I would value feedback related to coping with hearing difficulties in a social situation.
My son uses a Phonak Roger device with great success. Consequently I bought one for my wife in the hope it would help in a social situation e.g. people sat round a table. It doesn’t appear to.
I then realised in my sons work environment only one person was speaking at a time. In most social situations many other conversations are going on and one wants to zone them out.
Are we not using Roger properly. Or there other ways we can help.
I’m interested in other people’s responses as I recently bought a Roger 3 and have had similar experiences. I love it when talking to one person or enjoying a meal around a table in a QUIET environment. But in a noisy environment it hasn’t helped enough to be effective. I’ve read a few responses in earlier comments that mention turning down one’s ’s if using Roger. I don’t understand what that means since Roger is using my HA’s. If I turn down my HAs that also turns down Roger. So I will follow the responses to this thread too.
Your Audi should set up the hearing aids so that you can mute the speakers in the aids when using the Roger. This will let you hear only through the Roger. The Roger may be helpful in noise if you are using the pointing mode. There is a point where noise will overpower the improved directionally of the pointing mode to make the Roger not helpful.
Thanks, I will ask my audi about doing this. I usually lock Roger in its pointing mode. At times I’ve also tried using the Roger app to shut off unseated directions around the table. But, as you commented, sometimes there’s just too much surrounding noise.
I’ve read a few responses in earlier comments that mention turning down one’s HA’s if using Roger.
They mean the mix between your mics and the Roger. I use the buttons on the HAs the change the mix. Seems to come up 50/50 by default. Then I use the “up” button to change the mix to mostly Roger. Can do that for streaming, tv connector, etc too. Use app to change volume if that’s what you want, or buttons on the phone.
jm97 Noisy environment e.g restaurant are challenging for especially when there are multiple conversations at your own table and true with your Roger ON version 3 (mine is only V2). Probably no need for audi to program a special program, but that might make some improvement.
Prior suggestions of locking the pointer mode so yoiur wife can aim the mic at the person who is speaking that she wants to hear. But I find this rather ineffective if their are multiple conversations; OR as is frequently the case if only 1 person is talking at the table but it switches quickly to another person and then another - you’re always playing catch up with who you are aiming at. If one person is telling a story or reporting for a while on their vacation then that is a lot easier.
For turning down your HAs: this can be done easily in MyPhonak app, once the Roger connects to app your wife will see a screen like the one I show. Tapping on the “Ambient” will then display slider and as I have shown it, it is all the way to the right which emphasizes the audio from ext. mic. I don’t know if this entirely mutes any audio picked up the HA built in mics, but it cuts them very significantly - this makes the ext mic pointing more effective.
The only other suggestion is to practice at home e.g. trun on the radio and/or tv so that there are multiple voices speaking at once, then talk to your wife and have her using the Roger focus on what you are saying. Then have her switch to try and pick out a female voice from the TV or radio, and ignore you. This is a skill, like going to hear a jazz quartet or symphony and picking out (emphasizing say the violin or piano). With practice one gets better.
Of course other things that might help is where she sits at table, typically have your back toward the largest area of sound in the restaurant is better, versus sitting with back to a wall and faccing toward the larger part of the room.
Restaurants are just quite challenging. Going early when things are less crowded, sitting outside are really the only things that even partially work for me. If it is a group of friends that you go out with often, then having her let them know what her challenge is; that she wants to participate but if someone asks her a ? she might need it repeated, or might only hear part of it and so her response might not be completely pertinent; or if she throws out a comment it might seem like a nonsequiter. Having understanding friends is the best help.
If at your table people are speaking primarily one at a time, then having Roger in mode represented by the “circle” icon is best as the technology will prioritize the mic input on the Roger device that is receiving the best voice information. In such a situation I lock the Roger in that mode; turn an empty water glass upside down, put a folded napkin on it, and place Roger on top - all at center of the table. In this way, Roger is never too far a distance from whoever is speaking.
Hoping your wife finds some pattern of using Roger that in at least some situations there is at least some improvement. Unfortunately Roger in a noisy restaurant might not be a magic bullet.
New Jersey
