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Bluetooth issues with Phonak Naída Lumity

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Edited

Good morning,

I wonder if you could help me.

I’ve been doing a trial run for new hearing aids in replacement of my old ones and I’ve been having some issues with Bluetooth.

I’m trying two different models and having the same issue for both of them: Phonak Naída Lumity L-SP and L-UP (by advice of the audiologist, of course).

The issue is this: when I use Bluetooth outside, say, while I’m having a walk at the park, at the beginning the streaming works well but after 20-30 seconds I start hearing it differently in each ear - specifically, more in one ear and less in the other.

Mono audio settings have been turned on in all apps and phone settings, so I should hear the same in both ears.

Also, this issue does not seem to arise indoors.

Moreover, at the beginning of the trial for these hearing aids, there was no such issue, everything was working well. It began only after about a week or two, I have no idea why or which hearing aid settings could have been changed that caused this.

I was wondering if someone else has the same issue.

I tried talking to the audiologist but I found no help for this issue by now.

I don’t know who else to ask so I thought about asking here.

I wish you all a good day!

3 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest
Edited

Bluetooth is line of sight, and it doesn’t go through your body that well to meet that line of sight. More than likely you are placing your phone in your pants pocket and Bluetooth doesn’t have line of sight to both aids. Try putting your phone in a shirt pocket. When your indoors Bluetooth can bounce off of walls and furniture to make it back to your aids, that isn’t always possible outside. And Bluetooth has a limited distance in straight line so that can limit connectivity

I used to have the same problem on my dog walks with Phonak Lumity (right ear being the Bluetooth link aid) streaming audiobooks from my Apple Watch (left wrist).

  • Fine at home
  • Fine walking round the village, in town, in shops
  • Poor connection as I progressed up the hill through wide open fields. Same spot each morning.

Switching my watch to my breast pocket but not ideal.

As the Lumity were on trial, I switched to some Spheres when they came out. Much stronger connection and no drop outs in the trouble spot on the hill.

As I’ve only got any significant hearing loss in my left ear, at my last check in with the wholesale hearing audiologist, I asked them to switch the Bluetooth connection to my left aid, so I could try just wearing one aid.

It has been fine.

The only issue is that with just one aid, the voices streamed sound like minions, all high pitched. I assume this is to do with the boosting of the high frequencies to compensate for that part of my hearing loss.

So my main tip is to make sure the Bluetooth source can “see” the aid with as little physical barrier and distance between them. Think of it like trying to get a WiFi signal in the next room where a wall blocks the signal compared to being in the same room. Your body is a big bag of water between your left pocket and your right ear.

I have walked the forest trails around my area with my phone in my left front pant’s pocket without any issues with my INTENT1 aids, but with my backup aids,Real1, i have have my phone in my shirt pocket. My phone is the Samsung S23. The INTENT aids have le audio capability as does my Samsung S23 phone.

In reply to @cvkemp

Thank you very much for replying :slight_smile: Lately I’ve been keeping my phone in my opened jacket pocket, I think this should count as “line of sight” maybe?
Also some times indoors it happens when my phone is on the table, 1 or 2 meters distance, so not too far.

(Pardon my ignorance but these hearing aids are the first Bluetooth devices I’ve ever used, my personal hearing aids have the system still and I don’t remember the same happening (of course, I have to connect them to my Roger Pen in order to listen to my phone).)

Bluetooth is just a low powered radio signal for pushing data between devices.

Less barriers to block the signal will help.

As the signal is managed by software on both your phone and your aids, this can get tripped up, so the standard helpdesk advice of “turn it off and on again”.

Power off / restart both your phone and hearing aids.

I’ve recently (Monday) got a Phonak Bolero hearing aid (left ear only) from the NHS (who were amazing, exemplary service from the Audiology department at the JR in Oxford) and while this is an older model compared to the ones you can get privately, the Bluetooth connection has been strong to both my watch and iPhone.

I did notice with my Spheres that I’d get interference when standing using our cheap portable IKEA induction hob. I assume this is because it is throwing a magnetic field about.

In reply to @AlexE

Thank you for replying! :slight_smile: would you advise me to try another model instead of Naída Lumity?

My situation is a bit different since I have a bilateral hearing loss, and specifically, when I have my phone in my opened right pocket, I can hear fine in my left ear but not in my right ear. I have no idea why is it and how it works but it shouldn’t happen if it were a proximity issue, I suppose?

At the beginning I even used to put my phone in my closed handbag, and it worked perfectly for a week or so before I suddenly started having issues with it

In reply to @cvkemp

Thank you for replying! My audiologist suggested it could be due to the Bluetooth connection of my phone (galaxy A50) but I also have a way older tablet and it works perfectly…

In reply to @AlexE

Thank you for replying :slight_smile: So you think it might be due to the model Naída Lumity, and I should try something else?
I already tried restarting my phone and hearing aids, unpairing and pairing them again. But sadly, it doesn’t solve my problem.

I’m absolutely not an expert in this but a few things to consider.

The hearing aids are small, so have very little room for the battery, transmitter and aerial, so they are going to be pretty low powered.

Your phone model, an A50, was released about 5 years ago and does has an older version of the Android operating system (but not that old) so probably has older versions of the Bluetooth software stack.

You maybe able to upgrade the software on your phone.

Your tablet has more space for the battery and aerial, so can probably pushes out a stronger Bluetooth signal.

You, don’t take this personally :slight_smile: are a big bag of water with a few bones, so are a little challenging for the Bluetooth signal to pass through.

The main things we can control are making the signal path between your phone and your aids as short and unobstructed as possible (you have already tried putting your phone in your chest pocket).

You could try asking your audiologist to switch your Bluetooth connection from the current hearing aid to the other side. My Phonak ones were defaulted to the right aid (which then related the signal to the left, I believe). Switching the connection to the left aid improved things for me as I use my Apple Watch to stream audiobooks from my left wrist to my aids. This is just a one click change, so just ask them to switch next time you are in.

There may also be a new version of the software in your aids (stored on the chip in your aids - upgrading the firmware).

A cheaper option than upgrading your hearing aids would be to upgrade your phone. Have a look on Backmarket for a more modern Samsung (or an iPhone). I buy phones from these for my family and for test devices at work, they come with a warranty and are much cheaper than new ones.

Depending on your hearing loss, you may be able to switch to using some ear buds or bone conduction headphones. I’ve used Shokz OpenRun and Opencomm for years but with my SSHL these no longer help for my left ear.

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