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One Phonak Lumity aid going dead for a few seconds - problem?

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I think it would be a good idea to temporarily shut down the ADT panel (coordinating with them, of course) to see if it makes a difference. That way you’ll know for sure whether it’s interfering.

In reply to @x475aws

@x475aws said:

temporarily shut down the ADT panel

OWIE I WOULD LOVE TO DO THAT! And take a ballpeen hammer to the whole dang wall unit.

However, we can’t just shut it down. It would go to “battery” mode, then It would trigger an alarm to ADT. Even if power fails, it will go thru those steps, and we’d get a phone call from ADT before they send the goon squad. Groan.

In reply to @tenkan

Yes, I would imagine that’s how the 2.4GHz works with its 80 frequency channels. Like “ALL BASES COVERED!” Except that there will be these odd, quirky outliers - like ME with my cinderblock ears and the aids in 'em. I’d probably be considered a rare “exception” and allowed with the rules as-is. :neutral_face:

In reply to @x475aws

LOL! I’m sorry - I’d overlooked that “coordinating” line. They were SO SO adamanant that I’d had this issue going on before the new system was installed in June. It was like some exercise in brain-washing. I’m the one wearing these aids and streaming TV every night. Of course I’d be the one to know when that started to crap out.

Like just cuz I wear aids my mind must be gone, huh? Let’s convince her everything’s gonna be just fine… and she won’t yank the system out.

You could put something in front of the ADT box to block the signals, temporarily, and see if your problem goes away. Hopefully that won’t cause an alarm that ADT will detect.

Edited

Well! I’ve been reading up a bit on the ADT Home Security system we have here. Turns out the wall unit is a RECEIVER - not a TRANSMITTER (which I thought it was doing to all the motion detectors on windows and doors here). And here I submit a big “DOH!” on my part.

It makes sense. The wall unit sits “passively” waiting till someone cracks open a window or door, and then it receives that signal from the transmitting motion detector. Since no one is opening or closing any window or door here while we’re watching TV, it is likely NOT the case that these ADT motion detectors are causing the interference.

That changes everything. I will let the ADT unit off the hook for now.

Last night, I tried a new experiment! I got a longer audio cable from Amazon and just snaked that from the Marantz receiver in the wizard’s closet here at home to the Phonak TV Connector, which was placed on a small side table where I sat. I watched two shows back to back: one DVD, the other AppleTV.

To my utter GLEE I had no complete failure of the RIGHT aid all night. A couple times - maybe just several seconds - it seemed the signal was just a bit weaker, and the audio in that right aid streaming was lower? (I can only tell by pulling the left aid out and seeing how the right aid does on its own.)

This could be one possible solution - just have the Phonak TV Connector physically closer to my aids. Taking that a step further … my brainiac hubs surfed up to Amazon to find something that might work better: a BT transmitter receiver for TV2. This unit costs $43 versus the $120 I paid for the Phonak TV Connector several years ago!

With luck, we’ll have that unit in the wizard’s closet plugged in to the Marantz receiver. I’d just pair my aids via to that B03 unit and we’d be done. Here’s how the device works with aids:
“If you have a family member who has weak hearing and needs a high volume when watching TV, B03 is your best choice. It supports to stream audio to wireless headphones and wired TV soundbar at the same time under TX mode, so you can share the TV together, and will not be affected by the different needs of the TV volume.”

I’ll report back tomorrow on the results of this B03 device …

Fingers crossed!

Yes you’re correct.

Then afterwards came the TV Connector that works on AirStream technology.

Just an update after yet another “fix” attempted here! We got the B03 transmitter receiver installed and - after PAINFUL effort - paired + connected to my Phonak Lumity Life aids. Part of the problem is that it took a good 5 min or more for the unit to locate my aids and for my aids to connect. It was maddening cuz unlike pairing with a laptop or phone, there is NO screen to look at. I just had to put my aids as close to the device as I could.

Second DOH was that we didn’t think to automatically RAISE the volume on this unit by hitting the + sign. That is exactly what I’d do with the Phonak TV Connector initially, but had forgotten that lesson. With my aids out and sitting ON the unit, my hubs was the one who heard the audio streaming out of them. Finally.

Sound quality is as good as TV Connector, but this B03 unit has a range of 70 meters, so it blows the TV Connector out of the sky with distance. I can stream with the TV in a different room and even upstairs if I have to dash up to do laundry. That was cool.

Even so! And more illuminating… I’d read at the forum here that it’s time for a firmware update on these Lumity Life aids (now almost a year old). If I hadn’t read that HERE and prompted my audi to check, I HIGHLY DOUBT I’d ever have heard from her via Phonak to get in and have that done. Is this something folks do using MyPhonak app on the phone? I’m going in tomorrow morning to have the firmware update done.

Then I’m hoping it’ll be THE END of streaming issues here. I’ll probably keep the B03 for streaming TV instead of the much older and weaker TV Connector. This B03 has “pass through” (for switching from live watching to headset), and a couple new techs to help with the age-old “latency” issue (where you see folks moving their lips on TV but the audio coming into your ears is OFF by a few miliseconds).

Just wanted to say (if anyone can hear me) I AGREE 1000%.

I’ve cribbed about the ridiculous positioning of TV speakers for almost 20 years now: pointing at the wall behind the TV or at the floor. We used a soundbar for years until moving into a place that has a fixed TV screen plugged in to a Marantz receiver (NOT ideal) so audio can be sent to speakers (now outdated and muddy sounding).

