Live Listen with iPhone X and 11

Was speaking with audiologist today. He was saying that iPhone X and 11 do not have Live Listen (using iPhone microphone as remote mic) He knows the 7 and 8 have it. A brief online review suggests he’s mistaken, but I can’t verify. Can anybody shed some light on this question/s? Do they indeed have Live Listen? If so, is it changed in how it’s accessed from previous models? Thanks.

I think it is part of the iOS MFi functionality and should be somewhat hardware independent. I am using an iPhone 7 and iOS 13.1.2, and the option is there with a triple touch of the home button, or going into Accessibility, Hearing Devices, and taping on the connected hearing aids. I do suspect it requires MFi capable hearing aids though.

Live Listen works fine on the XS.

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Is it accessed the same way as Sierra mentioned?

My iPhone X has Live Listen available from the triple touch menu. It’s at the bottom of the screen, so scroll down.

ETA: 12.4 software.

Larry

Fifteen day old iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 13.1.2 Triple click power or swipe down from upper right and choose the sonic ear. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Sorry for being so clueless. Did they change the name of Live Listen to Sonic Ear or was that a joke?

A joke, sorry for the confusion. The above ear diagram makes me laugh.

The ear picture is the same in the upper left of that screenshot as on the Control Center pulldown, iPhone X and above by pulling down from the upper right corner. Models older than X was a triple click the bottom center Home button.

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The iPhone X and higher don’t have a home button, so you triple-click the side button.

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You may be able to add a “soft” home key to your screen. Try going to Settings, Accessibility, Touch, and Turn AssistiveTouch on. The go to Single Touch, and in that menu choose Home.

I love ‘live listen’. I have an iPhone 8, and for me it works far better than the mini mic. (I don’t have mini mic2). So to be able to put my phone on the table and not have to pass the mini mic is a blessing. It works the same way Sierra described.

Does Live Listen work with Phonak Marvel aids? I don’t believe they are “made for Iphone” devices, but they do stream.

live listen does not work on marvel as it is not a MFi device.

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As somebody who likely has experience with all 3 since you used to have Resounds, would you agree that as far as usefulness as a remote microphone that from worst to best that they would be ranked : Live Listen, Resound MultiMic, Roger devices? Any feel for how “much” difference between different approaches? Thanks.

Can you explain the uses of live listen. New to HA’s and I figured it was more of a gimmick I suppose not?

honestly I rarely used live listen because it was mediocre at best when I did use it. I used it (when on original linx and then quattro) when I forget the resound multi mic. the sound quality wasn’t good, it was awkward for others as they felt they had to put the phone up to their mouth and it was just awkward. it did help in a pinch though.

Roger does circles around all of them from a signal to noise ratio in my experience. multi mic was good, don’t get me wrong. but Roger is just better from a speech clarity standpoint. as it should be with the price it carries. you get a big bang for your buck with the multi mic, I will say, though - so don’t get me wrong. it will be more than enough for a lot of users. and it was enough for me for years. but if you ask which is better, Roger is. the improvement in clarity may be important for others with worse WRS/audiograms.

the interesting thing is that the need for an assistive listening device (ie Roger, multi mic) has gone down considerably after the switch from resound to the Phonak marvels. I actually don’t use my pens outside of one specific work environment. I used to use multi mic or Roger pens (with Quattro) in the car and sometimes restaurants. but now i am able to just go with just the hearing aid, which is a considerable improvement for me.

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I’ve never used it so I could easily have it wrong, but my understanding is that you can use an iPhone as a remote microphone with any made for iPhone hearing aid. Should allow speech over longer distances and in somewhat noisier environments.

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It’s all about signal to noise ratio. Remote mics will outperform any HA in noise because the mic is closer to the sound source. Roger is best in loud noise but way more expensive. You’ll benefit HUGELY from muting your HA mics when you use a remote mic so be sure your audi enables you to do that!
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(slide from Ingrid McBride, AuD)

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I have the KS8 aids (Rexton/Signia) and have tried the MFi Live Listen as well as my Smart Direct app “Remote Microphone”. It is possible they are the same thing, with just different routes to turn it on. However, in the limited number of times I have used it, the Live Listen seems to work more reliably. The “Remote Microphone” seems to drop out after a few minutes of use, while the Live Listen stays functional. By putting the phone on the table with a small group it kind of adds an echo to the sound, but can help some in ability to hear speech. Have not tried it with a large table/group, but that may be a better use for it. I keep forgetting to use it!

I would guess Live Listen would work best if the person were holding it like they were speaking into the phone.