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Siemens Pure 500 & Tek, contact & tech info

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Hello all,

I have a pair of Siemens Pure 500 hearing aids with battery recharger. I also have the optonal TEK remote.

I need to find some technical information on programming options so that I feel confident in conversing with a dealer.

Of the local dealers I have found, NONE of them seems to really know the product well. I am especially concerned about their “competance” in how to program it correctly (to utilize the internal features).

Is there any way to converse with Siemens to get this information? I have searched the net for days and can not find any technical contact information. I know it does exist because I have see two seperate audiologists phone them for help, in my presense.

I have a technical background in both electronics and physics and would like to know my aids better, on a technical level (and not just a sales hype). I also want to fully understand the programming of the features.

I would be very appreciative it if anybody with Siemens contact info, would email me directly at diversitysystems@theworks.com .

Thanks, and this is a great forum for idea exchange . . . .

8 people in this conversation12 min readJump to latest

Ronh:

Three days ago I received my Siemens Tek.

I have Siemens Motion 700 M & MV. ( Basically a Pure with on aid controls.)
I have had them for two weeks.

I had alot of trouble trying to find out how the Motions & Pures go about their Sound Learning and Data Learning. Siemens seem to have no information available on How this is done. After having my Motions for 2 weeks, I finally had the audi ask them… and at that point she told me that to have the “Learning” actually occure you need to turn the Motions Off and Back on. This is an ongoing procedure. (I am not talking about one time activating or programming) This procedure is done by opening/closing the battery compartments. Since I have the rechargeable battery holder, I had not been doing this. I use the Charger and do not have to … I just pop them in the charger and close the lid. [The Charger will not accept the Motions if the battery compartment is open even slightly. ] Bottom line is that my Motions were not Learning. ( With Tek there is a button to turn the aids on & off). Yet the Motions and the Pures say that this is the basis of the “Automatic” capablities.

I agree with you about the sparcity of information about most of the Siemens products. Their manuals are numerous and excellent ( thats very much a comparative term).

I’m not sure what Siemens site I went to , but i did obtained a Tech Support phone number. And called and talked to someone. This was before the Motions came out a month ago.
It may have been more for audiologists… but I’ll see if I can find it and send it to you. In the mean time keep looking on Siemens’ sites.
A new Site is which lists the Motions is www.hearing-siemens.com15 as apposed to the older site www.siements-hearing.com6.

See my Tread in the Digital Hearing Aid Forum titled:
"Siemens Motion M700 – Your Experiences "
In the next day or two…
for a lengthy write up on pros and cons of the Tek.
or
I may post it in the Bluetooth section?

Thanks Again

@Ronh said:

Hello all,

I have a pair of Siemens Pure 500 hearing aids with battery recharger. I also have the optonal TEK remote.

I need to find some technical information on programming options so that I feel confident in conversing with a dealer.

Of the local dealers I have found, NONE of them seems to really know the product well. I am especially concerned about their “competance” in how to program it correctly (to utilize the internal features).

Is there any way to converse with Siemens to get this information? I have searched the net for days and can not find any technical contact information. I know it does exist because I have see two seperate audiologists phone them for help, in my presense.

I have a technical background in both electronics and physics and would like to know my aids better, on a technical level (and not just a sales hype). I also want to fully understand the programming of the features.

I would be very appreciative it if anybody with Siemens contact info, would email me directly at diversitysystems@theworks.com .

Thanks, and this is a great forum for idea exchange . . . .

how are you liking your pures now? Which one did you get? Do you like the tek?

See my reiview of the Siemens TEK

In Forum…
"Bluetooth & Hearing Aids…
Siemens TEK Review - Draft

Ron,

I’m also using the Pure 500 with a ProPocket control. It’s very strange how little non-ad info there is on the 'net about comparing one to another, even if they are all from Siemens. They don’t really want to broadcast what they can do and how. I can compare cars, cameras and washing machines but no way with HA’s. If my Pures were programmed well, I’d likely stop reading this forum, but audi’s don’t seem to get it. Perhaps a Pure 500/700 thread and stories of how folks got the devices to work for them, would be in order.

Dave

[quote=Ronh]Hello all,

I have a pair of Siemens Pure 500 hearing aids with battery recharger. I also have the optonal TEK remote.

I need to find some technical information on programming options so that I feel confident in conversing with a dealer.

Of the local dealers I have found, NONE of them seems to really know the product well. I am especially concerned about their “competance” in how to program it correctly (to utilize the internal features).
>snip<

They don’t really want to broadcast what they can do and how.

The short life cycle of hearing aid innovations means that patents aren’t usually a worthwhile investment.

So … the manufacturers rely on ‘security through obscurity’ to protect their innovations.

In reality you CAN get details of the techniques used … BUT … you will need to persuade the manufacturers of ‘need to know’ and you will also need to sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement).

I doubt that end-users will get far along this route …

EnglishDispenser,

Thank you for confirming what I feared was true. Security through obscurity.

Well I hope that we can achieve some basic level of clarity with this forum to allow the readers to make better choices.

DaveLep

I am not talking about alot of detail here.
Basically a little more detail than is available in the Glossy Ads in print and on their web site.

