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Costco Kirkland Signature 9.0 (Product Information)

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In reply to @tribalrose

Some of us are still trying to decide between ks8 and 9 so I appreciate the info. I have both for now. Since I don’t want an iphone I will probably go with the ks9. Maybe the next version of android will catch up in that respect. But I am not holding my breath.

As for the calling I don’t call a lot now that I am retired. No one has complained about it tho. During the in store trial of the ks9 the fitter said she could make out peoples conversations around me. So maybe it would be hard to hear in noisy places. I actually like hearing what is around me better. I miss being able to change it in the ks9 app.

It will come down to your preference and budget. Try it and return it if it does not work for you.

I actually have the KS9s though only 8 days. I have had no issues with the phone and you do not need the app to use it. My office is not loud but not quiet either. I was just fine in the car driving with windows up. Have really not tried an outside call or very noisy bar or anything yet.
FYI first battery change was just over 5 days. They go in at 5:30 am and out about 10. So far leaps better than my old Trax 42

The wind can be dealt with by your audiologist. Might not be perfect but it should get better.

In reply to @bsbennett

I have the TV streamer (a comparative deal at $100) to the identical Phonak Marvel version. I find when I stream, I have to turn it nearly all the way down to balance it with the room. And that’s important to do so you can have a conversation with your spouse about what you are watching. It’s a nice perk, but with my loss, most of the time I don’t use it.

In reply to @drm335

@drm335 said:

Also the background noise can be turned down and the volume in your ear turned up during a call.

How does one turn down the background noise for the person on the other end of the line? Or are you talking about simply turning up the volume of the phone call in the aids?

I think dim35 was speaking to turning down the microphone input to your ear while you’re in a call to isolate you from local background noises to make the call more intelligible to you.

But on the KS9 set to use the microphones on the as the source of audio for your voice, how do you turn down background noise, without turning down your own voice volume at the same time?

There seems to be very mixed reports on how well using the HA microphone mics is for phone call streaming. Perhaps it works well in quiet environments, and not so well in noisy environments?

Yes, to turn down the background noise you would also turn down your “sidetone” (to use telephony jargon) – the sound of your own voice in your ears. But it would decrease background noise coming to your ears so it’s a good tradeoff IMO. Your audi can usually adjust it (depending on your model) to whatever your preference is. And as I said in the other thread, this is independent of the volume of your voice that’s sent to the person at the other end of the call.

My Marvel outgoing sound quality is occasionally terrible (by reports I get). It usually seems to be at times when my received audio quality is also bad, with the robotic, raspy sound effect.

I also have problems with the Marvel handsfree when my phone is in my left front pocket where I usually carry it (where the R is the main BT receiver for the Marvels).

I get bad outgoing audio reported when I’m outside some of the time, and especially when there’s ambient noise outside or inside. It’s useless with ambient noise, in my experience. Fortunately, it’s not all that often and I can just switch to the handset audio.

@haggis said:

Yes, to turn down the background noise you would also turn down your “sidetone” (to use telephony jargon) – the sound of your own voice in your ears. But it would decrease background noise coming to your ears so it’s a good tradeoff IMO. Your audi can usually adjust it (depending on your model) to whatever your preference is. And as I said in the other thread, this is independent of the volume of your voice that’s sent to the person at the other end of the call.

I am not talking about the sound of your own voice. That is another issue. I am talking about the ability to turn down the sensitivity of the microphones to control background noise. When they are serving two functions (pick up your outgoing voice, pick up background noise) they both have to go up and down together. In an setup you can turn the HA microphones down while not affecting the outgoing audio, which is determined by your iPhone.

I think I understand but it’s still a little ambiguous. I think you’re talking about the improving the signal to noise ratio of the user’s voice relative to background noise for the outgoing audio.

If that’s the case, it’s no secret that using HA mics for phone call handsfree is worse than, say, headsets, which were designed with mic placement for selecting the user’s voice over background noise. The HA mics were placed (ideally) for directionality and selection of external sound sources in certain directions over the noise in the other directions. They apparently don’t have the acoustic geometry to select as well for the user’s voice.

If you’re using the iPhone mic, you don’t need the HA mics at all and you can turn them off. The iPhone has its own directionality and background noise cancellation for its own mic.

In reply to @Sierra

@Sierra said:

When they are serving two functions (pick up your outgoing voice, pick up background noise) they both have to go up and down together.

Not really. The microphone is picking up just as much sound. The amount output to your ears is turned down, but not the part going to the other party. Think of it like a splitter. Once the sound is split, the part going to your ear has a volume control.

Edited

In reply to @Sodaman

TV connectivity makes a massive difference in my speech recognition. Same with direct audio in movie theatres. I don’t have to rely as much on closed captioning. My hearing loss is severe/profound in the higher frequencies so that may have a lot to do with it.

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