It is within the Gene2 software is all that I know.
The pairings in the hearing aids are cleared using whatever Oticon software the audiologist uses.
The pairings in the ConnectClips are cleared using ± Power.
The pairings in the phone are cleared using âforgetâ.
The pairings in the laptop are cleared using âremove deviceâ.
Like I said before, I have gone through these steps more times than I can count.
I have gone through them myself and with the audiologist, because she initially didnât believe it was happening.
If the paring was not being done properly, there would be no sound at all. The Opn S hearing aids work perfectly with no dropouts. The More hearing aids worked perfectly with no dropouts when the firmware was 1.3.0. After that, sound through the ConnectClip from my laptop was cutting out, as others have reported and as Oticon has admitted.
I experienced this exact phenomenon with the first set of More hearing aids after they were updated to 1.4.0. These hearing aids were returned to Oticon for testing and replaced with another set. They were supplied with 1.3.0 firmware, but accidently updated to 1.4.0 by the audiologist when they were supplied to me, so they had drop-outs from the beginning.
Here is an excerpt from an email I received from Oticon:
I heard back from our head office during the holidays. They have identified an issue with the ConnectClip and newer Firmware and are planning to do more testing with laptops and the dongle. A new Firmware will be released by the end of January for More hearing aids (FW 1.4.2) and they recommend updating your hearing aids when this Firmware will be available. Once your aids are up to date, they recommend deleting the Clip from your computer and from the aids (done by your hearing care professional) and proceed with a new pairing.
Based on the note posted by Oticon about 1.4.2 firmware, I donât think it includes the ConnectClip fix. I emailed Oticon yesterday and I will report back when I receive a reply.
I wonder if you have tried using the BTD800 dongle connect to your laptop to be used to connect to the ConnectClip. Technically you shouldnât have to. But I remember that initially when the ConnectClip was released, I remember some of them were sold with the BTD800 USB dongle because for some PCs, the streaming connection sometimes wouldnât be reliable unless the dongle were used.
I think hardly anyone ever have to use the dongle anymore with the ConnectClip lately. But since you mentioned that your only use is with your laptop, and the issue is only when you use the laptop with the More, I wonder if maybe thereâs something about the laptopâs BT specifically that is causing the issue. If itâs specific only when using your laptop, perhaps with the dongle, itâll resolved that for you.
Got it, @cvkemp & @darylm. This is what Oticon says:
Bluetooth pairing
If the instruments are paired with a phone, you can delete this pairing in Save and Exit. If instruments and phone need to be paired again, it must be done on the phone.
So, in the screenshot below there is the list of accessories. In âPhoneâ, right bottom corner, just click the little âtrash binâ. This option is hidden, you need to move your mouse around that area to uncover it.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the screenshot is from Oticon Genie 2, the software used to program the hearing aids. Also, I suppose the process to clear the other accessories is just the same (I donât have any, so I canât confirm).
I have never tried using a BT dongle. I donât even have one.
My laptop is currently a Lenovo X1 Carbon Generation 10. When this problem started, I was using a Lenovo X1 Carbon Generation 9, which I no longer have. I also previously had an HP EliteBook, which I was using when I originally got the Opn, Opn S and I still had it around when I originally got the More hearing aids. None of the other laptops were any different.
If I was not able to get the Opn and Opn S to work using a ConnectClip, I would be suspect of the laptop, but it works fine, and the other connectclip works. I even tried swapping them. The only commonality is the More hearing aids with newer than 1.3.0 firmware.
That screen capture looks like the software the audiologist is using. Does the software have a feature to clear the pairing in the ConnectClip? According to my audiologist, the software clears the pairing in the hearing aids, but not in the devices. She told me to use the 3 button press to clear the pairings in the ConnectClip.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I appreciate it.
You have to understand I donât use the ON app to me it is useless and causes worse battery life to both my aids and iPhone.
I agree with you that everything youâve tried seems to point at the newer than 1.3.0 firmware being the culprit. I was only pointing out the dongle option because I notice that itâs only option you havenât tried in case you may have one that came with your ConnectClip that you can just pop it in to try. If not, then itâs probably not worth trying, although it can be bought for around $35 from eBay if youâre desperate enough that youâre willing to try anything at this point, at least to rule yet another thing out.
Using the dongle doesnât necessarily imply that thereâs a reliability with your laptop BT, because youâve already proven that your laptop works just fine with the ConnectClip and the OPN and OPN S. However, there might have been something buggy about the firmware in the OPN and OPN S before that required the dongle to resolve when connected to the ConnectClip as the intermediary device to the PC, but subsequent OPN and OPN S firmwares resolved the issue and made the dongle no long necessary. Perhaps the post 1.3.0 firmware broke something similar to how the OPN/S firmware was broken which the dongle fixed.
OK, ideally Oticon should have fixed it in the 1.4.2 firmware of the More, but apparently they didnât fix it like they thought they did, specific to your situation. So it depends on how desperate you are now to blow $35 on a dongle to either rule it out or maybe hope that you get lucky, vs holding your breath for god-knows-how-long of yet another firmware for the More that may not be until another 6 month in the making. If you need this for work and you can expense the $35 dongle as a work-related item then maybe itâs a worthwhile thing to try (if anything just to rule it out).
