Oticon More "Clear Dynamics" Feature

[elnino]

Hi, I am in need of some advice by some of the tech-savy people on here!

I am currently trialling out the Oticon More’s and loving them. However, one thing that has annoyed me a little is that oftentimes when I hear loud and fairly high voices, the hearing aids distort them a bit and that short distortion sound (which really doesnt last long) sounds slightly uncomfortable to my ear. It is hard to describe what exactly that distortion sound is like but I am hoping some of you might have experienced this, too. I have found this to be more of an issue when I tried out the Oticon More 3s compared to the Oticon More 1s.

On the spec sheet, I found that the More 1s have a feature called “Clear Dynamics” that the 3s don’t have. I am just going to copy and paste what it says about this feature on the spec sheet:

"Better sound quality with less distortion in loud environments: Clear Dynamics expands the input dynamic range, processing input sounds up to 113 dB SPL, to provide better sound quality without distortion and artifacts at loud input levels, while keeping the sound quality of soft input levels intact. Clear Dynamics has an operating range from 5 to 113 dB SPL. With speech cues preserved at high input levels users enjoy a better listening experience without distortion, even in loud environments. Clear Dynamics is especially valuable for users when listening to music or in conversations in busy, dynamic environments, where peaks can often be louder than the available input dynamic range.”

Thus, while I have not really noticed any difference between the More 1s and 3s apart from the distortion issue being a bit less noticeable with the 1s, I am wondering whether the clear dynamics feature might be the reason that the distortions that I am experiencing with loud and high voices are less noticeable with the 1s.

Alternatively, it might be an issue that could be fixed by my audiologist. He has tried fixing it (and it has gotten better, but hasn’t completely disappeared because of it) but I believe he said that he might have to decrease the amplification in order to fully fix this which I am trying to avoid. I have worn hearing aids for all of my life and I like getting as much sound as I can get! Thus, I am wondering whether I might be best advised to go for the More 2s who do have that Clear Dynamics feature. Other than that, I do not see a reason to go for the 2s or 1s because apart from the issue just described, I did not notice any difference between the 1s and 3s going back and forth twice (first trialling the 3s, then the 1s and now the 3s again).

Sorry for the longwinded post, I guess my question is whether this “Clear Dynamics” feature really is what would decrease the distortion issue I have described. Any advice is hugely appreciated, thanks!

And since we’re at it: can I use the TV connector to stream Netflix or Zoom calls etc from my laptop or would that require the ConnectClip?

Thanks in advance!

elnino

[Volusiano]

Clear Dynamics is the Oticon marketing name for high input dynamic range. Usually it’s a desired feature when you like to listen to live music, or maybe loud music that’s not live. It has a high input level ceiling of acceptance (in the Oticon case, up to 113 dB SPL) so that the loud/quick transient attacks from musical instruments, especially percussions, or maybe pianos, guitars, come through nice and clear and authentic without suffering from too much compression if the input mic can’t handle a high enough sound level.

I don’t know if a human voice, even if loud and high, can cause distortion or not. Normally for loud sounds, compression in the Loud section of the Fine Tuning section should have managed it already. But if it’s a problem, I’m assuming that your audi has gone into the Fine Tuning and bring down the gain in the Loud section. As long as your audi only brings down the gain in the Loud section, and leave the Moderate and Soft section alone, you’re not really losing much anything else, except that loud sounds now don’t get amplified as much as before. But Moderate and Soft sounds still get amplified just the same. See the first screenshot below for reference.

Another thing to try, if your audi hasn’t tried already, is to enable the Transient Noise Management setting to High (see second screenshot below for reference). This should help subdue sudden loud sounds a bit to help make it less comfortable. This is worth a try if not tried yet.

It’s possible that the lack of the Clear Dynamics feature in the More 3 presents this issue to you. If the Transient Noise Management at High, and reducing the gain in the Loud row in the Fine Tuning section don’t seem to help, and you really want to fix this issue for good, maybe it’s worth seeing if it goes away in the More 2 since it also has Clear Dynamics like the More 1. At least the More 2 is cheaper than the More 1.

