Bluetooth hearing aids, connecting, GPS, Phone

kiltman

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Well, it's happened. I'm in that demographic that requires electronic assistance in hearing. What is the impact on my riding? What can they do? Pros and cons.

I'm 62 years old. I have issues in hearing people in my area of work. ( I stage manage opera and theatre, I need to be able to hear what the singers are singing, actors speaking as well as follow the directors directions.) I also have MS and I needed to determine whether the hearing loss is due to MS or actual nerve damage. My process took a few months to get me the point of getting the best units for my lifestyle. I chose an "in ear" unit as not to interfere with me donning on a helmet.

My units are Bluetooth. they enable me to pair with my phone, GPS, computer. I can stream audio into my ears from those devices.
These aids are programmable, meaning I can select up to four modes. 1) Automatic ( it adjusts automatically the environment I'm in) 2) Mute ( I can silence my aids, close to earplugs) This is great when I'm in a pub with a loud band, i can lower the decibel level. It also works when I ride as I can cut out the wind noise. 3) Large halls ( Big rooms or theatres. 4) small groups, like when I'm in a cafe talking with three or four people. This can be set-up by the hearing aid facility, they can tune your aids to what ever you need.

What I found was I had to disable the selection buttons that are on the hearing aids themselves as when I put on my helmet it would activate the buttons and put them in a mode I didn't want.

I have a remote that hangs around my neck and this allows me to adjust the volume to my aids and select the mode. I can also plug in a mic if I wish to install a mic in my helmet to answer the phone when I'm riding. There are models with a keyfob remote available.

I also have an app on my phone that I can select the mode and adjust the volume on either the right or left ear.

When I ride I also have a SENA headset installed in my helmet. I have that paired to my phone. ( I haven't had it been too successful paired with my RAGE GPS) My hearing aids on the other hand can easily pair with the GPS. This is what I do when I go for a ride. I disconnect my hearing aids from my phone and it pairs with the GPS. The Sena pairs with my phone allows me to hear my music, talk to another rider with a Sena and answer calls. The hearing aids adjust volume in automatic mode, cuts out the wind noise, and I can hear the speakers in my helmet get directions from my GPS, so that's a bonus.

The other scenario is to just use the hearing aids paired to my phone and listen to my tunes whilst riding. I could hook up the external mic to my remote and tape it inside the helmet so I could answer the phone if need be. ( I could use Waze or Google to stream turn by turn directions too)

Streaming through my hearing aids are amazing! the quality of the sound is great.

A con is when the battery runs down I get an annoying warning ping to tell me I need to change the batteries.

My life is much better, I'm now able to hear those ribbing remarks made to me by my fellow ST Riders.

you can PM me if you have questions about the process. or you can ask in the thread and I will help out as best I can. There may be other riders on this forum that can impart some wisdom to assist those that are considering going for bionic ears. ;)
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SupraSabre

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It's amazing where technology as gone in the last few years.

Glad to "hear" that you were able to solve your hearing issues like you have.

My wife keeps telling me I need hearing aids, but I have such good selective hearing, I really don't think I need to! :rofl1:
 
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kiltman

kiltman

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The Bluetooth technology is what sold me. The Mute mode maintains selective hearing.... I sometimes forget to cancel that mode...:rofl1:
 
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I have (Bernafon brand) bluetooth hearing aides with a remote "necklace controller" and they are great! (My wife especially likes them! LOL). I got them through Costco.

Mine do all the same things your do but I don't have a mute mode. I think next time I go get mine digitally re-calibrated I'm going to ask them to add that profile in! Currently when I ride, I turn off the bluetooth "necklace controller" and let my Sena do all the work. (Would be nice it they integrated better since it would be great to be able to use the noise cancelling feature in the hearing aides while riding and still have full use/control with the Sena).
 
