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Oticon OPN Intermittent Clicking Sound Question

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@Neville, have you tried pairing to a PC? I want to use this for VoIP calls and Video conferencing and I want to understand if this is a viable expectation?

Also, I previously was a ReSound user and their clip was always a bit awkward to wear, and a bit clunky. Any feedback on the ergonomics of this?

I have good news everyone!

I went to my audiologist yesterday and they installed v5 firmware update onto my oticon OPn 1 and it has fixed almost all the clicking. I used to get it non stop at random times whenever Bluetooth audio was activated on my phone. After the software update to v5, it only has happened twice in the last two days.

While not 100% solves, It’s a night and day difference.

It’s possible Its a fix due to a combo of firmware and iOS updates since I’m running iOS 11:3 beta 1 but I’m skeptical since I was getting audio clicks until I got the oticon software updated on the . (its still possible there was an iOS fix under the covers, and the oticon software needed to be changed to leverage the fix).

Either way, good news there is progress!

I have been having this issue with my iPhone 7 plus. I have been working with the accessibility fols at Apple with no success. I will have my firmware updated for my hearing aids, Oticon Opn, on Tuesday. Apple says they ar actively working on the problem yet they don’t now when a solution will happen. I am very Frustrated!

I gave up on my iPad. It was unusable, especially since I was trying to use it with a meditation app. So far so good on the ConnectClip, but I realize the beauty of just using the iOS natively w/o an external device.

In reply to @Volusiano

been having the same problem for a year (different ios versions). Terrible clicking noises via the iPhone/ipad … only when there is another bluetooth device attached (usually a keyboard). Tested out so many different situations (8 different keyboards, 5 other devices). Always comes down to the oticon malfunctioning. And it is not always the same hearing aid (right or left).
Last week I swapped out the Opt Minirites (manufacture replaced with brand new ones). Latest firmware update as of last week etc.
Problem still exists.
Clicking so loud it that the BT connection / audio is unusable.

I wonder if it’s something in your environment… Do you have the same problem anywhere? At home, at work, in public?

E v e r y w h e r e …
(And I mean everywhere, anywhere, and every time)
On 2 different ios devices … multiple versions of ios (over the past 12 months). And the kicker … have brand new replacement minirites from oticon (new programming and firmware). Problem still exists, consistently.

Edited
@cj1 said:

E v e r y w h e r e …
(And I mean everywhere, anywhere, and every time)
On 2 different ios devices … multiple versions of ios (over the past 12 months). And the kicker … have brand new replacement minirites from oticon (new programming and firmware). Problem still exists, consistently.

The only difference i notice in your case and others (like me at least) is that I don’t have a Bluetooth device like a keyboard or another Bluetooth device connected in parallel with the OPN. If there is a Bluetooth speaker connected, it seems to know and override the OPN connection to let the other Bluetooth speaker operate.

I wonder if it’s because your Bluetooth device like the keyboard is not classified as a speaker type, therefore the OPN is not overridden and allowed to operate in parallel. But it’s not ideal to allow 2 Bluetooth devices to operate in parallel because of interference. Obviously the interference doesn’t affect the Bluetooth keyboard because it doesn’t have a listening device on it that can manifest the interference, while the OPN does.

Maybe the Bluetooth protocol is not robust enough to cover the situation you’re trying to have with two Bluetooth devices operating in parallel like that.

The bottom line is that if the Bluetooth keyboard is connected, the OPN should not have been allowed to be active.

V[quote=“Volusiano, post:31, topic:25557”]
The bottom line is that if the Bluetooth keyboard is connected, the OPN should not have been allowed to be active.
[/quote]

I’d like to gently point out that …no … this is not he bottom line.
That’s the same as if I complained that I heard clicking when Wifi was on, and suggesting that OPN should not be allowed to be active at the same time.

Having multiple Bluetooth devices run at the same time is not unusual. I often have 2-3or more … with issue,

The issue is either .

