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New hearing aid user struggling with streaming

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Greetings all,

Lost of information on this site, but I’m looking for some advice on what to try next. I’m two months into my Costco hearing aid exploration after a hearing test where I discovered I had a moderate hearing loss in my upper ranges.

I started by buying the Rexton Reach (R-LI T ) and have used them for the last two months. I’ve liked:

  • In noisy situations they really help me hear the person next to me. If I focus I can hear people around the room and actually understand conversations around me.
  • The ability in the app to quickly customize for noisy rooms vs standard hearing
  • They are relatively compact
  • Listening to music in vehicle or over the ear headphones works well

I’ve disliked:

  • The blue tooth streaming. The sound quality of audio in my opinion is very poor vs headphones or natural sound from a speaker.
  • When I have blue tooth streaming enabled the app seems to crash (google pixel 8)
  • I contact support and they basically said…yeah..wer’re aware and we might ship a new version in the future
  • The windnoise I felt was poor. A small amount of wind and I’m getting instant feedback into the device.

That put me off of the brand & manufacturing company. I then decided I was going to shop around and try other models. After some more extensive research I ended up just getting fitted with the Jabra Enhance Pro….after a week I will be returning them as they just not good as compared to the rexton reach (in my opinion).

I’ve liked:

  • The fact that they are even smaller than the Rexton reach. They fit better on my ear as I have very small ears and wear glasses
  • The windnoise reductio seemed better to me than the rexton reach

I’ve disliked:

  • The app. It isn’t good despite having beter reviews than the rexton app. There is not a way within the app to disable “blue tooth” streaming that I have found. You have to disconnect the blue device itself which interrupts the ability within the app to adjust the sound environment
  • The clarity of the stream (when it works) is way worse than the rexton reach which I already had thought was bad
  • Group / noise environments don’t seem to pickup sound like the reach do
  • The sound quality doesn’t sound as natural to me as what the reach provide…

What I’ve discovered I want in a hearing aid:

  • being able to get assistance in group settings where there is a lot of background noise
  • I’m 45, bald and still active where I’m outdoors a lot and I guess I’m wondering if all over the ear hearing aids are just super sensitive to wind?
  • Half assed audio streaming? Is that a thing? Does it exist in any manufacturer?

Whats next for me?

  • I’ve been reading about the Starkeys that launched at Costco, but they seem to be their older tech? That right there makes me not want to try them.
  • I’ve been thinking about going to a clinic vs costco and getting a deeper review about other brands

But before doing that I was curious if anyone could help me / share with me their own streaming solutions or brands I should try to focus on next…

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I don’t think the Starkey hearing aids are that old of tech. The Sennheiser hearing aids are, however.

@Redsz said:

There is not a way within the app to disable “blue tooth” streaming that I have found. You have to disconnect the blue device itself which interrupts the ability within the app to adjust the sound environment

I don’t understand this. Can you describe the problem in more detail? Also, the app depends on ; the phone determines if BT is on or off.

For streaming, you have to suspend disbelief. :slightly_smiling_face:

I tried out the Soundgear but only for a brief period. Strangely, although the app worked, I couldn’t make phone calls, and streamed music on my phone (Pixel 9) wasn’t loud enough, and I couldn’t find the right settings; it turns out I had the same problem with my HAs, and I fixed it when I got home (I’m still getting used to Android).

Also, the Soundgears sounded ‘electronic’, and I doubt I’d enjoy music from my home hifi.

But I experimented some with Edge+, and I think I liked it a whole lot. I want to try again with the Soundgears.

These are common issues from new users , you simply need to have them adjusted to suit how you like things to sound, you can’t expect a first fit to be perfect, the Rexton (rebranded Signia) are great (as with Jabra, rebranded ReSound) so you can download PowerAmp and install this to make almost unlimited adjustments for streaming, Rexton Connexx software has a very good Bluetooth streaming program for adjustments, your fitter can easy do this, next the acoustics need to be sorted, open domes don’t work very well at all for this, a closed fitting brings things to life in the Bass department.

I’ve gone in twice. I think working in tech, I have perhaps an unrealistic expectation of the quality of the sound stream vs my noise cancelling headphones, .

I have my third appointment due soon, and am going to inquire about different domes. Is this something that you can buy yourself or again its recommend to purchase through an audioologist?

Just learning this is a thing. I feel like a failed in my research of hearing aids prior to purchase.

Your phone has a huge effect on the streaming. I recently switched to Pixel 9a - and improvement in streaming is phenomenal: stable, connection is fast and reliable, sound quality of phone calls is perfect, music quality is passable. But I agree: the Jabra app is mediocre.

In reply to @Redsz

Your issue(s) are largely down to the competing needs of ‘normal’ listening = highly vented vs. Streaming = better acoustic seal.

Hearing aids are designed to work with (in the case of your hearing) a pretty open (un-occluded) canal. When you listen to music/podcasts, greater clarity comes from having the ears MORE occluded. What you can end up with is an ‘engineering compromise’ where the (fixed) physical set-up of the aids doesn’t work perfectly in every situation.

You however can choose to resolve this: by either boosting the amount of volume/bass when streaming or sealing the canal to a greater extent. Both come with potential downsides.

Streaming is also highly dependent on the hearing system chosen, which ‘brand’ of Bluetooth is at play and your phone hardware AND firmware, so results can be vastly different for different users.

In reply to @Redsz

I have the Jabra Enhance Pro 30’s from Costco and they are great as hearing aids.

However if I want to listen music etc when streaming I will switch to my Airpod Pro 2’s (with my Costco loaded into the hearing assist function). They sound great and work for just enjoying music or working out in transparency mode or flying etc in noise cancellation mode.

The Airpod Pro 3’s are supposedly better. At around $200 or less (check for Costco deals etc) either are definitely worth it to get a much better streaming experience.

@coastal_california said:

check for Costco deals etc

When I bought my gen 2 AirPod pros a couple years ago, the Costco price was about the same as other retailers, but they threw in AppleCare+ for free to sweeten the deal. I think they’re still covered.

WH

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