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Over-the-ear headset with BTE hearing aids

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I wear Oticon OPN hearing aids. They’ve been adjusted to minimize feedback among other things. In general, they’re fine. I’ve also got the ConnectClip, but MOST of the time it won’t pair with my computer. It does every once in a while, but not consistently. And yes, I’ve got a bluetooth 5 dongle plugged in to replace the built-in bluetooth. Its not a solution, and the couple times I’ve used it, the hearing aids drained the rechargeable batteries extremely quickly.

Recently, with the stuck at home world, I’ve had to do a lot of online meetings, and frequently speak. I looked at over-the-ear headsets and selected a Logitech G432. It works fine and improves audio quality and comprehension.

My problem is, the hearing aids make noise. It’s NOT what I think of as feedback - no squealing or screeching. It’s faint, tinny, noise whether anyone is speaking or not. It sounds almost like it’s TRYING to feed back but what comes through is a faint, intermittent, warble? If I lift the headset away from my ears the noise goes away. Its pretty much the same noise I get if I put my hand to my ear. Feedback squeal for less than a second, then after that a very faint tone or noise.

Are there any reasonably priced over-the-ear headsets that would be likely to work better and NOT cause whatever this is? OR, is there some other type of headset that doesn’t go over the ear but will work with the hearing aids without causing whatever this noise is?

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@GracieAllen said:

I wear Oticon OPN BTE hearing aids. They’ve been adjusted to minimize feedback among other things. In general, they’re fine. I’ve also got the ConnectClip, but MOST of the time it won’t pair with my computer. It does every once in a while, but not consistently. And yes, I’ve got a bluetooth 5 dongle plugged in to replace the built-in bluetooth. Its not a solution, and the couple times I’ve used it, the hearing aids drained the rechargeable batteries extremely quickly.

One suggestion is to ensure the firmware level of the ConnectClip is current. Mine was upgraded to 1.13.0 by my provider when I was having some issues. You could also find a copy of Genie 2 and run the firmware updater program yourself to check/update. You plug the ConnectClip into a computer USB port to check/run the update.

In my case, the ConnectClip was delivered with a Sennheiser BTD 800 USB dongle - that has worked well with my iMac, ConnectClip and OPN S 1 miniRITE aids (85 receivers with bass domes with 2 small vents). My aids use zinc-air 312 batteries - I haven’t noticed a significant drain issue but I haven’t kept a log so I can’t be sure. The BTD 800 is specified to be Bluetooth 4.0. Sennheiser also has a Windows program that can update the BTD 800 firmware - there have been quite a number of updates over the time I’ve used it. In my case I need the dongle for my home iMac but not for my work MacBook Pro. Oticon technical support suggested to my provider (and I as I was on the call) that I always use the Sennheiser dongle with desktop computers as they typically had more Bluetooth issues than notebooks. In my case, I paired the ConnectClip once to the BTD 800 and they have stayed paired.

You might also see if the manufacturer of the Bluetooth chipset in your computer offers an updated Bluetooth driver. For some computers at work, updating to the latest version rather than the original or Windows provided driver has fixed issues with Bluetooth connected instruments at work. You might also check to see if there is an updated driver for your Bluetooth dongle. Many Bluetooth implementations in both computers and connected devices are incomplete and buggy. Updated drivers sometimes fix issues if the vendor cares.

As for your question about headphones, I have some older (I had them for a while before I got hearing aids over 7 years ago) headphones with large ear cups that seal around my head and provide a significant amount of passive noise reduction. The Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro are old but work quite well with my hearing aids and without noticeable feedback. I do not notice a noise with the headphones on or with my hand to my ears but but you may be more sensitive to that than I. The DT 770 Pro would not work for your use as they do not have a microphone but they do work OK with my hearing aids for me for listening without noticeable artifacts.

