I’ve had exactly this question in my head. Just because you walk into a meeting room doesn’t mean that you immediately want to hear only what’s coming over the mic. Suppose the guy next to you says something to you? Or suppose you’re broken up into smaller discussion groups and the stage mic is still on. That can’t be good either. I definitely want to switch the t-coil on/off myself, even if it costs me one of my four program switches. (The so-called Live Music setting doesn’t impress me anyway. For live music I generally end up preferring my Restaurant Table setting or my TV/Radio setting anyway, depending on the type of music.)
After your comment here, I went back and rechecked the effect of the refrigerator magnet that I described and I cannot duplicate what I described before. I’m now suspecting that in the process of pressing the magnet to my ear I may have bumped the program selector and just kicked into a neighboring program that was set higher. Now when I more-carefully apply the magnet to my left HA (my telephone ear), I hear a single beep out of my left HA only. Usually the right HA beeps, too, when I change a program, either simultaneously or a few seconds later. My HAs are programmed such that the left HA selects the program for both and the right HA controls the volume for both. After waiting for 20-30 seconds after applying the magnet, when I remove the magnet from near my left HA I again hear a single beep out of the left HA only.
So, it sounds like the magnet is making something happen, but not as I described it before.
Have you audi/HIS switch HA’s to manual mode through program selector and if they don’t know how to do it, have them get on the phone to Bernafon so they can walk them through it. When I have my HA’s in t-coil mode I hear a slight buzz and what is going though the loop I’m in but I don’t hear anything amplified.
OK, that makes more sense now. The magnet is just a “switching” device. It is what triggers the automatic feature in your HA to switch the HA into t-coil mode.
Yeah, for land-line telephone use, anyway. But the Bernafon tech support guy is telling me that a strong enough magnetic field from a looped room or neck loop will activate it, too.
I just now ordered a Sennheiser SET840-S. If it activates my HAs’ t-coil, so much the better. If not, I’m going to make an appointment with my audiologist to set one of my program switches to activate my t-coil manually. If none of that works out, then I’ll just use the Sennheiser system with my own plug-in headphones, which must certainly be better than just listening to the TV speakers at my wife’s volume.
I have 2 of the Bernafon TV Adapters (and one of the Phone Adapters). I have one at work connected to our LifeSize conferencing system and one at home connected to our TV. Unfortunately, the Soundgate can’t be paired to both TV adapters. To switch the Soundgate’s pairing to the other TV adapter is easy, but takes about 1 minute. After doing this many times, it seems like it takes longer than it orginally did.
Once the TV adapter and Soundgate have an active connection the range is very good. I can wander out of our conference room … easily 60 feet and still hear the audio coming through (though a bit broken up). BTW - With the phone adapter, I often get a ring directly into my hearing aides when talking outside of my office - easily 60+ feet and I have to pause our conversation and explain. It’s happened enough that I just point now :).
There is no automatic switch over. Manual only. Press the button on the SoundGate and it typically takes about 10 seconds to connect to the TV adapter.
The ‘tele-coil’ for the phone in the Verite 9 is not what is used with the SoundGate. What I’m getting at is that it’s not possible (as far as I know) with the Verite 9’s to connect to a loop system.
Hmmm, might be possible to have one of the HAs programs be able to manually enable the phone coil - I seem to recall the setting as automatic or off. I’ll check it out in the next couple weeks. Also, I hadn’t considered using a magnet to enable it when in a loop system. I’ll check that out this coming week.
Bernafon Verite 9
Freq. LL – RR / WR 44% - 60% (2010)
250 55 - 70
500 60 - 70
1000 60 - 75
2000 60 - 85
4000 90 – 95
8000 100 – 110
dg,
If you are going to keep the Bernafon’s it might be worth buying a second Soundgate; one for home and one for work, since I believe you can have up to two Soundgates paired to your HA’s. I know you can do this with Oticons Streamer which is basically identical to the Soundgate and I have two Streamers paired to my HA’s. It might be worth looking into.
