I recently purchased a pair of Oticon Intent 1s and have had various issues with them right out of the box (so to speak - audiologist applied my previous profile from my Oticon OPN S1s).
The first is a constant static noise from the left hearing aid, almost as if there is an issue with the speaker where any and all noise passed into the mic results in the sound being amplified, then a static noise filter is applied after the amplification at a low volume. This means I cant notice it in high noise environments, but the moment I enter somewhere quiet with, say, a very low level AC running I hear it.
The second is a loud popping and clicking noise whenever Bluetooth audio is being streamed from my phone to my hearing aids. At first I thought it was my phone, but quickly realized that my other hearing aids never had this issue. It is also present mostly in the right hearing aid, and occasionally in the left.
The third is constant feedback noise. And you might think - oh, thatās because sound is leaking! I assure you, it is not being of sound leaking. Iāve double checked this through various means, such as power domes with no vents (I typically use single dome double vents), lowering the gain significantly to ensure that even if there is leakage it doesnāt make it to the actual mic, covering my ears with my hands to test the feedback, etc. The end result is that with certain noises there is always some sort of phantom feedback from the hearing aid (at a lower volume compared to āactualā feedback from sound leakage). No matter what, if the feedback optimizer is on, there will be a grating feedback noise when, say, water is running nearby, or a bird chirps, or really just all types of noises and sounds at varying levels. Disabling the feedback optimizer in the genie software immediately fixes the issue, no more feedback whatsoever from sounds, the only feedback then is from actual feedback (at a much louder volume than the feedback caused by the optimizer), such as picking up the hearing aids in my hand. When I turn the feedback optimizer back on, the feedback from sounds instantly comes back, and the feedback from picking them up immediately goes away. The only conclusion Iāve reached is that perhaps the feedback is caused by the optimizer incorrectly categorizing some noises from the outside world as feedback, then attempting to fix this phantom āfeedback.ā
The fourth issue is also a bit strange, my hair (short, buzzed on the sides) now makes a loud noise when bumping the hearing aid. Itās the exact noise youād expect, of course, but it is much more present than it ever was with my OPN S1s. I think this might just be down to bad design, as the Intent 1s are much bulkier than the OPN S1s, which means they are a few millimeters taller and thus bump into my hair, but Iām not sure if there was also some sort of setting that could help with this.
Anyways, I was hoping to get thoughts on these issues and any thoughts on methods to address. My audiologist was unable to address any of these issues through her adjustments (understandably so - Iām unsure if there is a fix for these as this behavior was not present on my old hearing aids), and I used my own noahlink and genie software to turn off the feedback optimizer to fix the first, but overall these issues are still present and we suspect these may be duds, or Oticon just dropped the ball heavily in the past few years.
