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Should I switch from Phonak Marvel to MFi hearing aids?

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I have Phonak Marvel 2 hearing aids but am thinking of moving to Made for iPhone (MFI - probably Resound) for two reasons…

  1. Marvel 2 can only connect to two devices and this is manually. As I understand it if connected to the other device (eg laptop) and there is a call on the iPhone it is not routed to the hearing aids. To connect back to the iPhone requires a disconnect and then a reconnect - most Bluetooth devices prioritise the phone.

  2. I got the Marvels late last year with the intention of purchasing a Roger Pen with the updated firmware due in the Autumn (fall). The updated firmware (Marvel 2) is now available but here in the UK a Roger iN pen is £1250 - This is far in excess of the previous price (including receiver) I do not like this Phonak marketing practise. I know that these will son be available on eBay for a cheaper price but to me that is not the point.

I do have one question though - When on a call with the Marvels you are using the Marvel microphone when talking (so the phone could be in your pocket or bag) Is this also the case with MFI hearing aids? As I suspect you still use the iPhone microphone to talk?

Most of my devices are Apple so MFI won’t be a problem from that perspective

Thanks for reading my first post on this forum,

Gary

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@gbutt said:

I suspect you still use the iPhone microphone to talk?

Correct, you hear through your aids and talk into the iPhone speaker, at least with ReSounds. I don’t mind pulling my iPhone out of my pocket, because I won’t answer if I don’t know who is calling.

Larry

Yes, that is correct about using an iPhone in mode for phone calls. The incoming audio goes direct to your ears, but the phone uses the microphone on the phone (not the aids). This is good in that the aid microphone sensitivity can be turned down during a phone call (automatically) to reduce background interference. It is bad in that you do have to hold the phone very close to your mouth, like a normal phone, so the listener can hear you.

You may want to check into how an MFi works in using multiple devices. It is easy to send the audio from the phone to different devices like your car, the phone itself, and the aids. But, I am not so sure it is that easy to switch between different i devices. It may involve unpairing and repairing to make a switch.

Made for iPhone definitely has the upper hand when it comes to app features and connectivity. Resound has good experience in developing these features. The question you will need to figure out the answer to is whether they meet your hearing and comfort needs. If they do then go for it. Unfortunately when I tried them they did not quite cut it for me. Many others have had better success. You will need to try them and see if they work for you.
Not all aids use the microphone to pick up your voice for phone calls.

I recently moved from the Costco KS8, an MFI hearing aid, to the KS9, which is a de-featured Marvel 90. My KS9 can pair to only a single device, whereas the Marvel can do two, as you indicate.

I have an iPhone, an Apple Watch, and two iPads, so I would like to pair to a number of them, which I was able to do with MFI. But MFI was always unreliable and slow to connect, for me. I MUCH prefer the simple, reliable Bluetooth operation of the KS9. I have paired my phone to the KS9s. I love the total hands-free phone operation. I would prefer to have the KS9’s paired to the Watch, but doing so takes too much Watch battery. I use wireless ear buds for my iPads. Overall, this ain’t perfect, but I like it so much better than MFI. It seems to me that Apple has established a nice thing with MFI, but they don’t seem to have done a lot to make it reliable and usable for the things that I want.

One caution. While Apple claims to have the “best” system as they totally control both the hardware and software, the iOS 13 has been a dumpster fire. My fitter told me that the ReSound aids have had the most problems with issues between iOS 13 and the ReSound app.

In reply to @Sierra

When I’m on a call with my KS8s I put the phone in my shirt pocket with the microphone (bottom of phone) facing up. I have never had an issue and I’m hands free. BTW - I have an iPhone 7 so it fits my pocket.

@gbutt if this is the way you decide to go, just sit back and wait a little while longer. Read all the posts on the problems the MFI are currently having. When we all start shouting for joy, you will know that Apple have fixed all the current issues between the MFI and our ’s. I’m still sitting on 12.2, not game to update my iPhone, incase it jiggers up my hearing and streaming to my both ears. I’m an IT dummy and can’t do a 3 way pair, so I’m also sitting and waiting, until I see others celebrating.

I just noticed on my iOS setup that there are a couple of options under the Accessability, Hearing Devices screen to “Control Nearby (iOS) devices”, and “Audio Handoff” from nearby iOS devices. It sounds as if these options may give the hearing aids the ability to switch automatically to other iOS devices when audio from them starts. I have no way to test it though, as I only have one iOS device.

Yes, it worked as described to handoff audeo between my iPhone and iPad with iOS 12.x

This has been noted by others with the handoff failure and the need to “disconnect” from one device to allow “connect” to another device. With all the f.u.b.a.r. aspects of iOs 13, I have set media routing to “never hearing aids” my and kept call routing as “automatic”.

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