Cheaper alternatives to Roger?

I don’t see mention of the PartnerMic. They work very well if worn by another person within about 8 inches of their mouth. They cannot be used as a pointer microphone, but they are available at great prices (well under $100 on EBay) They do not require “receivers.” They do not have any notable lag that I’m aware of. I think they claim a range of 75 feet, but I think 30 feet is more realistic if walls are involved.

@greg.smith said:

Have you tried the Phonak PartnerMic ? I understand that it’s not comparable to Roger On, but it’s the “basic” device for this functionality and is much less expensive. I have one and find it useful, although relatively limited.

I had not then, but with this encouragement I borrowed one and tried it. Thank you @greg.smith for the info! The Phonak Partner mic is one of two technologies I have now acquired.

I contribute commentary now based on my own try-outs: Roger On has definitively nicer sound quality, and has better controls in the My Phonak app. However, in addition to its much higher cost, it has more lag time in turning on or off, and has some irritating quirks like coming unpaused or changing mode when I did not intend that.

The Phonak Partner mic is smaller, lighter, cheaper, faster (in terms of time to manage its use) and simpler to use. I am very tech savvy but when I am trying to focus on other things I am delighted with this little fob that simply works without any muss or fuss. It requires no “receivers” a.k.a. Roger licenses which contributes to its ease and affordability. You turn it on, push a pairing button if that was not the last similar device you paired to, and about 5 seconds later you are good to go. If it was the last device you paired to, you merely turn on the switch and it is working in about two seconds. When you want to stop prioritizing sound from the partner mic, slide the switch off and it disconnects in less than a second. The mechanical switch has color inside so I don’t waste time figuring out if it is on or off.

I bought one for about $60 including shipping on Ebay that was listed as working from a dealer with good satisfaction scores. It works perfectly.

I also decided to gamble on a lot of 6 Phonak Partner Mics for $40 including shipping being sold “for parts” from a dealer not specializing in hearing aid tech as the description of what was wrong sounded suspiciously like the operational quirks to the LED programming that I had noticed on the new fully functional Partner Mic my audiologist had loaned me to test out. I enjoy fixing small things like mechanical watches so I also thought it might be entertaining to try to diagnose and combine parts and see what I could get to work. Of the 6, 3 simply work after fully charging, 2 work but have batteries that drain too quickly on standby, and one does not work. So that was 3 fully functional partner mics for $13.33 each. Score! One to keep at work, one to keep at home, one to keep in my purse…

The sound from the Partner Mic is not as clear as the sound from the Roger on, and it only covers one of the Roger On’s several functions, (that of hearing a partner without having to stand right in front of them) but I am quite satisfied. I will also point out for anyone who cares that the partner mic has a shorter distance range as verified by me, less ability for the signal to penetrate through walls and turned backs, and is flightier in having more brief silences when its programing kicks in to protect from wind noise or sound spikes. My audiologist tweaked my “Partner Mic” program in my hearing aids in a way I don’t have access to myself, and hopefully that will cut down on the brief sound cut-outs.

All in all, I am delighted with my affordable handful of helpful little tech devices. It is totally worth the $13.33-$60 I paid for each of my Partner Mics. I can converse in the car, carry on a real conversation with someone at the table while I rush around doing stuff in the kitchen, and the next time I have to go on a torturous tour in a group I am totally prepared for the revolutionary concept of hearing the tour guide.

P.S. Updating my commentary monologue in case anyone cares…Alas, after further experimentation and trial under real world conditions, most of the ultra cheap “non functioning sold for parts” partner mics that at first seemed to work really did not work in a useful way–at least not yet. They turn on, pair, and broadcast great! But they won’t stay switched off again…which causes its own hilarious and/or irritating problems…I totally get why they would be returned as defective and sold for parts! I have been having fun playing with the parts, and am not upset about my $40 gamble which has therefor brought 1 functioning mic and several hours of technofigit entertainment.

P.P.S. the $60 ebay Partner Mic sold as functioning continues to function usefully and helpfully. That would be my recommendation for anyone who just wants things to work.

