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Phonak Audeo Lumity L70 Substandard Bluetooth

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I’ve been strugglign with poor Bluetooth quality in my L70s for about 9 months now. They are just unreliable as heck – the signal cuts out frequently, just because I have my phone in my front pants pocket. When listening to a podcast from my iPhone, the sound gets choppy. If I am on a phone call, not only does the signal cut out, but it plays a stupid four-note tone – “ba-da-ba-DA! ba-da-ba-DA! ba-da-ba-DA!” – in rapid succession, further drowning out the person I am trying to converse with. If I hold my phone near my head, it works better (still not perfect). Before I got , I used several generations of Apple Airpods, and never had these problems. Now I can’t wear those with my HAs, so I’m trying to get a reasonably similar experience, to no avail. The Airpods have roughly the same profile as the HAs, but I expect the HAs are being asked to do quite a bit more. I see by this forum that a similar problem was reported with the Marvel model from the same manufacturer back in 2019, so it’s not like they haven’t had time to improve the technology. I can only assume this is not a priority, the assumption being that all of the customers are old and retired, and never have to take important business calls. That’s not the case with me. I’m in tech and am expected to have the latest and greatest devices – and these HAs do not give that impression at all. I am to the point of having to take the HAs out and put in earbuds every time I take a call, which is ridiculous. Has anyone found a way to get Phonak to care about any of this? They have not been helpful so far with me.

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Edited

I’m far from being an expert, and only have had for about a month (Lumity 70R). I picked Phonak partially because they supposedly play nice with Android phones, unlike most other HAs which seem to favor Apple - I’m sure someone will jump in and correct me if I’m mischaracterizing this. So far my connection with my phone (S22+) seems solid, the only problem I’ve had is that sometimes one of the HAs doesn’t connect to the app, but I’m still trying to sort this out as it’s not a consistent thing happening.

Edited

The thing is gained direct hands free calling quite recently, and up until now they didn’t have to compete in that sphere.
Furthermore, HAs have different priorities and prioritize different hardware components.
That being said I too, often wonder, why the heck HAs don’t behave more like a normal pair of earbuds (connectivity, hand’s free calling quality, frequency range) especially at those price points.
Especially brands like GN which make both Resound HAs and Jabra Earbuds.
There are HAs that simulate the look of them, like Signias Active, but they’re still shitty in comparison.
In the end the answer is probably: money and cost cutting.

How many devices do you have connected to your Lumity hearing aids? Best tip for trouble free Bluetooth is to make sure you turn off all other connected devices that are not being used. Keep the phone connected at all times but turn off Bluetooth on any other devices you have paired to the hearing aids when not in use. Otherwise, you will have issues.

Jordan

I have had Phonak M90 for 4 years and can honestly say the blutooth has been fantasic connected to my iphone , my desk computer, my laptop etc. Only problem I have is in my car with apple play I can only get phone calls via the hearing aids and not through the cars speakers. I am sure there is some work around to switch between the two quickly just have not found it yet as I am a bit lazy that way. Dont get many class since I retired from full time work and no friends anyway.

Edited

I live in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and people here absolutely love WiFi and Bluetooth. So I have to put a WiFi point in each room, because about 52(!) other WiFi points intrude in my apartment. The Bluetooth devices number between 10 and 20. So we have a lot of interference and that shows in signal degradation.

Outside it is even worse. When I walk to the gym with my mobile and Phonak M90’s there are streets on which it’s better to disable audio streaming. Best approach is to have my mobile near my shoulder to prevent audio degradation. (I have a strap on my gymbag just for that. :slight_smile: ) Friends who cycle with headphones experience the same problems. So to me it doesn’t seem to be a problem with the aids, but with BT in a techotoop. (Is this an English word, too? Techno-city?)

So my question to those who experience rock solid BT connections and those who have trouble: In what kind of environment do you use them?

I have a 4 year old Xiaomi A3 which is on the Phonak list as having trouble with connection but I can still take a phone call with the phone in the next room or in my pants pocket.

However, when streaming it was OK with the phone in the shirt pocket but cutting in and out with it in the pants. The recent firmware upgrade to 1.08 etc is supposed to have improved BT connection but I have not tried streaming since mine was upgraded.

How would I even know what the firmware version is? The MyPhonak app doesn’t have that info, nor does it offer a way to upgrade the firmware. Is this something the audiologist has to do?

Sedagive
Go to devices at the bottom of the app. Click on “Your Hearing aids”
It has the version there nd it is an audiologists upgrade
Regards.

I have Phonak Audeo Lumity L70 RL Life and Samsung galaxy s21 5g and no bluetooth issues.

I have friends with Phonak Audeo lumity l90 life with Iphone 15 (latest software update) and they have bluetooth issues.

So im guessing that Iphones are the issues with the hearing aids

Bonjour

J’ai un iphone et des Paradise Phonal 70.
La qualité audio des écouteurs est nettement moins bonne que les airpods ! Bien sûr. Mais les connections sont très bonnes. Quelques rares fois, je ne capte qu’un canal sur deux.
Quand je veux une super communication, j’utilise earpod (normal ou pro).
Phonak devraitr améliorer son système sinon, un jour, je n’utiliserai que les earpods d’apple qui travaille déjà à une sollution acoustique

Hello

I have an iphone and Paradise Phonal 70s.
The audio quality of the headphones is much poorer than the airpods! Of course it is. But the connections are very good. On rare occasions, I only get one channel out of two.
When I want great communication, I use earpods (normal or pro).
Phonak should improve its system, otherwise, one day, I’ll only be using earpods from Apple, which is already working on acoustic pollution.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

You need to speak with your audiologist. I had a Phonak Audeo Paradise P70 RT and I had so many issues with it including bluetooth issues.

My audiologist tried to fix the issues for 2 years with also sending it to phonak for several repairs and replacement.

In fall of 2023 she was planning on Moving to a different state and me being the only patient of hers with so many issues with the device (of course she had tons of patients but I was the only one with dozens of issues).

In November 27, 2023 she called me and said Phonak is giving me a Phonak Audeo Lumity L70 RL Life.

So on 12/18/2023 I went to the fitting and I now love my hearing aid.

Unfortunately in several years from now all hearing aid manufacturers will be using bluetooth which should improve the sound quality.

Your audiologist should be able to customize the bluetooth sound quality in their software.

So please bring this concern to your audiologist

Evidently Phonak hasn’t solved the problems that Sedagive describes since it is a year later. It’s possible that all these problems relate to the way Phonak connects via bluetooth. phonak List of Made for iPhone hearing devices - Apple Support Phonak is not listed as connecting to IPhones.
I have Phonak Audeo L-70 R. It cuts out. I thought it was because I was tapping my hearing aid accidentally when I changed clothes. It ding-a-lings when I use the up and down volume keys and when I end a call. It hisses in the background and when I disconnect a podcast or phone call it hisses, that is it continues to be connected. All in all after consulting with my audiologist, I’m going back to an Oticon hearing aid after giving these new hearing aids a try.

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