Sorry to take so long to respond. I’ve had major computer problems going on, as well as other things.
As for what was at the end of the tubes, I don’t know the terminology to describe the tips. I’ve been calling them all domes; what is a dome and what are the alternatives? I’m not sure which tubes he had me try at the time – it’s been more than a year. He’s used various tips as I’ve tried out several different brands; I could guess at what they were based on what I’ve been using recently, but don’t really remember. I have never noticed a difference in hearing with different tips, but some are more comfortable and some stay in better.
I’ve been waiting for a couple of years for a “Made for Android” hearing aid that would allow the remote control you’re talking about. I finally gave up and have been trying a “Made for iPhone” model (Signia Motion 13 Nx) with my wife’s old iPhone. It works wonderfully, but I was missing too many features and came back to my Android phone.
Signia have a fairly new device called a StreamLine Mic that allows for control with an Android app, among other things. I just started testing it today. It seems to be similar to Oticon’s ConnectClip. I used an Oticon “Streamer” with my old hearing aids that also allowed remote control, but I hated it for its streaming and phone call features.
If you have an iPhone, all of this can be done without an intermediate device, and there’s one less thing to go wrong.
Everyone, feel free to correct me on any of this. I’m clearly not as knowledgeable as many of you here.
(BTW, I have figured out how to get a real “username” here yet, so I don’t know what name will show up on this post.)