I have had these hearing aids for at least a couple of months now and overall like them pretty well but I am having a problem that I think may be adjustment related and I am getting the impression that my audiologist is not too well checked out on these. Here is what I have noticed. When I am in a noisy or fairly noisy situation I cannot hear someone to my left or my right. The sound to my left and my right seems muted. Here are a couple of examples. Recently I was at an indoor sporting event in a noisy fieldhouse and it was very difficult for me to hear the person I was with throughout the event. She happened to be seated to my left. Other sounds were okay. Another example: I was playing golf the other day and the golf course happened to be next to a cornfield and a very large, noisy combine was nearby and working the field. I noticed that when I faced the combine or had my back to it the noise was very loud but when I turned sideways to it (left or right) the noise of the combine was very muted. Any Phonak experienced audioogists here who could possibly tell me what setting to suggest to my audi to look at? I believe I have read somewhere on here that the auto stereozoom feature on these aids is off by default and must be turned on by the fitting audiologist. Can anyone here confirm that?..and could that possibly be my problem? Another example: I was in a resturant recently and could hear the person sitting across from me just fine but someone seated two seats to my right (about 3 or 4 feet away) tried to talk to me and I simply could not hear her at all. I could see her mouth moving but it was like no sound was coming out.
Any suggestions on what feature or features that she could look at or adjust to help this situation…autozoom maybe off by default?..and needs to be turned on?..or any other ideas? Thanks for any help.
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PRWHM5 people in this conversation12 min readJump to latest↓
It sounds like your aids are working normally. In noisy situations they automatically go into directional mode which reduces sounds that are behind you and on either side. This lets you focus on the person in front of you.
The auto StereoZoom feature is acutally on by default. There are a quite a few settings that can be adjusted which control when the program activates. You could prioritize quiet, increase the noise floor, or even have it removed from the Automatic program entirely (you can still access it manually). If you do have it removed, the aids will use the standard speech-in-noise program which casts a wider beam and you won’t get that laser-like focus.
It sounds like your aids are working normally. In noisy situations they automatically go into directional mode which reduces sounds that are behind you and on either side. This lets you focus on the person in front of you.
The auto StereoZoom feature is acutally on by default. There are a quite a few settings that can be adjusted which control when the program activates. You could prioritize quiet, increase the noise floor, or even have it removed from the Automatic program entirely (you can still access it manually). If you do have it removed, the aids will use the standard speech-in-noise program which casts a wider beam and you won’t get that laser-like focus.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I now see that they are working as designed as far as the auto StereoZoom feature. Can you comment on the auto ZoomControl feature? On the Phonak website there is a audio/visual graphic that show the user driving a car with a passenger to his right and someone also in the rear seat and how the auto ZoomControl feature will switch on so the users aids can pick up sound from the sides and the rear. Maybe this is what my aids are not doing? When I am in a noisy environment it is almost like my aids function as ear plugs as far as sound coming from anywhere other than the direct front. You are probably already aware of the graphic I’m referring to but I am going to try to post a link to it here anyway… Phonak - Single Video 2Col 16:98 Is the auto ZoomControl feature on by default? Maybe she does not have this switched on for me. I don’t believe I’ve exactly simulated what they show in the video because I’ve not had anyone in the rear seat and someone riding as a front passenger at the same time however the restruant situation and the fieldhouse situation I described in my initial message ought to be about the same circumstances. If the auto ZoomControl feature is working on my aids, I cannot detect it happening.
My audiologist has my right hearing aid button set up as an up volume control and my left hearing aid button set up as a down volume control rather than having one of them programmed as a button to select different programs for different circumstances. She says the aids should pick out the correct setting for the situations themselves without me having to manually select the right program.
Thanks again for your response and for educating me on these aids. It will help me to communicate better with my audi. A big part of this problem has been myself and not being able to communite the problem accurately to her because I simply do not understand all of the features as well as I should. My audi has increased the noise level at which the auto StereoZoom control will kick in slightly (increased the noise floor) but that really has not helped anything.
