Any experience transfering settings between Phonak models

Hearing Aid Self-Fitting and Adjusting [DIY]
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#6

Thanks, @Zebras. Yes, I should have considered the just “shut everything down” route if I need to back out. I’m more concerned about saving something to the aids and discovering that it’s not at all what I wanted, though. But if that happens, I just re-open my previous saved session and write it back out, I suppose.

So, to confirm, I’ll open a new session, connect, choose the “reset” option, set the fitting formula, whistle block, wind block, etc., then finally import the fittings from the old aids. Is that correct?

Thanks very much.

#7

You don’t need to reset the Aids because as soon as you import your settings, the settings will change anyway so won’t matter what was on the Aids previously.

Good luck.

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#8

Thanks again, @zebras, you’re awesome! Can’t tell you how much I appreciate your experience and advice on this seemingly poorly documented feature. One final question since I don’t know much about fitting formulas other than the few things I’ve found on the PhonakPro blog and in the reference library. Should I use the fitting formula from the new aids even though I’m importing settings from the old ones? Or should I use the fitting formula from the old ones from which I’m bringing in the fittings? I plan to use the whistle block, noise block, wind block, etc. from the old ones since I’m comfortable with those values. But the fitting formula is still a bit of a mystery to me. Thank you again for your advice and for patiently answering my oh-so-many questions.

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#9

I’ve personally used the same fitting formula but I guess you could try another fitting formula and see how it sounds and also transfer the settings?

#10

Sorry, when you say use “the same fitting formula”, do you mean the same one that was already on the new ones? Or the same one that went with the fitting I’m importing from the old ones? I think you mean the one from the old aids, but I want to make sure.

And if I do try a different one, you mentioned that changing the fitting formula changes a bunch of the fitting values. So, if I do try a different fitting formula, I can just import the fittings again immediately after switching to a new formula, right?

#11

You can just play around with the software to see what happens. You don’t even need to connect your Aids at this point. You can import / export settings as well without any Aids being connected.

#12

Thank you so much, @zebras! That was so frighteningly easy that I’m laughing at myself for being so hesitant to try it. The only things that didn’t transfer were the noise block, whistle block, wind block, and sound relax settings for the programs plus one of my manual programs since the Virto M aids only seem to be able to take three manual programs, and I had four on the Virto B aids.

Two quick questions for things that still need a little tweaking from the DIY experts here.

  1. The over-all volume is a little higher on these aids than it was on the Virto B. What’s the best way to adjust the over-all volume across the board for all frequencies, gain levels, and programs in Target? I see the giant table in the fine tuning tab for MPO & gain as well as the power setting in the global tuning tab. I suspect I don’t want to change the global tuning setting since it’s set at a very logical sounding “100% of prescribed”.

  2. Similarly, in my Bluetooth streaming programs for speech, music, and phone, the right ear is slightly quieter than the left. What’s the best way to adjust the over-all volume for a specific program?

I suspect the answers to the two questions above might be very similar.

Thanks again! I’m so happy with how much better these sound!

#13

This is how I raise or lower the volume. Selecting 90% or another % of target gain actually only reduces the high frequencies so I never bother with that and leave it at 100%.

EDIT - you can select ‘all programs’ or manually do each individual program.

#14

Thanks again, @zebras. Worked like a charm. There was one case where I bumped up MPO and gain on one of the Bluetooth streaming programs 4 DB on one ear (they weren’t balanced), but MPO only would go up three as if it was maxed out. I don’t think I need to worry about that, though.

Last question about this: what exactly is MPO? I know it’s max power output. Is it sort of a ceiling to keep things from getting any louder than that particular setting, and everything after that point will get compressed?

Thanks again! You all on this forum have taken a very unpleasant situation and made it right for me.

#15

I believe you’re correct. When I had analog Aids, I couldn’t stand next to a road drill (might just be a UK thing? A road drill I think is around 100 dB?) and have a conversation with my sister. With digital and the MPO set, I can hear my sister next to a road drill. My sister struggles to hear me tho but I can hear her really well.

1 Like
#16

@keith,

I’m so grateful to find your post. I’m on my 3rd set of Phonaks. Why is every purchase difficult? Why can’t they plug in the old ones, and move ahead?

DaveL
Toronto

#17

@daveL, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said the exact same thing to family and coworkers. If I have to get a new pair of hearing aids every few years to own a pair that are in warranty, why must it be such a frustrating and stressful experience? And moreover, is it really that hard for the manufacturers to make a new pair that, in calm, normal situations, will sound like the old ones did? I can understand having algorithms that improve intelligibility, especially in noisy situations, but at the end of the day, I just want my wife and kids to sound the same when I’m at home with them in a peaceful house as they did with my previous aids. Just because I get a new pair of hearing aids, I don’t want the whole world to sound different. Surely, some of the smart R&D folks at the hearing aid companies must understand that.

