Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Unwanted program shift with Widex SmartRIC 440

7 replies239 viewsLast reply

Link to this topic
Reply

I’m test driving a pair of Widex SmartRIC 440s, and comparing them to my Oticon More 1 miniRITEs. I’d like to hear about other people’s experience with one thing I do not like about the Widex.

With the Oticons, I can listen to CDs in my car, while using the voice in Google Maps to give me directions thru Bluetooth. It’s totally transparent, and does not interrupt the music at all.

But with the Widex, whenever the GMap voice comes on, the switches to Streaming mode (a completely different sound environment, where the music is muffled, and the voice itself is muffled and not really intelligible.) A few seconds after the voice has stopped, the HA switches back to Universal mode… usually by playing the music TOO loud for a second and then settling back to the level I’d set. And of course this happens repeatedly… VERY annoying, when there are lots of consecutive turns!

I have the same problem when I’m practicing on my string instrument, and I get a text notification. The sound of my instrument becomes muffled for about 5 seconds, and I barely even hear the “ding”. Again, very irritating and distracting.

I complained about all this to my audioprosthologist, and he said I should (a) find a way to send the GMap voice thru the phone speaker without turning off Bluetooth, and (b) turn off phone notifications. But I don’t WANT to do all that… I don’t have to do that with the Oticons.

(Old joke: “Doc, it hurts when I raise my arm.” “Well then stop raising your arm.”)

Has anyone else experienced this with the Widex, and, more importantly, found a workaround? I am not willing to put up with this sort of thing.

5 people in this conversation3 min readJump to latest

Curious, is Gmap running off a GPS built into the car, or on a phone ( Android or Ios ) ? It’s an interesting question.

Other than your issue, do you like the Widex SmartRIC?

Edited

iPhone or Android?
If iPhone, you can go to Settings → Accessability → Hearing Devices. In there, you can choose how you want to play the ringtones, system sounds & audio routing. The way the Widex and the Oticons route sounds on iPhones is identical because the settings are based on the iPhone OS. (It’s called standard).
I love my SmartRICs, they are awesome aids.
Android: no clue.

Edit: my answer is not applicable: OP is complaining about something different that I misunderstood .

Edited

I’m on an Android (Pixel 9). (GMap voice is talking thru the phone.)

But the phone platform seems irrelevant, since the Oticons handle the voice and notifications thru the aids just fine, without interrupting what I’m listening to in the outside world.

Otherwise, I do like overall sound quality of the Widex. My audioprosthologist spends HOURS with me, tuning them to make sure that my own voice sounds right, as well as other people’s voices.

I miss having control buttons on the aids themselves though.

But I like being able to EQ (via the Widex app) what I’m hearing thru the aids, and not just what I’m streaming (like with the Oticon app).

In reply to @OcramSagev

Are you sure as I’d like to figure this out as well? Widex has a cutover to streaming Oticon does not do using the same iOS device and thus likely the same iOS settings unless the defaults are different.

All I can say is:

Oticon + Android Pixel = seamless blend of external sounds and internal streaming things (notifications, google map voice)

Widex + Android Pixel = annoying disruption of external sounds (esp. music) when internal streaming sounds occur.

I want to hear Google Map voice, and other notifications, thru my hearing aids. I do not wish to reroute them or turn them off.

Got it , this is different to what I understood originally . Disregard my previous answer.

Have you tried adjusting the sound mixer in the streaming program in the moment app ?

IMG_0293

I know this iis an older topic but the answer is just use the Widex app to turn off the SmartRIC/Moment/Allure Bluetooth function when you do need it. This is going to happen with any of the newer becuase they connect with the more modern hearing device protocol vs standard bluetooth. Problem with that is the phone venders really don’t deal well with hearing devices vs earbuds.

Related discussions