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Oticon launches Opn hearing aids and Velox platform

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Discovered this forum a couple of days ago and have lived on it since :slight_smile: Such valuable info and helpful contributors. Had ’s a few years ago and stopped using them and somehow never got around to replacing them. Now retired and suddenly quality of life takes priority so intend to buy a set of premium aids. Decided on premium level simply because all the bells and hopefully no whistles will give me good outcomes and maximum flexibility and useful lifespan. Over last 3 weeks I trialled a few brands but got very interested in the Oticon OPN due to supposed “advancements” which might be a real breakthru … or maybe just a breakthru in good marketing :slight_smile:

Here’s my dilemna for which I would greatly appreciate any advice. I have read that 312 size batteries do not have adequate capacity to support bluetooth streaming and for that reason both Starkey (Halo2) and Resound (Linxx2) had to come out with their size 13 battery models.

If the Oticon OPN Velox processor has 50% more speed/power vs prior model and twice that of competitors (see I do believe the advertising) …that must have an big impact on battery life. If the OPN’s also have 2 comms processors, one for bluetooth and one for inter device comms … that must also impact battery life.

So if Starkey and Resound were required to upgrade to size 13 batteries … how can Oticon still use 312’s and does that mean very poor battery life relative to the other brands. Not a showstopper if the other claims stack up … but would just like to know what I can expect.

AussieJoe, I have been using Oticon Opn on a trial basis. I’ve been getting about 5 days on batteries with a moderate amount of streaming and generally wear them about 12 hours a day.

AussieJoe,

I also have been using the Oticon Opn first for a trial for about a week and then my own pair for about two weeks. I normally get about 5 days of use with heavy phone use with my iPhone and some music streaming.

From the Oticon Opn Product guide, the Opns use "Stereo Bluetooth low energy () 2.4 GHz connects Oticon Opn directly to mobile phones and other digital devices ". Bluetooth LE is (as the name implies) low energy consumption. There is a description of it here: Bluetooth Low Energy - Wikipedia1

I’m also hoping that traditional Bluetooth connectivity comes with the ConnectClip which is not yet released.

Hope that helps,

Battery life would be an insignificant factor in my choice of ’s. If there were a HA that could let me hear better than any other HA I would gladly change batteries daily, if necessary.

Mamouian and Luga,
thank you for those specific insights, most helpful. 5 days sounds pretty good to me and I assume that across the course of that 5 days you do not experience any dropouts or issues due to reducing battery power, or you would have mentioned it. Thanks also for the link Luga but I’m curious as to why you mentioned that you are also hoping that traditional Bluetooth connectivity becomes available … is that for extra range, or additional connectivity options, ie more than one device connected simultaneously?

Yes Ziplock, if there was a significant difference in hearing improvement for one brand of , battery life would be secondary consideration within reason. My trials of a few brands premium models (Siemens/Phonak/Starkey) so far have, for me, not indicated any significant differences between HA’s. That surprised me a little which is why I’m looking forward to trying the OPN’s

Thanks all.

@AussieJoe said:

Thanks also for the link Luga but I’m curious as to why you mentioned that you are also hoping that traditional Bluetooth connectivity becomes available … is that for extra range, or additional connectivity options, ie more than one device connected simultaneously?

AussieJoe,

I would like to be able to connect my office phone to the Opns and think that I should be able to do that once the ConnectClip is released using my existing Plantronics Bluetooth MDA200 hub and Plantronics SSP2714-01 bluetooth adapter. I hope to also connect the OPNs to other Bluetooth sources such laptops, etc.

Thanks,

In reply to @AussieJoe

My engineer husband says it could be designed do as to have no impact on battery life. All I know is that I’ve had my Pnns since Tuesday and battery still good. My Alta Pro’s varied from batteries lasting 4 to 8 days,so seems about the same - so far.

I’m giving a report now I’ve had my new Opn for a week. Replacing Oticon Alta Pro I’ve had about 3 years. Would not have changed but for the reviews about the significant improvements from the Opn. I’m finding Opn is better in quiet environments but really worth the upgrade for noisy situations such as noisy restaurants. I went to a very noisy restaurant a few nights ago. I could hear the waiter clearly despite very loud background noise including a crying baby. My husband told me when the waiter left that I spoke normally to him. That I usually shout to the waiter (unnecessarily) due to the noise (which I didn’t know I was doing). A dinner party at my house was easier too. I could listen to more than one conversation!

