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Do you use Phonak AutoSense OS or various settings?

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Edited

Hey! I’m trialing some Marvels right now and have been a hearing aid wearer since I was 3. The Audi convinced me to try the auto sense setting as she said phonak says it’s great. I have been trying it but it drives me nuts since it goes in an out of modes all the time. What do you folks who have worn them a long time do? Have you considered just one setting so that there’s no change in sound/setting when you’re wearing them?

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I have the previous hearing aids with autosense 2. I really like autosense but there is one type of environment where it is not so comfortable and for that i use a manual program, speech in loud noise or 360.

The situation is loud background noise with music playing, and a loud table of several talkers. If someone at my table is talking it changes to that program. Then, if there is a pause and the music is loud right then, it changes to the music program. If the music pauses it changes to either noise or comfort in noise.

So, it rotates between these three programs, off and on, continually. In environments that are changing a lot, I do use a manual program.

I’ve read a few other posts here where there have been complaints regarding auto sense adjustment mode. Seems autosense - adjusts changes so often or as you say (goes in and out) that it defeats its purpose. Or shall we say - irritates the user. Hopefully this is a minor issue since who wants to use a HA that is constantly adjusting to incoming sound in a “rough manner” versus a smooth synchronized sound balance.

I can tell sometimes when my AutoSense changes programs but it is usually pretty subtle. I believe you can have your audiologist make some fine tuning adjustments that will make the changes less often and more seamless.

In reply to @Don

Don, how do you know which program AutoOS switched to?
For Phonak B-types there is the ability to set a switching speed in 5 steps from fast (~7 seconds) to slow (>30? seconds).

I’m just guessing based on the sound. Music is obvious, Noise doesn’t have as much noise reduction as Speech in Loud Noise, so when someone talks I hear background go down a little.

@Don said:

when someone talks I hear background go down a little.

Ah ok. Maybe you have different adjustments for microphone directionality for different programs.
In my case all AutoOS-programs have omni-direct selected. Speech in loud noise is available only as a manual program. I explicitly switch to the latter when I am in a restaurant to hear no noise coming from the back. I don’t want the background to be silent as long as I am walking next to or on the road (in europe this is a common usecase especially in the outback).

I have my AutoSense / SoundFlow settings set to ‘slow’. Anything faster, I found AutoSense to continually change which was so frustrating.

Edited

After a successful trial I bought a pair of Phonak Marvel 90 rechargeable hearing aids a month ago.

Since 2006 when I first had hearing aids I have had Starkey, Specsavers Phonak, and Unitron aids but these marvels are aptly named - they are superb and in a different league.

The one aspect that the Audio is currently working on is car noise. Whilst the Marvels are better than my previous Unitron Moxi-2 Pro aids tyre noise remains intrusive. I have a KIA Niro Hybrid car which is relatively quiet - even so Tyre road noise is prominent.

My audio added a car programme to my Marvels last week and whilst it has killed the high frequency “hiss” of the fan or wind noise - the lower frequency growl or roar from the tyres is her next challenge. At present autosense does a better job regarding tyre noise.

I was concerned about battery life before I tried the rechargeables - but it has not been a problem. I wear then an average of 15.5 hours per day and the battery level has not fallen below 15% even with bluetooth connected all day for mobile phone and evening TV use…

I’ve had my Marvel M90-R’s since 26Dec2018. I’m a brand new user and I chose the Marvels as I’m an Android phone user and the Marvels connect directly to my Pixel 3 phone without requiring an intermediate device. I’m a classical pianist and my audiologist has made me a special program to use when playing my piano. The only other program I use is the “Music” program. When I’m not playing the piano or listening to music my Marvels stay on AutoSense OS 3.0. I’ve never been able to tell when AutoSense switches between programs, so for me program switching is quite transparent. AutoSense seems to be working as when we eat out in a noisy restaurant I’m able to hear quite well. When driving in the car everything works quite well too. But then I’m a brand new HA user and have never had anything else to compare with my Marvels.

