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Are smartphone apps worth the effort?

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I wouldn’t even consider buying hearing aids without Bluetooth connectivity. But there you go as others have said everyone’s different. I use my phone all day long. Many things I do on the phone include audio. Having the audio automatically streamed to both ears is wonderful and I have features in my hearing aid app that I find very useful. For example: in a noisy environment, I can turn down the hearing aids or mute them and leave streaming on and I can watch a movie or listen to a song in spite of all the noise around me. In combination with I can increase the amount of bass that I hear in music and so on. That’s great on planes. I can also use my phone as a microphone and if my wife and I have to sit apart she can have my phone and talk into it and only I can hear her. But you have to be comfortable with the technology otherwise it’s uncomfortable and a hassle I imagine. My daughter and I live in different states and we send each other videos during the day. I love to be able to hear her and I don’t necessarily want everyone else hearing her. So that’s a plus also.

In reply to @WhiteHat

I think that to some extent the bluetooth capability may be a be over rated but I my wife and I both use the Phonak TV Connector with my Paradise 90Rs and it has transformed my tv watching. It’s worth having it for that alone.

I really enjoy my phone streaming to my aids. I use that alot.

I do from time to time in noisy environments bring up the Resound app to tweak the equalization/ noise parameters. I wouldn’t call it indispensible. I’ve added a program that I can call up with the hearing aid button called UltraBofus (tweaks on the Resound UltraFocus program) that works pretty well.

It sounds like with your loss you may have forgotten how loud the interior of a plane is. On the other hand you could wear the kind of headphones they wear on the tarmac OVER your hearing aids to keep the sound in. :grinning:

Not sure about any apps but I use my smartphone to stream stored music to my (KS9s) when I run/walk as well as sound from my computer – YouTube videos, zoom sessions, video sessions with my dr, etc when I don’t want to disturb anyone in my family. I’ll be honest, I never change the volume of my HAs via the aids themselves, but will do so using the app.

My biggest complaint with the bluetooth function on my is that oftentimes after I receive a call my HAs mess up. One or the other or both. They go into a hyper loud mode and I have to open the battery door and close it again to reset the aid. Sometimes it is a volume adjustment that CAN be reset on the app but most of the time I have to do as described above. This is tiresome and leads me to either turn off the bluetooth connection to my phone or leave the HAs on the bathroom counter in the dryer. I have gone without my aids for 4 weeks now other than putting them in for church on Sunday mornings and most of the reason for that is my frustration with the connection and the aids needing to be constantly reset after a call. I love the streaming to the aids via BT but when a call comes in 100% of the time I have to reset at least one of the aids after the call ends.

I have been wearing aids for a little over 18 years, and with some form of connectivity for about 12 years. I have come to accept the glitches and once in a great while need to have my aids repaired as a part of the process of having to wear hearing aids. I have always worn my aids from the time I get up until I go to bed. I have always had yearly hearing test and checkups. My aids are cleaned and either in a dryer or charger each night. Now with rechargeable aids the charger does the drying.
I was raised by parents that believed in discipline and a regiment that became a daily schedule. I have always adapted my daily routine as my life has changed. Even now in retirement I have a strict schedule.

Edited

Absolutely worth it! Has enormously enhanced my life. Taking hands-free calls and streaming radio and other audio have taken hearing via aids to a whole new level for me.
(My system: Phonak P90Rs, Samsung Galaxy A6 (2017))

I have Oticon OPN1s, and use the iPhone app with them. I do use the app to adjust my volume and change programs (speech in noise and general are the two I use regularly). Personally, I love being able to stream phone calls, podcasts, audiobooks, and music directly into my aids. I can hear better that way and find I really miss it when using programs on my computer that require me to listen through my computer audio. I had a few issues with battery life early on, but that turned out to be more an issue with Zpower rechargeable batteries than the streaming apps themselves. I don’t think they add value for everyone. Your audiologist should have questions about your lifestyle and needs that should help you assess if the app would be right for you!

I have 2 apps that I have. 1 I need to use to control my , the Nucleus Smart app. If I don’t use the app on my iPhone I have to cart a small remote control around with me to control the functions of my processor. I’m am far less likely to loose my phone than the 2” x1” remote control. In fact I’ve never used the remote control in 3 years.
I also have the smart 3D app, I have my aid set right and I don’t have to use this app at all.
So for me yes they are worth the effort. Because without the CI app I’d be lost, and simply hearing would become a real chore for me.

Zebras yes, the nucleus smart app has so many control functions in it. Volume, bass & treble. Sensitivity, whatever scan you need as well as forward focus. Then it has to be paired to the phone clip, & mini mic for them to stream, I don’t have a TV streamer so don’t know about that. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some other function as well. So yes, without the app I’d be lost.
Yes sadly it’s 2 apps at the moment. Hopefully when N8 is released we might be able to control GA & off one app.

@Deaf_piper

Thanks that’s interesting to know.

The N7 App does have lots of features. Someone who comes to my Deaf Centre only has 1 x N7 and she was showing me all what the App can do as I was really curious. She had just been upgraded from the N5 so she was keen to play around with the App etc as well.

In reply to @WhiteHat

Wow…a little late getting back to you! Yes…these are the Sam’s Club Liberty hearing aids powered by Lucid technologies. I recently got another new pair given to me after revisiting these issues and guess what? My new aids are acting up also with dropped connectivity in one aid or the other!

I need to come visit the threads I interact with more often…

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