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Intermittent sound coming from HAs – what could be wrong

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Premise. I have a pair of Starkey Halo 2 2400 from 2016 ( model).
During this time they never really broken, they just needed a new receiver once (2 years ago).
That said, for some time now I could hear a background noise coming from my devices.
Initially I could hear it only in total silent enviroment, now I can definitely hear it in every situation. Maybe I just pay more attention to it, still it’s a defined sound. I would described it as intermittent. It’s an infinite ta-ta-ta-ta-ta sound, like playing repeatdly with a pencil on an hard surface – with my eardrum, if that makes sense. Not super loud. It’s constant, not metallic more likely mechanic.
It switch on within 5 minute of usage. Even if I change batteries (I still have to use disposable batteries), it never goes away. What could it be?
Lately I had to change regulations because I have troubles understanding even with HAs and I don’t know if that can explain this sound. Plus, sometimes I have problem with the Bluetooth – the official Starkey TruLink app doesn’t always find them and the setter couldn’t find them easily with the wireless “noah-link” connector (so he used wires last time).

ps. from fact I know it’s not just a weird tinnitus.
Even my hearing parents have tried my HAs and they could definitely hear it.

7 people in this conversation5 min readJump to latest

May be a microphone water-proofing failure of some sort. If so, then putting them in a dryer for half an hour should stop it for a while.

Intimately you are going to need to get them repaired anyway.

In reply to @buiononsense

Keep it as a backup anyway. As David suggests, drying it might help. But this. . .

@buiononsense said:

I have troubles understanding even with HAs

. . . is also suggestive to me. It’s not uncommon for hearing aids to break in a way that the user doesn’t quite notice apart from “I’m not hearing as well” and when we check it’s because the hearing aid is not amplifying across a range of frequencies–often the highs.

In reply to @hass5744

Ok. It’s kind of ironic that they most likely have broken down while I’m looking for new ones. Next week I’ve scheduled an appointment, hopefully it will be identified the exact problem. That’s said, I have a genuine question (since I only had them fixed there “in loco” by the fitter): in your experience, when get broken and sent to repair elsewhere, you stay without HAs for weeks?

In reply to @Neville

Ok, thanks! That’s interesting to consider. I tend to forget that even high frequencies can makes a difference in the way we understand sounds and speeches – since my hearing loss drops in that area/frequencies.

How many times have you looked up a warranty and found it expired a month ago. A lot of people will have their audiologist return their aids as the warranty expiration date approaches because the manufacturer will just send you a new pair of the same aids instead of trying to repair them. I know this is like closing the barn door after the horses got out, but something to keep in mind for the future

Ok, I’m not sure I got it right (English it’s not my first language), you’re saying : one thing is having your repaired in warranty and another thing is needing repair out of warranty (which makes sense). In my case I’m out of warranty, because if I remember well it was maybe 2 years warranty. Also, it seems that the manufacturer mostly likely send a new-pair of the same hearing aids instead of repairing. So some people (near warranty expire date) send in their original HAs to get a same-yet-not-used HAs to keep using it out of warranty. If that’s correct I assume that: out-of-warranty you would likely stay withtout devices for the time of repair. Just like smartphones first you sent the device and after a while they evaluate if it can get repaired and at what cost, maybe? Other option, you get told your only option it’s to pursue a new pair.

Yes you would have to go without aids waiting for the new aids to arrive. In that case my audiologist would loan me a pair of aids while I wait. Anytime you send in aids for repair you either have to wear replacement aids, an old pair of aids or a loaner pair from the audiologist. There’s no way to get around it.

@buiononsense said:

the official Starkey TruLink app doesn’t always find them and the setter couldn’t find them easily with the wireless “noah-link” connector (so he used wires last time).

@buiononsense: I might be mistaken, but I thought using hard wires on a NoahLink device was pretty much guaranteed to fry them?

No, but he ment his audiologist used cables instead of the Noahlink wireless, as it couldn’t establish a connection, so cables and HiPro/NOAHlink was used.

In reply to @buiononsense

@buiononsense said:

If that’s correct I assume that: out-of-warranty you would likely stay withtout devices for the time of repair.

In or out of warranty, but yes. I just sent in my Phonak Marvels for a warranty repair and while they were gone for 1.5 weeks, I dug out my previous Phonak Ventures that I had saved for exactly this purpose. My hearing with old aids isn’t as good as my hearing with new aids, but it’s still better than my hearing with no aids!

Ok, thanks. I still have my previous . On one hand, I “converted” them some years back – I gave them to my grandfather so that he could use them for free (needing only a proper fitting) since he wouldn’t pay any money to get a new pair even if he desperately needed some hearing device. On the negative side, he never get used to them, broke them multiple times and maybe it was such a severe hearing loss he couldn’t really get any solid benefit from wearing them. Now, sadly he passed away and I have these hearing aids that I assume just stopped working for some time now. No batteries change can revive them, still I can maybe bring them with me to the fitter anyway. I’m not willing to pay money for them, I’d give them a chance for the bare-time-needed if they’d require only a minor repair.

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