I just began a trial of Phonak Marvels and Autosense is driving me nuts. I’m giving it another week or two but I don’t think I’m going to be able to tolerate them seemingly shifting from on to off. I don’t know if this just doesn’t work with my particular loss.

I don’t have any issues with auto sense - I can’t even tell when it is moving between the different settings set up by my audio. From memory we have a fairly similar hearing loss.

In reply to @jeanettedove1

Try to take notes about what the aids are doing and the environment you are in at the time.
All programs are very adjustable. Your fitter should be able to fix your issues.

I just had a long appointment to address this very issue but the modified settings are not offering much help. I notice it constantly shifting from the on (shhhhh/air sound) to what sounds like off by comparison. It’s cycling through constantly in certain environments. I notice it in quiet environments the most- my bedroom in the presence of a fan, on a trail walk in the presence of moving water, in my kitchen in the presence of the hum of the fridge. Very frequent intervals like every 30 seconds. I can’t bear it. We spent an hour today trying to work this out.

In reply to @Lorjoh

Yes I believe we did discuss having similar losses. Mine has not changed much, if at all, since the last we talked. It’s a cookie bite/ u shaped loss affecting mid frequencies. There is a sharp dip which I think makes it difficult to program. There’s a lot of give and take when trying to program it.

I’ve never had this issue before. Whenever I walk into another room, walk downstairs, or if someone opens/ shuts a door I’m also experiencing on/off. I couldn’t count how many times this is noticeably occurring. It’s stressful whatever it is.

Few things you can try and take notes.

First disable bt on your phone and check in which situations on/off switching happens. If it doesn’t anymore - it’s media stream from phone, notification or something similar.

Second, take note if it comes when you’re in quiet and turn the water on, and then you can’t hear the water, or is it the other way around.

For first one, I’d reduce noise cancelling in quiet.

If your quiet is too loud, then check expansion.

Check means - tell your fitter the exact description and they’ll check, if they don’t have a clue, then use terms from here.

If you’re just annoyed with abruptness, note that and ask fitter to make autosense switch slower. (eg I have mine to fastest because autosense switches to noisy situations when I turn thw water and I don’t want to not hear anything for a few seconds until it comes back)

Or tweaking noisy situation.

For that, you should stare at my phonak app in hope you’ll catch it when it switches and see what exactly it says. For water running mine switch from quiet to noisy, and since it is not objectively noisy, I can’t hear until water stops.
I can’t remember if there’s a way to make the noise program anything less sensitive.
For big noise or whatever it’s called, sensitivity can be adjusted, but for regular I think not, but maybe noise cancelling could use some tweaking.

It could be something else of course. As you can see, even if you have described, it’s not precise enough to pinpoint it. We all can make wild guesses but only your fitter can see the options and probable suspects.

But make notes - what is the base situation, what happened noise-wise what did. Not trying to remember later, but write down immediately when it happens

You might find out that there are several things/situations. I wrote some, and all could result in ‘autosense switches on/off’ type of description.

Btw actually autosense is always on, it only switches between its programs. I mean, it doesn’t shut off, but some change in its programs could result in you hearing worse.

But precise notes could help a lot. That’s main takeaway.

Hi,
Sorry for barging in - I am considering the Marvel Virto with AudioSense 3.0 -

Isn’t it possible to switch the auto system off, and select the program manually on the mobile phone app?
(There is no documentation I can find that describes how the works, shame.)

I think you cannot remove it completely, but you can make additional three and move autosense to the back of the list.
Ok, not you, your fitter.

But if you don’t want autosense to ‘think instead of you’ why not check other manufacturers who don’t have that option anyway? Just a hint :slight_smile:

Eg resound only has noise cancelling option per environment, not full program switching.

Oticon I think is boosting that customer should be in full control so I assume they don’t have any automation.

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