GN launching a Jabra branded M&RIE product at Costco

I pulled the audiogram from your avatar so I could enlarge and read it. Your right ear is almost completely outside of the range for the M&RIE receiver. It appears to me that you’d need a standard UP receiver for that ear.

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done, added my hearing tests as suggested. thank you.

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thank you for the reply. I have added the hearing tests results as @MDB suggested as well.

Does this mean I couldn’t try the M&RIE at all? or will it work fine if I have M&RIE in the left ear and standard UP in the (right) ear? how would that experience be like?

Also for the KS-10s, should I ask the HIS to upgrade my existing receiver to UP in my right ear to avoid distortions?

In general, how many hours of Streaming does the KS10’s provide? Sometimes I need to have calls almost all day for over 6 hours, so I have the KS10 hearing aids paired with my MacBook pro during that whole time.

I wouldn’t think you’d be able to have one M&RIE receiver and one standard receiver, given the coordination between the two aids.

I can’t speak to your question regarding the KS10 receiver.

I can’t find definitive information, but this thread may help:

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I have been dealing with declining hearing in one ear for a few years. I recently was fitted for a single hearing aid. My other side is deaf due to a previous acoustic neuroma removal. I waited two months for an audiologist appointment at Costco. After the test the audiologist recommended the Jabra Enhance Pro made by GN/Resound. I placed an order for the RIE model. $999 with 6 months to decide if I’m going to keep it. I went home and I read up on the Jabra and Resound hearing aid line (GN). I learned that in June of this year GN released M&RIE technology with a 3rd microphone in the ear canal. The advantages supposed to be a more natural hearing experience due to the “pinna effect” and better localization of sounds. I knew I wouldn’t get better localization due to having only one working ear. When I returned for my fitting I spoke to the audiologist about the M&RIE option. We agreed that I would try the RIE for a week, order the M&RIE, and then try the M&RIE. The RIE audio was clear and a big improvement over my unaided hearing, but seemed unnatural for lack of a better word. I went back the following week and had the RIE replaced and reprogrammed with the M&RIE. I noticed the difference immediately. The sound was clearer and seemed more natural. It feels almost like my own hearing with the volume turned. up. The audio is crystal clear.

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@Sabergermd - That is great news! I go back for my one month check up on Friday, and hope they will let me try the M@rie at least around the store. I can see how in your situation of having only one functioning ear it could really make a difference.

I hope it continues to work well for you!

I see from your earlier posts that you bought the Jabras, so you got them at Costco as I did… You have 180 days to return them. There is no reason for them not to honor your request. I wore the RIE for a week and then swapped it for the M&RIE. If they refused I would have asked for a refund. I was initially told that it wouldn’t work for me because of my monaural hearing. They were wrong. It doesn’t help me localize sounds as I only have one ear. That doesn’t change the fact that it produces more normal hearing. Considering these have only been available since last month, they have no idea who it will work for other than by degree of hearing loss.

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I just want to verify my understanding of phone call streaming: audio is routed through to the HAs but one must speak into the phone mic? Is that correct? If so, is that correct for all two way bluetooth communications (zoom calls on a PC, etc?). I hope I’m wrong on that functionality. I was getting interested in trying these along with KS10s but as a full time remote worker, bluetooth connectivity is paramount to me and I don’t want to mess with other headsets and such all day long for zoom calls, MS Teams meetings, phone calls, etc.

You are correct, the audio is in the HA’s but it does not usee the HA mic. I don’t have a problem with it as I just sit the phone on the couch arm or table and it works fine. I can see how it would be a probem for you though. In your case it sounds like a deal breaker.

I’m coming from about 4 years with Widex Unique 330, which have generally worked decently, but always looking for better speech comprehension, and adding streaming would be handy. I was initially looking at the KS10’s, but the more I read about the Jabra M&RIE, the more interested I became. The hope is for better spatial perception with the in-ear microphone.

So I picked them up this morning, and was impressed with the skill and attention of the relatively young fitter that worked with me. REM was done, and the overall process seemed fairly detailed and comprehensive. Initial impressions are neutral to favorable, but I obviously need more time and fitting adjustments to optimize the experience.

Streaming-wise, my due diligence revealed that my Note 8 would not be compatible with streaming for these aids (they would be fine with the KS10). As it is no longer getting security updates from Verizon, and I was thinking I might need to update it at some point, this put me over the edge. I got the S21 Ultra about a week ago, and have come to like this phone overall (with a few inevitable negatives).

Phone calls seem clear on both ends. It does require the phone’s microphone to be nearby, but while I might choose otherwise, for me this isn’t a deal breaker.

Direct streaming works fine, and is excellent for Podcasts. I was curious what it would do for music, especially at the low end, and while I wasn’t surprised, given the physics involved, bass is essentially absent. Completely unacceptable for any kind of music listening. I did pump up the bass in the Jabra App, but it had a negligible effect. So I guess I’ll still need my Sony Headphones for any serious music listening.

And if there are any tricks to coax even half-decent bass when streaming, please let me know.

The Jabra App works well, is easy to use. And apparently, unlike the situation with the KS10, custom settings don’t get automatically reset by the hearing aids detecting notifications, and so forth.

So far so good overall, but a long way to go before I can fully assess them and compare with the Widex.

