My hearing aids are a year out of warranty and i cannot afford to have them serviced at the moment.
They are Resound Linx Quattro 961 rechargables. Sound in the right hearing aid has lowered a lot in the last week so i thought I’d try and clean the microphone filters myself.
Unfortunately I cannot work out how to post photos of the process here but I found debris under the microphone covers which I was able to totally remove. I also changed the reciever wax filters.
The sound has improved a little but it is not as clear as it was even 2 weeks ago.
Crucially, the sound is low when streaming with Bluetooth too.
I’ve performed hard resets, uninstalled and reinstalled the hearing aids and app.
Quattro owner here. What you’re reporting is definitely a symptom of receivers going/gone south, in my experience. I find this tends to recur about once a year in these aids. Some people get more or less life out of their receivers. You can buy receivers on eBay (often from European suppliers) and replace them yourself for not a lot of dough and less than an audiologist will charge to do the same thing. Look for a YouTube video by ReSound showing how to do it; it’s not hard, as long as you see how. I use a sewing needle in the right place to pop the old ones out.
You need a specific receiver for the left side aid and a different one for the right side aid. They are not interchangeable. When you compare the shape of the old receiver tube to the new one, if it’s markedly different, and it’s pulling in your ear, reshape the new receiver tube by heating it gently with a hair dryer and then bend it while warm to match the new shape to the old one.
Your aid settings have been embedded in the main part of the hearing aid case by your audiologist and will transfer automatically to the new receivers, so no new programming should be needed just for changing receivers. Be sure to take careful note of the numbers/letters on the silver block part of the receiver and order only a perfect match (otherwise you would need your settings adjusted, if the size and power were even a good match for your loss and for the shape and position of your ear). Of course you also only want to deal with an eBay seller with a very, very good, if not 100%, reputation.
It’s not guaranteed this is the only issue making your aids not working so well, but it most likely is and is worth a try before replacing the aids.
If streamed audio is suffering i.e. without input from the microphones, then the receiver is the likely culprit. @hamjor1 is right on about being aware of what receivers you are ordering, as even though the hearing aid programming will be the same, a different power receiver will mess with the resulting output. Fortunately, Resound’s receiver markings are pretty clear on the speakers.
To replace the receivers, you will need to flip up a tab at the top of the hearing aid, which you can do with a needle (be careful obviously). You can find good videos on YouTube as a guide.
Thanks for replying.
Oddly enough I’ve had 4 sets of Quattros, each one replaced by another under warranty for battery failure each year since 2019 (but not necessarily getting back new recievers each time of course) and this is the first set in which either reciever has broken.
In fact both recievers have gone south within a month of each other.
The left hand reciever failed in much the same way, a lowering of volume over several days when streaming then it went quiet.
When I replaced that left one with exactly the same model genuine GN Resound reciever, the volume is much higher and accompanied by a vibrating sensation in normal speech and while streaming.
Could an incorrectly labelled reciever that was HP instead of MP be the reason in this case?
Its so frustrating.