Well, my Sennheiser SET840-S arrived today and I’ve learned some things already:
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Even if the system never works through my Bernafon Veras 9CP hearing aids, it’s still terrific just playing through five-dollar Panasonic light headphones. Wow, the TV volume now is set at half of what it usually had to be for me and I can clearly understand every word–even in a movie when they’re whispering. Including when I’m two rooms away or outside in the yard. I really did not expect that it would work this well.
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The system does not work with the automatically-activated t-coils in my aids, but that may be only because of the way they presently are set up. When I’m two rooms away from the TV, I can manually activate the t-coil by holding a refrigerator magnet up to either of my aids and suddenly hear the TV clearly through that aid only. So I think it’s a matter of setting up my aids so the t-coils are manual for both ears. According to an email I got from Bernafon tech support, that can be done by my audiologist. (We’ll see.)
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The system plays music from my satellite TV’s music channels in clear stereo—a really nice bonus.
It’s only been one day, but I’m very happy with this system so far.
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I stuck a small piece of magnetic tape on the sides of both of my Bernafon Veras 9CP hearing aids. That activated the t-coils and now I can clearly hear the TV through my aids via the Sennheiser SET840-S system. The sound is very clear although not as loud through my aids’ t-coil as it is when the 840-S plays through my headphones instead. With the TV set at the same low-moderate volume level, I need the volume control on the Sennheiser receiver set to 3.5 out of 6 with the headphones, 5 out of 6 with the t-coil. That doesn’t appear to be a problem, though, since the Sennheiser receiver is rechargeable.
I also discovered that you can boost the volume of the t-coils enormously if you drape the induction loop over your ears so they’re right close to your aids. It probably doesn’t look pretty (kinda like having your glasses on one of those neck cords), but if you need the extra volume for some reason, it’s there. I need my Sennheiser’s receiver volume set only at 2 out of 6 if I do this.
As I see it, the PROS of the t-coil over the headphones are: Watching a movie with my wife is more natural since I can easily hear her over the movie if she talks to me, like a person with normal hearing can, and I don’t have to pull off the extra device, i.e., the headphones, or otherwise mess with it or its cord.
The PROS of the headphones over the t-coils are: The headphones produce the TV sound in stereo and even with really-cheap headphones the sound quality is far superior to that of my t-coils—particularly when listening to a music channel, but even with voices. The t-coil sound is quite clear, but by comparison to even cheap headphones, the t-coil sound is tinny and, of course, only in mono. I also have more headroom in the Sennheiser receiver’s volume control with the headphones than with the t-coil, unless I’m willing to drape the induction loop over my ears.
Otherwise, the two options seem to work identically well. Both crystal clear with no static or drop outs.
So the next step is to have my audiologist set one of my four settable programs to manually switch on the t-coils, as Bernafon tech support tells me can be done. [EDIT: Apparently, that cannot be done with Bernafon Veras 9CP HAs with their automatic t-coil. The tech support guy must not have understood my question.]
If your audiologist is able to set one of the programs to manually switch on the t-coils you might inquire about the loudness setting in that program.
I never liked/used the t-coil program until I learned that it could be set louder by the audiologist. Previously I had thought the only option for that program was activation/nonactivation. I could see no value in it because it was never loud enough to be effective when streaming.
Since I am able to use my cell phone fairly well without the t-coil setting, I now have dedicated the t-coil program solely to the use with a neckloop/Motiva fm system. I had my audiologist make the setting much louder and I adjust the streaming volume with my fm receiver. It gives me more volume flexibility when working in a noisy environment. (As a first-time hearing aid user I foolishly chose a hearing aid without a volume control or connectivity to a remote.)
Iris, good thought, that, re asking her to boost the t-coil volume. I’ll do that. EDIT: I just now made an appointment with my audiologist—earliest I could get in was more than a month off. I knew she was good. But wow!