  1. The OPN app has a bug and does not behave well with other devices.

  2. There is a bug or flaw in the app!e MFI apis … that allows for conflict between hearing aid devices and other BT devices.

  3. Possibly a bug in rhe minirite firmware

  4. A bug in the minirite design.

My hope was that it was #1 or #2 and would eventually be fixed in subsequent updated.

My engineering gene tells me it is #3 … and not to hold my breath. And I pray it Is not #t4

I did email oticon quite some time ago about all this … the gist of their response was (liberally paraphrased) ‘we are a hearing aid manufacturer … you’re lucky to have any Bluetooth functionality or apps at all’

Edited
@cj1 said:

That’s the same as if I complained that I heard clicking when Wifi was on, and suggesting that OPN should not be allowed to be active at the same time.

Having multiple Bluetooth devices run at the same time is not unusual. I often have 2-3or more … with issue,

Well, wifi is not Bluetooth.

I can’t have two Bluetooth speakers connected to my Samsung smart TV at the same time.

I can’t have the iPhone audio to both a connected Bluetooth speaker and the OPN at the same time. The Connected Bluetooth speaker overrides the OPN and plays the sound and nothing is heard through the OPN.

I don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to my iPhone but I don’t have expectations that it’ll work.

I find that regarding Bluetooth on the iPhone or my Samsung smart TV, I shouldn’t be too fancy with multiple Bluetooth connections or things don’t work well.

I don’t know who is at fault or what is supposed to work, but with this low expectation about multiple Bluetooth connections, not having it is not a deal breaker for me.

Well, wifi is not Bluetooth.

Of course not … I was giving an analogy.

I can’t have two Bluetooth speakers connected to my Samsung smart TV at the same time.

We’re talking about iOS …
Oh and yes you can. I too have a Samsung smart tv (not sure which model, not home right now) - and we do this all the time - we have a soundbar paired for the main audio - AND pair it with my minirites. (via oitcon ON)

I can’t have the iPhone audio to both a connected Bluetooth speaker and the OPN at the same time. The Connected Bluetooth speaker overrides the OPN and plays the sound and nothing is heard through the OPN.

Sure. I guess. This is just fine with me - but there is no reason why you wouldn’t or shouldn’t

I don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to my iPhone but I don’t have expectations that it’ll work.

For the love of G*d … why not?
Of course it works, and should work… using a keyboard with an iphone or ipad.
Ever since the very FIRST ipad I have listened to music via bluetooth (speakers) while working on the ipad with a bluetooth keyboard. (also do this on android devices)

And there are many other Bluetooth connections that an ipad or iphone user would want (and should expect) to run simultaneously. I respect that you have no need for it - but this does not change the fact that it should work. (and they do work … it’s they oticon ON app that is probably the cultprit).

I find that regarding Bluetooth on the iPhone or my Samsung smart TV, I shouldn’t be too fancy with multiple Bluetooth connections or things don’t work well.

Well that is your personal preference … your personal preferences mean that you don’t care if there are bugs or if other bT devices don’t work properly. I, and a lot of other people DO care that it works properly.

For instance - while working remotely on my ipad - where wifi is not available, I connect to someone’s “hotspot phone” via bluetooth, while using my bluetooth keyboard, using bluetooth for audio. If I was also giving a presentation, then I would also use my bluetooth remote control to change the slides etc … (so that’s 4 devices simultaneously - which DOES work just fine - except of course for the power drain)

I don’t know who is at fault or what is supposed to work, but with this low expectation about multiple Bluetooth connections, not having it is not a deal breaker for me.

Yes you do have low expectations for BT … and this is fine …My expectations are not for any kind of extraordinary features of performance … just that the functionality that exists - works as expected.

And from scanning and searching boards like this, and the web, I have thousands - if not millions - who share this reasonable expectation.

Bluetooth and WiFi share the same frequencies.

