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iPhone 12 Pro Bluetooth Crackling Noise issue with Phonak Marvel Hearing Aids

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Edited

Hello Everybody,
This is my first post on here.
Currently I have been wearing Phonak Marvel hearing aids in both ears.

I am having an issue with Bluetooth streaming to my hearing aids when on the iPhone 12 Pro. In the left hearing aid I am getting a crackling sound in my ear and the other user can hear this whilst on the phone. To resolve this I am having to reboot the iPhone 12 Pro every time and it is ok for a bit and then the issues returns. I am currently running IOS 14.3 just released today and was hoping the issue had gone away.

Has anyone else had the same issue. This surely has to be an issue with the iPhone?
One thing I tried was to just have one hearing aid in using Bluetooth in the right ear only. When I spoke with my wife on the phone she said the crackling was gone with just one hearing aid in. I then put the left ear hearing aid back in and the problem reappeared !!!

Thanks
Gary.

26 people in this conversation23 min readJump to latest

When I first got the iPhone 12 Pro it was fine. It seems to be the IOS releases that have been done to the iPhone in the last 5/6 weeks since I bought it. After I reboot the iPhone it returns to normal for a while.
Never had any issues with the Hearing Aids using the iPhone 7.

This is my theory, I believe the issue is some how either due to the MagSafe or the 5g or some interaction between them. But I have to say that my wife has the Samsung galaxy note 20 5g and I can connect to it with my connect clip with no static.

Really there is no possible way for MagSafe to affect anything. It’s just a fixed magnet. And 5G is in a totally different band to Bluetooth. Also it’s quite unlikely that presently you actually have 5G where you are. The iPhone 12 doesn’t transmit in the 5G bands at all unless the 5G network is activated there. You can also switch 5G off in the iPhone 12 if you want to try that.

The problem you are experiencing is faulty implementation of the Bluetooth protocols in either or both of your iPhone and your hearing device.

We do have it here my wife’s Samsung galaxy note 20 shows it here at the house even. I personally stirred away from iPhone 12 and went with the SE 2020, it is a great cheap little device that does the job that I need.
My next door neighbor got the 12 max and couldn’t use her phone due to the static in the hearing aids even with out Bluetooth. She returned it and got the 11 max in it’s place and loves it.

Also as a retired it professional and hardware engineer to boot magnets can cause strange issues with communication.

There was a problem with iPhone 12 and heating aids initially that was fixed with a firmware update IOS 14.2.1

Yes well as a professional telecoms engineer, I can say that you are wrong about MagSafe and 5G. And I actually do know about 5G.

Then explain why it all started with iPhone 12.
As a troubleshooter I look at what changed first. If it was the OS then why doesn’t the other iPhones have the issue, we all at times have problems thinking outside of the box.

Actually there have been issues from time to time going back years if you read what is here in the forum.

But the issue with the iPhone 12 series in particular is that Apple are using a different Bluetooth chip manufacturer to that which they used in the past and they screwed up Bluetooth firmware in the iPhone 12s, not just for hearing aid connections via Bluetooth but for many other Bluetooth applications too. Many of those were fixed with IOS 14.2, but they still missed the hearing aids connectivity issue and fixed that with IOS 14.2.1.

My Resound LINX Quattros were unusable with iPhone 12Pro and IOS 14.2 but are solidly ok with IOS 14.2.1

And as I said you can turn off 5G in the iPhone 12 series if you want to check for yourself whether it helps.

I think what annoys me the most is that I am sure it was fine when I first got the iPhone 12 Pro.
I cannot recall what exact IOS version it had when I first got the iPhone 12 Pro. For me it’s just the last couple of updates that have broken it for me. I’m not sure how easy it is to roll back the IOS 14 releases and start from the first one.

Well I can answer that! You can’t roll back (or at least it is very difficult to do unless you have the previous firmware file and know what you are doing). Apple don’t allow you to roll back more than one version and they only allow that for a few days.

I don’t know anything about Phonak firmware, but maybe there is a firmware update for your hearing aids? With Resound you can just download and install new firmware from the app, but with Phonak you might have to see your audiologist.

I have been dealing with this issue for months.

I had a iPhone SE2020 with the issue. I have an open issue with Apple tech support. Apple tech agrees there is an issue. All I hear from tech is data from my phone has been passed on through the Apple supports systems. No answers and I have to contact my tech to ask on status. I think he wants me to just go away.

