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Phonak Audeo P90r Quality Control

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Has anyone else had issues with Phonak ? Going to be a bit of a rant here…

Friends and family have been telling me for years that I needed hearing aids and when a neighbour passed away last year, his family gifted me his Rextons which I had Costco tune for me. It was then that I realised that, yes, I really did need hearing aids. Fast forward to March of this year when I decided I needed my own since I was having fitment issue with the Rextons. My local audiologist suggested the P90s with and I went ahead with the purchase. Things did not go well right out of the gate. The C-shells were made way too long and were painful and had to be recast, and the new ones had to be polished/ground to make them comfortable in the canal. Being in construction for 25 years, I had been wearing custom silicone noise blocking ear plugs since day one, so I knew the fit of the C-shells wasn’t right. Just today I discovered the C-shells are available in silicone and I may switch to them since the acrylic shells still aren’t quite comfortable.

A couple of weeks into my new purchase, the right device stopped working and had to be replaced. Then, in the months that followed, my audiologist and I tried to work through some weird issues with the devices doing random restarts, connectivity issues, random and wild, asymmetric volume changes, and getting rid of all the device notification jingles. Finally the solution was to return/replace them.

Alas, the problems didn’t stop there. A few weeks ago, during and appointment for some fine tuning, the devices simply refused to reconnect to the audiologist’s programming interface and the Target software. Queue another replacement pair. Since I was going on vacation for a couple of weeks, I got a loaner pair of Phonaks with my C-shells installed.

So it’s been two weeks with my fourth pair of Phonak hearing aids in six months. I’m still not 100% happy, particularly with the myPhonak app. I’ve been in noisy locations or in a meeting and I’ll pull my phone out to discreetly make some changes to my aids and the app won’t connect, even though it is set to stay connected. This results in a less than discreet scene at the table of me restarting my phone and aids multiple times to get them connected. And this was the case with the previous aids as well - and with three different cell phones.

My laptop connectivity is another story. Asus laptop is about a year and a half old. My aids will connect as long as I cock my head to the side and am no more than 18 inches away. Tried a TP-Link dongle with the same result. Tried an Asus BT dongle and it sort of works - at least I don’t have to turn my head to stay connected. Oddly enough, I can stay connected to my wife’s laptop from 30 feet away! I’ve gone back to using wired headphones for convenience and better sound quality.

And lastly, Autosense. God-forsaken Autosense. I put up with that bit of nonsense for six months and fortunately, the aids can be programmed to start in another program other than Autosense.

Sadly, if I’m just hanging around the house, I often forgo putting in the Phonaks for the first couple of hours of the day, or I find myself reaching for the six year old Rextons.

Anyone else seeing these issues with Phonak?

6 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest

Have Audéo PR90s screwed in since over a year, zero problems apart from a few resets. Do my own Target adjustments.

@SeaspriteSteve

I’ve had zero problems with any of my Phonak aids since I’ve had them, since 2015, and 5 pairs. They all have disposable batteries, but I really doubt this is relevant here. I have, however, had numerous connectivity issues with my Android phones, Android devices, TV Connector, Roger devices and the Phonak Target programming software. Generally though, I’ve found out some dos and don’ts, to minimise them.

  1. If you have multiple devices paired to your (including TV Connector), switch those off before attempting to connect to Target.
  2. If you’re struggling to connect to the app, remove the 2 LE connections from the Bluetooth menu, go into the App, forget the devices, then pair again. I’ve never found a need to delete and re-install the app, in my experience. Most problems I’ve found are because the original LE connections are sat in the Bluetooth menu.
  3. Never remove your c.shells from your ears by pulling on the receiver wire. I understand the wire connections are very weak. Always use the retainers attacked to the c.shell itself.

I’m assuming your hearing loss is severe or worse to warrant the c.shells? Mine is moderate/severe, and I’m fine with the lighter, and open, molded slimtips. You can swap out receivers with these, unlike c.shells.

@SeaspriteSteve said:

And lastly, Autosense. God-forsaken Autosense. I put up with that bit of nonsense for six months and fortunately, the aids can be programmed to start in another program other than Autosense.

You aren’t alone with this, I hate Autosense too, I just add a couple of additional programmes, having one as startup. I’ve even removed Autosense as an option.

It really does seem strange that you’re having so many problems, with multiple pairs.

Peter

A bit random whether you get charged, or not. In all fairness, it’s still decent value :slight_smile:

In reply to @PeterH

The actual connection to the phone has been flawless - taking calls, voice to text, getting notifications - all brilliant. The connection to the app is a major PITA. That connection always seems to fail exactly when I need it most. Uninstalled multiple times, three different phones, same results.

I went with not because of hearing loss, but because I have one small and I suspect oddly shaped canal and domes will not stay in.

Even with Autosense “disabled”, I’m still getting random volume changes in the “calm situation” program as if Autosense if still doing something in the background.

@SeaspriteSteve said:

Even with Autosense “disabled”, I’m still getting random volume changes in the “calm situation” program as if Autosense if still doing something in the background

No problems at all with Phonaks’ for me.
Weird story you are telling. Very frustrating it must be.
Did you check your because of sound problems….

In reply to @SeaspriteSteve

@SeaspriteSteve said:

Uninstalled multiple times, three different phones, same results.

Just a note on this. I’ve had 4 sets of Phonak (Now 3 , Marvel-Paradise) Bluetooth Aids, and I’ve never had to Uninstall the App at all. It’s all about those LE Bluetooth connections, in the Bluetooth connection list. If anything goes wrong, you must forget those, before doing anything else.

I’m currently running 2 Sets of Hearing aids on the same phone, with no problems.

For Calls and Audio, I’ve paired them via the Bluetooth menu after restarting the aids.

For Paradise P90, open the MyPhonak App and pair, selecting “stay connected”.

For Sky M70, install and open the Amplifon App. Pair those aids (make sure other aids are switched off).

They both work with their respective Apps, as long as connected separately.

Before now, if switching aids, I would forget the two LE Bluetooth connections, then forget the in the App, and pair the new ones. All done in 2 minutes.

I now have 4 LE Bluetooth connections, so will delete them all if problems arise.

Peter

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