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Bluetooth problems with Philips TV Adapter

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My Philips 9030 Hearlink aids continuously lose the Bluetooth connection with the Philips TV Adapter, which makes controlling the volume and tone unworkable using the Hearlink app and is very frustrating. If I am using the adapter and either switch programs or step away from the TV set and come back, the app will indicate that one or both of the aids is disconnected, though I can usually still hear the TV audio through them (sometimes with reduced volume or some distortion). I have tried turning the (rechargeable) aids off and back on, turning Bluetooth off and back on, turning wi-fi off while resetting Bluetooth, using my smartphone’s accessibility shortcut to move in and out of the TV streaming program, using the navigation buttons on the hearing aids, and moving closer to the TV adapter. Sometimes after returning to the primary/general program and then back to the TV streaming program or using one of the other strategies it will re-pair the aids with the transmitter, only to disconnect again, seemingly at random, a few minutes later. As I understand it, Oticon’s TV streamer is very similar, so I am wondering if users are having these problems with their Oticon setup and whether others share my experiences with the Phillips 9030 or 9010. Has anyone found a workable solution?

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Any chance there is other radio interference stepping on your streamer? It uses the 2.4GHz ISM band, like other bluetooth devices, 2.4 wifi, microwaves, etc. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to step on a radio signal, especially by microwave ovens. Probably not your problem, but ??

WH

I do have my router in the same room and can’t easily relocate it. And there’s a microwave about 30 feet away. But I had no such problems with my previous Resound aids and streamer in the same location.

I hardly ever use the ON app (the Oticon equivalent of the HearLink app, I guess) to select the TV Adapter program for my Oticon OPN 1 . As long as my Oticon TV Adapter 3.0 is on, all I’d have to do is to manually select the TV Adaptor program by down cycle 1 program from my default P1 program, or up cycle from P1 to P2 to P3 to P4, then after P4 I’d get the TV Adapter program, and my OPN 1 would connect and receive signals from the TV Adapter.

This way, because I don’t need to use the ON app, I don’t need my OPN 1 HAs to connect to the ON app, which is a hassle. If I were to use this route, I believe I can easily run into issues like you do with connecting your 9030 to your HearLink app.

Because I use the iPhone with my OPN 1, the OPN 1 is always automatically connected to the iPhone even with the ON app turned off. So if I want to switch to the TV Adapter program via my iPhone instead of via clicking on the hard buttons on my OPN 1 HAs, then I’d triple click on the iPhone Home button to get to my MFI control screen, and select the TV Adapter program from there. This allows me to avoid the ON app together. I really hate how long it takes to connect my OPN 1 to the ON app, and intermittently lose connection between the OPN 1 and the ON app for no reason. The connection between my OPN 1 and my iPhone MFI is much more stable and reliable than the connection between my OPN 1 and the ON app.

I don’t know if what I explained above draws any parallel in your world of the 9030 and the HearLink app or not, and whether you use an iPhone or not. If it does, then hopefully it’s helpful. My name of the game is to manually use my hard buttons to cycle to the TV Adapter program most of the times, because that’s much faster than picking up the phone and change program. If I’m forced to use the iPhone to change program, my next game plan is to use the iPhone MFI controls so I don’t need to deal with the ON app.

This approach is fairly rock solid for my use of the TV Adapter and I rarely if ever have to deal with issues on my iPhone to manage connections.

Thanks for your detailed response, @Volusiano. Your situation using your iPhone with the Oticon OPN 1 hearing aids and the Oticon TV Adapter 3.0 is a close parallel with my iPhone plus the Philips HearLink aids and adapter. I have bypassed the HearLink app and used the hard buttons and/or the MFI accessibility screen. It doesn’t always solve the Bluetooth problem, as sometimes the programs on the MFI screen blink and the preset check mark alternates to a program other than streaming through the adapter on one hearing aid or the other. I understand what you’re saying about the benefits of bypassing the app, but it seems to me that the pairing between the hearing aids and the TV Adapter itself also tends to be unstable at times, for no reason I can figure out. When that happens, I have to re-pair the aids with the adapter by turning off the aids, restarting them (which is a pain since they are rechargeable) and toggling BT off and then back on. The other problem with bypassing the app is that I lose access to the app’s equalizer, which works only for streaming and reduces the tinny, treble sound I get otherwise (do you know if your ON app has such an equalizer?). I also find it a bit annoying to have to rotate out of the streaming program to accomplish muting without the app.

I had none of these problems with my Resound Calas and Resound TV Streamer 2, but I moved on from that setup for other reasons. Anyway, after all my grief with the Philips TV Adapter reverting to the painfully loud default volume (finally addressed with a firmware fix) I thought I could enjoy the HearLinks but now am frustrated by the BT instability.

@piques46 said:

I understand what you’re saying about the benefits of bypassing the app, but it seems to me that the BT pairing between the hearing aids and the TV Adapter itself also tends to be unstable at times, for no reason I can figure out. When that happens, I have to re-pair the aids with the adapter by turning off the aids, restarting them (which is a pain since they are rechargeable) and toggling BT off and then back on.

Hm, on the Oticon side, pairing the Oticon with the Oticon TV Adapter doesn’t involve at all. You simply restart the aids and place them on top of the TV Adapter (as per the screenshot below), and they are paired. There no “toggling BT off and on” like you referred to above. I’m not even sure what BT turning on/off you’re referring to here. The iPhone’s BT? The TV Adapter and HAs, once pair, and the HAs put in the TV Adapter program, just work together without any other 3rd part like the iPhone or need any BT going on.

By doing the pairing, the HAs automatically get assigned the TV Adapter program as another program to cycle through via the hard buttons or MFI or ON app interface. The streaming from the TV Adapter to the HAs are not through standard BT of any sort that can be turned on/off anywhere. Oticon is using the CEVA Riviera BT LE license as an OEM to stream audio to the HAs from the TV Adapter. This is totally seamless. I only know that it’s CEVA Riviera BT LE licensing because Oticon and CEVA announced this prior to the Oticon OPN release.

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@piques46 said:

The other problem with bypassing the app is that I lose access to the app’s equalizer, which works only for streaming and reduces the tinny, treble sound I get otherwise (do you know if your ON app has such an equalizer?). I also find it a bit annoying to have to rotate out of the streaming program to accomplish muting without the app.

Yes, there’s an equalizer in the ON app just like that in the HearLink app, which works only for streaming. But it’s only for the OPN S and More, and for my OPN 1, it’s not available. But I don’t feel like I need it at all because I don’t get the tinny treble streaming sound that you do. I wear a bass dome with single vent, so my lows don’t leak out as much. On top of that, the Oticon Genie 2 software has a Power Bass option to give you a perceived bass boost, and I always set mine to High to get the best bass perception. It’s no thundering or thumping sensation, but at least I no longer have any perception of hearing only a tinny sound.

It seems like the Philips HearSuite has something similar (called Low Frequency Enhancement in the screenshot below) that you can ask your Costco or audi to set to High for you to get the best bass perception.

image

@Volusiano said:

It seems like the Philips HearSuite has something similar (called Low Frequency Enhancement in the screenshot below) that you can ask your Costco HIS or audi to set to High for you to get the best bass perception.

Good idea. I’ll ask my . (I’m already using closed single-vented domes.)

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