My upgrade from Resound Linx 3D to Resound Quattro

Hearing Aids
#1

My three year old Resound Linx 3D 9’s started acting up again. After sending them in for service, my audiologist was able to negotiate a very attractive upgrade to Resound’s rechargeable Quattro 9’s. While I typically wait for two platform upgrades before upgrading my hearing aids, I must say that the difference between the equivalent Linx 3Ds and the Quattro hearing aids is very significant and warrants an upgrade. I thought I would post some comments about the upgrade in case anyone else is interested in a real world comparison between the two hearing aids.

Let me start by saying that I’ve been relatively pleased with the Linx3D’s other than a higher than normal repair frequency compared to my previous hearing aids. Resound has just about the best iPhone (MFI) integration in the business and their iPhone app is superb. I was actually a long term Phonak customer until I made the decision to switch to Resound and I specifically jumped ship because Resound’s iPhone integration was a game changer even without any sound quality improvements.

The biggest point I want to make is that the Quattro’s are everything the Linx 3D’s wanted to be. It’s almost like they started by fixing every complaint with the previous platform and then added in a bunch of new and innovative sound features to further complement these hearing aids. IMHO, here are the things that make these aids superb and justify the upgrade:

iPhone Integration: Same integration. Same App. Much improved connection with almost no signal drop offs or disconnects. My understanding is that they boosted the signal strength for the MFI connect and it’s now rock solid. It’s what it should have been on the Linx 3D platform but wasn’t. Works just as solid with a direct connection to the iPhone or even with the Phone Clip+ connected to my laptop. Thank you GN Resound!

Sound Quality: Huge improvement in dynamic range and clarity. Listening to streaming music is significantly improved and playing the guitar feels like a whole new ball game. Voices sound deeper/richer and the automatic program switching is much more sophisticated. The Restaurant mode is also significantly improved and they have added something new to make sharp/unpleasant noises (slamming a door, dropping a spoon on the floor, etc) more pleasant.

Processing Speed: There are new/faster processors in Quattro’s and it is noticeable. The hearing aids react much more quickly to changing environments and there is no question that they do a better job at processing sound, etc. Good example is the way the hearing aids operate in noisy environments. If you are sitting in a noisy environment with no speech, the hearing aids flip to extreme noise reduction to give you comfort. If someone sits down and starts talking to you, the Quattro’s automatically drop the noise reduction down a bit to insure that the speech isn’t garbled by too much noise reduction. All this happens quickly but you do notice it because the background noise levels jump a bit in conjunction with a boost in the speech frequencies.

Rechargeable Batteries: I never realized how much battery anxiety I was suffering from until I started using rechargeable hearing aids. I no longer have to keep batteries in my pocket, the car and in my laptop bag. The battery life with the Quattro’s is also excellent. I spend a large portion of the day streaming phone calls on my iPhone and on my work laptop. My hearing aids are on from 7:00 am until midnight each day and I have yet to go below 3/5 dots on the battery indicators. Resound even borrowed from Apple’s Airpod charger and put a rechargeable battery within the charger unit. Not only do the hearing aids recharge really quickly but you can also take the charger on the road with you and get three charges without having to plug it in. This is well done. One other point. No battery door means these hearing aids are sealed units and less susceptible to moisture issues. This is a big relief for me given my higher than normal repair history on my Linx 3D hearing aids.

I’m very pleased with this upgrade and I’m just passing along this info in case anyone finds it useful. Like I said earlier, the Quattro’s are the grown up version of the Linx 3D platform with quite a few enhancements that easily justify an upgrade. Well worth checking out if you are considering an upgrade.

Jordan

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#2

I have wished at times that my Quattro’s would switch programs a little faster. I’ve previously commented that walking from outside in the gym parking lot through sliding glass doors into the gym foyer with a quiet front desk, I’ve found the Quattro’s are still at reduced sound volume, strong noise suppression from the noisy, windy parking lot and it can take up to 5 seconds (as confirmed in a ReSound Audiology Online course) to switch to the quiet speech in quiet environment settings. So a couple of times in this transition, I’ve had trouble when the person at the front desk starts to speak to me as soon as I come through the doors. I decided the way to handle this was to start speaking to myself (or the person at the front desk) as soon as I approach the doors (or come through the doors) to set the transition in motion as early as possible. Other than some problems with left hearing aid reliability, I’ve enjoyed my Quattro’s but I’m a first-time HA wearer so I have nothing else to compare the devices to.

#3

I would be surprised if transition time cannot be changed. Ask your fitter. Or check on diy part of someone can look that up if it exists.

