My DIY journey with the Resound ONE 9 - Crackling noise is gone

Hearing Aid Self-Fitting and Adjusting [DIY]
#1

Hello:

On 2021 I purchased a pair of GN Resound ONE 9 hearing aids. I was having trouble with my audio in getting them to how I liked and the fitting process was something like:

  • Booking an appointment with my audi for the next week
  • Sit with her for an hour, waiting a day or so to properly assess
  • Discover that I’m not liking the changes or that something could be done differently
  • Book another appointment for the next week.

So, each iteration was extremely costly for me in terms of time. This wasn’t working. So I decided to purchase a Noahlink wireless and completely bypass by audi. That way, 10 adjustments would cost me a week, instead of two months.

And I had a very annoying and persistent problem… A crackling/pop/clicking noise in speech in noise situations.

So, I will use this thread to narrate my experience doing DIY fitting.

The first chapter of this journey was trying to get rid of that crackling noise.

Chapter 1: CRACKLING NOISE

This is related to this topic: https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/they-offered-me-a-phonak-p90-or-a-gn-resound-one-is-this-a-good-deal

Basically, there I say that I purchased a set of Resound ONE 9 hearing aids (standard receivers). I liked the way they sounded, so I got them. There was however a minor caveat: A clicking noise on situations involving speech in noise. This noise happens especially on speech inflections. Nothing terrible, I thought while trialing the aids, and I was under the assumption that I could work together with my audi to fix it.

Four months alter and we can’t get rid of this noise. I hate it. I’m out of the trial period and my only options are to accept my fate or to fight for my hearing.

So, why am I starting a new thread on the DIY section? Because I purchased a Noahlink Wireless (arriving soon to my door, I hope), and I plan to DIY the heck out of this.

So, the starting point is the following: The crackling noise is COMPLETELY GONE if I set the microphone directionality to omnidirectional, but as soon as I apply any degree of directionality, it comes back.

So… Any idea why it is behaving this way? This is puzzling me A LOT!

Update: After fiddling with DIY, creating and deleting programs, and updating the firmware, the crackling noise is gone. I still have to test it on a few different hearing environments, but I think it’s gone. As to why it happened in the first place… I don’t know. I think deleting programs and/or updating the firmware somehow refreshed the hearing aid, like turning a computer on and off again.

#2

I don’t know why the directionality setting affects things, but I wonder whether the crackling is clipping. Have you tried adjusting the MPO upwards by a few dB? You could change one and leave the other unchanged, just to try it out.

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#3

I had crackling on my old Aid and it turned out to be a faulty microphone.

It only happened on certain programs.

#4

I also think it could be one of the mics. I had a similar problem with my P90s. The crackling sound was visible in Target, customer view, unaided display. It shows the mics signal in real time. Unprocessed by the HA.
In my case it disappeared after a few days, maybe due to some sort of selfcalibration. Or the mic was beeing disabled. Just a wild guess, who knows what automatic corrections are done by SW.
Anyway, I felt that stereo zoom didn’t work as good as before.
I sent the aids back for repair.
Phonak replaced the hole aid in warranty. Comment: Mic was defect.

#5

Mics and receivers could cause the crackling.

#6

Probably not the receivers as this is happening only in selective directionality modes, not in omnidirectional.

#7

Where does the sound come from that goes into the ear?
The path is self explanatory.

#8

Sorry people for the late response…

@david.hendon I don’t know either… It does seems really weird to me. My audi raised MPO on low frequencies. But MPO is now really close to the full output of the receivers.

@zebras @sterei Mi audi ordered a replacement aid, we tested it on the clinic and I was able to reproduce the crackling with a portable speaker that I brought. So, I think that discards defective aids and faulty microphones.

@Raudrive @david.hendon so, we discarded the mics, but we also discarded the receivers, as when I first trialed the audis, they had another set of more powerful receivers.

I changed the tulips from closed to open, while the HA were setup to custom molds, and that seemed to substancialy mitigate the crackling… But it is still present.

I’m lost. I ordered a Noahlink Wireless that just arrived today. But it turns out that my HA are PIN locked!! argh!

2 Likes
#9

That’s unacceptable, ask your audiologist for the pin number.

#10

Guys, DIY is a game changer. Things that normally would take me two visits to the audiologist, are done within hours and not weeks.

So far, I created a program and started fiddling with the options.

Also, first question… I noticed that there’s quite a leap between firmware versions. My HA are on version 4.19.1.1, but SmartFit says that the newest version is 9.10.1.0. That’s quite a leap! Should I update? Or just leave things as they are?

#11

Yours are the resound? That is interesting. I have the jabra and with the ios app it listed 4. Something (I forget what it was) and that is was current but in smart fit it said 9.10.1.0. My HIS updated them last week. I don’t seem to notice any difference, but it didn’t seem to hurt any.

#12

Hello! I updated the firmware a few days ago. If the manufacturer released 5 major version leaps, it must have been for a reason. I couldn’t find any changelog, however.

The thing is… I no longer hear that damned crackling noise. Sometimes I hear a glimpse on very specific situations, but it is nowhere as before.

Now, I don’t think the new firmware had a fix for that, as I tried other pair of HA with the 4.x.x.x firmware and I could hear the crackling. I think it has something to do with the HA being cleared, somehow.

Or I could be completely mislead. Who knows? I’m happy now.

Now it’s time to fiddle with the Environmental Classifier, Noise Tracker, directional settings, different dome types… You know, the fun stuff.

#13

I know what you mean ;). I got molds and love them. Fit is very comfortable. I’m still looking for the settings for the audio streaming. Whenever I stream, or get notifications, it changes to that setting but I can’t find anywhere to actually adjust those settings…