As for using your TV Adapter on your laptop, yes, it can be done as long as you connect the laptop’s headphone jack to the Left and Right audio in of the TV Adaptor (you’ll need a stereo male mini jack to male RCA left and right splitter/adapter output). If you leave your laptop volume on low and compensate by increasing the volume of your More 3, there’s a good chance that your laptop volume is below the TV Adapter input threshold level. If this is the case, the TV Adapter may go into standby after a few minutes and you’ll lose the sound. To solve this issue, you’d need to set your laptop volume loud enough to exceed the TV Adapter input threshold level, and turn down the volume on your hearing aids to compensate. There’s no clear indicator anywhere to let you know that your laptop volume is loud enough above the threshold. The only way to know is when your TV Adaptor no longer goes on standby after a while. But once you get a hang of it, you’ll know how loud your laptop volume will need to be at. I used to hook up my TV Adaptor 3.0 to my laptop this way for a long time before the ConnectClip became available. You can also tap the 5V USB from your laptop to power your TV Adaptor, there’s no need to plug the TV Adaptor to the wall outlet.

For Zoom calls, you’ll use the mic from your laptop because obviously the TV Adapter doesn’t have a built-in mic, unlike the ConnectClip.

[hisredletterbox]

I’ve got the more 1 and am self programming with some help from my audiologist. I had the same issue with loud voices distorting briefly, I thought the sound was a bit like a submarine wooshing past.

I solved it completely by turning off the feedback control, it’s far too aggressive. Turning it down to low helped a bit so you could start there. I have no feedback issues with it off, but of course it does squeal a bit when taken out of the ear. Small trade off for me.

If that doesn’t help, turn down the transient noise management as well. I had some residual distortion after reducing the feedback which I solved by setting that to low - but I didn’t need to turn it off completely.

I went from having this issue constantly to never having it with those two tweaks alone. Don’t decrease your amplification just yet!

your 2nd question: I use the TV adapter with my laptop, but it doesn’t work that well. It has an auto shut off feature that kicks in when the volume drops, so I have to keep manually re-enabling it. I suppose that makes sense on a TV but not on a laptop when you play and pause videos now and again. Sounds like people have a better time with the connectclip.

[hisredletterbox]

An interesting comparison of the more screen vs your screenshot of the opn1 screen: they have added some text advising LOW be used when there is a complaint of compromised sound quality.

Sounds like it’s a known issue!

[elnino]

Many thanks to both of you, that’s absolutely amazing advice! Will look at a) decreasing compression in the Loud section of the Fine Tuning section, b) Transient Noise Management (either setting it to high or low, will attempt both) and c) turning off feedback control (I have custom moulds so feedback shouldn’t much of an issue either way).

Thanks also for the TV adapter advice, I don’t mind taking some time figuring out the high enough volume so that it doesnt go to standby after a while. Given that the TV adapter is cheaper than the ConnectClip (I think?) this should be worth the time investment.

[Volusiano]

@hisredletterbox

your 2nd question: I use the TV adapter with my laptop, but it doesn’t work that well. It has an auto shut off feature that kicks in when the volume drops, so I have to keep manually re-enabling it. I suppose that makes sense on a TV but not on a laptop when you play and pause videos now and again. Sounds like people have a better time with the connectclip.

Yeah, if you pause the audio for long enough, it makes sense that the TV Adapter would go into standby. But if audio resumes, I think it automatically comes out of standby and starts working again, right? I assume that’s how you manually re-enable it.

What I don’t like is that if I use the laptop to adjust the volume at a comfortable listening level for me on the HAs, that volume output from the laptop is usually below the input threshold so the TV Adapter thinks there’s no audio and eventually goes into standby. It doesn’t have to be a complete pause of the audio. So my workaround is to turn up the volume of the laptop to loud enough -> too loud for my listening on the HAs, then go into the iPhone to turn down the volume of the TV Adapter there to a comfortable listening level for me.

[Volusiano]

@hisredletterbox

An interesting comparison of the more screen vs your screenshot of the opn1 screen: they have added some text advising LOW be used when there is a complaint of compromised sound quality.

Sounds like it’s a known issue!

Thanks, that’s good to know. On the OPN, it’s just turning the Feedback Manager ON or OFF, there’s now LOW option like with the More. See screenshot below. And I don’t own the More so I wouldn’t know. But of course the OP has the More now, so your clarification is definitely appropriate.

It didn’t occur to me that feedback management can cause a distortion issue on loud and high voices. At least on the OPN, with Feedback Shield on, I never have any distortion or compromised sound quality issue. But the OPN S and the More has the new feedback prevention technology (called OpenSound Optimizer on the OPN S and More Optimizer on the More) on top of the traditional Feedback Shield, and I know some OPN S wearers had been complaining about fluttering sound issue from this Optimizer technology and had been waiting for a fix. So maybe this is the fix for that issue now on both the S and the More.