For Zoom meetings, I use a work-provided Apple iPad Pro with the Zoom app rather than my home computer. As my OPN S aids are , the combination of the hearing aids and iPad microphone is a headset and works well for me without needing either the ConnectClip or a typical headset. I have asked and others think the audio provided by the iPad microphone is fine. The later iPad Pro versions can drive a large USB connected (or DisplayPort one using a compatible USB dock) monitor if the 12.9" iPad screen isn’t large enough. Microsoft provides a Teams app for the iPad and Cisco a WebEx app if you use them rather than Zoom.

Good luck in finding a solution. Bluetooth should work in places without significant RF interference but it can be frustrating finding a complete and workable solution for your particular situation (if one exists).

I’m pretty sure I know the sound you are trying to explain. Its difficult to explain exactly what it sounds like. I’m currently using Audeo M30-13T .

I needed to find a headset that I could use both at home and the office for calls, video meetings etc. I heard that that the Jabra Evolve 2 85 were very good. I purchased a pair and I haven’t been disappointed.

In relation to cost, they were about $700AUD when I got them, they had just been released and at the height of work from home revolution due to COVID, I paid a premium for them. Happy to say that I had the cost reimbursed. Not sure what they would cost you now, maybe something to consider a trial of?

In reply to @biggar

Thanks for the reply… Unfortunately, “the new normal” isn’t going away anytime soon, or probably forever, so I’d like to find a way to make the Zoom, MS Teams and Skype meetings more productive…
My ConnectClip is current as of earlier this year, so unless they’ve changed the firmware in the last several months, I should be OK.
I believe the ConnectClip wants Bluetooth 4.2 or higher, and my computer is 4.0, so I bought a dongle that’s Bluetooth 5 (IIRC). I updated the drivers recently, so I THINK everybody is current.
I’m thinking it may be MY procedure that causes things to work sometimes and not work others. I’m not sure exactly WHAT I may not be doing correctly since I’m following the ConnectClip manual, but…
I don’t know if the OPN S is more efficient and doesn’t chew up batteries as quickly as the OPN, but the other problem, which I don’t think will be fixed even with a reliable connection, is the Z-Power rechargeable batteries going dead very quickly when connected to the ConnectClip. I presume there’s a higher drain on the batteries when connected? I COULD insert “regular” batteries when I’m in a meeting, but that’s not a great solution.
It may be that I’ll just HAVE to turn the hearing aids down as many clicks as necessary to avoid the little noise (which may be some kind of feedback), unless someone has an idea for a different headset.

@GracieAllen said:

It sounds almost like it’s TRYING to feed back but what comes through is a faint, intermittent, warble?

Exactly what it sounds like to me and, yes, almost certainly an artefact of feedback suppression. The bigger the cup of the headphone the better I guess.

Your Bluetooth 5 dongle. Is that supposed to be ‘Classic’ or low energy? Manufacturers may call some piece of equipment ‘ 5’ but in reality it’s exactly the same as BT 4.2. Afaik, nothing changed in ‘classic’ with the release of BT 5. Anyway, your Connect Clip expects a BT classic audio connection. I think your built-in Bluetooth might be a better bet.

Thanks for the idea on the Jabra Evolve 2. Unfortunately, they appear to be somewhere betweeen $400 and $600 here. That’s a big chunk out of my price range.

As for the ConnectClip. From my understanding (which is from last year, so who knows). The ConnectClip REQUIRES at least Bluetooth 4.1 (or maybe 4.2). My motherboard has Bluetooth 4.0 (or 4.1)… Whichever it all is, I’m a version TOO OLD for the ConnectClip to work “reliably” (which means at all) using the bluetooth on the motherboard. So, I bought a bluetooth 5 dongle. I don’t remember the brand, and it’s plugged in and working at the moment so I don’t want to mess with it.

In any case, I WAS able to connect to THAT dongle this morning and used it for a couple hours. They work, but not very well - the sound even after all the modifications done last year, is still very bright and stacatto. But, I was listening to recorded voice so it could be the source, though they ALWAYS sound that way hooked to the ConnectClip. It’s better than deaf, but a long way from good.
I finally figured out if I turn them DOWN 3 clicks I can’t hear the feedback, and I can turn the headphones up slightly to compensate, and things sound MUCH better than the ConnectClip…
I think that’ll be my best option without spending a fortune.

