resound Alera (or Costco Future) hearing aid. They have a Phone Clip that receives the Bluetooth signal from a cell phone and re-broadcasts/re-transmits via a completely wireless (2.4Ghz) link right to your hearing aids. Other manufactures have something similar, but the wireless link quality degrades if the unit is more than just a few inches away from the aids (Resound’s solution woks well for many feet). The result is that you hear the caller through your aids as though you are wearing a (somewhat invisible) Bluetooth headset/earpiece all the time! IMHO, it’s completely awesome! Also the incoming voice is much easier for me to understand when it’s processed through my hearing aids.

This has been an informative thread on t-coil vs. bluetooth. It seems like people either love it or hate it. I currently wear the Rexton Cobalt 16 from Costco, made by Siemens which do not have a t-coil. I have been having problems at work using the phone. Out of curiosity, I had the specialist program the Rexton Insite BTE w/telecoil to try. I was disappointed in the sound quality. I still had to hold the phone up to the HA mic and there was a lot of static and the volume was barely loud enough even with the phone turned all the way up. Increasing the volume created a lot of feedback and garbled words. I ordered the BLU-RCU (Siemens TEK) bluetooth which should be in this week. I sure hope that works. The new Mini-Tek is still not available, but I can’t wait anymore.

T-coils and Bluetooth both have their places. T-coils work great in churches, meeting halls, movie theaters ( if looped) and your house for tv or music if you have looped it. Bluetooth works great for cellphones and land lines, but not so great for tv because of the slight delay in audio transmission from the box, to the streamer, into the HA and the range is not super great. As for t-coil you can hear the tv or music as long as you are within the loop, so if you loop the whole house you will hear the sound no matter where you are in the house. The best sound quality I’ve found is using a cable from the source though the streamer into the HA; the only drawback you are tethered to the audio source.