Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

“Tinny” sound from aids,Audi says they are fine

This topic is closed.

12 replies1.3k viewsLast reply

Link to this topic

Hello, I know I’ve posted about this before I believe but my Phonak audeo marvel 312t are horrible for streaming. My hearing has slightly changed since getting them but whenever I go back to my audi they say the aids sound fine when streaming. Obviously with how tiny the speakers I don’t expect the BEST quality but for the price we pay and the marketing you would hope they would be better.
Maybe I’m very selective and picky about my music but when spending your days on phone calls and Zoom meetings, streaming and having good audio quality are important for clarity. I’ve tried acrylic molds,silicone, cap,open,vented and power domes all to disappoint.
I’m wondering what kind of settings might my audi need to change to improve this, using the app only does so much and tends to make streaming worse no matter how much I fiddle with it, along with it not being able to be saved so I have to manually set it. I’ve also tried changing bandwidth and it doesn’t help. Any suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated. I’d love to be able to enjoy music again.

10 people in this conversation4 min readJump to latest

I’m not an expert and my hearing is very unlike yours, but I’d say that you need low frequency boost, which, as you say, is hard for tiny speakers.

You probably need a tight seal to get any bass at all. Does sticking your fingers in your ears help? Your is pretty flat and treble boost with no bass boost is going to sound tinny. If the finger trick works, tight fitting moulds should do it.

If your acrylic moulds didn’t work, maybe they weren’t fitting closely enough? I had your problem until I got titanium moulds. If your ear canals are narrow or bendy, the thinner walls of the titanium moulds might allow a good fit while having room for the receiver.

Anyway, best of luck, and don’t give up. Lots of experts on this forum so hopefully you’ll get good advice.

Edited

I may experiment with using my silicone molds since they seal pretty well, I’m wondering if changing to M vs S receivers could help @xyzzy
Edit: I just retried playing a song with some power domes I had laying around and it definitely sounded better but I’ll definitely need to see about with phone calls

Edited

This may or may not be helpful!

Some time ago I had a pair of NHS hearing aids (in the UK) that sounded very tinny, to the extent that I couldnt listen to music (not streaming in those days) at all because it was so bad.

Partly I got used to it over time, and eventually the hearing aids were adjusted to be better.

All this is a long winded way of saying that I think your hearing aids should be capable of being adjusted.

I dont know whether Phonak do an app for your phone that might allow you to experiment?

I’m guessing you’d be happier with a good set of ear buds for listening to music.

Are you also unhappy when streaming phone calls? Lack of bass.

The best low frequency sound will come with the most occluded acoustics or ear molds.
The aids can be programmed with more bass in your streaming settings.

You have a relatively flat heating loss. As mentioned ear buds would probably be very nice for you concerning music.

Whoever does the tuning on the aids should be able to find the streaming settings for both the phone and media easy to change for you.
Good luck with this.

If you have an iphone, you can add your and stream through a pair of airpods. That would probably get you better results.

Did your Audi try to increase gain for the lower frequencies?
Id did this for the streaming programs to compensate for the leaking.

You may not be getting enough bass if your audiologist is using the Phonak fitting formula. Get them to show you the bass setting in the music streaming program. The Phonak has the capability for all the bass you could want, but has to have the fit, and be set for that.

Edit: Another reason for a tinny sound is if you are hearing high frequency sounds you have not been hearing. In that case, you will adjust and things will sound really good.

In reply to @xyzzy

I’m not sure if this is a new problem with new aids, but when I first got my Lumity Life aids, they’d been programmed per and yada yada administrative decisions. They sounded HORRID. Flat, tinny, like sound rattling over velum paper.

I tried getting them adjusted a bit, but ended up asking my audi to COPY and PASTE the existing program over from my older Marvel aids to the brand new Phonak Lumity Lifes. WOW. That got me about 95% or more to ideal listening in all programs and streaming. Just a thought.

Related discussions