@GracieAllen said:

As for the ConnectClip. From my understanding (which is from last year, so who knows). The ConnectClip REQUIRES at least Bluetooth 4.1 (or maybe 4.2). My motherboard has Bluetooth 4.0 (or 4.1)… Whichever it all is, I’m a version TOO OLD for the ConnectClip to work “reliably” (which means at all) using the bluetooth on the motherboard. So, I bought a bluetooth 5 dongle. I don’t remember the brand, and it’s plugged in and working at the moment so I don’t want to mess with it.

First I will state that I’m not a Bluetooth expert, just a Bluetooth user who uses Bluetooth audio but only since I got hearing aids. Prior to that I always used wired headphones. I have some experience with using Bluetooth to connect computers to expensive special purpose science instruments (by expensive I mean over 50K US dollars). That soured me on using Bluetooth as we had nothing but problems that were resolved by purchasing optional wired ethernet connections - they just worked immediately and without frustrating and time consuming Bluetooth issues.

The technical data sheet from Oticon specifies that the ConnectClip implements Bluetooth 4.2 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and supports the following Bluetooth Profiles:

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) version 1.3
HeadSet Profile (HSP) versus 1.2
Hands-Free Profile (HFP) 1.6 including support for Wideband speech

My iMac Pro supports Bluetooth 5.0 according to Apple but it has not reliably worked with my ConnectClip. My MacBook Pro (2016) supports Bluetooth 4.2 and works with my ConnectClip. I haven’t found what Bluetooth profiles each machine is supposed to support. If I plug in the Sennheiser BTD 800 into either computer and select that for audio, then my ConnectClip works with either computer under macOS or Windows 10.

The specifications for the BTD 800 from Sennheiser are that it supports Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Audio Narrowband or Wideband A2DP with the following profiles:

HSP version 1.2
HPF 1.6 (version 1.6 adds support for Wideband speech with the mSBC codec)
A2DP 1.2
AVRCP 1.4 (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile).

So apparently my experience is different from yours. My ConnectClip works appropriately with one Bluetooth 4.0 source (BTD 800) and another 4.2 source but fails with a particular 5.0 source.

You might ensure that your 5.0 dongle supports the profiles used by the ConnectClip and that the versions are similar to or higher than what the BTD 800 supports.

Note that Jabra supplies their own USB Bluetooth dongle (Jabra Link 380) with the headset used and recommended by Shelldrake. That USB dongle supports Bluetooth 5.0 including Bluetooth Low Energy, HFP 1.7, A2DP 1.3.1 and AVRCP 1.6.0. Jabra is apparently part of GN Sound A/S who also make Resound hearing aids. Jabra suggest using the provided dongle to ensure good performance that may not always happen with the built-in computer Bluetooth. They offer two basic versions, one certified for Teams and another for Unified Communications (UC) devices, each in two USB formats (A and C). The dongle is available separately from the headset but is more expensive than the older Sennheiser dongle.

I wore an over the ear Bluetooth headset for years before and after I got my first Phonak . It was an “over the ear” headset I wore over my right ear. Worked perfectly for years.
My current HA has Bluetooth built-in.

I use a JBL Everest over the ear headset, with OPN , I have to pull the HA volume down 2 clicks in the app, else it makes a sort of feedback noise. This way it works fine, and listening to music is a much bigger joy then streaming direct to the HA. Mainly because it really has low bass

That turns out to be what I have to do also… Turn down the aids a couple clicks, and things sound a lot less compressed than going through the connectclip…

There are a couple things my next hearing aids are going to HAVE to have… One is great filtering for white noise (fans particularly), and the other is a WHOLE lot better bluetooth connectivity and a LOT better sound when connected…

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