As you can see from this thread, I was hesitant to get myself a Noahlink Wireless and the fitting software and try changing things myself. I mean, it was my first time writing out to a pair of hearing aids, and if I screwed it up somehow (which is hard to do, by the way), I’d have to confess that I was doing something that I wasn’t supposed to be doing in the first place. Having done it, I’m so glad I did, and I’d encourage anyone who’s half way technical and who’s an experienced hearing aid wearer to give it a go. I also can’t understand why audiologists are so hesitant to use the transfer fittings feature of the software to help give new aids a shot at sounding as much like old ones as possible from the start. I’m sure there must be a reason, but it’s beyond me what it is. That did the trick for me. I’m still fighting with some shell size and vent size issue – they’re customs which introduces other challenges – but after 9 months of having these aids, they’re the best they’ve sounded yet.

And the best part is, if you do mess things up or simply are unsure what something means, the folks in this forum are always happy to help.

I’m so glad I could give you some encouragement with my post. For now on, as long as I stick with the same brand, it’ll be transferring of settings for me.

BTW, I told my audiologist that I had gotten the Noahlink Wireless device and fitting software and transferred the settings and how happy I was with the result. I don’t know why I expected him to be concerned or bothered by that. He was actually happy to hear that I had this success. So, as others have suggested on here, if you take this route, be honest with your audiologist. Chances are they won’t have a problem with it.

3 Likes
#18

keith I have a wonderful audiologist. The last one was terrible and I was an impatient for 8 years.

My hearing gets about 5% worse every year.

I want to stay in touch. I have no knowledge about self-programming.

DaveL

#19

This is valuable information, because as soon as I have my Noahlink, I want to transfer most of the settings from my Bolero V70 aids to my newly acquired Bolero M90 aids.

This forum is so great!

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#20

Just remember you’ll need to connect your Venture models to Phonak target and transfer them (export, settings) to your PC, you won’t be able to do that with Noahlink wireless, you’ll need iCube ll or HiPro.

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#21

Tenkan,

Actually it worked just the opposite. With my V70 connected to Target I couldn’t find any way to export the data, and believe me I looked everywhere. So I closed the session, turned off the icube ii, opened the previously saved session, and export showed up in the file drop down menu. I then saved it to my desktop to make it easy to find.

I installed the Airlink updater program and driver, so I should be ready when the Airlink and the slim tubes arrive middle of next week.

You gotta like it when a plan comes together :stuck_out_tongue:

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#22

Sure thing, absolutely it’s good when things just work out, hopefully everything will go fine with Airlink2 to Noahlink wireless.

Cheers

#23

Well the “used” Airlink Il arrived from Rakicomputer an Ebay dealer, and to my surprise, it appears to be brand new, just missing the original box and cable. It still had the peel off protective plastic films. It was immediately recognized by the Phonak Target software, which prompted me to do an update to work with my Phonak Bolero M90 aids, which I just did. It’s now a Noahlink. The whole process went seamlessly.

I next connected my Phonak Bolero M90 PR rechargeable hearing aids, started a new session deleting the previous fitting, set them to default, entered my slim tube and dome data, did the feedback test, and saved the file.

Next I imported the previously exported fitting data from my V70 aids, and again saved the session. Lastly I did the histogram direct, and applied it to the fittings. Prior to closing the Target software, I printed the client instructions and warranty sheet.

I paired them to my Pixel 4a5g phone and opened the MyPhonak app. Getting the app to recognize the aids was a bit of a hassle at first just like the last time, but I finally succeeded. It did require deleting the previous pairing I used for testing. The result is close to perfection. I was prepared to spend lots of time refining the settings, but initially all the original M90 automatic settings and those I imported from the v70 aids appear to be working fine including the custom music setting I have been using while playing my classical guitar.

The most difficult for me is understanding the MyPhonak app, but I will find my way around. Also there are a number of features of the Marvel 90 platform that will be new to me. Last night we were watching TV, and just like my V70 aids, I forgot I was wearing them, which in my opinion is the final test.

The icing on the cake is while working in the Target software, I clicked “check warranty,” and discovered the warranty on my new-to-me hearing aids including the added loss & damage coverage are good until the end of February 2024, so I’m not too worried yet about the rechargeable batteries, because I have almost a year to think about that.

Yowzer! What an Ebay buy! This whole project exceeded my expectations in every way.

4 Likes
#24

Awesome, it’s always good to “hear” back from people’s success stories regarding DIY.

#25

Tenkan,

So far everything appears to be working OK. I did make a change this morning to reduce the gain to 90% of target, because the newer Bolero m90 aids seem to be more powerful than my older Bolero V70 aids, and everything was a little too loud. Otherwise switching was very easy bringing my old settings across. I am a happy camper