I’ve had my first HAs - Oticon More 1s - for 9 months and am generally very pleased, now that I’ve adapted. But I’m wondering if the programming can be tweaked to give better results when I’m cycling. I ride mostly solo and long distances, including multi-day tours. Sometimes it’s nice to hear music or an audiobook. Until recently I didn’t feel safe with headphones or earbuds, but that changed when I got a Garmin Varia Radar Tail Light, which played overtaking vehicle warnings through my AirPod Pros via Bluetooth. I wondered if I’d still be happy when I got HAs, but it turns out the HAs are even better! Not only do they automatically semi-mute the music when there’s a big change in ambient sound (like an overtaking vehicle), they bump up my hearing to where I can hear cars behind me well before the Varia detects them with radar. Of course, the music doesn’t sound as good on the HAs, even with the MyMusic program, but it’s a decent trade-off.
Now I’m wondering if anything’s been left on the table. Is there any way to suppress wind noise? It gets bad above 15 MPH. It was better riding in the cold with a headband, but now it’s too warm for that. Is there any way to emphasize rear directionality so I can hear even further behind me? Is there any way to bump the bass more than what is offered by the equalizer? Any other suggestions from you HA/cycling folks?
Thanks,
Joel
If you are using domes which would make sense with your hearing loss, about all I can recommend would be to talk to your audiologist to see if the aids are set to the highest level for wind noise if not the audiologist could help with a setting change. My hearing is much worse than yours,I wearing the More1 aids with custom ear molds and I don’t have issues with wind noise. I ride my Vespa Scooter at speeds up to 70+ miles per hour. I do wear a half shell helmet but I have to even went bare headed for short cool down rides without any wind noise issues. My aids are set to maximum wind noise rejection and also the same for all noise like restaurants.
It’s too bad you already had the More for 9 months. The recently released Real specifically has sudden sound stabilizer and wind & handling stabilizer technologies added to it, on top of what is in the More. The More is supposed to have some kind of basic wind noise management, but many people (myself included) have found it to be inadequate. So I expect the Real’s wind noise management to be a step above what the More does in this regard.
One option to reduce wind noise without having to wear a headband is to buy a pair of Ear Gear sleeves or the equivalent of it to help cut down on wind noise, and also helps with sweat, moisture and dirt while outdoors.
I don’t think there’s any kind of directionality setting for rear facing beam forming. There’s only the Full Directional value in the Directionality Settings for front beam forming. But maybe by the time the wind hits the aids and you hear it, that wind sound is already on the sides or even passing behind you, so MAYBE it’s worth trying to set the Directional Settings to Full Directional (front beam forming) to see if it helps with the sides and rear attenuation. But do this in a different program and not the default program so you’re not stuck with Full Directional when not cycling.
If you’re streaming from your iPhone to your More, or from the ConnectClip for a standard Bluetooth device to your More, you can have your audi set the Power Bass to High to give you more bass perception. It doesn’t make a 'wow" difference, but at least something is better than nothing. See the screenshot at the bottom here which shows the page on Genie 2 where you can set this Power Bass setting. It’s for the iPhone, but the same can be set for the ConnectClip or the TV Adapter as well, if you have those, too.
You mentioned using the AirPods Pros before, but changed to the More so you’re able to hear the surrounding ambient environmental sounds better for safety. I assume that you’re aware that your AirPods Pro can accommodate and compensate for your audiogram if you set up your audiogram into the iPhone Health app and set it the AirPods for audiogram accommodation, right? If not, make sure to do this, and music from the AirPods will sound even better.
Here’s a thought, instead of foregoing using your AirPods (with audiogram accommodation) and stream music via the More instead (to have ambient sounds awareness, why not use BOTH? Just wear the More (I assume you have the RIC type) for ambient sounds awareness, then plug the AirPods into your ears at the same time over the More? You can put the AirPods in Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) so you’ll hear only the music from the AirPods, but the More’s mics will pickup and amplify the ambient sounds for you just the same. I just tried wearing my OPN in parallel with my AirPods Pro 2 on top of it, and I’m able to listen to (audiogram accommodated) music just fine from my iPhone, while my OPN still gives me perfectly aided ambient sounds awareness. Of course a caveat is that you must be wearing a dome with some vent available to let the AirPods sound in. Or if you wear a custom mold that sticks out a little and there’s no room left to plug the AirPods into your ear, then it wouldn’t work either.