Bluetooth is in the ISM band from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz

That is the same band as WiFi’s 2.4 to 2.5 GHz.

In reply to @cj1

@cj1 said:

Oh and yes you can. I too have a Samsung smart tv (not sure which model, not home right now) - and we do this all the time - we have a BT soundbar paired for the main audio - AND pair it with my minirites. (via oitcon ON)

Well, maybe YOU can, but “I” can’t. And I’m just talking about pairing 2 Bluetooth headsets of the same brand and model to my Samsung TV so my wife and I can both listen in silence. Hence my low expectation that Bluetooth devices should be robust.

I’ve been suffering from the “metronome” effect since I received my Opn 3 miniRITE hearing aids. I’m running SW version 5.0, with firmware au2cs3fw5.7.2. I stream Sirius XM from my iPhone regularly and consistently get this clicking, including with some calls. I found restarting bluetooth on the iPhone can temporarily fix the issue, maybe for a few seconds or a few minutes. I finally did a Google search which landed me on this forum and I read through all the replies to the original poster. My take away was that it was indeed a Bluetooth issue, and that another “connected” device could be interfering causing the clicking issue. On my iPhone I went to Bluetooth to see what was connected. The only other device connected was my fitness watch. During one of these frequent “metronome” events I powered down the watch. In the space of about 10 seconds, the clicking suddenly sped up and then stopped altogether. I have since confirmed that the watch is the interference causing the clicking. There is probably a setting in the watch’s iPhone app that disables realtime syncing, but I have yet to look for that. On that note, I still have an issue of the streaming cutting off for a second or 2 intermittently, but I’ve not tackled that one yet. I have found that pausing the Sirius XM stream can alleviate that, if only temporarily.

Hello. I’ve discovered by double clicking the curled knob on the watch the clicking goes away. Strange as it is it works for me.

If you have an Apple Watch and are experiencing clicking, try putting the Watch in Airplane mode - it seems to work for me, since it prevents the Watch from sending/receiving signals.

Edited

Exact same problem as the OP.

From Oticon ON:
Software Rev: 5
Firmware Rev: au2cs3fw5.7.2

It could be my Fitbit Blaze at fault, for the same reason as the Apple watch users. I’ll disable music controls on the watch (which disables the persistent bluetooth connection, but not syncing) and see if that improves things, even if that means I need to get out my phone to pause…

Only significant issue I’ve had so far with the opn1.

EDIT: Apparently you can no longer disable music controls on the Blaze, not sure when this happened. Used to be you could disable “Bluetooth classic” and it would effectively disable the controls, but now the option no longer appears in settings on the watch nor the Fitbit app. GRRR

EDIT2: Unpairing with the phone fixed this and disables the music controls. Unfortunately it did not seem to fix the clicking.

What you’ve identified is likely to be the solution - the aids seem to be picking up the send/receive from the Iphone polling the local devices or talking to them.

Given that the signal is up in the Gigahertz range, it’s probably lower harmonic of the ‘clocking/I’m here’ signal that’s either being picked up directly by the aid BLE aerial or even directly by the mic circuit itself. This used to occur for GSM signals too until they improved the RFI performance of the microphones and the shielding within the aids. I’d guess that with a better low pass filter before the amp it wouldn’t be there.

Potentially this can be written out through tweakery to the BLE broadcast at the Apple end - (I’m guessing their Earpods don’t suffer with it) or by hardware modification in the hearing aids. Obviously the former is preferable as there’s a lot of product out there that seems to encounter the issue over several manufacturing platforms.

Nice summary.

Just to add that after un-paring the Fitbit Blaze from the iPhone, the clicking so far has not presented. Hopefully that means it is solved (unless I get more gadgets to connect to the phone… :-))

In reply to @Um_bongo

The series 6 also had known antenna problem. That was a recognized flaw. Also, Qualcom is introducing a new phone antenna system that will be more symmetrical.

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