By “Learning”, I need to know what to listen for in terms of differences and what to expect as time goes on. Some descriptions addressing some of the siturations that I might find bothersome or suboptimal and then the steps I need to take with the TeK or on-aid-controls to bring about the learning that will take care of these issues.

I don’t even know IF my Motions are in fact switching programs based on the sound environment I find myself in.??? The ads imply this… but the manual does not address it. ???

For such a costly item there is a real lack of information.

I am not talking about the level of information needed to reverse engineer a product of infringe on a patent… I am just a user.

These Aids do work. My hearing is being aided.
The question is am I getting 50% or 80% of what these aids are capable of delivering for my hearing loss and capabilities.??

In reply to @thanks2

@thanks2 said:

Ronh:

Three days ago I received my Siemens Tek.

I have Siemens Motion 700 M & MV. ( Basically a Pure with on aid controls.)
I have had them for two weeks.

I had alot of trouble trying to find out how the Motions & Pures go about their Sound Learning and Data Learning. Siemens seem to have no information available on How this is done. After having my Motions for 2 weeks, I finally had the audi ask them… and at that point she told me that to have the “Learning” actually occure you need to turn the Motions Off and Back on. This is an ongoing procedure. (I am not talking about one time activating or programming) This procedure is done by opening/closing the battery compartments. Since I have the rechargeable battery holder, I had not been doing this. I use the Charger and do not have to … I just pop them in the charger and close the lid. [The Charger will not accept the Motions if the battery compartment is open even slightly. ] Bottom line is that my Motions were not Learning. ( With Tek there is a button to turn the aids on & off). Yet the Motions and the Pures say that this is the basis of the “Automatic” capablities.

I agree with you about the sparcity of information about most of the Siemens products. Their manuals are numerous and excellent ( thats very much a comparative term).

I’m not sure what Siemens site I went to , but i did obtained a Tech Support phone number. And called and talked to someone. This was before the Motions came out a month ago.
It may have been more for audiologists… but I’ll see if I can find it and send it to you. In the mean time keep looking on Siemens’ sites.
A new Site is which lists the Motions is www.hearing-siemens.com as apposed to the older site www.siements-hearing.com.

See my Tread in the Digital Hearing Aid Forum titled:
"Siemens Motion M700 – Your Experiences "
In the next day or two…
for a lengthy write up on pros and cons of the Tek.
or
I may post it in the Bluetooth section?

Thanks Again

So with the Motion you don’t have to ‘reset’ the hearing aids by turning them on and off after your charge?

This has to be done with all other Siemens rechargeable hearing aids before they start working again.

I’m running confused about this data/sound learning of my Pure 500 ’s. It’s a sales gimmick that may be legit? But I don’t really care what they learn, as long as they sound right when I turn them on.

These HA’s are shut off by the recharger when ever I pop them in there. Otherwise they’ll just howl all night in feedback. So that shuts them down. In the mornings I use the button on the HA’s or the ProPocket to enable them. So maybe they learned something sitting there all night?

When I use them during the day, I’ve learned to skip the TV and Telephone modes because those programs are useless. The others I play with all day to see if I can hear my friends and customers talking to me. So I need to go back to the audi and get them tuned further. Unfortunately I was the first customer there to order the Pures so I feel the audi doesn’t understand how they work and how they should be programmed. I feel that I have at least two more visits with them until they get it right for me.
I’m just learning the magic words of HA’s so that I can tell them what I want to hear or not. It’s too much work for me and I’m not happy doing all this research but when you drop $4300 CDN on a set of HA’s I expect them to perform as least as good as my PC. And I didn’t even spend that much on my Mac of 5 years vintage.
My rant, I feel a bit better.

Dave

@DaveLep said:

I’m running confused about this data/sound learning of my Pure 500 HA’s. It’s a sales gimmick that may be legit? But I don’t really care what they learn, as long as they sound right when I turn them on.

These HA’s are shut off by the recharger when ever I pop them in there. Otherwise they’ll just howl all night in feedback. So that shuts them down. In the mornings I use the button on the HA’s or the ProPocket to enable them. So maybe they learned something sitting there all night?

They learn the adjustments that you make with the Tek for a given situation. Say for example, you are in P1 (adaptive directional mic for quiet or moderate situations) and have increased the treble via the TeK, or lower the volume, then the next time (day) you use them they will remember that setting and start off in that position. The hearing aids do not have a clock in them and hence use the shut down/start up as the time interval for a day.

@DaveLep said:

When I use them during the day, I’ve learned to skip the TV and Telephone modes because those programs are useless.

Assuming you are using the h/aids via straight mic input as opposed to Bluetooth connection: The TV/Music program permits a greater output of sound than the normal p1 should permit. That is, there is less compression applied - so sounds a little ‘more free’ and can be a bit louder than the normal start up program. If set, the program would not be “useless”, though perhaps not as loud as you might like. There will always be TV shows that are hard to hear - with or without a hearing loss.

@DaveLep said:

Unfortunately I was the first customer there to order the Pures so I feel the audi doesn’t understand how they work and how they should be programmed. I feel that I have at least two more visits with them until they get it right for me.

