I’ve got a pair of Widex Evoke RICs that have been serving me great since about 2018. Recently however, I’ve occasionally noticed that they’re generating a white noise like sound for no reason. When I notice it, I change the HA program and it goes away. Weeks can go by between occurrences. It doesn’t seem to matter what program I’m using when it starts, but cycling programs always seems to “reset” it. At first I thought it was a side-effect of being in noisy environments like restaurants or wind noise.
I finally decided to take them to my audiologist, and I figured maybe having the windows down during the drive there would trigger the noise, but of course when I arrived the HAs were working normally. The Audiologist performed a thorough cleaning and checked them out but couldn’t detect anything that might cause this issue. She informed me that I could send them off to Widex, but because they’re out of warranty, I’d be paying a lot. Because it’s just a minor issue, easily resolved with a couple button pushes, I declined.
Then one early morning last week, I was driving on quiet roads with the windows up and no radio on, and I noticed the white noise again. So it wasn’t external loud noise triggering the HAs to create white noise, they’re just deciding to do it randomly? I found a quiet spot to pull over, removed the HAs without changing programs and using a quality audio recording app on my phone verified that the white noise was actually coming from the HA speaker, and not some psychosomatic symptom (my speculation, not my audiologist’s). On the recording, you can clearly hear the noise increate as I move the HA closer to the phone’s mic.
So, has anyone else ever experienced this with Widex Evokes or any other hearing aids?
My left hearing aid (Phonak Infinio 50R) was occasionally doing that, for a few seconds, then would go back to normal. It would only happen while connected to the myPhonak app, so only when using Bluetooth. It no longer does it - I suspect this change is due to a myPhonak update - but it was very strange to me that it was only on the left.
This sounds like it could be an issue with the Widex SoundSense Adapt feature . Does it happen with the PureSound/Universal only or with other programs. The audiologist should be able to see in the Widex Compass if there is a change with the SoundSense Adapt .
Edit: Adding a pic of SoundSense Adapt: Based on the history of the user preferences, locations and environments, Widex will adjust the levers using AI for improving experiences but I’ve found that , sometimes, those adjustments can be not what I want. It is possible that one of the levers went too far to the right and creates the white noise (this last part is just a theory)
Re getting Widex aids repaired out of warranty, it costs me £125-£150 apx per aid, then they are under warranty for 6 months. Might be worth checking your hearing, sounds a bit like the “floor” noise I sometimes have heard when the aids are a bit out of kilter somewhere.
I’m not familiar with SoundSense Adapt. I have the Evoke app on my phone, which I almost never use, and always seems to take forever to connect to my HAs when I do use it. It has a SoundSense Learn feature but not “Adapt”. The Learn feature is a test of several “A vs. B” sound profiles, asking how much better one is than the other. I just ran through it while sitting in my office with the door open and the hum of a small server room across the hall (similar to the sound inside of a running refrigerator when you open the door and stick your head in to find something in the back?). I listened to over a dozen A vs B comparisons, and they all sounded identical, so no preference. No sure what it does with that.
No, SoundSense Adapt is different from SoundSense Learn. As I explained, the audiologist can see this in Compass (the programming software), but it is not available to you in the phone app. It is something you may want to ask the audiologist during your next visit (you can ask him/her to reset the SoundSense Adapt feature).
Link below, paragraph “SoundSense Adapt” describes the feature:
