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Oticon ConnectClip - audio cuts out

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@Xomomo said:

I have destroyed three ConnectClip and two mobile phones.

Really, how did you manage that, as in you destroyed them in frustration?

@Xomomo said:

On the two phones the fault is that the left channel audio went dead when streaming audio from internet. Samsung Galaxy S22 respective S23

So regardless of the bluetooth device used (say another set of bluetooth headphones) you still have this issue?

@Xomomo said:

BLE, Bluetooth Light Energy

Bluetooth Low Energy is a well established profile, been around since 4.2 i think, it works in most cases without issue, its not wifi.

@Xomomo said:

As an old repair man I suspected that the HA is causing the problem.

Possibly, but your not alone having this issue with the ConnectClip, its all over the forum.

@Xomomo said:

I have not succeeded yet!!!

This shouldn’t surprise you,its firmware issue going by all the other posts on this.

@Xomomo said:

I have consulted two persons on a technical forum. They think it is unlikely but not impossible, that a setting in the HA FW causes BLE-SW to “burn” BLE HW in the ConnectClip and the mobile phone.

Well I’d take that with a pinch of salt thanks, i mean its hard to say what the exact issue is, but until oticon releases new firmware to iron it out its indeed pure speculation.

In reply to @Xomomo

@Xomomo said:

The Bluetooth classic is still working with my Oticon TV adapter.

The Oticon TV Adapter takes wired input from the source, either the Toslink/SPIF optical input, or the RCA level stereo input. It does not take or operate Bluetooth classic with the source.

The wireless connection between the Oticon TV Adapter and the Oticon hearing aids is a proprietary LE protocol that Oticon licensed from CEVA called RivieraWaves . Most likely, the wireless connection between the Oticon ConnectClip and the Oticon hearing aids also uses this same proprietary protocol. Similarly for the EduMic.

The wireless connection between the Oticon ConnectClip and the streaming source (whether it be your Android phone or laptop or another BT source is the Bluetooth Classic.

In reply to @Xomomo

With all due respect, I find it very difficult (impossible, to be honest) to believe that the 1.4.2 firmware caused hardware problems in either your ConnectClips or your phones. Bluetooth (Classic or LE) has such low power that there is no way it could physically damage hardware. When a device is released, it is thoroughly tested by the FCC to verify that it operates in the allowed frequency range and does not exceed allowable power levels. The same process is used in other countries.

Bluetooth and WiFi both operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency range and they do overlap, but is a frequency hopping protocol, so it avoids WiFi.

You are mistaken that the Oticon TV Adapter uses Bluetooth Classic. It uses the same protocol as , but at a higher power. You can read the FCC report on the device if you search for it.

@darylm said:

You are mistaken that the Oticon TV Adapter uses Bluetooth Classic. It uses the same protocol as BLE, but at a higher power. You can read the FCC report on the device if you search for it.

No, I am not mistaken! The TV adapter is still working, It is possible it uses the same protocol, but the HW is definitely Classic. The range for Oticon BT Classic is 10-5 meters while its BLE is 4-5 meters.

I think I have to clarify that I have used the word for the hardware, while I now have realized that most people mean different protocols of BLE software. I found this document Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE): A Complete Guide3
with this text:
Advantages of BLE
Prevalence in smartphones

"This is probably the biggest advantage BLE has over its competitors, such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Thread. The vast majority of people in the world own a smartphone, and almost all of those smartphones have BLE hardware inside. This gives developers a much larger potential user base for their applications.”

Earlier this year I thought the problem was that Samsung and Oticon used the same micro circuits from the same faulty batch. How likely is that??

When my Samsung dealer told me, if I come back a third time with a faulty BLE, they will give me the money back. The advice was to look for a fault in the .

Then I made a summary of events:
ConnectClip 1 worked for eleven months with FW 1.1.1
After loading FW 1.4.1 ConnectClip stopped working after one month.
ConnectClip 2 was faulty on delivery, re-cycled.
Here between I got the updated FW 1.4.2.
ConnectClip 3 went faulty after 30 days.
Samsung Galaxy S22 faulty after tree weeks.
Samsung Galaxy S23 faulty after two months.

That’s why I am asking if a faulty setting in any BLE protocol can get the phone respectively the ClipConnect to “burn” its own BLE circuit. We do not believe there are enough power in the HA battery to “burn” the circuits.

In reply to @Xomomo

Bluetooth classic 4.2 incorporates LE, all the latest versions of Bluetooth are backwards compatible as well, by the way the ConnectClip works with Bluetooth from version 2.1 onwards which is pretty old version now, phones that work for your More are and which is Low Energy, but regardless i still see no way that whatever bluetooth versions/protocols being used have anything to do your issues.

In reply to @Volusiano

I recently bought a Noahlink Wireless and also acquired the 2023.1 version of Genie 2 software. When I connected the ConnectClip to my computer, Genie 2 detected the current version of firmware, but it did not provide an available version. It was blank. Did you have to do anything for that to work?