Technically, the AirPods Pro should also have a Transparency mode that can provide you with ambient sounds awareness as well, but you’re going to have a wind problem with the AirPods just like with the More. On top of that, it’s been found that the AirPods Transparency mode, while does seem to do audiogram accommodation, doesn’t amplify anywhere near enough to meet the required target for your audiogram even for a mild loss (although the streaming audiogram accommodation seems to do better in my personal opinion). But if you use ANC to stop the wind issue on the AirPods and use it only for music listening, then put the Ear Gear sleeves over your More to cut down on the wind noise, maybe you can get the best of both worlds.
I have Starkey Evolv HAs and using RidewithGPS (android app) the varia radar sounds are played through BT to my HAs. I also hear navigation instructions in my HAs.
If I choose, music can play at the same time, it decreases music volume when navigation or radar is playing. It’s set to mute the microphones when nav/varia is playing.
I can adjust what the mics transmit to the ear (3 levels), adjustment of the nav/radar is the volume control on my Pixel 7.
Typically I ride with my outdoor setting, it filters wind noise the most and allows omnidirectional sound, so I have an idea where any noise is coming from.
I don’t know if any of this is transportable to the HAs you have. I also tweak the programming of my HAs using the same software my Audi uses to make the sound better for music and amp up wind noise reduction. The app on my phone doesn’t have nearly the ability to do what I can with the software.
I also have ear gear covers on my HAs. They help with wind noise and keeping the HAs clean.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve already tweaked my AirPods, but it never occured to me to put them in with the the HAs. I’ve made an appt with my audi to discuss your other suggestions. And I ordered EarGear sleeves. As for the new Oticon Real model… Yikes! Is there any market for nearly new More 1s?
I don’t have access to the Audiologist level software, but I’ll ask what can be done. I don’t have any “outdoor” program in my HAs, so that’s probably a good starting point. For the rest, I also use RWGPS and have much the same setup as yours. Thanks.
I wasn’t aware of the existence of the Garmin Varia Radar Tail Light so thanks for sharing that info.
When I’m out road or mountain biking, I have a relatively large mirror on the left side of my handlebar. The helmet mirrors don’t cut it. It looks very dorky but is very effective in seeing what’s behind me and I’ve gotten used to keeping an eye on the mirror.
I then turn the aid microphones very low or off and the music / podcast is crystal clear. I’m trialing the Real 1s now and had my audi set up a program as a copy of the Calm Program and turn down gain across all frequencies. I asked for this program to give me a “virtual off” mode (so I didn’t have to go through the time-consuming process of shutting the Reals off) and a mode suitable for walking down a very noisy street in a big city. I haven’t yet biked with this mode but I expect it will work well to provide just enough road noise to work with my mirror and not affect streaming quality. I haven’t really had occasion to test out the Real’s wind capabilities but I can attest that the “touch capabilities” (no feedback when HAs are jostled) work quite well.
The Oticon App unfortunately doesn’t let the user save custom programs like the Phonak App does. My bet is Oticon will fix this shortcoming in the near future and that will give us a way to create, save, and engage a custom program for things like biking, listening to the radio in the car, and other highly specific situations where the automatic program may not be sufficient.
Also, if you’re not too far outside your 9 month window, I’d push to get the Reals as a replacement.
I use small 2” square 1/2” thick pieces of light foam with holes poked in the middle. I slide them on my glasses then push them against my ears to act as wind guards to slow air flow over the tops of my ears. Made a big difference. I also have made donut foam pieces to slide on my HA that cover the microphone to again resist wind noise.
I use Rexton m-core aids.
Good luck.
Here are some other products for reducing wind noise.
I have the airsteamz on my helmet straps.