Im still having trouble on an office phone. Especially conference calls. I hope the new connectline helps. I’m going to ask about options at next appointment with HA. Also, I have a large group video conference tomorrow I will report on.

My HA told me the Opn did not have, and did not need programs for different environments like I had with the Alta Pro. But one option is to have forward directionality like the Pro. So the HA put it in as a program in case I was in a situation where it would work better. So far I prefer the all direction default. But I might want to focus on one person and give up full directionality to do so. I haven’t noticed improvement with directions of sounds. My trouble with that is determining which elevator of several dinged. That is still difficult.

Despite reading of others getting a music program, my HA says there is not one - it’s not needed. She texted the Oticon rep who confirmed that. I suspect other HA have made various selections in the set-up to create a custom music program. Anyone who can suggest what settings to ask for?

My TV adapter hasn’t arrived yet so looking forward to that. But even without, I can get by listening to TV but miss my streamer. For this one thing.

The iPhone pairing works well. I do get the flutter back and forth between HA when on a long telephone call. I hope that software or conflict with Bluetooth gets fixed soon. But I hear very well on the phone and don’t get dropped calls. Also I’m very clear to the person on the call unlike with the streamer. I like the Opn app. I kept ability to change volumn on the HA’s. But I like changing the program on the app, adjusting volume, and changing whether the phone is using HA or phone microphone. It’s really nice to do all this without the streamer.

My batteries lasted 7 days.

Basically, very similar reactions as other reviews. But I’m seeing a lot of ads from new Siemens Signia. Anyone done a comparison?

@LawyerFL said:

The iPhone pairing works well. I do get the flutter back and forth between HA when on a long telephone call. I hope that software or conflict with Bluetooth gets fixed soon. But I hear very well on the phone and don’t get dropped calls. Also I’m very clear to the person on the call unlike with the streamer. I like the Opn app. I kept ability to change volumn on the HA’s. But I like changing the program on the app, adjusting volume, and changing whether the phone is using HA or phone microphone. It’s really nice to do all this without the streamer.

My batteries lasted 7 days.

When I take mine out of the dryer first thing in the morning I go through unpairing/forgetting and re-pairing. It takes about a minute and there is no fluttering back and forth during calls. Today I had two dozen calls, most of them out at job sites. The phone battery was down to 20% when I got home. I’m wearing a bright surveyors construction vest and keep my iPhone in a breast pocket, bottom up. I can hear perfectly and my caller hears me just fine. No dropped calls, no flutter.

I change batteries every 4 days and no longer worry about it dying during the day.

It definitely does need fixing. I’ve had my audiologist present the issue to the Oticon folks. The method works for me but every four or five resets require a couple tries to get it to pair. It can take a couple of extra minutes while muttering a few choice words.

The dryer is a device the audiologist also provided. http://dryandstore.com/Zephyr.cfm
The concept seems to be highly regarded for removing moisture from hearing aids, possibly increasing how long they last. While I can’t speak to that it is a nice container to keep them overnight.

Over all I am happy with the OPNs.

In reply to @LawyerFL

@LawyerFL said:

Basically, very similar reactions as other reviews. But I’m seeing a lot of ads from new Siemens Signia. Anyone done a comparison?

I demo’d Siemens Pure 7px 2 weeks ago. My main observation was they were not as comfortable. I have only tried Ociton Alta Pro II miniRITE before that.

No issues for the short time demo, but I did not try any Bluetooth operations. I posted a thread in the main forum about comparing the two. Have not seen any real experience or technical responses yet. I posted a feature compare of the two in the thread.

I am going to get to demo the OPN later this week.

M

Okay, Ill keep this concise. I’ve trialed Opns against Muse for the last couple of weeks as my first . The Muse went back. The Opns were superior in every hearing environment, particularly those with background noise. Oticon for the win.