@SlowNSteady said:

I liked how easy it made it to stream sound into my hearing aids from other devices. (Computers, FM receivers at public venues, MP3 player (Ancient tech, I know))

@Gilbert said:

You can use the TV Connector for this

Thank you for the suggestion!

I looked into this and decided that it was more affordable than Roger On but would not work for me as I am always moving my (lap top) computer to new spots that don’t necessarily have electricity.

I decided to gamble on a generic bluetooth transmitter. [1Mii Bluetooth 5.2 Transmitter](1Mii Bluetooth 5.2 Transmitter… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G8Q7NXZ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share50)

There is a noticeable lag time between the lips and the sound, but I can hear nice and clear. It is also small, lightweight, self powered (with rechargeable internal battery) and I can attach it into any headphone jack.

I stuck it into the headphone jack of the FM personal hearing assistance device at a public venue. It worked! Distant speaker sounds in an echoey large venue delivered directly through my hearing aids. I stuck both devices connected together into my pocket and was one of the crowd. The sound delay was annoying at first but I used the My Phonak app to shift the sound balance to have nearly all of the sound coming from the 1Mii and nearly none from my hearing aid microphones. Then it was livable. Not as good as the Roger On but for $30 instead of $2000 it was a good amount of benefit.

My primary use is to stream from my computer, and it works well for that. There is still a delay that makes lipreading harder, but I’m not that skilled yet at lipreading anyways. I need to remember to put my hearing aids in pairing mode by turning off then on and I also need to pause to adjust the computer sound settings to use the device as audio and the built in mic as the mic.

@MDB said:

I don’t see mention of the PartnerMic. They work very well if worn by another person within about 8 inches of their mouth. They cannot be used as a pointer microphone, but they are available at great prices (well under $100 on EBay) They do not require “receivers.” They do not have any notable lag that I’m aware of. I think they claim a range of 75 feet, but I think 30 feet is more realistic if walls are involved.

Thank you for the recommendation! I tried it and went with it. More commentary from me about it in a separate post. I am finding 20 feet with walls (or back turned bodies) and 40 feet with unobstructed path. Good enough for my normal needs.

You are correct. The PartnerMic is not a Roger device. There is a Roger Clip-on Mic that is similar to PartnerMic but is a Roger Device.

Sorry! Definitely missed that. It is definitely not a roger device and I’m going to edit my comment.

@JJTheJetPln No worries and thank you for clarifying!

I bought a Roger x receiver , you can connect using this and a neck loop from phonak, then buy the lower priced Roger Pen. all available on e bay. I have resound hearing aids, so I used the multi mic and attached the receiver there.

you mentioned that you used both the Roger pen and the Roger on. I have the pen, very affordable with my multi mic using the Roger x receiver. I am curious how much improvement the technology is if I were to purchase the newer Roger on

Hi rothlev1,

It certainly is better. But it’s not necessarily a perfect solution. It depends on what you need them for. I find there are still issues in very noisy environments - noise is still present. For one on one, giving them to a partner etc, they are very good. If you get it I think it needs careful adjustment to set the balance between the hearing aid mics and the Roger iN on itself. I didn’t buy it with the support of an audiologist and I think that would be needed to optimise its performance.

Personally, I would be looking to see if they were bringing out a newer version or looking to something like the Orsana from www.audiointelligence.com25 , which looks like it could be a superior product. But it’s early days as it doesn’t appear to be for sale yet.

Ahhh…My bad. Thanks for the correction.

Yes - it will be fantastic if this has a reasonable price point. Fingers crossed.

I really think some more people here should try Google Sound Amplifier on some recent Android phone (you need a good chipset for low latency): it‘s got basically not latency and works really really well at reducing noises.

I’ve used it on a recent Android phone!

Its a pathetic implementation IMO, unless you have the latest, fastest, most exclusive (read Samsung) device…

I’ve used it on a Pixel 4A (that you can easily find online for 150 dollars) and works perfectly.

And also on a Xiaomi Redmi phone from 2021 that is very cheap on Amazon.

If the processor is decent, there’s no lag, unlike all similar apps that I’ve tried on the iPhone.