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kiltman

kiltman

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Nice post, thanks. But please, manufacturer and model... maybe a link too...? TIA

John
the units I have are Unitron CICs and are available through Connect Hearing, which have stores throughout the USA too. In Canada if you have a CAA membership (like AAA) you can get a discount. There are a number of manufacturers that have Bluetooth hearing aids.and I think that may now be the norm. They aren’t cheap. In Ontario our health insurance pays $500 per ear and that’s once every three years. My units were on sale for $3500 reg. $4500. My cost was $2500 with my health insurance discount (Canadian dollars) I get three year supply of batteries as well. Costco may be cheaper.
here's a link to the company I deal with. That price also included three accessories. The remote, an infrared dryer, a remote mic.
https://www.connecthearing.com/hearing-aids/
and this is the brand I'm using.
https://www.connecthearing.com/hearing-aids/brands/unitron/

this is the closest model I could find on their site
https://www.connecthearing.com/hearing-aids/brands/unitron/stride-ite/


 
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kiltman

kiltman

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You can also get rechargeable units, not sure I would want to pack that stuff on a weekend ride. I have a small pouch that I have in my pocket that holds spare batteries and filters (yes you gotta change filters, to deal with ear wax). I can use the pouch to put the units in at bedtime so I don't loose them.
Here's a link to the app for the phone which can also control the mode and volume for each ear.
http://unitron.com/content/unitron/global/en/professional/hearing-solutions/accessories/hearing-instrument-accessories/ucontrol.html
 

gmast1100

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I have had hearing aids for 3 years now. I have Beltones and they are Bluetooth also. Can pair to my iPhone for phone calls, music, etc. Don’t need a microphone because they pick up the vibrations in my ears and conversing on the iPhone is great. There is a button on each of them for 4 different settings. I am satisfied with them.

However, today when I went in for my free cleaning she said one of the tips came off. She looked and it’s in my ear near my ear drum. Assistant couldn’t take it out so have appointment on Tuesday for the head honch to take it out. I was wondering why my hearing had diminished the last month. All will be ok.

As I have a Senda headset also, I take my headpieces out while riding.
 

Erdoc48

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Interesting topic- I wear hearing aids as well and have for ~ 10 years- I’m still on my original set and primarily wear them at work (I have a high freq. loss so when I’m home, I really don’t need them)- they’re not BT enabled. They’re GN Resound brand. When I ride, I use Plugfones BT earpieces so I get the benefit of BT music and noise reduction. New aids are not covered insurance wise in the US and can be really expensive. I’ve had both reconstructed in the past and that’s why I want to get maximum life out of them
 

ReSTored

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My 92 yo MIL got a set of these about 2 months ago and they have really improved her hearing vs. the original set she had. She is still learning to tweak the settings for different scenarios with the remote, but so far she is very happy with them.
 
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I'm in search of good hearing aids. There are lots of brands and models, so I'm at a loss and can't make the choice. It would be great to find out the experienced people's thoughts. What is the best way to choose the devices? What things should I pay attention to?
 
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I'm in search of good hearing aids. There are lots of brands and models, so I'm at a loss and can't make the choice. It would be great to find out the experienced people's thoughts. What is the best way to choose the devices? What things should I pay attention to?
I received a pair of Oticon More 1 MiniBTE rechargeable aids through the V.A.

Incredible gift, excellent reviews, great performance, integrates with my Iphone.
 
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My take on Phonak and Oticon paired with Galaxy S10:
1) Phonak - The double-tap was very inconsistent and so unreliable. The double-tap would frequently be activated by jaw movement - chewing, talking or yawning resulting with unwanted call hangup, muting, or activation of the phone assistant. Had to turn it off. Phone conversations through the hearing aids were noisy for the other participant. Rechargable battery life is short, sometimes requiring a recharge in the early night. Would lose connectivity to one or the other hearing aid. Sometimes turning the hearing aids off then on would allow a reconnection. Turning the hearing aids off using the recharger always seemed to allow a reconnection. All the hearing aid supplies for this brand can be easily purchased online.
2) Oticon - Would loose connectivity with at least one hearing aid to the phone several times per day. I would usually discover this when receiving a phone call. On ocassion both hearing aids would be disconnected. Recovery required re-pairing the hearing aids or rebooting the phone. Turning the hearing aids off-on never helped. Infrequently, I would lose conectivity to the Oticon Clip (one ear) or more infrequently one of the hearing aids would reboot. I was surprised by this as my Oticon On did not do this.
 
