Callers CAN'T HEAR me when I'm streaming with Phonak Lumity Life BT V12

Hearing Aids
#1

OK. This was mighty frustrating. I am making all kinds of calls to do my due dilligence on the Medicare plans, but finding that when I try to stream the call, folks on the other end just go, “Hello?! Hello?! Anyone there?” while I’m shouting back, “YES! CAN YOU HEAR ME?” till I’m hung up on like I’m some kind of crank caller.

Is it the BT version 12? Is it my Lumity Life aids? How come I can hear them perfectly but the person on the other end can not even tell I’m on the call at all!?? Is this some kind of gov’t surveilance boondoggle for us who wear hearing aids?

Today, I hung up in frustration, put my aids in Acoustic Phone program and had a totally frustrating call with someone who spoke with ENORMOUS accent that just stressed me out. Acoustic Phone is a lifesaver, but if I’m going to be on the phone for 45 or more min talking about the nuances of 5,000 Medicare gap and drug plans, I’d like that call to be streamed HANDS-FREE! If I have to hold the phone up to my ear, I’ll get phone-elbow-itis in short order.

Speakerphone is way worse than Acoustic Phone for speech clarity as it picks up all the ambient sounds.

Anyone else out there in the same boat?!?

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#2

Which phone do you have?
Apple or Android?
How old are they?
What is “Streaming”!
Do you use your phone as normal, meaning you get call through your HA and you talk “in the air”, then your HA picks up your voice and send it to the other end of the phone line?
Just trying to understand.

I suppose you have a Phonak Lumity.

Also, Are you on a boat? :motor_boat:
If yes, that would explain your problem, I guess.

#3

KS10 and Android 12 works fine for me except the excess discharge issue. But when I first got the KS10s and paired them to my previous phone I had some issues. Can’t remember the details, but switching from or to adaptive bandwidth cured it. I think I posted about it at the time.

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#4

And THANKS for your questions! I hope I can figure this out cuz all next week I’ll be on the phone with Medicare providers. Sigh. Our brains get older, but every year, we jump through hoops to figure out the Open Enrollment options - like it’s New Year’s Eve and we all look forward to it? It’s ridiculously complicated to just get the plans lined up: A, B, D, and gap.

But I digress… :woozy_face:

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#5

@1Bluejay Thank you for your answers.
I think you might have the same problem as my brother, he uses Phonak Naida Paradise, and he seems to hear people just fine when on a phone call, it is just people on the other side of the line who are struggling (and he doesn’t care :rofl:).
I believe it is because of the microphones in the HA that picks up your voice.
So, for instance if you are near a wall or small quiet space, people should hear you just fine, but if you are in an open space and a noisy one, well, not sure they can understand you.

@Zebras has had some experiment with some phonak parameter, she might be able to explain it better than me.
But in nutshell, you might need to be in a space where your voice can bounce back to your HA’s microphones, so people can hear you, and/or follow @Zebras tips.

I think it has to do with HA microphones not optimum in picking up your voice.

I hope this helps.

I though you were on a boat, since you didn’t want to subject your HA to water, but this time around you’ve chosen to be above the water rather below the water, just my assumptions. :crazy_face:

Note: I could be totally wong, hopefully someone on this forum can confirm or correct me.

#6

LOL! You got that right! I won’t even bob on a floater in the water - no water aerobics for me either. I’ve learned my lesson!

You are right about the oddity of that MIC! It started with the automated attendant on the call to a Medicare provider: “Are you a member or a doctor?” Dang robo operator could not even HEAR me. It kept saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that!” I would guess PRESS ONE for YES, and that got me (after half a dozen robo-queries) to an actual HUMAN.

That’s when the person also said, “Anyone there? If you’re on the line, I can’t hear you.”

AUGH. Technology that drives us nuts. I can stream to about 95% of my other calls, but these gov’t-related services and some medical providers may have either NSA-monitored or OLD technology that can’t deal with streamed calls using Bluetooth.

I’m EVER so grateful for Zebras, cuz a couple years ago she mentioned Acoustic Phone. My own audi had never even heard of it, and when I asked him to set the program up (on my older Marvel aids) he had to call Phonak and be walked through the process.

I hope we also get more techies on here to tell us: is this a local cell tower issue? A Bluetooth version issue? A gov’t NSA-type back door on the switchboard kinda thing? Otherwise it will remain a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma!

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#8

Does this happen even when you’re in a quiet room?

Can rule it out by trying.

If being in a quiet room solves the issues, then try the settings to help in noise that I have posted.

