Crackling sound in Hearing Aid

[Member94]

Hi,

For background:
I own a pair of Starkey AI aids which I’ve had since the beginning of the year, bought and fitted through Amplifon. I usually just wear my right HA most of the time but I do have both.

I recently started adjusting these myself with Inspire X as I was becoming too frustrated with the constant appointments to try and adjust the aids and getting nowhere.

Last week I adjusted the aids for the first time and the sound quality improved compared with how it was previously - I managed to reduce some of the frequencies that were uncomfortably loud and improve the clarity a bit. Which I am pleased with.

The problem I am having is this: I seem to have a crackling sound with louder sounds. It happens when I raise my voice, or with some other loud sounds, but doesn’t happen at low/medium volume. In the past, when I’ve had issues with crackling it has usually been a receiver wire problem and would occur with all sound going through the aid, sound I do t think it’s that (I have tried changing the receiver wire anyway but still the same issue)

Any thoughts on this?

I have noticed that I don’t have this issue in the left aid (I usually just wear this one in the evening when I’m the house/watching to etc).

Something else I have noticed is that my output is maxed out in the lower frequencies. In fact, it would appear my aid’s MPO is a lot lower in the lower frequencies than it is at mid-high frequencies so I can’t adjust the low end any higher than I have it currently. Are all hearing aids this way? Or have I been offered a hearing aid that is possibky not suited to my predominantly low-frequency hearing loss?

Any advice on this would be appreciated!

Thanks

[1Bluejay]

Hmmm… no audi here, but maybe you have a faulty speaker? If it’s only in ONE aid, perhaps send it in for testing/repair.

As for the MPO being too inflexible for lower frequencies, yes, I believe aids have a profile that fits particular audiograms. For instance, I need POWER, higher-end models by any maker to accommodate my need for major boost across the board.

Could be that your Starkey AI aids either need the program limits tinkered with or they are already at the limit for the model you have.

Hope someone with more technical knowledge chimes in here. As for the crackling issue, that sure sounds like malfunction - NOT a frequency ceiling issue.

[Moore8]

If you could post a screenshot of your fitting screen (the one with the graph type display of your gain curves) this should help us explain what you are experiencing

[user990]

Here is what the Starkey troubleshooting guide shows. You might want to download a copy if you are DIY.

• Distorted
• Crackles
• Unnatural/like a megaphone
Voice Sounds
Voice Sounds

Inspire Adjustments
• Decrease Moderate Gain at 1000Hz and/or 1500Hz
• Decrease Loud Gain
• Decrease Overall Output

Other Considerations
• If decreasing Overall Output worsens sound quality, consider increasing
Overall Output

[Member94]

Thankyou both for responding!

I have had a look at that section of the Starkey manual thanks for sending that over though I will have another play with these and see if it makes a difference.

My graphs are here:
This is my right ear, the one I have a the crackling with and the one I wear day to day.

Left aid

Thanks for your help!