I was in Heaven with my first Oticon TV streamer many years ago, and even returned a pair of Oticon Opn aids after 9 mos when the new ConnectClip was delayed. Streaming TV is HUGELY important for me.

While I stream shows, hubs will sometimes have the closed captions on, that way we both get 100% of what’s been said. It’s so critical for our brain + ear connection to keep that ACTIVE and comprehending.

Thanks for sharing! I guess I’ve got plenty of company now, and from folks decades younger even.

In reply to @1Bluejay

@1Bluejay

My last audiologist refused to communicate using the myPhonak App. Issue? I suspect money. So I would make an appointment–2 weeks or longer; then I’d get him to update. I learned about updates here. He would phone Phonak with me on spearker phone when I was in the office and ask if they had an OS update. I think that Phonak has a system that the audiologists don’t want. It didn’t help me at all.

DaveL

Edited

In reply to @danka

In case folks can’t open the link, I’ve got it “shared”, so let’s see how long this link remains active.

Some key points:
“About 50 percent of Americans — and the majority of young people — watch videos with subtitles on most of the time, according to surveys, in large part because they are struggling to decipher what actors are saying.”

“…garbled prattle in TV shows and movies is now a widely discussed problem that tech and media companies are just beginning to unravel with solutions such as speech-boosting software algorithms.”

“…when you stream that content through an app on a TV, smartphone or tablet, the audio has been “down mixed,” or compressed, to carry the sounds through tiny, relatively weak speakers.”

“To emphasize the picture, many modern flat-screen TVs hide their speakers, blasting sound away from the viewer’s ears.”

EDIT: The “shared link” NO LONGER WORKS, WOULDNTCHAKNOW? :confused:

And many newscasters:

  • talk too fast
    Interviewers:
  • face the person being interviewed; that person faces them too Lip reading? Forgetaboutit.

Question

  • Why does the Phonak tv streamer audio sound so good?
Edited
@DaveL said:

Why does the Phonak tv streamer audio sound so good?

I don’t know technically why it does … but IT DOES. Confounds me, cuz we should be able to buy other transmitters that get the job done for a fraction of the price.

And here … I sneak in the news: that gaddang BRAND NEW B03 snazzy-razzmatazzy transmitter receiver for TV? Yeah, NO LONGER WORKS with my Phonak Lumity Life aids.

It was an infernal nightmare to pair + connect, and it seems that if I used it one night, then returned the next night for TV streaming, dang thing somehow “forgot” all about my aids. I was BUGEYED. But that’s that! When it streamed (that initial night) it sounded great - LOVED how I could walk all over the house with audio still streaming.

But yesterday, I got the firmware update on ONE pair of Lumity Life aids, and to my ire, the B03 was the same nightmare to pair + connect and blah, blah, blah! I threw in the towel, set up my ol’ fashioned TV Connector, and it was streaming like a charm all night long.

Tonight (if I’m not chased outta here with pitchforks!) I have another test: still want to see if my other pair of backup Life aids stream really flaky. Cuz both my audi and I wanted to leave one pair NOT updated just to see what happens. So if it won’t stream, it’s likely going to be fixed with that new firmware update that I’ll have done.

I’ll keep testing the pair I had firmware updated over the next week or so to see how stable it is streaming. It seems that location of that TV Connector matters. The closer to your aids, the more stable it will be.

@1Bluejay said:

I don’t know technically why it does … but IT DOES. Confounds me, cuz we should be able to buy other transmitters that get the job done for a fraction of the price.

Maybe somebody could reverse engineer it but Phonak probably doesn’t make public the protocols they use for “Airstream”. If it is anything like the Oticon streamer I have, it is similar but not the same as Bluetooth low energy where they control the latency better than classic bluetooth and use some proprietary codec. For example, Oticon specifies the latency from the input to the TV Adapter to the output of the hearing aid receiver (speaker) and, for an analog input it is 25 milliseconds (somewhat longer for digital optical or Dolby). Classic bluetooth is typically higher than that unless the paired devices are using a codec that controls latency better than the standard codecs. Unless things have changed recently, most hearing aids don’t implement the more common low latency codecs like aptX LL. With higher latency, you may notice lip sync issues with the TV video or the streamed sound to your hearing aids may not be synchronized with the sound from your receiver and speakers (or soundbar).

I expect that Phonak implements pairing between the adapter and the aids so it “just works” reliably and without user input.

If you want some fun reading about codecs and such, you might check out: Understanding Bluetooth codecs2

Good luck in your quest but your Phonak device may turn out to be your best choice, especially if you can locate it close to where you sit to watch TV :wink:

@biggar said:

Good luck in your quest but your Phonak device may turn out to be your best choice, especially if you can locate it close to where you sit to watch TV

Yep, I agree. I was also surprised that even tho the guy promoting B03 in the Youtube video was WOWED with the latency control on that device, there was a very noticeable, split-second latency to my own eyes watching TV here.

Things are ridiculously complicated cuz the house we bought has this media set-up where music, AppleTV, everything that plays through the speakers in the TV room have to route through a Marantz receiver. There is NO way to even plug the Phonak TV Controller directly into the back of the TV. I’m very fortunate that when the TV Controller works, it works SUPER. No latency at all.

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