Phonak Bluetooth voice rattle

Thanks @Um_bongo - I confess I don’t understand the technicalities of your post but will take it with me next time I see the audiologist.

The MPO (maximum power output) puts a soft limit on the output.

If the aid is going into saturation - full output - with over amplified speech, it’s either hitting a hard limit (the physical output of the receiver) or a software limit from the output limiting compression on the chip/feedback manager. Whichever way, it’s going to sound rubbish.

I had a lot of clipping when I first got my HA. The solutions was to change the receivers from standard to medium.

All I have to add to this is that I have also received Bolero M70 from the NHS here in Essex recently and I have not experienced the issue described here. I have my hearing aids connected to a Xiaomi Android phone and I tried it with some Spotify podcasts.

Thanks for your reply. I have tried all the adjustments the MyPhonak App allows - hardly anything really, mainly the streaming/ambient balance but they make no difference.
I’m tempted to go diy, but traveling a lot with mac portables means I can’t easily handle it. Plus the fact that the HAs are not mine but remain the property of the NHS.

When .your frustration gets the better of you get a cheap windows laptop and have a go.
My clinic manager just accepted it as they are so busy. She had previously refused to give me the code.
Download the Target user guide and see if you think you can handle it. It’s not physics like photoshop isn’t chemistry.

I spoke too soon. I was listening to the radio today and it was like someone was gently tooting a recorder in the background. Very quiet but noticeable.

I discovered something today. Listening to podcasts whilst using power tools during a spot of DIY and decorating I looked around for some ear defenders, instead I popped some of the very soft memory foam ear protectors in carefully so that they filled my ear but didn’t push on the hearing aid receiver.

A definite absence of the buzzing distortion!

The sound is quite different of course, volume appears to have gone up and sound balance is all wrong, no doubt because I’m set-up for vented domes and putting foam ear protection over is the equivalent of now having closed domes? If I take the earplugs out and return the volume setting to its normal level the buzzing is back.

The last time I was with my audiologist she updated to latest software, and tweaked a number of settings at my request, turning off the microphones and fancy software features for the Bluetooth program in an attempt to cure/reduce this buzzing problem. No change.

I’ve now contacted my audiologist again, whom is being ever so patient and willing to fix the problem, to take this new information to a Phonak technician and (hopefully) some solutions from them now I can demonstrate a cause and effect producing this problem.

Updates to follow, thinking positively

Read PeterH’s post above: try setting Adaptive Bandwidth in the app (or have audi do this).

@RobFen said:

If I take the earplugs out and return the volume setting to its normal level the buzzing is back.

It sounds like its the fit or “seal” of your speakers that could be an issue. You have leakage and the sound quality is distorted. I get the same effect wearing the squishy silicone power tips on my speakers. The speakers would work their way out of my ear canal ALLLLLLL day long, so I’d have to keep pushing them in or I’d get distorted sound.

I just switched to custom molded, “roughed-up” titanium tips that keep the speaker snug in the ear canal. Sound quality is rock solid, no leakage, no distortion.

Yes, @Um_bongo I’m coming to the opinion that this is exactly my problem. My NHS Audiologist seemed uninterested in the Bluetooth/phone/speech area - I guess I’ll have to be more demanding on my next visit.

@KevM said:

My current ones are Medium Open domes. I’ll see if I can try larger at my next volunteer clinic visit.

For SURE trade up to the size L (that was the size I wore before going custom-mold). Also, if you want to watch an EXCELLENT video (that you should FORWARD to your audio), check this out:

(link courtesy of MarkS) I watched the video and learned a LOT about the difference between Bluetooth versions (e.g., 5.0, 5.2, etc.) and Bluetooth standards, which consist of: 1.) Classic Bluetooth (used in Phonak and Kirkland aids), 2.) Bluetooth LE (low energy used in Oticon) - or BLE, and 3.) Bluetooth LE Audio. I posted a summary of the video at the thread HERE.

This video clearly illustrates why setting up hearing aids + Bluetooth + phone + remote mics = Rocket Science.

A bit of progress…I found comments from Jim Lewis on this forum regarding Bluetooth settings on your phone.

(NB: blocking my ear with soft foam ear buds was maybe simply masking the issue by increasing the volume generally)

I found the classic Bluetooth connection ‘RxPhonak hearing aid’ in settings, press the i icon and from there select the ‘Device Type’, changing from hearing aid to Car Stereo.

This made an improvement, I can still hear the buzzing type of distortion but less intrusive, mainly on piano or ambient calm type music, but it is better at least. [Test track: London Paris Cardiff, Dominic Miller].

I attach a screen-shot of the forum discussion to this post hopefully if my technical skills allow.

I’m still trying to encourage my audiologist to get someone with true technical knowledge within Phonak to tackle this problem, as it is clearly a software issue

@RobFen said:

NB: blocking my ear with soft foam ear buds was maybe simply masking the issue by increasing the volume generally)

The distortion could be from activation of active feedback cancellation to prevent acoustic feedback. Another cause could be comb filtering although much less probable. Seeing your audiogram I suppose you have probably open or vented domes, which could be a cause of the problem. Perhaps closing more could solve a problem.