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I'm in search of good hearing aids. There are lots of brands and models, so I'm at a loss and can't make the choice. It would be great to find out the experienced people's thoughts. What is the best way to choose the devices? What things should I pay attention to?
It is virtually impossible for a lay person to rationally compare hearing aids (ha's). I visited 7 places, spoke to 6 audiologists and 2 hearing specialists. That said, it probably does not matter a whole lot...but for some folks it will. I found a friend of a friend whose daughter had recently moved to my city to live near her parents. She was a Dr. of Audiology and worked for the VA. Since I was not going to be her patient, I thought what she said was untainted by a sales pitch. The hearing aid industry is very competitive, and if one mfr comes up with a new feature or improvement, within a few months everyone else will copy it. It is also pretty mature so absent a miraculous tech breakthrough, changes are going to be minor. She said the differences between brands within a given tier are also minor and few people will be able to detect differences in sound quality, but there are differences. Phonak, Signia, Oticon, and other name brands are excellent. Within any given brand, there are quality or cost differences.

Sound is composed of air vibrations from around 20 to 20,000 Hz, and hearing aids separate this range into discrete bands like a stereo equalizer. The cheapest hearing aid might have 12 channels/bands, and the most expensive might have 30. The sound quality of the expensive one will be better and it will be a better match to your hearing deficiency (my truck radio allows me to boost or decrease treble and base notes only, i.e. this gives two crude channels to adjust sound frequencies). More expensive, higher quality ha's will also have additional features.

One problem when comparing ha's is simply finding a list of the features. Siemens (Signia) has a complete list in the back of their owners manual. The Phonak website does not give (well, did not, a year ago) a detailed list of their features. I even called their customer service and they were unable to list everything. Once you have said list you will have to translate said features from advertising gobbledegook into english, and many of these so called 'features' are meaningless. Drs of A will be familiar with one or two brands that they primarily sell, and will have only a passing acquaintance with other brands.

Common features are bluetooth linking to your smartphone, linking to your TV and even a system in museums so you can have a narrated tour (this may cost $ in the museum). Your smart phone may control volume and even allow you to tweak the program somewhat. I answer phone calls through my hearing aids (well, I tap the phone, but talk thru the aid, because the buttons on the aids are so dang small), and can listen to music from my phone. Any sound the phone makes goes right to my ha's via bluetooth, including alerts, alarms, pings and dings.

Different ha's will offer custom programs for certain circumstances, for example, noisy environments, music halls, driving in a car, etc. My Oticons offer 4, some brands will give you fewer or more. My experience is the differences are minor and the 'noisy restaurant' mode does not make enough of a difference for me to bother switching to it. One thing bears mentioning here - ears are all different and my experience with my aids will probably not be the same as yours.

Warranty: The manufacturer offers a fixed warranty of two, three, or 4 years, and the hearing aid company that sells it to you will offer service for one year to forever. The service includes a checkup every 6 months (the program may drift, I've been told), and usually includes free cones (flexible part that snaps on the speaker) and free ear wax filters). My behind the ear model uses both. Several places have told me that they suggest sending the ha's back to the manufacturer just before the warranty expires saying it doesn't hold a charge. The mfr will generally simply replace the whole shebang and you get new hearing aids. This is a good idea because the rechargeable battery will not last forever. If your local provider's warranty expires you will have to pay for each visit for service or they may sell a service plan. I think these are vastly overrated - I've gone back twice in my first year. Different companies have different warranties for loss or major damage. Loss of one aid might cost anywhere from $100 to 400 to replace while within the warranty period, and double that after it expires. Do your research and compare different brands.

All Drs of A are not equal - just like I posted about eye docs recently. One, working for the biggest hospital in Cleveland and working for the ENT doctor who I saw told me their ha's (Signia) had the best frequency response of any major brand. I asked her what equipment she used to measure this freq. response and she said she did not measure anything - that's just what her patients tell her. This doc's company also had one of the hardest sales pitches that I experienced. (The MD was a cowboy, but that's another story.)

I don't know if the system on your side of the pond is different than ours - much of what I said might not be applicable.
 
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