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The more occlusive the fit, the less bass leaks out of your ear canals. You can lose up to something like 30 dB or so of bass volume with a very open fit. OTH, if you have good low frequency hearing, the HA’s are usually programmed to let you hear naturally at low frequency through an open fit and there is a crossover towards higher frequencies where the HA’s compensate by boosting the higher frequencies to louder volumes to make up for your higher frequency hearing loss.

In the ReSound fitting software, the fitter can also instruct the HA’s to give you relatively more bass up to a point. IIRC, that amount exceeds what you can add as a user through the Smart 3D app (or whatever it’s called for the Jabra).

Currently, I wear custom silicone molds with only a ~1 mm vent. If one is “open-minded,” one can get entirely used to one’s varying voice sound, depending upon whether wearing HA’s or not. I like the other advantages of a more occlusive fit, particularly better noise suppression when I want it.

@jim_lewis - thanks Jim. I’ll explore these options in a couple of weeks with my next follow-up. My low frequency hearing is good, fortunately, and my deficit is typical age-related high frequency loss.

I actually have been using silicone molds with my Unique 330, and have had a somewhat ‘love-hate’ relationship with them. Too far in, and the occlusive feeling (accentuating my voice, chewing, etc.) is bothersome, while if I pull them out a bit too much, feedback is a problem. My ear canals are quite narrow and tortuous, presenting challenges as well.

So we’ll see what she can do, but given that good low frequency reproduction almost necessitates larger drivers, and moving a lot of air, it’s hard to imagine how these tiny receivers can do much compared to even a modest pair of on or over the ear headphones.

My current passion is Home Theater, and the subwoofer I’m using (bought from a friend, whose son manufactures subwoofer drivers!) has 4 18" drivers, powered by a 6000 watt amp. So I’m accustomed to a lot of bass! :grin:

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More issues unfortunately…

I just came back from my first walk, looking forward to listening to Podcasts without wearing my Sony over the ear headphones. This proved quite unsatisfactory:

I’m in NC, so fairly warm, and I’m wearing cargo shorts with loose front pockets left and right. If I put the phone in the right pocket, very quickly, I lose sound from the left aid. If it put the phone in the left pocket, I lose sound from the right aid.

And even worse than this, if I’m holding it a foot away from my head, there is a recurrent lag between the left and right aids, such that when they’re in sync, I hear the sound centrally in my head, as I should. But then they seem to lose sync slightly, and I’m hearing the sound separately in each ear, with no central image. I varied the various settings available in the Enhance Pro app, but none of these had any impact.

I’m using a brand new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, with both the phone and hearing aids on freshly charged batteries.

This could be a deal-killer right here…

Does anybody else experience this, and if not, what phone are you using, and/or are you doing anything different to avoid this?

I am very curious if the KS10’s exhibit this problem, as that would be my next choice.

I got the Jabra with M&RIE yesterday. Nice sound. I have custom molds. I’m having some periodic feedback in the right. Mostly with my excited boy talking too loudly :grinning:. My previous molds were acrylic and these are a softer silicone. So i guess my question is, should I adjust volume first or ask for a new mold?

Does it happen when your inside, or only when your outdoors in big open spaces?

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@tenkan

With the recurring lag between left and right ears, that has happened in all situations - listening to a Podcast outdoors when walking, listening to music inside, or even talking on the phone, also indoors. This really is quite annoying.

As far as losing connection on the right or left side, when placing the phone in my pocket, my main testing was outdoors. I tried it for just a few minutes indoors, and it did seem better. I’m guessing your point is that the signal may bounce around a bit indoors, which would maintain the connection better, and that does make sense.

I did call the Fitter at Costco that I worked with, and she indicated that I shouldn’t be losing connection in the way I was when walking outside. She is going to contact her Jabra rep and see what she has to say.

I had already called Jabra/Resound tech support. They suggested doing a full network reset of my phone, which obviously would wipe out all my WiFi settings, Bluetooth connections to headphones, my car, etc. This is a week old phone, and I’m very doubtful this would do anything but waste my time. Kind of like “format c:” being the fall back tech suggestion for PC issues a number of years ago.

She did acknowledge this problem has been occasionally reported with some of their other hearing aid models, but apparently not yet for this one (although it is obviously quite new). She also suggested trying it with another phone, but my old Note 8, and my wife’s S8 are Android 9, and so not compatible with the Jabra’s.

I did go ahead and unpair my Jabra’s, deleted the Enhance Pro App, rebooted the phone, and re-did the whole process. No change occurred.

I’m hoping that this particular unit pair is glitchy, and that this doesn’t represent an inherent flaw with this whole line of hearing aids. So I’m hoping, or will request if they don’t offer, that a replacement pair won’t have this flaw. I was curious to see if others had experienced this issue, which was part of why I posted.

Yes exactly. But it would be great to be able to use another phone just for clarification, I even heard someone mentioned when they removed their protective cover from their phone,they were able to eliminate any further drop outs.

Yes it’s been reported by a number of people, there’s actually a few posts on hearingtracker with the exact issue.

If you use the search button from right here on hearingtracker you’ll come up quite a few different posts, one is here.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/search?q=Bluetooth%20connection%20issues

Thanks @tenkan. I’ll do some searching tomorrow. I understand why these glitches and compatibility issues arise, given the diversity of devices, settings and so forth. But man, I do get tired of tracking down these obscure technical problems.

I may have to give ‘gabeldorsche’ a try!! :grin:

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