Thanks, HitFactor. I ordered AirStreamz - worth a try!
The Oticon aids from the OPN up to the Real subscribe to the Oticon’s promoted “open” paradigm, so they’re designed to take in sounds 360 degrees around them most of the times, unless you specifically create a program to beam form aggressively to the front only. That’s why there’s no “outdoors” built-in program for these Oticon hearing aids. The default P1 program from Oticon is already perfectly suitable for the outdoors environment, as many of the other Oticon built-in programs are as well.
I would love to see this, too. It’s definitely doable and would make Oticon a lot more popular if they give a lot of the controls are currently are in Genie 2 over to users to choose from. Many of the options in Genie 2 are ON/OFF buttons or selectable levels for you to choose from, so it’s not that complicated to give out to the hands of the users to control. For sure there are some other stuff that you don’t want to users to mess around with and best left alone for the HCP to do for you.
I think the real issue here is that if too much controls are given to the users, the HCPs may not be happy about it because the dependence on them and subsequently, their perceived value, would be reduced. But maybe some HCPs may see this as a time saving opportunity that can cut down on the number of follow-up visits, which can save them a lot of time as well.
Just like the Remote Support feature can be a time saver for the users to cut down on the actual travel time to the HCP office, maybe overtime Oticon will see the advantage of relinquishing a lot of these easier controls over to the hands of the users for use.
I did several rounds with my audiologist experimenting with settings I had read about in Oticon’s tech literature. We didn’t find any noticeable improvement over the original P1 and MyMusic programs. My audi was willing to keep going but I felt it wasn’t worth the driving time to continue. If I could access the controls in Genie 2 at home I might fool around some more. It’s very cool technology, but I’m not likely to become an HA tinkering enthusiast as are some of the folks on this very helpful and informative forum.
The P1 default program is really designed to be an all around single program that would fit for almost all kinds of different environments, so it’s no surprise to hear from you that you don’t really need more customizable programs, especially at your level of hearing loss which is mainly between normal to moderate. And of course the MyMusic program is probably the only other program you may want to have for music, although I’m willing to bet that listening to music with the default P1 program is not too bad either, albeit not as good as with MyMusic only.
I can already picture you as the techno cycling road warrior in terms of hearing gears, sporting both hearing aids and possibly AirPods, and smart apps for road alert, and Ear Gear and AirStreamZ for wind noise reduction to boost. Very cool indeed! 
You got me pegged perfectly! How good to be truly seen. Amazon has shipped…
I didn’t know about the new model Oticons and I made an appt with my audi to see if anything can be done in the way of upgrade/trade-in. I wish I could just plunk down for the Reals, but I’ve got grandchildren to put through college…
When I think about it, my recently acquired electronics tech - AirPods, Varia, Oticons - has made more of a difference in my cycling life than anything since STI indexed shifting came along around 1990.
Great post and I love the Varia for exactly the same reason too.
For me EarGear have been my saviour. Like a cover for an outdoor microphone they minimise the wind noise greatly.
The Varia has been a game changer.
Making it REAL!
Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I bought the accessories and applied the tweaks and did not find total joy, so I went to see my audiologist. She made a few additional tweaks, including a special program just for cycling. Then we discussed whether I might benefit by upgrading from More (which I’ve had six months) to Real. She said there’s only one way to find out and gave me Reals to trial, programmed as close as possible to my Mores.
Wow! It’s rare these days that a new model lives up to marketing claims, but IMO Oticon has understated the efficacy and value of the Real’s new features and improvements. The reduction in wind noise when I’m on the bike is dramatic. I think I could easily tell Reals from Mores in a blind A-B test. In addition - and I didn’t see this in the marketing literature or in posts here - the Reals appear to have eliminated the bogus auto-muting of streaming sound that occurs in high wind. With the Mores, when I went over 20 MPH the streaming music muted so much that I couldn’t hear it even at top volume. With the Reals, I can ride downhill at 40 MPH with little apparent wind noise, streaming music easily heard at middle volume, and overtaking traffic easily noticed through my HAs before my Garmin Varia RTL issues a warning. I am pleased and surprised, because reading other cyclists’ posts here had lowered my expectations. So I guess I’m keeping it REAL.