Well the Pure and Tek combo is a pretty advance hearing aid system and certainly would be a big change for your clinician (and you!) - there is a lot more to think about when setting them up. However, the basic and intermediate principals are the same as any other aid. If they are a skilled fitter and counselor then you will be just fine with them.

It’s normal to have three appts with at clinician, the fit and two follow up appts. The system is quite complex your initial acoustic preferences may not be exactly as the clinician wanted to provide in the prescription. The consumer also may not be using the system to best advantage either, so that can take some tiem to adjust to.

I’m not happy doing all this research

You are doing the right thing by doing some research, 100% of the success of the rehab program relies on YOU. The clinician can’t do everything for you, nor can the hearing aids, you need to work with them and stick with the plan.

Thanks for the positive feedback about these Pure hearing aids. It’s very helpful to you folks supporting us.

Dave

In reply to @enduro

I have the Motion M 700s.

I take mine out of my ear at night.
Put them in the charger.
In the morning, I take them out of the charger.
I put them in my ear.

That’s it … I don’t turn them off or on.

It may be a audiologist setable paramater, but if it was the audiologist nor the manual mentioned it.

I can turn them off/on in two ways:

  1. Opening the battery drawer – turns them OFF.
    Closing the battery drawer – turns them ON.

  2. Holding the TEK button – turns them OFF; If they are ON.
    turns them ON; If they are OFF.

I do turn them on / off so that they can “learn”.

All:

It is Lacie like if you know the Lacie program.

eARean was mentioned on the Siemen’s Motion Web Site. But my audi didn’t seem to know of it.
I had to ask my audi to get this CD … Siemens sent it in less than a week.

eARena has 20 lessons, each is 30 minutes long.
Each lesson has about 10 situations/tests.

I have found it quite informative/beneficial
It helped me to know what to concentrate on for conversations.
Alot of it is just getting you to focus and concentrate on sounds you
may not have heard in awhile.
The situations/tests that it provided me let me gage where the hearing aids were not performing as well as they should be. I.e., I did not hear well and provide the proper answers.

They cover differences in volume and frequency… simulate different hearing situations and environments.

I still have half the lesson to go and we’ll probably be seeing my audi for additional adustments following the lessons.
Also you can go throught the entire sequence again.

You have to tweek you PC speaker settings…
once that is done, you tweek you Motion’s volume and frequency settings.
( To adjust the Volume I can use the on-the-aid wheel OR with the TEK.)
( To adust the Frequency, I only have the option to use the TEK.)

In reply to @enduro

  1. Question A --"So with the Motion you don’t have to ‘reset’ the hearing aids by turning them on and off after your charge? "

  2. Question B – “This has to be done with all other Siemens rechargeable hearing aids before they start working again.”

  3. Answer to A – With the Motions you need to have the battery door closed to put them into the Charger. So you just plop them in the charger. You don’t have to turn them off or on at night when you put them away in the Charger.

You just take them out of the Charger in the morning and put them on. They work and you don’t have to “turn them on”. They are on and were never turned off.

  1. Answer to B – I only know my Motion 700s, cannot speak for others.

Oh one other thing.

On one of the other forums I had said that in order for the Motions to
LEARN, they need to be turned on and off.
This is still correct !!!

BUT some one said that by LEARNING, it meant that the Motions remembered what your volume and frequecy setting were prior to turning them off for the night. I have talked to tech support at Siemens. This is not what LEARNING is. LEARNING is what the Motions do with the LOGS of the manual and automatic adustments. LEARNING uses the LOGS to bring about permanent adjustments to the volumes and frequency settings for each Program. I emphasize permanent. This means fewer trips to that audi.
The audi of course can reset them manually.

In reply to @enduro

Member Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 32

  1. Question A --"So with the Motion you don’t have to ‘reset’ the hearing aids by turning them on and off after your charge? "

  2. Question B – “This has to be done with all other Siemens rechargeable hearing aids before they start working again.”

  3. Answer to A – With the Motions you need to have the battery door closed to put them into the Charger. So you just plop them in the charger. You don’t have to turn them off or on at night when you put them away in the Charger.

You just take them out of the Charger in the morning and put them on. They work and you don’t have to “turn them on”. They are on and were never turned off.

  1. Answer to B – I only know my Motion 700s, cannot speak for others.

Oh one other thing.

On one of the other forums I had said that in order for the Motions to
LEARN, they need to be turned on and off.
This is still correct !!!

BUT some one said that by LEARNING, it meant that the Motions remembered what your volume and frequecy setting were prior to turning them off for the night. I have talked to tech support at Siemens. This is not what LEARNING is. LEARNING is what the Motions do with the LOGS of the manual and automatic adustments. LEARNING uses the LOGS to bring about permanent adjustments to the volumes and frequency settings for each Program. I emphasize permanent. This means fewer trips to that audi.
The audi of course can reset them manually.

Hope this will help someone. . .

Siemens Hearing Instruments Inc.
Sales - 800 766-4500
Tech Support - 888 231-1333

Both numbers ring to New Jersey

Other contact numbers are listed on the “Siemens World Wide”, web site

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