Well I thought maybe the software update 14.2.1 that only iPhone 12’s got fixed the issue. I placed a post on this forum asking if users were experiencing issues on iPhone 12’s. No negatives and not much response. So I purchased a new iPhone 12 mini. Guess what I still have the same problem! The iPhone 12 mini has the exact same static issue as the iPhone SE2020.

By the way I have KS9 hearing aids.

I’m beginning to believe that the problem may be in the program setting on the hearing aids. I would think that if every Phonak marvel/KS9 user with an iPhone 12 had the issue there would be posts here and more information on internet searches.

I have the SE2020 with OPNS1 aids and I don’t have the issue with the static with Bluetooth streaming, but since the update to 14.3 I am seeing issues again with the aids stay connected, mostly when I also have connectivity with my TV adapter. The only thing I haven’t tried is to pair again with the TV adapter and I will do that this evening.

Agree. I’ve got the same issue with my work iPhone SE2020 and I’m using Phonak P90-R. I’ve just upgraded the phone to iOS 14.3. Will do some tests tomorrow. I don’t have the same issue with my iPhone 12 Pro which works flawlessly. Note problem on SE2020 only affects voice calls - never when streaming Spotify, YouTube etc.

It seems the SE 2020 has it with Bluetooth classic and not MFI

I am new here.

You can try: 1. setting- general-reset- reset network setting, then restart your phone; 2. open MYPHONAK APP, upper right corner-my hearing aids-my bluetooth phone calls, choose a different bandwidth (adaptive or fixed).

Hello - been lurking on here but I’ve signed up so I could post a reply. If anything to say “me too”

I’ve just got an iPhone 12 Pro Max with a pair of Phonak Marvels and experiencing the same thing. I’ve updated to iOS 14.3 hoping for the issue to be fixed as indicated with lots of other posts here but alas the problem still exists. I’ve tried the following:

  • Restarting the phone
  • Turning off the hearing aid NOT connected via Bluetooth to the phone.

Both worked temporarily for a few hours but alas the problem returned. Am seriously considering returning my iPhone as Ive never had this problem on Android.

Edited

Thanks for all the input everyone. It’s good to see that other people are having issues.
For me the static in one ear only happens when on a phone call randomly. If I stream from YouTube it’s fine. If I just use one hearing aid in the right ear everything is ok on the phone call.
Then once I put the left hearing aid back in the issue reappeared. I then restarted the phone and it was ok for a while.
My bet is that there is some build up of some interference from the iPhone going on which messes up the Bluetooth communications between both hearing aids. I heard that one hearing aid is sending Bluetooth data directly from the right ear hearing aid to the left ear hearing aid. This might explain why there is only static interference in the left only.
What is odd is that the iPhone 12 Pro was working fine when I first got it with the hearing aids. Since then the IOS has been updated a few times. I even sent Phonak a message explaining the issue. They replied back saying please see your audiologist.

In reply to @DanM

The IOS 14.2.1 update sorted out the hearing aid Bluetooth issues with the iPhone 12 family specifically. IOS 14.3 doesn’t list Bluetooth as something that is changed, except for an availability of the option to control it in one screen.

I think those people who unfortunately have problems with crackling and connectivity with iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 12, especially if with both, have probably got a Bluetooth fault in their and it would probably be worth getting them serviced as a next step.

Edited

Thanks @Micah6-8 - I was on Adaptive, and will try Fixed and see how that goes, though I won’t hold my breath…

@david.hendon Thanks - I searched around the forum here and quite a few have reported issues with bluetooth ’s from multiple different models and brands and iPhones experiencing the same issue and can have the same temporary solutions, for the same problem to return the next day or so. Also, this has worked absolutely fine on my Android phone previously.

I agree with a few other posts here saying it isn’t so much the bluetooth of the HA’s, but rather the Bluetooth stack hardware on the iPhones, which also may cause interference in communications between the left and right HA (hence why it would fix itself when the secondary HA is turned off). The frustrating part is that it’s intermittent - so it may work fine for a while (and will probably work perfectly when showing it to a technician, etc), but will kick in at some random point.

I really don’t want to go through the predicted rigmarole of trying to fix it with both sides of the HA/iPhone fence blaming the other and getting nowhere. For such an investment in a phone that so proudly claims “It just works” - it just doesn’t. Unless either side puts their hand up and says “Ah - we’ve found the specific problem to these HA’s, and here’s how to fix it”, the iPhone is going back.

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