Ks9 hearing aids
Do phone calls ring in hearing aids?
Do alert tones sound in hearing aids?
Question for users migrating from ks6 with an iPhone to ks9. How do you rate connectivity and sound quality between the two hearing aids?
I’m considering a ks9 trial. I feel apple mfi has gone backwards in the past four years.
Yes, and yes. I’ve set my phone to auto answer after two rings also, it even announces who is calling if in my contacts. Pretty funny.
RDB
RDB, How did you do this. I’ve tried with my iPhone but to no avail. Please advise.
Some of these sort of things you stumble across. I have android, S8, and under Sounds in Settings it was shown as “answering and ending calls” at the bottom under “Looking for something else.” I clicked on it and found it to both answer auto, and say the name. It says the name pretty fast and it took a while to realize it was actually working. LOL
RDB
If you have an iPhone and ks9 hearing aids do phone calls and texts sound in your hearing aids?
I couldn’t find that setting on my Android version 9, but I do have an app called “Shouter” that announces all my calls and texts and various other things I chose when I’m anywhere except in my car.
In my car, Alexa announces calls and reads texts at my request, and also at my request I can dictate replies which Alexa reads back to me for accuracy before sending. It even pauses my news or music program to make these announcements, and then resumes mid-sentence or mid-note when finished.
Two different apps for two different situations.
Also, I’ve started following the Marvel threads here on Hearingtracker, and have been interested to find that, even though the Marvel has a few more features, they seem to have the same complaints about the same frustrations and the same enjoyment of what is going well with the Marvels as we do with the KS9s. It’s added some insight for me. We are very lucky to get that Connector for $99 from Costco whereas they are paying about $250 for exactly the same unit.
Many complaints there about Phonak’s implementation of bluetooth breaking up, and getting around it using the Airstream TV connector for superior sound and clarity where possible.
To have your IPhone announce calls
Settings
Phone
Announce Calls - Select your choice
Yes, my iPhone speaker always announces the caller’s ID (I selected the “Always” option under Announce calls). But how do I get my KS9 HAs to announce it? I tried both the “Headphones Only” and “Headphones and Car” options. Neither worked.
I’m sorry I must have misunderstood, my phone announces the call not my hearing aids
No problem. My question arose when RBD reported that he did it (using his S8 phone).
Has anyone done it with an iPhone?
Hi, I just got my KS9 this past Saturday and was wondering if they are set up correctly.
Every now and than they appear to mute for a few seconds and than go louder again.I I know the HA person set them up on automatic.
When I was in the restaurant later that evening everything sounded loud (background noise). I thought the background noise would blocked.
This is the first time I am wearing hearing aids. Am I expecting to much?
I love the way the bluetooth works from my cell phone.
.
Keep good notes of what is working and not working for you and go back for adjustments but give yourself at least 2 weeks before make the next adjustments and about a month for any more adjustments so you are sure you need them. You have to give yourself time to adjust to wearing hearing aids.
I think Ccvemp’s advice is good. I too am new to HAs and I got the KS9. I didn’t have any of the problems you mention… or, at least, I didn’t really notice them. I knew I had to give myself a few weeks to get used to using aids. I love being able to hear better… and I am still getting used to the “tinniness” I hear in high frequencies. I’m guessing I just need to get used to that too.
Was fitted yesterday with the KS9 devices in Watford in the UK. Just to let the international audience here know, Watford is a town about 10 to 15 miles north of London and is the location of one of the 4 Costco Warehouses in the UK. I won’t go into the distractions that I had yesterday - Levis 501s for £35 and a whole aisle of Xmas goodies including Lindor chocolate and Ferrero Rocher at knocked down prices 
Anyway, the audiologist was efficient and quickly did a REM and set me up on NAL-NL2. It didn’t sound loud enough at first, so she set it to 110% prescriptive target. I have clear custom cshell moulds, which disappear into my ear - apparently not very noticeable from the side, and the aids themselves are remarkably small - about half the size of my previous Venture V90 aids. Did a quick check outside in the main warehouse area, the audiologist talking behind me. Went through the Easy Line Remote App and the basic settings. Did not add any manual programs - so just had the automatic program.