#4

The problem is the automatic Environmental Optimizer II. Relative volume is set at 0 for Speech in Loud Noise and -3 for Loud Noise (3 units softer). Speech in Moderate Noise is +1 and any Speech (soft or loud) or just plain Quiet is set at +2 relative volume (2 units louder). The ReSound’s Audiology Online materials say that for each 1 unit difference between environments, there will be a 1 second delay in changing. So from -3 for Loud Noise to + 1 Speech in Moderate Noise, that’s a 4 second delay (or a 3 second delay from Loud Noise to Speech in Loud Noise). Perhaps the processor is not only changing the relative volume but also the degree of noise suppression (if noise suppression is on the automatic setting). There is no mention of changing the speed of transition and I think the idea is that normally you’re not going to have rapid transitions between loud noise and soft speech without any noise present. Such transitions will normally be occasioned by one’s own movement and normally there will be a gradual transition from one environment to another and you’ll never notice the difference. But I have found upon occasion that I do when I happen to make “extreme” environmental changes suddenly.

IMHO, what HA OEM’s need to do in a very battery-limited device is to (eventually) get down to 7 nm processor size so that you can have a very zippy, powerful processor that doesn’t run down your batteries to deliver powerful sound processing pronto.

A graph of the Environmental Optimizer II volume difference that I’m talking about is included in the following post: (you have to click on the embedded image to see the full image and the -3 Loud Noise setting at the bottom)

P.S. By setting all environments at “0,” one could presumably defeat the Environmental Optimizer II delay - but then you’d miss the benefits of automatic volume adjustment for different environments.

P.P.S. An easy way for any Linx 3D or Quattro user to test how these settings are automatically working for them is find an area of your apartment, house, or office that has a fan that’s noisy when you turn it on but otherwise the environment is quiet. Turn on the noisy fan and time how long before the strong noise suppression kicks in. For me, it’s at least several seconds. The only time I’ve noticed the transition delay and it’s mattered to me is when soft speech has been involved.

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#5

Omg what a stupid assumption.

Like, I don’t turn off/have running microwave, water, vacuum when someone starts speaking in otherwise quiet apartments? And what, I need to wait 4 seconds to be able to hear them.
Or you enter from busy street to the quiet receptionist table? And they of course say something when they saw you.

Those gradual might work for when noise gets louder, so that noise cancelling does not kick in while someone might still be talking to you, but shouldn’t be there when noise stops.

Marvels from phonak by default have medium transition speed, which I found bad for me. Since after I turn of the water, I’d still be deaf until few seconds pass. Now I have fastest one, and that’s more natural behaviour for me - the moment water stops, I hear normally, without noise reduction since there’s no noise anymore.

Why it thinks that running water in the sink, or toilet flushing is something that needs to be reduced by default is beyond my comprehension. Maybe default settings for noise cancelling are too aggressive, I didn’t play with those yet.

#6

Lots of good points. I think the issue is that elderly people probably make up a large portion of the hearing aid user community and they find many of these background sounds to be irritating when they first start wearing hearing aids. The hearing aids are initially setup to filter this stuff to provide a “Comfort in Noise” environment.

The other thing to keep in mind is that lowering the threshold for changing programs does cause the hearing aids to flip between programs more frequently and my audiologist has indicated that this can be irritating too.

Jordan

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#7

Yeah probably for the same elderly population, it occurred to me that me not even in my 40s definitely aren’t main target group. And my brain switches fast, so slow switch in HA is what annoys me, while on the other hand I clearly can see that some people would prefer slower response.

I still think it should be adjustable and not fixed by manufacturer, so that we, wearers can pick what we want.

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#8

Very interesting, Jordan, thank you! I’m sold on ReSounds, also, after being a happy Widex customer for many years. As you say, the connectivity is first rate.

#9

Key three things about the Resound Quattro 9’s that separate them from the competition are the rock solid iPhone integration, the increased dynamic range (very noticeable) and the new rechargeable batteries and charger.

My only complaint so far is that the out of the box noise reduction is overly aggressive. We have been spending a ton of time in our backyard during the COVID lockdown and with the temperatures consistently in the 30C range (90F) all of my neighbours are running their air conditioning units non-stop. The Quattro’s seems like to crank up the noise reduction to the max if you are in All Around Mode and in range of any type of fan noise. Flipping to Restaurant mode completely solves the problem but it’s an extra step.

Other than that, these are superb hearing aids.

Jordan

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#10

Hi JordanK, I noticed you were Phonak user before, how do you find transition from Phonak to Resound, sometimes changing brands makes your brain wander what’s going on, things sound different even yourself? Terms of sound quality and Bluetooth connectivity, how is ReSound? I just got Phonak M90-312 (aka Virto Black and am disappointed in them, Bluetooth drops alot. See my separate post for details.

#11

That’s a very good question. Here is my take…

From a sound only perspective, Phonak hearing aids are very bright/jangly and they also tend to provide a much richer environmental experience than is typically necessary. In other words, at times I felt that I could hear every bird fan and car that was nearby but often at the expense of speech clarity. They counter this by using their very effective Stereozoom feature for speech in noise. Stereozoom is kinda unique to Phonak and it basically focuses the microphones straight forward and then cross broadcasts all sounds from the microphones from each hearing aid to both hearing aids. Basically means you will hear the person you are looking at much clearer because both ears are hearing only what you are looking at from both sets of microphones at the same time. People who go from other brands to Phonak often find them a bit too harsh and instead of taking the time to get used to them, they get the audiologist to dial them down to the point that the speech quality isn’t as good as it could be. My audiologist often says that his clients either like or dislike the way Phonak hearing aids sound.