The “auto” in auto ZoomControl refers to the direction. It will automatically locate and follow the clearest speech source. But you can also force it to be in a certain direction, such as reverse, for those in a wheelchair. The program itself is manual and has to be activated with your button. It’s not included in your list by default and must be added by the audi.
The buttons can also be set to program change ®/volume down (L), or volume up ®/program change (L), or both program change. Having access to programs might be more useful to you than volume control.
I would suggest deactivating StereoZoom (also called Speech in loud noise) in the Automatic program (SoundFlow) and adding it as a manual program. See if that works out better.
I didn’t want to start a new thread so I’ll ask here, but if you feel I should make a new thread please let me know.
On the Audeo Q90 there’s the Automatic Programs. Sound Flow consists of:
Calm Situations
Speech in Noise
Speech in Loud Noise
Comfort in Noise
Music
from what I read, depending on the situation Sound Flow could use any of those or a combination of those depending on the noise or lack of noise situation. Also in Sound flow there is an option to allow or not to allow the use of Speech in Loud Noise program. My question, are all those programs listed in Sound Flow above fixed(except the option of having Speech in Loud Noise)programs in Sound Flow. Meaning if one were to choose other programs for your program options to use with the ’s option button those listed above will still be in the Sound Flow program although not one of the chosen programs chosen to use manually with the HA button or a ComPilot.
Also on the Auto Zoom Control which I assume is used for when driving a car, couldn’t that be used in the the openning posters situation? Also the opening posters comments when in the vicinity of the combine noise and at sport event with a lady friend on his left, facing the combine or having his back to the combine it’s noise seemed louder, seems like his HA’s are in the Stereo Zoom mode of sorts. Think the Stereo Zoom’s program, a narrow field of the mic in Front of the wearer or to the back will focus in those areas and mute his left/right field. Ahh, I think I just figured it out, in Stereo Zoom it is a narrow field in Front and smaller in back field but it focuses on the speech tone of things. hahahahahaha, I’m confusing myself here. hahahaha
Only been using HA’s for 6 years now and beginning to see that with these sophisticated HA’s it’d be best for the wearer to understand how all these programs works so one could manually choose a program for the enviroment he/she’s in if they wanted to. From what I understand the SoundFlow program automatically chooses the program for the wearer depending on the enviroment they’re in. But you could opt for other programs that you could want manually using a ComPilot or programming the HA button to do so. I use a regular phone in the office and opted to have a manual program as one of the HA’s 5program choices which is Acoustic Phone, but I don’t think it replaces any of the 5 programs within SoundFlow and that is why I ask/question.
I’m no audiologist but just read and I’m just assuming the info above.
for the short time using these sophisticated aids I appreciate the “” feature. Using the the Auto Zoom Control program while driving it seemed to mute my left aid some and I could hear/understand my passenger better than with my previous aids(less road noise in my left ear so to say). Also using the Acoustic Telephone program configured for the handset rightside HA use, I positioned the handset for the best volume I could muster and heard the conversation in both aids! Don’t think you’d consider the Compilot Blue tooth as binaural feature but using it with my cell phone I could hear the other party real loud and clear in both ears. I’ve been missing so much all these 6 years of ha use until I got these sophisticated ha’s!
I lived with my 1st set of ha’s for 6 years, I remember almost from day one noticing I couldn’t hear certain peoples voices but with these new aids it made it much better. Understanding how the aids works is a must as far as I’m concerned with these new aids as to wanting the most you can get out of it. On my 1st aid I was told that it was automatic and not knowing how it worked I was always questioning myself if it was working properly. hahahaha, yeah I can laugh about it now cause I’ve lived and learned. When you’ve lost your hearing for sometime, you forget how regular sound sounds and you don’t really know what to expect out of the ha’s, How I suffered but am a Happy Camper with these new aids.
pochoboy, you can’t delete programs from or add programs to SoundFlow, but you can modify any of the existing programs if you don’t like the way they sound or function.
