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Costco KS10 hands free phone call - ongoing problem

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Having an ongoing problem with hands free calls on my KS10.
Symptom: when making or receiving phone calls from the through , there is background crackling noise on top of the speech itself, mostly in the right HA but also in the left. The best way to describe it = similar to noise from a “burned out” speaker that still sort of works.

Data points:

  • HA paired to Samsung Galaxy S10, Android 12.
  • BT music streaming works fine. Superb and clear stereo sound.
  • Youtube videos, including voice segments over BT streaming works fine. Superb and clear stereo sound and speech.
  • Background phone call speech noise is present even while listening to a recorded voice message.
  • Costco tech heard the noise through a stethoscope, listening to the right HA. Her (several) small adjustments changed nothing.
  • HA pair was sent to the lab, which claimed they completely replaced them with a new pair. No difference, same behavior.
  • Moved my SIM to (1) my wife’s Samsung Galaxy S20 and to (2) an iPhone. Listened to BT phone calls on all three. Same symptom, same background noise.
  • A second dialer app made no difference.
  • Costco tech says no other customer complained about the same issue, suggested I swap the KS10 for a different brand (maybe Jabra ?)

With the symptom being present (-) consistently, (-) across different smartphones, (-) both Android and iPhone, (-) with different dialer apps, and (-) on 3 different KS10 physical HAs …
my remaining conclusion is that KS10 has a built in problem in their BT protocol handling, affecting the phone interface (HFP / hands free protocol).

Anyone on the forum aware of / experiencing this symptom ?
What if anything resolved it for you ?

10 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest

Have you had another check it out? Or maybe go to a different Costco hearing center? Only thing the same is the fit. I don’t have that problem on my p90s.

WH

Do you believe, with all the experiments I ran, that this is simply a tuning issue?
How would we explain the crystal clear speech I hear in Youtube videos versus the noisy speech I hear in phone calls with the same exact tuning ?

In your phonak phone app you can switch Bluetooth bandwidths.

Whatever setting bandwidth it is now try switching it to the other.

See if that fixes you up.

The Easyline app used to for sure. @MDB might shed some light on this. He uses Android and has the KS9 aids.
My wife’s KS9 aids can be switched using her iphone Easyline app.

Don’t give up, I think you just missed it on the app.

I have KS10’s and phone calls are clear. Of course my loss probably differs from yours, but you have not shown your .

Unfortunately, the Target software has no handle on phone calls that I could find. That seems to be hard-wired in the aids. In fact, if you listen to streamed music or speech, the Easy Line app shows that program. However, if you take a phone call, the Easy Line app loses connection with the aids, at least in my case. However, I’m just a lowly DIYer. Maybe someone who has more knowledge could address the issue.

Costco KS10 streaming call issues
I Just brought a new pair of Costco KS10 and have been have issues with the app and Bluetooth connectivity. The easy line app crashes constantly and when it does, the Bluetooth goes into a limbo state. When there are incoming calls, I can’t hear the ringtone sound just the caller announcement, which means I mostly miss the calls. Does anyone have this problem and know how to fix this? I have restarted my phone, restarted the HA, disconnected all connections, paired everything again and still…

Here is a thread with good information about your KS10 aids that might help you.

In reply to #5

Streaming phone audio and using Easy Line Remote with KS10
When you install the app for the first time, it will step you through establishing LE Bluetooth connections for both aids to the phone. The app uses those connections to communicate with the aids. The app will also separately step you through establishing a regular Bluetooth connection to one aid (by default the right side) designated for phone and audio streaming. You can also do that pairing independently of the app, same as pairing any other BT device. Once finished, the BT connection list in…

@Dusty is very well informed about KS9 and KS10 connectivity.

Edited

In reply to @Raudrive

Go to “Devices” Then Bluetooth Phone Calls Select Connection. Then choose either Fixed Bandwidth or Adaptive Bandwidth.

