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BlueTooth capable hearing aids - a question and request for advice

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I haven’t kept up with all things Apple…do they have a method of being totally hands free now with ’s? Phonak has had that for a couple years using standard bluetooth. The mics in the HA’s are used, not the mic of the phone.
Outside with wind is a bit troublesome.

@z10user2 said:

I haven’t kept up with all things Apple…do they have a method of being totally hands free now with HA’s?

With my Oticon More 1 aids, my iPhone MFI menu bottom item is titled “Mic Input”. It can be set to On (use microphone) or Off (use iPhone microphone). No need for an app to set this - just the MFI functions. This on an iPhone 12 mini with the current iOS (16.4.1 (a)) with firmware 1.4.1 on the More aids. I have no idea if this works in general for other aids and iPhone/iOS combinations.

Note - I haven’t typically used the HA mics for phone calls as I’ve been told that my voice is better from the iPhone, even when it is sitting on a desk a couple of feet from me.

@biggar said:

I haven’t typically used the HA mics for phone calls as I’ve been told that my voice is better from the iPhone, even when it is sitting on a desk a couple of feet from me.

@biggar
Probably because the microphones of a are not as good as from your phone. The only needs 250- 8000 Hz as the normal phone user will be younger and happy with 20-20.000 Hz. So this seems to be obvious. Same for the speakers.

@MDB said:

Cell phones can’t transmit at 20Hz-20KHz. Looks like even HD transmissions are around 50Hz- 7KHz

Thanks @MDB ( @biggar) for your appreciated correction and this nice info. So if I understood well the sample ratio will do the job and not the frequency range. After all the frequencies we hear in a voice call is just a small part of what you could hear in music.

But my phrase that young good hearing people would be happy with the 20-20.000 will still stay :wink:

At the other hand I could also imagine that the speakers and microphones in hearing aids have to be a bit smaller and so less good than the ones they use in a phone which additionaly could play a role…

My guess is that the position and directionality of the microphones are the main differences. The iPhone has a primary omnidirectional condenser mic at the bottom near the Lightning port, and the 12 and earlier models use the front camera mic for noise cancelling. In phone calls, they’re optimized for voice transmission (even more so if iOS 16.4.1 Voice Isolation is activated).

Either way, both of those mics are in front of the user, and most of their voice is picked up directly.

have the mics positioned above and behind the ears, respectively, and the upper directional mic may or may not also be shadowed by the pinnae. In that case, most of the voice audio that the mics pick up is reflected.

I’m using the Widex Moment sRIC, which doesn’t deploy the mics for hands-free audio, so I don’t have that experience. I do know that the iPhone does a much better job with voice input than the AirPods Pro 2.

Your comment is really helpful.

I’ve been going through the set-up ordeal for a long time; I’m searching for anything that will move my Phonak Audeo Paradise P90’r’s to the acceptable range. Word recognition suffers even in a quiet environment. I’m coping. JUST.

DaveL
Toronto

I have Phonak Paradise . When I find the bluetooth connection annoying, I just disconnect them in iPhone settings and then reconnect when I choose.

Jeff

Some TV sets, like my 1 year old Sony Bravia are capable, but not for streaming audio. Only for keyboards and mouse.
I don’t know about other brands.

I have a dual BT transmitter connected to the TV’s headphone output, and to the TV’s USB port for power. Me and my wife have been listening to the TV exclusively with our BT capable headphones.
Both, the transmitter, and the headphones are aptX LL (low latency) codec capable.
The BT transmitter is Audicast Plus - $50. Headphones - Sennheiser HD-350BT price varies widely, but around $150, even less.
My wife now wears ReSound-like hearing aids, and she just puts the headphones over the hearing aids.

BT devices need to be “paired” first - to get to know each other. After that, they simply connect when turned on.
Devices without screens go into "discovery "mode for a minute or so when they are switched on. The headphones do that. My BT transmitter has a button for pairing. Once the two are paired, they simply connect when turned on, and are within BT sight.
Unpairing is automatic when a new unknown device is paired. The old one is simply forgotten. Some headphones can pair with two devices - I don’t know how they unpair, but probably the same way. There is no other possibility to unpair devices without screen or special buttons.

It may be possible to pair the BT transmitter with hearing aids directly, but it may not. I have not tried.

If you have a smartphone anyway, the app for new can be interesting for you. They have features that can be useful. But you can have it on your phone without using it. My wife adjusts volume on her HAs with the buttons on the HA. But when she wants to cut noise more than the HAs do automatically, she does it on the app. She keeps the BT on her smartphone Off except when she uses the app.

Good luck

In reply to @aky13rx

I hope it’s more than 5%

A Phonak TV Connector, if compatible with your ’s doesn’t use Bluetooth, it uses Airstream. It works very well, and doesn’t need an App. However, if your TV is on, when you walk in the room, it will auto connect. It’s a bit annoying, but your HA volume control changes to a balance between TV and HA mics. I just turn the volume down, while holding my hand in the air like a referee listening to the video assistant, so the wife knows what I’m doing. You can do all this without a Smartphone. You can also just unplug the streamer.

Overall, however, I actually believe I hear TV better through this device than I ever did before I was deaf. I hear it in full stereo, balanced to my hearing loss.

Peter

You don’t have to unplug the streamer. You can just turn it off. There are also mutliple ways to have your audiologist set up how your hearing aids interact with the streamer. If you want, they can make it where you have to choose to connect to the streamer.

In reply to @aky13rx

We recently went to an Apple store to get my wife’s watch fixed. The tech diddled with it for a few minutes and then talked her into buying a new one. The problem here is that they also charged her for servicing her old watch.

@jfranek43 said:

Both, the transmitter, and the headphones are aptX LL (low latency) codec capable.

It’s a bit of a dying product category I think. AptX LL has been deprecated by Qualcomm and I’m finding fewer compatible transmitters on Ebay than I did a few years ago. You might consider buying a backup transmitter to protect your investment in your headphones.

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