Have your audi contact Oticon and request f/w be rolled back to 13.0 until Oticon comes up w/a fix.
I had an issue some time ago where Oticon wanted me to return my Moreâs to roll back the f/w, so Iâm pretty sure they can do it.
Okay I am curious I use my connect clip with my iPad, and More1 aids, I have had no issues with connectivity.
I just finished streaming an audiobook using my MacBook Air that is old enough that it no longer receives MacOS updates with my connect clip paired straight to the onboard Bluetooth with no disconnects. I was wanting to see if it could be something to do with laptops. My aids are on 1.4.2 I just canât understand why some have the connectivity issues and some donât. With the same level of firmware. I am not doubting that you have the problem, I am just curious about why some have the issues and others donât. I asked my audiologist this last week if he had heard of the issue or seen it and he said he hadnât.
I wonder if the traditional BT has some ambiguity in their standard thatâs left to interpretation, such that it may cause unreliability with one computerâs BT interpretation to implementation and not with another computerâs BT interpretation to implementation.
Obviously, Oticon talks about this on their ConnectClipâs FAQ page (see screenshot below). Theyâre basically saying that if you have unreliable connection between the ConnectClip and a PC, the first thing you should try is the BTD 800 USB BT dongle.
I havenât had issues with my connect clips and never used the dongle they recommend.
Me neither. And why would you or I use the dongle they recommend if we donât have issue? But it doesnât mean that others shouldnât have issues nor use the dongle just because we donât.
Obviously Oticon is foreseeing the issue for certain situations, so thatâs what they recommend as the first thing to try if you have issue. Theyâre allowing for both scenarios here.
Iâve had a problem with my ConnectClip and an Apple iMac Pro (2017) desktop but not with several Apple MacBook Pro notebooks (2016 and 2019) - this was with OPN (1) and then OPN S 1 aids. When I was visiting my provider and asked about that she called Oticon Tech support - they suggested that many notebooks did not need the BTD 800 but many desktops had poor implementations of Bluetooth and needed the dongle to work correctly. Sure enough, no issues with the desktop when using the dongle but lots without it. Later versions of macOS have improved thing with the built-in bluetooth of the desktop (they sometimes include new firmware for the bluetooth chipset as the version numbers change) but the dongle is still best for my machine and ConnectClip.
Turns out the dongle was provided with many higher end Sennheiser bluetooth headphones/headsets - they recommend it for call centers where reliable bluetooth from computers to headsets is needed. Jabra also provides a similar dongle for their high end bluetooth devices.
Some collaborators at work found that some computers worked fine with an expensive (about $75K) portable instrument that was controlled by a Windows application using Bluetooth to communicate but other computers failed miserably. The instrument always worked when using ethernet rather than bluetooth. My guess is that some Bluetooth implementations are poorly done and buggy and it isnât a high priority for some (many if Iâm cynical) computer hardware and OS manufacturers.
My current More 1 aids seem to work OK with my desktop/dongle/connectclip combo but I typically use old closed large cup wired headphones plugged into the desktop as they help block environmental sounds (AC fan for example). They also sound a bit better than streaming to the aids and I can wear the aids with the headphones without feedback
I will ask the audiologist to provide a dongle for a test, just to rule it out.
The firmware cannot be rolled back unless the hearing aids are sent to Oticon. Itâs an option, but I will find out if they are doing another firmware rollout soon.
If the laptops are actually Bluetooth certified and the connect clip is certified, they are required to follow the interoperability standard or not use the Bluetooth name.
EDiT The ConnectClip is certified, using a Qualicomm design. Here is the certification from the searchable Bluetooth database.
Apologies Iâm not as frequent as I should be in this forum. Is one symptom of the âConnectClipâ issue a problem with poor audio, cutting in and out like a bad connection? I discovered my Bluetooth mouse was interfering with the streamed audio. Logitech mouse, no dongle, M1 MacBook Air and 1.3 firmware. I had to compromise by using the Macâs trackpad when using audio. Next problem was at some stage, probably not Oticon firmware related because I was a couple of months from my 1.3 upgrade, I could only get the left aid to stream audio with ConnectClip and I gave up and bought some over-ear noise cancelling headphones for conference calls. Mouse was a Logitech so both brands in theory sticking to standards or maybe I just have a bad mouse or Clip? Iâve found the over ear with noise cancelling a great solution, as others have said it shuts out ambient noise better than muting the aids.
While I donât know the details of the hardware inside the aids what you mention makes sense.
Itâs usual to buy in a chip to provide wireless services and these are subject to firmware/driver updates as are the laptops or whatever âthe other endâ.
Resetting pairings after a firmware update canât hurt and may certainly help rather than assuming forwards and back adds compatibility is always OK (itâs far from it).
I did notice that More firmware upgrades lose the programming but retain the Bluetooth links and I will be removing them in future.