Funny, my first hearing aids were Bernafon Swiss Ears, which, like yours, had no volume control and I liked them better than any I’ve had so far. Light and very comfortable to wear. And I figured that since natural ears don’t come with a volume control, why should a hearing aid have them? Just set them high enough to hear everything, and completely forget about them. But that was when my hearing loss wasn’t so major. Now I very much want the ability to adjust volume and to shut them off completely. Different program settings for general use, restaurants, and TV/radio have become musts for me now,
In the last couple years I have begun to experience Eustachian tube dysfunction following colds/sinusitis which causes my hearing to decrease for weeks at a time. Something I hadn’t experienced in the past. Otherwise my entry/basic hearing aids work well. To cope at work during my challenging times I purchased the Motiva fm because it won’t influence my brand choice in the future. Am eager to see what becomes available in the next year or so! I’ll have done the research and be ready to make a better decision.
Just in case anyone else is interested in maybe purchasing this system:
I’ve had my Sennheiser SET840-S system for more than two weeks now and I use it with my Bernafon Veras 9CPs and light headphones several hours a day. (One day when we were snowed in I used it for at least eight hours.)
I like the fact that I can use my own headphones with it; currently I’m using a pair of five-dollar Panasonic stereo headphones and they work great. Never miss a word spoken by an adult actor of either gender anymore. (Little-kid actors I find more difficult.) Haven’t had to ask my wife even once “Whadshesay?” since I’ve had this system, even though—to my wife’s great relief—the TV now runs at less than half its former volume. And movies and music stations all come through in great stereo. Beautiful.
I have activated my HAs’ automatic t-coils with small pieces of magnetic tape several times now, and that has reinforced my decision to have my audiologist set up my HAs so they have a manually-activated t-coil that will work with my Sennheiser system. The sound is not in stereo though the t-coils, but with friends or family over for a movie or a ball game I’d much rather not be wearing headphones all evening. The system’s receiver and induction loop can disappear under my shirt, if I want.
My sole regret in purchasing this system is that I didn’t buy it, or something like it, years ago.
You could also loop the whole room if you wanted and once you are in the loop you will hear everything once your t coil is activated. A friend of mine had his entire house looped and you can hear the TV anywhere and I mean anywhere in the house and not miss any dialog.
I’ve read about that in other threads, but I can’t picture the details. I have a one-story house. What would I do, run just a strand of wire around the outside eaves of my house and connect that loop to a amplifier? How many loops around? What type and gauge of wire? What size amplifier? Where do I buy it?
EDIT: I guess I just found the answers to my questions. There is, of course, an entire website devoted to this subject: http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/loopsystems.htm.
Well . . . my audiologist said that it was not possible for her to set up my Bernafon Veras 9CP HAs so that one of the program switches would become a manual on-off switch for its t-coils, which normally are automatically activated. She showed me where her OASIS program did not include that as an option. So we both reread the email I had received from Bernafon tech support which I thought had said that. Actually, the tech support guy had written that my audiologist would be able to set up “the manually-activated telecoils in your hearing aids” to switch on and off with one of the program switches. But the whole point of my inquiry to him was that my t-coils are not manually activated, and I needed them to be manually activated in order to work with my Sennheiser SET840-S system. I don’t know how I could have written my inquiry more clearly; I think he just must have read it in a hurry—like I did his answer.
SO . . . I ended up making my HAs’ t-coils work for TV anyway by taping small magnets to the ear pieces of my backup eyeglasses—the magnets activate the automatic-only t-coils in my Veras 9CPs and TV sound then comes through the Sennheiser system directly to my aids. The sound is in mono, not stereo as it is when listening with my headphones, but the TV voices are clear.
I still intend to use my Sennheiser system with stereo headphones most of the time because the quality of the cheap stereo headphone sound—both in voices and music—is far, far superior to the t-coil sound. But when we have friends or family over to watch a movie or ball game, I really don’t want to sit around with them all evening wearing headphones. So I plan to use my backup eyeglasses with their magnets to activate the t-coils in my hearing aids on those occasions. I guess there really is more than one way to skin a cat.