From a connectivity perspective, I really felt that Phonak blew it when they made the decision to skip signing up for the Apple MFI hearing aid integration standard and went their own route. I think the issue had to do with the fact that their hearing aids already broadcast back and forth to each other and maybe they couldn’t combine that with the Apple MFI signal in a small enough package while keeping battery life reasonable. I will say that GN Resound was one of the first to go the MFI route and their iPhone was so good that I actually dumped Phonak and went with Resound hearing aids even though Phonak’s Stereozoom speech in noise capabilities were clearly superior. That being said, my new Quattro 9’s seem to have caught up and i’m extremely pleased with their Restaurant program in very noisy places.

If you do make the transition, you will be totally blown away by the iPhone integration and the integration with any of their accessories. The other thing is that their App actually lets you play around with the various sound levels, microphone focus, noise reduction, etc and you can then save these as custom program within the App. This is very useful for experimenting at home. When you go back to the audiologist, you can then show them the program you created and use this to help find tune the other programs. You may also initially find the Quattro’s to be a little dead sounding compared to the Phonak hearing aids but you may not notice a difference after a week. Nothing to lose by trying them out. Just make sure you go for the top Quattro 9 model or you will be missing some of critical features that were recently added.

One more thing. I think the Virto’s are CIC hearing aids. Go with Mini-BTE hearing aids. Much less occlusion and in all honesty, nobody will notice you are wearing them. I’ve been wearing Mini-BTE’s for 15 years and I’m amazed at the number of people who are shocked when I tell them I’m deaf. I even had bright red hearing aids at one point and nobody ever noticed.

Hope this is helpful.

Jordan

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#12

Hi Jordan, that was a very detailed response, thank you for all your valuable input. The only thing I like and will miss about the new Phonak is the hands-free convenience that it allows you to answer and hang up your call through your hearing aid button and use the hearing aids microphone to talk and not taking the iPhone out. Resound you have to take the iPhone out to answer calls and use iPhone mic. I wander if Resound can use Apple Watch to answer calls and mic since they also have the app for the watch?

#13

Another disadvantage of the Phonak Virto Black (in my opinion): during a telephone call you can’t mute the microfones of the hearing aids for the surrounding noise, because you use them for your own voice to be transfered.

#14

I actually don’t find it an issue to use the iPhone for the microphone. Using the iPhone’s microphone (vs the hearing aids) actually provides you with some really good advantages. You can mute the microphones on the hearing aids via the App to allow you to talk or listen to music in very noisy environments. This is extremely handy when someone calls you and you are in a restaurant, etc. You can even have the audiologist set up the hearing aids to automatically mute the microphones when calls come in or when you are streaming. The second advantage is Apple’s Live Listen feature on the iPhone which allows you to use your phone as a remote microphone. You turn on Live Listen and then place the phone on the table near the person you are talking to. No need to buy a remote microphone as this is built into the iPhone.

I’ve seen Apple’s Watch App for Resound. I’ve never used it but maybe someone else can comment on whether you can use the Microphone on the watch to talk.

Jordan

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#15

Hm, are you sure?

My information is from audeo marvels, and when programming them your fitter can set how much background noise you will hear. They can even mute them.

However that doesn’t affect their recording and sending your voice to your talking partner. And your talking partner won’t hear all noise plus your voice, but aids are doing some bg noise cancelling for them. I was a several steps from a loud truck, outside, and talking with my parents. Since I have open fit, I had trouble hearing them loud enough but they said that they can hear me ok, and bg noise was there but distant.

I would be surprised if virto marvel implemented that behaviour significantly different.

I can take a look at target sw for them if you can’t check that with your fitter before I do, just ping me if I forget to report here in a day or two.

#16

Elsewhere in this Forum use of NOAHlink is discussed. You connect the device with your HA and your Computer. With software installed you could enventually manage all the parameters on your HA that otherwise the consultant would do. You could buy your HA second hand on ebay. Off course the business is not supporting this.

#17

You cannot choose freely even in target. It can either be fast or slow, and you’re not sure for what it actually refers to.

Another thing I was probably thinking of is this:

There are been studies about fast attack and slow release time and other combinations, and some loss types benefit from one but not the other.

For phonak marvel you can get something only if you choose phonak proprietary formula (second one), but still it’s fixed there as well.

So you can’t freely put attack and release times for sudden sounds, and combine that with general speed of transition.

Only things you can do is pick from 5 predefined ones.

Or fine adjustments in frequency - you can’t enter or reach exact value, it has to follow that curve.
Not to mention inability to use keyboard or enter values or select with shift + arrows, nooo you have to endlessly click around.

Yes, I like target better than starkey I installed to check something, because it gives more options, but I’d like to have even more :joy: