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Now, I understand….. Roger On, WOW factor!

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Just got a Roger On folks…. Bought 2nd hand, via eBay. To be very honest, I never thought I would be “Very Impressed”, with this assistive listening device, or indeed any other assistive listening device, it usually takes something exceptional to impress me, in especial when it comes to hearing loss…. Any Hyperbole, the manufacturers release alongside their wares, doesn’t usually even raise an eyebrow on yours truly, I have heard it all before!!! But, credit where it’s due, to Phonak, the sound quality on the Roger On, is indeed exceptional, and the “Clarity” is pristine, I can say without fear or favour, it’s the best hearing, I have experienced since , some 30 plus years ago, and this is with my Marvel 90’s ’s, and not my latest and greatest aids, for profound loss, The Phonak Naida Paradise 90 UP ’s, which should give me, a slight increment of improvement, hopefully? I have to wait for the Roger Installer to arrive, to test the Naida P 90’s out…. One thing, I did notice, I tested to see if there was a serial still installed in another Roger X receiver I bought (eBay strikes again :upside_down_face: ) Roger X was fine, it was on a 9 year old set of Phonak Amberas BTE’s with a direct input shoe, sound was alright, but not perfect, although this might have be to the aids being old, and less than perfect, in truth, I don’t hear well with them nowadays! Anyway, tried the Roger On in the car today, I decided to go with my wife shopping to Tain, it’s about 26 miles round trip, so Elspeth donned the Roger On, using the lanyard, the drive there and back, I could hear every word, syllable, annunciation, and something else, a very slight lisp in her voice, I had never noticed that before…. Around the store, talking through her mask, was crystal clear hearing for me, from 10, 20 or even 40 feet away, Elspeth is an extremely good at annunciation (slight lisp or not) being a former, Social Worker for the Deaf…. All in all, I am highly impressed with the Roger On, but as ever, YMMV. Cheers Kev :wink:

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For VOICE, I am in total agreement. Love it. Have come to depend on it. I put it on the dinner table. I put it on the table when eating out. I aim it at the preacher or the one leading prayer in church. Doesn’t do so well for me in the music/worship in song though. I flip back and forth between a custom program and using the roger on in church.

WH

Thank you WH…. My days of song are long since, gone! I am only interested in voice, as anything other, sounds way out of tune, unfortunately! I am hopeful, I might get an ever so slight improvement with Naida P90’s, but who knows, we shall see? Cheers Kev :wink:

Edited

I will watch this thread, because until now it; it is the best explanation that I have seen for what Roger can do in simple terms? I am still fixated on my Paradise P50s to know if I need any else, but I have seen in the Target software where it will detect if I have a Roger device.

I can say that as if right now, my Audiologist must have done a good job with my because when I have my P50s on and all of the Bluetooth stuff works it sounds wonderful.

At any rate for now it sounds like more stuff to buy. I am not sure what you have to buy, but I will slowly learn by watching and reading.

Thanks for encouraging thread about some that may have potential for me. :+1:

Just to add, for the use case specified (worn around neck on lanyard) the Phonak PartnerMic should perform similarly and is a lot cheaper. The Roger On really comes into it’s own when used as a table microphone or when hand held and pointed at a speaker. Caveat: My PartnerMic did not lead a long life (lasted a little over a year)

Edited

In reply to @Zebras

Thank you @Zebras :smile:

Yeah @dkoldman, I will do a follow up, once I get my Naida P90’s connected…… Should be able to test in an acoustically challenging environment, and see what like? I watched a video on uTube, from an Australian A.uD, in it she was highly praising everything about the Roger On, in the video, she said many things of interest, but something stuck out, Roger was initially made for the Military, namely it was developed for, and tested by, “Seal Team 6”, they wanted something that had clarity in challenging environments, and it couldn’t be hacked, and the clue is in the name, so Sonova developed Roger for, The Seals, and the hearing impaired also reap the benefits…. Cheers Kev :wink:

Australian A.uD below;

I hadn’t seen that about the seals. I can see it, though.

WH

I have a Roger Pen. It filters some noise, but not all of it while amplifying the speaker. In some very noisy environments, while the speech is amplified the noise can still be a distraction. In the car it picks up quite a bit of road noise. Have you owned a Roger Pen to compare?

How does the Roger On sound in a car?
Have you used it in group settings? Does it do well pointing from a distance? Does it to well just setting it on a table and not need to point to the speaker?

“It depends”. As I’ve discussed in previous posts, Roger On has four modes. Table, Pointing, Presenter, and Audio Cable.

Table tends to pick up everything going on. Kids screaming in the next room, dishes clattering, etc. But you have six wedges of the circle around where you can deselect wedges to remove noise coming from that direction. Today at The Chateau for lunch I put the mic on the table and selected only the forward wedge to hear my buddy. It cut the noise way down, and his voice is picked up extremely well. I’ve used it at family events. I’m on my phone a lot changing wedges around a lot. Until I get tired and pick it up and point…

Point mode takes a roughly conical section of the sound coming from in front. It does a pretty good job. I use it in church to point at the person leading prayer or preaching. The mic isn’t so good in any mode about music, so I use a custom program on my for worship in song at church.

I haven’t used presenter mode much. It works, as I have tried it on myself. But I need to remember to try it out more.

Audio cable makes it transmit the input on a 3.5mm jack to your HAs. Your phone, ipad or mp3 player, radio, etc. I use this most right now, actually. It uses my HA batteries up less than streaming.

I haven’t used it in the car except for audio cable. In the other modes it seems really focused on voice. I love it.

Hope this helps.
WH

@kevels55 said:

so Elspeth donned the Roger On,

Regarding this or the Phonak PartnerMic , how do you set the balance between the remote mic and the ambient (room) sound you want in your aids? I would assume you still want some situational awareness, for lack of a better phrase?

In reply to @garyg

Hi @garyg, in the car, used in “Presenter Mode” on the lanyard, it is fairly awesome, it picks up all the minute details of the speakers voice, including accent, the speaker is very clear, and concise…. You can connect it to your TV or any other audio, via Toslink or the 3.5 jack plug, just like the TV connector, if you have the Roger On stand, although I have not tried it in this mode, I should imagine it will be of a higher sound quality than the TV connector, I did try it in table mode near the TV speakers, and it was pristine sound quality…. For instance, last night I watched a MLS soccer match, before I switched the Roger on, I could hear the commentary, but not clearly, but I was getting most of it, as soon as I switched on the Roger, I was immediately aware that one of the commentators was indeed speaking with a Spanish accent, a subtle thing, but for me a huge thing, that I was immediately able to differentiate that accent…… Cheers Kev :wink:

@kevels55

Do you own a smartphone to be able to use the Roger App?

I’m wondering how you like it, if in fact, you do use it.

I haven’t yet tried the App as I’m not allowed my mobile at work.

In reply to @grantb5

Hello @grantb5, you can hear everyone at the table, I had a meal last night at home, with a couple of friends, and my wife, “in table mode”, at the dining table, (approximately 8ft x 4ft) it was a quiet affair, but I could differentiate every voice, even the slight crunch of lettuce was clear, but not overbearing…. Folks talking at the same time, was not a problem, I just mentally focused on whom I wanted to listen too, for the first time in 30 odd years, I felt I had a distinct advantage over every hearing person sitting there, it was as if my profound loss had vanished, an awesome feeling. Cheers Kev :wink:

In reply to @Zebras

Yeah @Zebras, I have a iPhone 12 Pro…. I have both apps, MyPhonak & MyRogerMic, MyPhonak is slightly temperamental, but better than previous versions, but it works fine…… MyRogerMic works flawlessly. Cheers Kev :wink:

In reply to @grantb5

Speaking about PartnerMic. I believe this is initially set up in the Target programming software. However, I believe the hearing aid buttons can then alter this. I don’t know if the hearing aid app could do this or not.

I haven’t delved into the workings of the MyRogerMic app, as yet @MDB, I have just glossed over it, but it does appear to work flawlessly, and the Roger On connects to the app almost instantaneously…… I will at some point, give it more attention, and see what it can do?

As a former union rep @Zebras, I would be inclined to think you might get a dispensation for your smartphone, if indeed you have a recognised union at your workplace? If representing you, I would argue vehemently, that your app based smartphone is your hearing aid remote, and should therefore be reassigned as a medical device, and not a smartphone! My 2 cents worth :wink:

@kevels55 said:

If representing you, I would argue vehemently, that your app based smartphone is your hearing aid remote, and should therefore be reassigned as a medical device, and not a smartphone!

You are right! If I had hearing aids that worked with the App I would be kicking up a fuss to keep my mobile on me. I’ll do the same with the Roger App. Thanks.

I agree with the comments on the Roger On. It is an incredible device. I also have a Roger Select but following a disastrous experience at a work Christmas party where it was incredibly noisy, I realised I need something with a pointing mode so I could direct it to the current speaker.

There’s three config changes I needed to have done on my Roger On with my audiologist to get maximum value. These are:

  1. Microphone attenuation was dropped to the middle setting - basically this drastically reduced the amount of background sound the hearing aids we’re picking up (on top) of the Roger On. I found this very distracting so by reducing what the aids were picking up it allows me to focus on whatever the Roger On is sending to me

  2. There is a setting in target that we had to change which basically gives you a 10dB gain and also reduces background by 10dB?? Sorry I don’t know the technical term but the old setting was a straight 20db gain and that didn’t help

  3. When I’m using the Roger On in either table mode or pointing mode I need to move the slider on the MyPhonak app towards the “mic” setting - that makes also helps massively.

image

Lastly, in table mode I tend to position the device nearest to the speaker of interest. If i can’t do that then I use myRoger app to set direction. Sometimes I just have it set to forward mic only and I spin the Roger On around towards the person I want to hear.

Thanks. I could see this being helpful. For instance while talking to someone at an airport, focusing on that person, then an announcement comes on and you want to change your focus more broadly.

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