Phonak audeo lumity 90 hissing / white noise is it normal?

I went through this, it’s not uncommon. Even in a quiet room there’s some small amount of background noise, fridge hum, traffic or wind outside. HA are setup to amplify (gain) sound levels by a certain amount, and the gain levels are in tiers… quiet, medium, loud.

What your describing is a textbook case of the gain for the quiet sounds is brining up those background sounds to a level that’s noticable and intrusive. Simply adjust the gain on the quiet sounds, a little reduction can take the hiss down to a point your brain isn’t noticing it, but there’s still enough gain to help overall with comprehension.

I had this same hissing issue with the Lumity when I trialled them. It annoyed me so much I ended up disconnecting the streaming connection. Adjusting the ambient sounds did help a bit but it was still very noticeable. I ended up buying Signia Pure which doesn’t have this issue (but the Bluetooth connection and streaming sound quality is not as good).

Hi, wdpegg and all~ I also have Audeo Lumity 90 aids, with firmware 1.0.8.0

The suggestions about the myPhonak “Ambient balance” slider for hiss reduction are helpful, but I still had a base line hiss problem. If you search this forum for:

Target “Expansion”

you’ll find another recent thread on this topic, complete with screen shots & a video.

I stumbled on a simple & consistent way to replicate my hiss problem. With Bluetooth from the aids to my cell phone, I call my home land line when there’s nobody here to pick up the call. After I quit the call from my Pixel phone, I could hear the hiss in my aids for a second or two.

Using the Target programming PC software, I went to the “Fine Tuning” tab then down to “Streaming Programs” on the left. I clicked the downward pointing arrow for “Phone call + mic” (which seems to also govern streaming audio). “Open program options” is the next thing I clicked & various “sliders” showed up at the right. “Soft noise reduction” was completely Off, so I slid that to 12 then I did a Save & Close.

After repeating my phone hang up test I could still hear the hiss but it was less loud & also more brief. Streaming some audio was also better but still not pristine. I did another programming bump to 13 & Ahmo stop there for now. I’m happy that these forum threads nudged me toward this improvement.

One of my favorite music stations (Gulch Radio) has this tagline: “Streaming directly into your brain”. That pretty well describes Phonak audio, especially now that I’ve got the noise out.

Thanks & Jolliness, Forum Folks.

Ok, so had a quick read and watch most of the video, seems like it’s something my audiologist would have to adjust at my next hearing appointment.

Is it something they would know about and how to adjust ?
What is the best way to get across what I’m after?
Thank you

In the meantime
I think turning off media audio in bluetooth settings and not sitting in a quiet room is the only way to reduce hiss if not stop it. which if your just reading is easier said than done. However if it’s not a hissing sound (which can trick into thinking it’s raining) it’s ringing in my hears from my tinnitus so not going to win completely.

@Zebras

Thanks for your post!
It helps.

I believe that’s compression in the real world.
It affects how the hearing aids are tuned. It helped me hear softer voices and consonants, and that was my need.

I’m also going a bit crazy trying to get rid of what seems to be white noise in the background - particularly when driving in a car (including very quiet riding autos) and going over 40mph. Have played with special settings, but would rather not have to do a special setting to fiddle with while driving. Tried writing Phonak - unbelievable Cusotmer No-Service response advising me that this issue is outside of their purview and I should contact my Hearing Tech. In fairness, I will say that this pair is MUCH better than my 6 yr old previous Phonaks as filtering background restaurant noise, hearing others sitting next to me vs in front etc.

Anyway - will be interested to see if others have easy solutions to this white noise/hissing issue.

@dmauman said:

white noise in the background - particularly when driving in a car (including very quiet riding autos) and going over 40mph.

Since it’s speed-dependent it’s most likely a noise from the car. My 2013 Avalon was one of the quietest cars in its model year, yet my Oticon Real aids do pick up noise.

@DaveL said:

My new hearing aid practitioner had me try tinnitus noise treatment. It sounded exactly like your noise. I had him turn it off. I found the treatment was worse than the noise I have (which is tinitus which sounds just like cicadias in my ears.)

Same here. It just added more noise

The default settings for auto/calm have some background noise cancellation, while the default settings for bluetooth streaming have none. The aids will automatically switch to the bluetooth streaming a second or two before playing a notification ping from your phone, or when you visit a website that has streaming video (even if it doesn’t automatically play the audio). If you’re streaming something and hit pause, it will stay in the bluetooth mode for about 5 seconds before returning to auto. In those cases, you’ll hear the difference as an increased ‘hiss’ from background noise like an air conditioner or central heating when in bluetooth mode.

Your or your HCP can change the background noise settings for streaming in Target. That will also impact the audio being streamed, so I’d recommend changing only the ‘streaming speech’ mode, not the ‘streaming music’ mode.

Newbie here hoping I can find an answer.
I have Lumity L90-R. When I stream from any source I get white noise. Android, PC, TV, etc. For each individual source I adjust the ambient slider in MyPhonak app slightly to the right to towards audio. This fixes the problem for me. I need to adjust the ambient slider for each individual source once per day. Unfortunately, the fix only lasts until I shut off the hearing aids at the end of the day.
I would like to have a more permanent solution. I am not sure how the ambient slider relates to the adjustments in Phonak Target? I have Phonak target 9.0.5 but I do not have the hardware yet to connect my hearing aids so I must rely on my audiologist who is not familiar with this feature.

Does Myphonak app Bluetooth streaming ambient adjustment equate to Phonak Target settings for Noiseblock in Media Music + Mic? Or is it something else like Soft Noice Reduction.

I would really appreciate it if you could help. Thanks

I am reviving this thread, because one of the possible reasons for a “hiss” when using a TV streamer is not addressed.

According to these audio experts

Headphone attenuation adapter

home back to headphones published: Jun-29-2015, updated: Apr-16-2023 Passive Headphone Attenuator 5 reasons to use an attenuator in the headphone cable. Some headphone amplifiers may have way to …

“some headphone amplifiers may have a background hiss that becomes (annoyingly) audible with sensitive ear-/head-phones.”

Something about a mismatch of impedance (don’t ask me for details!). I suspect the same may happen with streamers.

Apparently this can (mostly) be overcome with the use of a “passive headphone attenuator”:

You can buy these online for 20-50 USD, but if you have more time than money (or both) you can also assemble these yourself, using the diagram on the cited website. All you need are four resistors (of 3.3 and 33 ohm), and a soldering board.

In what is possibly the ugliest example of soldering on the planet I produced one myself (see below). With this thingy inserted I need to turn up the volume quite a bit, but the hiss is now almost inaudible.

While the same principles apply, a headphone amp is a small power amplifier. Its output may be for less sensitive headphones, so it is operating at a few percent of its designed output. It needs a power pad to get in range.
Streaming and TV signal levels are all over the place. I use a voltage attenuator to get some signals in a comfortable range to my Phonak TV Connector.

An adjustable volume control.
# 3.5 mm Audio Volume Controller, line Volume Control Box,
1/8" aux Mini Inline attenuator knob -MC11
https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Controller-Control-Inline-attenuator/dp/B08TBQ9ZBS/ref=asc_df_B08TBQ9ZBS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=599171033926352113&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9015306&hvtargid=pla-2281435178618&psc=1&mcid=1d0a32dc057834d296329047ad1bd307&hvocijid=599171033926352113-B08TBQ9ZBS-&hvexpln=734

I am still confused about these devices- not sure if “volume control” is synonymous with “attenuation” (the device you highlighted uses both terms, but others don’t).