Observations so far:
The high frequency pick up is something to behold. I could hear the rustling of food wrappers and other sounds - not obtrusively with very good clarity
The transitioning between automatic programs is unnoticeable. I couldn’t tell if any switches were made. This to a large extent is true of the previous Phonaks - the Venture.
The connection to my phone - Samsung 8, was very good and the streaming was good.
Plugged in the TV connector. Found that for some reason it would not connect to the usual Audio out socket with the Optical cable - no green light - but I had to plug it into the Satellite Audio out socket instead. This is a slight disadvantage as it means that for digital non-satellite programs, I won’t be able to use the connector.
Tried then to connect to my laptop. This is when the fun started and I discovered the one device pairing limitation of the KS9s. If you are going between the phone and the laptop (I am sure this is a known fact now in this forum), it’s ok pairing at first to the laptop, but when you go back to the phone, you have to forget (disconnect) the current device (in this case the laptop) and re-pair the phone (which has to be removed from the device list before you do this), and you also must turn the hearing aid on and off (before you remove and re-pair). This is not a deal breaker for me, but it is slightly inconvenient. Hopefully the KS9 will get a firmware update to fix this at some point, and I will ask the fitter to ask Phonak/Sonova about this.
Overall, it’s pretty impressive for a 1st fit straight out of the box. I will get Noahlink Wireless and change to the Phonak adaptive prescription formula and do some tinkering soon.
Need to check their performance in noise.
There is a follow up appointment in a month.
Glucas - nice review. Visited your fair city to the South this summer to see the Red Sox / Yankee baseball game during the heat wave. Ug! But we enjoyed the visit. We are in Georgia USA.
My KS9 are on order. Phone is also S8. Question on pairing:
To pair to laptop - turn on laptop BT then open (shutoff) and close (turnon) each aid’s battery door to pair the HA to the laptop? To switch to the Cell phone - turn off the laptop BT, turn on the Cell phone BT then open and close the battery doors to pair to the HAs to the cell? Correct? A bit of a pain but I did note that the KS9 only pair to one device at a time whereas the Marvel Audeo M90 pair to two devices. Hopefully Sonova can change this, but I assume this is one way to add value to the pricier Marvels.
So can you pair one HA to the laptop and the other to the Cell phone at the same time - kind of a half and half solution so you can use both?
Also, you mentioned that the transitioning from one automatic program to another was not noticable. However, could you tell from the Aid’s performance whether a change was in fact made? Do you know how many automatic programs there are?
Will be interested in your noise testing … crowds, restaurants, social settings, etc.
Good luck and keep us updated. All the best.
Hi JJR,
Thanks for the response. Not had the pleasure of Georgia! (Only Tennessee and Arizona in the southern states).
Yeah - the pairing is a bit of a pain. I think you have described it right. Once the aids are paired to one device, you can pair it to another, but when you try to go back to the original device you have to shut it down(by switching it off and on), lose that device and re-pair it.
Great question on whether you can pair individually. I don’t think so - because one aid has to be dominant - at least that’s what I was told yesterday.
On automatic changes - absolutely - otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to hear the radio in the car, or talk in noise. There is only 1 automatic program - but it switches to around 7 or 8 programs (which can be set manually and switched to if preferred) - from memory, when I saw the list yesterday - there was Calm Situation, Comfort in noise, Speech in noise, Speech in loud noise, Echo, Music, Car. I cannot remember the remaining 1.To complicate this further, the AutoSense 3.0 may blend some of those programs even further. Phonak talks of over 200 different configurations.
I will post updates as I haven’t had time to really test them in noise. Hope they are useful.
Cheers.
Since you can not use BT for more than one source, it is best paired to your phone, and use a TV connector for all others, works great with the computer.
RDB
I had a similar experience and it turned out the bluetooth on my phone kept connecting. I notice it especially when moving or driving, but not as much when remaining in one place. I ended up turning off the bluetooth for audio when I’m not using it. Bluetooth for phone calls is still active.