If that doesn’t help, I’d start over. Delete app. Unpair aids. Restart phone and find instructions and follow them to the tee.

Ok, thanks for the update.

Have you tried totally removing the hearing aid app, forgetting the aids in your phone, then doing a boot on your phone, then reload the hearing aid app.
In other words start over with a clean slate. This has had to be done with my wife’s iphone after a couple different apple updates. It works for Android too.

Good luck

I can’t remember anyone else having this problem. Seems like you’ve already tried pretty much everything logical so it’s down to what-the-hell type testing. You could try switching the designated aid to the opposite side. I doubt it will make a difference but cheap to try. And if you haven’t already, maybe pair your aids to a phone with a different SIM. Also try skipping the app and LE pairings and just make the single BT pairing alone. I think I’ve done that but can’t be sure due to CRS. If it works it would save time experimenting if nothing else.

In reply to @Raudrive

@Raudrive said:

Ok, thanks for the update.

Have you tried totally removing the hearing aid app, forgetting the aids in your phone, then doing a boot on your phone, then reload the hearing aid app.
In other words start over with a clean slate. This has had to be done with my wife’s iphone after a couple different apple updates. It works for Android too.

Good luck

Yes, I did all that. Uninstalls and reinstalls, reboot, power cycles, etc. No difference.

In reply to @Dusty

@Dusty said:

I can’t remember anyone else having this problem. Seems like you’ve already tried pretty much everything logical so it’s down to what-the-hell type testing. You could try switching the designated BT aid to the opposite side. I doubt it will make a difference but cheap to try. And if you haven’t already, maybe pair your aids to a phone with a different SIM. Also try skipping the app and LE pairings and just make the single BT pairing alone. I think I’ve done that but can’t be sure due to CRS. If it works it would save time experimenting if nothing else.

Indeed, more ideas. Tried these, too. Paired my wife’s Android with her SIM to my . Same symptom = crackling noise on the right side. And swapping the devices left <=> right was predictable: noise followed the right device.

Is it possible that this HA set is defective, tuning can not help and the Sonova lab, while claiming they replaced with a new set actually returned the same defective ones? Clearly we should never malign their professionalism, but as Sherlock Holmes stated [loose quotation here] “when all other possibilities are removed, whatever remains, improbable as it may be, must be the truth”…

Next time you’re at Costco maybe they could pair any set of aids they have kicking around to your phone. If those don’t crackle then it’s Costco’s responsibility to deal with it for sure. Mark your aids inside and out before you go so that if they send them out again you’ll be about to verify replacement.

Edited

Appreciate the advice. On one hand, the local Costco gave up and are offering to refund my orginal cost and switch me into Jabra. Sort of nice of them BUT … Jabra (1) does not support hands free phone calls on Android and (2) it is known to disconnect from randomly on Android 12 which is my version, and will not change. The HFC is a key feature for me.

As far as marking the when sent to the lab, the lab said they replaced the electronics inside, so exterior marking will not help. Also, this is bush league in my mind… if I cannot trust the manufacturer’s lab, I should not buy their product to begin with.

In reply to @aysoref

@Dusty said:

You could try switching the designated BT aid to the opposite side. I doubt it will make a difference but cheap to try.

@aysoref said:

And swapping the devices left <=> right was predictable: noise followed the right device.

What I think @Dusty is trying to say is have your move primary classic responsibility to the other aid, not swap aids ear to ear.

I’m sorry you face this frustration.

WH

Something else worth trying would be to do a master reset.
Then reload the aids with your prescription.

for me, using bernafone alpha 7 . when connected to a mobile phone, streaming music and other media OK, WhatsApp calls can be heard. the problem is, phone calls don’t make sound, and there is no Volume control (detected as Bluetoot ) but it doesn’t display Bluetoot Volume, only Media Volume normally, I try to connect hendfree bluetooth, with a mobile phone, then Bluetoot Volume appears in the Volume range

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