Today I went back for a second fitting of the Reals. My Audi did a REM test and made some adjustments. We talked about streaming music bass response, and I am experimenting with Bass Double Vent domes (instead of OpenBass). I also have it in mind to try riding with a foam NRR32 earplug in just one ear. With foam plugs in both ears, the Oticons’ bass is almost as good as my AirPod Pros, so I’m hoping for enough bass in the plugged ear and still being able to hear overtaking traffic with the unplugged ear. Stay tuned.
Here’s some detail on the accessories. The Ear Gear Mini Cordless Covers were of little benefit on the bike. With the Mores, they did block some wind noise when I was on the drop bars, head down and hammering, with the airflow coming over the top of my ears. With the Reals, the new wind reduction tech makes them unnecessary. The helmet strap wind deflectors made a big difference with the Mores. I tried three: Wind-Blox Pro, Cat-Ears AirStreamz and Cat-Ears Classic Slim. The Wind-Blox are just plain awkward and ill fitting. The Cat-Ears AirStreamz are not as effective as the Classic Slims, but the Classic Slims are undeniably goofy/geeky looking. I’m not sure I’ll keep using anything on my helmet straps, but it’ll take some time to sort it out. For now it’s the Classic Slims.
One final note, the Reals appear to pretty much eliminate my tinnitus, which why I got HAs in the first place. The Mores were pretty effective at killing the tinnitus, but the Reals are close to 100%. I sure didn’t expect that. It’s so much quieter and calmer inside my head that I’m wondering if it’s placebo effect or confirmation bias or some other trick I’m playing on myself. But I’ll take it!
Boy, you’ve been a very busy bee trying out all these things since your first post. Quite impressive in terms of active problem solving! Congrats on finding a solution that works best for you.
I’m a little confused about your tinnitus comment. Did you enable tinnitus on the More, and now also on the Real, at all? Or was this comment more about being able to hear sounds around you that helps act as beneficial noise to calm your tinnitus? As far as the open paradigm is concerned, I’m not aware of any improvement from the More to the Real, in terms of being able to obtain a better and more well balanced soundscape for your hearing. Nevertheless, whether it’s a placebo effect or whether it’s the 2 new feature additions that do something differently to the overall performance, I agree that you can take it as a win either way.
Just out of curiosity, were you able to exchange or upgrade your More to the Real after only 6 or 9 months of use? Even if not, the More would make a very nice backup pair of aids for you anyway.
I don’t have the tinnitus SoundSupport feature turned on. My audi suggested I see how I did without it, even though my tinnitus was intrusive and annoying, since I didn’t get any relief with iPhone tinnitus apps. It turned out that, as you suggest, hearing the sounds around me better let my brain ease up on the self-generated false sound that is tinnitus. It happened within days of getting my first More HAs, before my first follow-up fitting session, even. And it happened even when I wasn’t streaming music to mask the tinnitus, which I did non-stop before I got HAs and continue to do even with the Reals (although I’m trying to wean myself away from that).
I don’t have a final answer from my audi about how much, if anything, I’ll have to pay for the exchange. They are in communication with Oticon, but I think the Oticon folks are away at a conference and it might be a few more days before things are settled. I didn’t keep the Mores, because my audi said that since they are almost new they can go back to Denmark to be remanufactured and then sold at a discount. That beats gathering dust in a drawer. My audi said I don’t need backups - she’ll always be there with loaners if I need them. Did I mention how happy I am with my audi? You can probably tell…
This reply won’t be popular based on those which preceded, but I’ll say it anyway. As a former avid cyclist who logged thousands of miles a year, I am convinced that anything which detracts from situational awareness is dangerous and ill-advised. Enjoy your audiobooks and music elsewhere, when there is no risk from even occasional dangers like motor vehicles and cyclists who are overtaking you. When cycling, enjoy the peace and solitude. Stay safe rather than being mowed down by surprise.