You can choose any of the automatic programs to be a manual program; it won’t affect SoundFlow. SoundFlow is implemented as the “A” or Automatic program. That’s the one you’re in when the hearing aid boots up. Your audi can select a manual program to be your startup choice if you don’t want to use SoundFlow. And the A program can be removed from your list of programs so you can’t cycle back to it by pushing the button.
auto ZoomControl is designed for situations where you can’t turn your head to face the speaker. Driving a car and being pushed in a wheelchair are the two best examples. StereoZoom is the look-and-listen program; you have to be looking at the person you want to hear.
The 312T version of the Audeo supports EasyPhone which will automatically activate the phone program when you hold a handset up to the hearing aid. It also contains a .
Dear pochoboy
If your did not give you manual access to those programs, you cannot control them manually (SoundFlow is 1 “program” and fully automatic).
You may ask your HCP if you wish manual access to one of those programs (via pushbutton or ComPilot).
The “Auto” in Auto Zoom Control refers to “Automatic” and not “car”
It detects the direction in which the speaker stands automatically… And of course this is also helpful in cars, but also for other situations…
from the last couple of responses I got above it’s easy to tell my use of the English language is pretty bad. hahahahaha Thanks! for clearing up my question. Yes, I do have some manual programs, the Acoustic Telephone is one of em which is helpful, the Auto Zoom Control for when I’m driving and there are 3 other programs that I’ve not a chance to use manually as I’ve just gotten these hi’s for a couple of weeks.
My observation is that the aids sound a bit tinny and there’s a bit of occlusion but it’s not so bad where I couldn’t live with that. The Gain in speech understanding outweighs those problems so far. I’ve read there’s some adjustments that could be done to lessen these problems but I wonder if it’ll affect my speech understanding some?
Sometimes I find the hi’s a bit loud in SoundFlow, my wife’s talking in the car(of course it could be that it’s natural for her to talk loud because of my hearing loss even with the old hearing aids), the higher pitched sounds like birds, far off dogs barking, clanging of dishes/untensils and even the sound of my barefoot swishing/slapping the ceramic tile floor. I have a feeling it could be the SoundRecover thing. It’s an elated experience of my 1st hearing aids all over again
sorry if I’m overtaking this thread, but let me know and I’ll start another.
It was BigMc Attack Monday @ our local McD’s, loud music atmosphere so I had a chance to test out the Auto Stereo Zoom program on my hi’s. It worked pretty well muting the loud music some like turning into soft background music, but I could hear my wife pretty good who was sitting directly in front of me. I also had a cellphone call and didn’t have my Compilot with me and it looks like I’m gonna have to get used to turning this and that on/off, hahahahaha. But I’ll get a hang of it operating these hi’s with more usuage time.
Understanding how these hi’s work and personally testing these hi’s out, I can’t question if the different programs work, it just does! unlike my 1st set of ha’s. Just a little more tweaking on the loudness which may be due to SoundRecover and I’ll be set. I got back most of my hearing and it was worth every penny.
Guess my brain got used to the new sounds and it doesn’t seem loud anymore and the HI’s working fine. I conversed with different people today and these new aids are really working well and tell me how could I live without bluetooth all these years? Conversations on cell phone are loud and clear!
Not being able to hear well these past 6 years I developed a bad habit of staring at people’s faces, maybe part to see if they are saying something that I didn’t pick up. Ahhhhh, the girls faces, I made some feel bad by staring and got bad vibes, maybe fall in love with them too, hahahaha. Now, I’ve still got that bad staring habit but am trying to break away from that, learning not look at people faces so to say. Think the better speech understanding is due to SoundRecover and the programs helps to.
I love it! Not having to concentrate on what the words being said “are” in a conversation so to say but now giving responses to questions better and faster. I may be wrong but I’m thinking I’m having to relearn how to understand what people are saying, since all this time during the past I’ve been listening/concentrating to every single word being spoken to me. Did I make sense there? It’s like trying to figure out what the person said and not even being able to respond.