Quote from LawyerFL: Despite reading of others getting a music program, my says there is not one - it’s not needed. She texted the Oticon rep who confirmed that. I suspect other HA have made various selections in the set-up to create a custom music program. Anyone who can suggest what settings to ask for?

LawyerFL, what I would ask for in a music program is: No compression, no feedback suppression (or at least the bare minimum feedback suppression to keep the HA’s from actually feeding back), and pretty much no other special speech comprehension enhancements. The compression and feedback suppression, especially, distort music. The goal of hearing aids, in general, is to enhance speech comprehension. With music, you want as little of that tweaking of the sound source as possible. Search my posts and, especially, the posts of members Musician72 and azureblue for some great suggestions.
I hope it’s possible to get a music program in the Opn’s. I’m planning to trial them as soon as TruHearing has them available (They say late August). I can hardly wait.
Thank you so much for the reviews, LawyerFL and everyone else. Keep them coming! I, also, would love to hear a comparison between the OPn’s and the Signia Primax.

In reply to @RForbes

@RForbes said:

Update…

First some background: I am an Oticon Agil Pro wearer for 6 years. I went to local audi through Truhearing.com agreement. I trialed some Alta Pro 2 Ti and liked them very much; but during the trial I became aware of Oticon Opn upcoming launch, so I returned Altas. (Altas costs $4,400 for a pair through TruHearing.) Audi was not very familiar with Oticons, so I decided to look elsewhere. Found another audi (45 minute drive) that was familiar with Oticon. He suggested I try Signia Pure 7x while I waited for him to get Opn demos. I liked the Signias ok (4 days), but while waiting, I came across buyhear.com.

I sent buyhear.com my audiogram. They talked with me on phone about Opns and whether they were a good fit. I purchased Opns for $3,600 for the pair. They received the Opns a couple days later, called me and discussed how they should program the aids. I received the aids 3 days later (7 days after initial purchase).

Opns are great. The fluttering or warbling of some tones that I experienced with Alta Pro 2s is much less with Opns. I expect after one adjustment, I will be pretty good to go. I am a music minister, so I need to hear in many different settings to be able to let buyhear know what I need. For the adjustment, buyhear will send me something for a couple of days, so that they can adjust remotely. Next week, I will be around a ton of different musical groups, so its a good week to give Opns their first big challenge. The staff at buyhear have been great thus far. (I’ll continue to update during my 60 day trial period.)

By the way, I did speak with hearingrevolution (also known as Hearing Care Solutions). They have Opns for $2,100 per ($4,200 for a pair). You can go to local audi and purchase through hearingrevolution.

UPDATE (07/14/2016) - OTICON OPNs and BUYHEAR.COM1

I am a 6+ year wearer of Oticon Agil Pros. I recently purchased Oticon OPNs after trialing Alta1 Pro Ti. The Altas were significantly better than the Agil Pros. Surprisingly, the Oticon OPNs are significantly better than the Alta2s. The OPNs have a natural sound in all situations. Speech recognition is excellent as well as music (both recorded and live). I am a music minister with a wide variety of musical experiences…organ, piano, orchestral instruments, choral, handbells, and more! The only adjustment needed for me was to disable the feedback shield. With feedback shield enabled, some pure tones (such as, piano, whistling, organ) “fluttered” (very rapid vibrato). It is a joy to wear them.

Although the aids have 4 program possibilities, there is only one Oticon program pre-set setting for these aids. No music or restaurant setting by Oticon. I assume, because you will not need it.

While I was trialing Alta2 Pro and later Signia Pure 7x, I stumbled across www.buyhear.com. Their prices are fantastic. Oticon OPNs are less than $3,600 total for a pair of aids. I sent them a copy of my hearing test. They ordered aids from Oticon. After discussing with me my hearing needs, an audiologist programmed them according to my hearing test. I received the aids about 3 days later (due to weekend). (You can request expedited shipping with a minimal fee.)

After wearing the aids for a couple of weeks, I requested a kit to be sent to me. Within a week, I received the kit which allowed them to adjust my aids remotely via the internet. I am still in my 60-day money back guarantee period, but do not expect to return them. Oticon warranty is 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty, 2 Year Loss & Damage Warranty ($250 replacement fee on claim. 1 claim usage per hearing aid within term), 1 Year Warranty on Accessories. I am waiting for the TV Adapter 3.0, which is backordered. The cost of the aids includes initial trial period adjustments. After that, $50.00 per adjustment (mainly to pay for shipping costs).