I received my new Real hearing aids a couple of weeks ago. Initially, I only paired them with the ConnectClip and the iPhone 13. I intentionally didn’t pair them with the Pixel 6. During the couple of weeks that I used them with, there was not a single instance of audio drop-out. Last night, I paired the hearing aids with my Pixel 6 phone. Right away, I started to experience audio drop-outs on my ConnectClip. Turning off Bluetooth on the iPhone and Pixel made no difference. I cleared the pairings in the ConnectClip and re-paired the hearing aids with the laptop. That also made no difference, even with Bluetooth on the iPhone and Pixel turned off. I used the Genie 2 software to clear all of the pairings and then re-paired the hearing aids only with the ConnectClip. There are no audio drop-outs. I’m not sure if it was the act of pairing with a 3rd device or with an device, but the audio drop-outs started right away after pairing with the Pixel, so it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. I will use them like this for a while, then I will try pairing only with the Pixel to see what happens.

In reply to @darylm

When I ran the Accessories Updater on Genie 2 2023.1, below is the screen that shows up when I connect my ConnectClip to my laptop via USB. It shows that it’s at version 1.13.0 and that it’s up-to-date. So the Available Version is 1.13.0, the same as the current version on my ConnectClip.

image

Mine shows a blank where the available version should be. When I get a chance, I’ll try it for both of my ConnectClips to see if they are the same. Do you have any special access to Oticon to get updates?

You mean in terms of downloading the latest versions of Genie 2. As you may know already, Genie 2 used to be readily available on the Oticon to be downloaded by anyone before, but about a year or two ago, Oticon started to require people to register (maybe to verify that they’re health care providers?) before allowing them access to Genie 2 downloads now. But for folks who already have a version of Genie 2 installed, they can just use to Updater that came with Genie 2 to get newer versions updated automatically. This is how I’ve been getting updates for Genie 2 lately. I don’t have a full download of the latest version anymore.

I can’t believe that it’s been 6 months since this issue appeared with one of the updates and they still couldn’t fix it. What a disrespect to the customers.

Edited

It must be a tough one to crack for them. If they can fix it but they won’t put in the priority to fix it, then yeah, that would be a disrespect to the customers. But if they haven’t been able to figure out how to fix it properly yet and are still working on it with priority, then it wouldn’t be a disrespect to the customers. I don’t know if it’s the earlier or the latter, but if it’s a consistent/persistent and reproducible issue that all their customers complain to them about, I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re working hard at fixing it.

I heard from one of the posters on this forum that Oticon gave him an EduMic as a workaround so that he can use it with his laptop until they figure out the fix. With the EduMic, you use a mini audio plug to connect it to your laptop so that circumvent the wireless part which is what is giving the problem. If you really need the ConnectClip to work for you due to work or something important, maybe you can ask your to make Oticon give you an EduMic, either permanently or temporarily until they can get the ConnectClip issue fixed.

I have made another workaround that has worked for a couple av weeks.
My new Samsung Android mobile phone is not paired with my hearing aid.

For streaming audio from internet, I use my PC. Casting the music to my TV. The TV is connected with the digital link to an Oticon TV adaptor.
The TV adaptor is paired to an old Sony Android phone that has no support for ASHA, i.e. it has no hardware.

The old Android phone is paired to OticonON app and to the TV adaptor. As both the phone and the TV adaptor works on Bluetooth with a special BLE software designed by Oticon, it works acceptable.

Background: Since January I have spoiled two ASHA mobile phones and three ClipConnect. My, on this forum disputed, theory is that, the BLE micro circuits are damage by a faulty setting in my hearing aid’s FW. Recently I sent a detailed fault report to Oticon service. I hope for a quick answer, but because of the actual holiday season I am afraid I (we) have wait to September for a solution.

Same issue. My Oticon OPN with Connect Clip 1.0 worked fine. When I got my More , they came with Connect Clip 1.1. When my aids were upgraded to 1.4.0, I started having the same cut out issue. In the middle of the cutout, for just an instant, I see the blue light flash. Upgrades to 1.4.1 and 1.4.2 did not help. A couple of months ago, my audiologist did a reset of my connect clip, and the problem stopped. I dont use the Connect Clip very often, but I need it for Zoom sessions on my PC, and private listening on my Apple TV. Since that time, they seemed to be working fine UNTIL I walked away from my computer (with the connect clip attached to it) and when I returned, the cut-outs started again. I tried a Google search and came upon this forum. I just tried the 3 button reset, but that did not fix the problem. Does anybody know where Oticon is with this?

I’ve been following this thread since my first ConectClip had this cut-out problem. It was sent back to the Oticon by my audiologist. They said there was no defect and it worked OK for a while. When it failed again it was replaced. Now the replacement is failing. I tried talking to Oticon and got nowhere after going through all the reset steps and turning off all other devices in the house.

Is there another device like this made by some other manufacturer?

I liked the ConnectClip since I used it with my desktop Windows PC, my Windows laptop, and my Samsung tablet And I didn’t have to plug something into each device.

I may have to switch to Oticon’s wired device (I forgot the name). My brother has one of those and has never complained of this cut-out problem.

@user966 said:

I may have to switch to Oticon’s wired device (I forgot the name). My brother has one of those and has never complained of this cut-out problem.

Both the EduMic and the TV Adapter have wired mini plug connection. The EduMic is much smaller, but the TV Adapter has the Toslink optical input as well, although for your laptop and tablet situation, the Toslink optical in option is not usable there anyway.

I am not sure what is happening with the connect clip ass so many are complaining. I have the More1 aids with a connect clip I have been using since my OPN1 aids and have it connected to my old MacBook and also my new Samsung S23 aids for when I need true hands free. And I am not seeing any connection issues. And I never did when I was using it with the iPad when I was using an iPhone due to the lack of easy switching between devices. By the way the switching from iPad to S23 and back with just the aids is very seamless.

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