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Phonak microphone muted in Bluetooth phone mode

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In iPhone conversations I am apparently almost inaudible. I have Phonak (Costco rebrand) KS-10’s. I have the Target software and it’s possible I made an error somewhere. It seems unlikely to be a hardware issue as Bluetooth is otherwise working OK and it affects both sides. Anyone recognise the problem? Same problem when I tried out with my wife’s iPhone so it’s not a phone issue.

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Not sure I understand what issue you are having. But maybe this will help you…

Im not aware of any settings that turn off the mic function for streaming.
I think the best way to troubleshoot this is to save your settings in target , create a new client , do a factory erase and then test the aids. That way you will know if it is a programming issue or a hardware problem.

Well it’s called microphone attenuation in target, so you can check this in bluetooth program “options” and set the the sliders, you used to be able to “mute” them but I think now it’s maybe -6 maximum?

@philbury you talk about phone calls and the other party. There is no way to mute your mic for the far end microphone.

Option 1: you wear only 1 hearing aid during call, the other is on the table, hence too far away. Make sure you always wear your master device in the ear.

Option 2: you switched to your iPhone microphone for some reason, check your phone

Just to be clear - people are saying they can’t hear me when I am in a call using Bluetooth. I can hear them. My phone is set up normally to use the hearing aids as a Bluetooth headset. When I say it affects both sides I mean L & R

In reply to @tenkan

I have …Fine Tuning/Bluetooth/streamed speech+ mic/ hearing aid microphone/ microphone enabled (check)/ attenuation = 0db.
It was set to -6db so I thought I’d cracked it (with your help) but when I save and close it still isn’t working. I went back in to check I had properly saved but I had… :weary_face:

Indeed I wrote misleading laguange :slight_smile:
What I wanted to say is that there is no configuration option of microphone levels that pick up your voice. Also, you cannot switch the voice pickup off.

Of course it is possible to configure by how much you hear yourself, but this is NOT affecting how others hear you during call. Not from the hearing aid point of view, there must be another problem, like your phone muting you, or so.

Are they saying they can’t hear you at all (no audio whatsoever), or that they can barely hear you? Many people have told me the latter, and it’s not because there’s anything wrong with the setup. It’s just because Phonak’s mics really aren’t great for this purpose.

In reply to @philbury

That setting does not control the mic for streaming , it controls the mics for the sounds coming around you . As I mentioned before , the volume of the mic for streaming cannot be turned off or on in Target .

Have you tried the reset option I mentioned earlier ?

Edited

In reply to @CombatWombat

barely audible but this is a new thing - they used to work just fine. It isn’t the phone because I checked the settings and just to be sure paired my ’s to my wife’s phone (which she uses with HER Phonak aids successfully) and the inaudibility was the same. Points to a problem with the aids

She did a factory reset and then restored the session. Didn’t work
Got on the phone to Phonak and they were baffled too.
Mystery

Did the offer a solution ?
The only thing I can think of is to switch the primary Bluetooth connection from the right ear to the left ear in Target. I’m not sure if Phonak uses both aids as microphones during phone calls or just one, but it’s an easy test worth trying. If you do this , you will have to delete the pairings on your phone and pair the aids again .

I will try that, thanks, as neither the audiologist nor the Phonak rep she phoned could help

People said similar when I first got Marvels. I found switching to “Adaptive Bandwidth” solved the issue. Callers do say background noise is loud however, so I try to find a quiet place when making or taking calls. Adaptive Bandwidth can be set in both the app or Target.

I use Android.

Peter

In reply to @PeterH

This is somewhat off topic. I recently bought a replacement mobile phone with Bluetooth version 6. I was pleasantly surprised at the resulting improvement in the sound quality of my Phonak Sphere i9s. It made me realise that the inability to upgrade a mobile phone’s Bluetooth is a hurdle to maintaining the effectiveness of hearing aids. I’m not a technical expert, so I ask why phone manufacturers or Bluetooth itself are unable to upgrade Bluetooth in-situ? After all, they upgrade their operating systems all the time!

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