I am an Android and Windows person. Oticon has not begun shipping TV Adapter 3.0, ConnectClip, or any other intermediary devices as of yet. In addition, the Oticon ON App for Android has not been released either. (It has been released for Apple products.) I am waiting patiently for these features to become available for me (Samsung Galaxy S7). I did get an iPod to check out the audio direct connection feature. It’s pretty awesome, except that I do have some minor interruptions to signal, which might be overlooked for the convenience factor.

Let me second everything RForbes has said. I’m also a 6 year Agil Pro user, now using Opn’s provided by buyhear.com. Being OCD, I of course requested Saturday delivery, which came as expected about ten days ago. Just a few things to add to what he’s said:

  1. My aids had problems with occasional random restarts; buyhear contacted Oticon who told them there was a known issue (presumably fixed very recently!) and that they’d send replacements. The replacements are in transit and should arrive tomorrow; buyhear has been TERRIFIC handling this issue and that gives me some additional confidence about my purchase. (BTW, the restarts were about one every 2-3 days and frankly didn’t bother me much; the whole process - failing, restarting, takes under 10 seconds).

  2. I’m also (lots of coincidences here) a Galaxy S7 user, and here the news isn’t so good (and I’m fortunate to have an iPhone 6 as well!) Not only isn’t there an Android app, a representitive of Oticon implied, in a response to a query, that there was an “accessory” needed for Android streaming (as opposed to the other features - volume, program change, find aids) and that it wouldn’t be ready until next spring! Frankly, Oticon should not represent Opn’s as supporting Android in this case; at the very least, there should be an “Available Spring 2017” somewhere prominent in their advertising!

  3. The music streaming via iPhone is just awesome if you’re willing to use power domes (on a long drive, I just put some in and the sound is fantastic - your mileage may vary, of course; in my case, the fact that the Opn’s are programmed for double-vented bass dome doesn’t seem to matter). I just bought a pack of them, and they’re well worth it. If I didn’t have an iPhone available, I would seriously consider getting an iPod Touch (32GB around $245 new) for this purpose. Buying from Amazon, for example, would allow you to try it out and return it if it doesn’t seem worth it (30 day return policy).

Anyway, I’m a very satisfied customer of buyhear (and Oticon). The Opn’s are better in just about every way than the Agil’s, and I really liked the Agils. Very natural sounding, no need for directional nonsense, etc.

More comments (about music) later.

Marc

First day with OPN 1 miniRite . I had to drive hour and a half to get them and the ride back was very enjoyable. I tuned the stereo down to about half the volume I had going to the Audi. The background noise of driving seemed much better. Not sure how this works but the road noise is worst with HAs off & out??? Anyway sound was the best of the HAs I have tried for me. The iphone software is a nightmare. I did not get any programs except the one default. I can adjust the volume independently which was EXTREMELY helpful in the iPhone settings but soon as I used the Oticon App the volume would reset to the same for both ears. The iPhone calls where very good I had to even turn down the volume. The mic for the calls is the iPhone and I was thinking it would be the HAs. I tried the music streaming directly to HAs. Was not impressed. I stream to my theatre system via Apple TV and the same music WAS FANTASTIC !!

I am sure I will figure things out. I have 2 weeks with these demos. The Audi wants $6200 for the pair. The guys above getting them for $3600 are killing me. So far I have been quoted $6200, $4990 and they are getting for $3600, gees…

I am sure with the 2 weeks I will have more to report or question.

m

You can’t get good sounding music streaming to the Opn’s without power domes; there just won’t be anything below 500Hz or so. For me, in a convertible on a long drive, power domes are just awesome - doubly so, cutting out highway/road noise and streaming great sound direct to the ’s.

In reply to @RForbes

I just ordered the OPNs from buyhear. I spoke with their programmer who put me at ease that he could address my reverse slope loss. They are going to ship my aids with the programming kit so we can fine tune them right off the bat since my loss is tricky to fit vs. a traditional high frequency loss.

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