#9

Yep! I was in my home office with NO ambient sound around me. I think the other clue is that even the robo-attendant can’t “hear” me. Why would that be?

I think I should try calling the same number with BT off, and me just holding the phone up to my ear. If the robo-attendant can hear, and I’m shunted through to a live person, then the cause must be some function of my aids, BT and the streaming nature of phone calls.

#10

Yes, you could also try it with your Marvel as well?

@1Bluejay

#11

Have P90. Usually the other side (when calling) understands me.
If my surroundings are loud, it is difficult for the other side.

In the meantime, does anyone know of an app for Android that allows the microphone to be switched from Phonak hearing aid to Android phone microphone during phone calls?

#12

Hi there, you do get this option in android phones now, you have a choice to pick from internal mic/ Speaker phone or bluetooth, you can switch between them.

#13

Ack. I’ve read others saying the same that folks sometimes have trouble hearing a person who’s streaming via Bluetooth with Phonak aids. Is this just an Android problem, or is it also with iPhones?

My quick fix for that would be:

  1. Turn Bluetooth OFF; that automatically kills the Phonak streaming
  2. Put my aids in “Acoustic Phone” program; that lets me hear the caller stereophonically - it’s almost as good as streaming a call.

The little DeViL in me wants to tell that person, “So now YOU know how it feels to not hear someone on the phone! Welcome to my world.” Except that wouldn’t be very nice, and I have two options for SUPERIOR hearing on my Android phone: 1.) Bluetooth streaming to my aids, and 2.) Acoustic Phone program. LIFESAVERS - both of them! :smile:

#14

What ist “Acoustic Phone”? An App or a setting in android?
If a setting in android, where to find it?

#15

Ok. I think i know, what “Acoustic Phone” is:
Another programm that can be programmed into the hearing aids via Phonak Target.

As far as I know, this only enables analogue hearing:
Telephone speaker to ear and possibly forwarded to the other ear.
This is not comparable in quality with the intelligibility via Bluetoth for the hearing impaired.

#16

Actually I thought phone calls were analogue, like the old landline, like t-coil.

#17

Sorry for my delay getting back to you! YES, it is indeed a dedicated program to set up in Target sw. However, speaking for my own cinderblock ears, Acoustic Phone DOES work - at least for me - almost as good as streaming a call. I think cuz it’s stereophonic. Granted, it won’t replicate that almost “inside my brain” kind of hearing that BT streaming gives one, but I’ve used it MANY MANY times on important calls.

For instance, it seems that SOME gov’t sites (eg my Medicare drug plan provider) simply won’t stream to BT! I have no idea why. Even tho my aids are always paired + connected to my phone, after dialing my provider, it drops the streaming and goes to single ear analog. I will literally hang up on the person, put my aids into Acoustic Phone, redial, and then continue a conversation stereophonically.

I seem to hear 90% better with Acoustic Phone than just a phone to my ear, and 100% better with BT streaming. For Acoustic Phone, my phone doesn’t have to touch my ear, but it has to be close - not sitting on top of a desk.

#18

if there is noise around you try wearing these noise protection headphones. I wore it when there was a lot of noise outside and others could hear me well because the hearing aid picked up the sound of the speech vibrating inside the head. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPyNxKcs_a2_0Rw6k12NPoVP3kGKcJQy7oVg&usqp=CAU

#19

Thanks for the details. Maybe i will try it, but only for situations, when i will call. Maybe from a full bus.
Bluetooth calling is the best thing since Marvel, Paradise, Lumity, i got in my hearing-aid-life. Before i could “understand” only 50-60 % of a call (analog).

It is so bad, that sonova does not give a chance, to use the mic of the phone or the mic of the aid.

#20

In the past, I have used telecoil with no Mics in for iPhone calls. That way my Aids only pick up the call rather than background noise. You have to put the phone your Aid.

#21

I have now added “acoustic telephone” as an additional program.
Then spoke to my wife on the phone. I was sitting in the windy garden
She understood me much better because the smartphone microphone was used by me.
I switched to bluetooth HAs and “accustic phone”.

I understood her better than only one-sided via my smartphone, but much worse than via Bluetooth over my hearing aids.

Nevertheless, I leave the additional programme for situations when it is very loud around me: e.g. in the bus, or when there is a lot of wind.
Also when I have a conversation with an government, for example.

Which is not so nice:

  1. An additional programme that has to be skipped when changing programmes.
    Sonova should the user let the choice, wich mic to use.
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