A friend of mine yesterday switched from OPN 1 to Phonak aids and showed me his corresponding app. To be honest, it looks way superior compared to the On app from Oticon.
The sheer amount of adjustments looks rather overwhelming. He also said that an equalizer is also available which makes a real difference when adjusted to one’s individual needs.
He quickly dumped the more aids and also seemed not to be happy with the music setting.
He is a professional violinist and was a bit taken aback when playing his violin after having switched to the music programme.
I wear More 1 aids and generally am happy with them but the app is rather outdated these days and it is a bit sad that Oticon does not seem to be improving it by taking it to a new level of individual adjustability.
The last change was the streaming eq which proved rather handy but apart from that, the app really is quite poor compared to its competitors.
I just have a question: If your aids are fitted properly why would you even need an app? I have the More1 aids and been wearing them since June of 2021, I only have the default program, the TV Adapter, and the connect clip. I use the iPhone and the iPhone has a very useful control panel that does anything that I need to do or change on my aids. I don’t even have the Oticon app installed, it is required and a waste of time.
You have a point there.
I fit the aids myself. But for others who might feel the need to alter things here and there, it might be useful to adjust the aids a bit.
My aids come from the VA, I have been getting my aids from the VA for about 18 years, I have learned over those years to work with my audiologist to get my aids adjusted fully and properly. My first three sets of aids didn’t have any means to change programs or even volume so they had to be adjusted properly. And once I had aids I could make adjustments myself I found it unneeded if the aids were fitted properly. In my thinking if the aids need an app for the user to fiddle with then either the hearing aid company or the hearing aid fitters aren’t doing their jobs.
@puresound: Watch out! Whenever I post similar opinions, I get carved up like a beacon!
You do not want to become a mashed spud? LOL
Schill 
Pickles! 
I would concur with @cvkemp about not needing to improve the app. It’s Oticon’s goal to make their OPN/S/More HAs as almost set-it-and-forget-it type HAs, so it’s understandable that they don’t put emphasis on making their ON app as robust as other HA mfgs’ apps. The point is that if the HAs are robust enough, there’s no need to have a robust app. If you must keep going to the app to twiddle around with it all the times, then there’s something wrong with that scenario. All the fiddling that would need to be done should have been done up front through visits with the HCP already. Once that’s done, all of the fiddling left should be simply program changes and volume changes. Heck, even program changes should be minimal because the default program should have been adjusted to work for you probably 95% of the times, unless you’re listening to music.
I’ve seen a lot of lamenting on this forum by Oticon users about the lack of robustness for the app. It should be rejoiced that one should not have to constantly fiddle with an app to keep one happy with the HA’s performance. Whatever controls allowed to be changed by the user in an app should have already been programmed in by the software in the first place.
Even with the Equalizer that was added to the ON app for the OPN S and More but only for streaming. Whatever I find lacking while streaming, I would also find lacking when hearing in the live environments just the same as well. So why wouldn’t I try to get the programming optimized up front to perform like how it would with the Equalizer so that I wouldn’t have to keep adjusting the Equalizer when I stream in the first place?
For me personally, the only reason why I would find the Equalizer (when streaming) useful is if I can increase the bass a lot more when streaming movies, especially action movies. But we all know that most HAs have a fundamental limitation with delivering good bass to begin with when streaming. So if the Equalizer can’t help me surpass this fundamental limitation in the receivers, then it’s useless to me.
Wearing More1:
If you use use 2 TV Adapter3, on different TVs - the ON App is the only way I know to be able to switch streaming between the TV Adapters/TV’s.
The More Sound Booster is very helpful to me, such as when I am running an oscillating heater (fan noise) behind me in my office. To clarify, The Sound Booster does not ‘boost the sound’, it dampens the surrounding noise. This is only available on the ON App.
The equalizer, only available when streaming seems to help with added bass or reducing squeaky voices.
I like being able to access these little features.
I agree, these are very small temporary tweeks, as proper programming does the heavy lifting with the performance of Oticon hearing aids, and I am good with that.
I think the On App does exactly what Oticon wants it to do.
If you really need it then that is okay use it but I don’t and it is just an unnecessary waste of time for me.
Yeah, that’s true. I never thought about this (neither did Oticon) because it’s pretty rare that a user would have more than 1 TV Adapter. If this were a common occurrence, Oticon would have implemented a button accommodation for this scenario already. But nevertheless, you’re correct that the ON app is necessary to workaround this issue.
The equivalent of the MoreSound Booster can be easily implemented as a separate program so that the user simply just switch to that program instead of having to resort to the ON app every time for it. Oticon purposefully made this an exclusive ON app feature because they want to preserve the integrity of the “open” paradigm because this feature is a beam forming noise reduction option that goes counter to the Oticon open paradigm. So by making it exclusive to the ON app and requiring the user to have to activate it manually each and every single time they want to use it, it’s a passive aggressive way to “discourage” users from being able to use it all the times. What Oticon would rather have users do is get their brain hearing get used to the noise and tune it out, but if the user resists to doing it, then here’s a hard way to let the HA tune it out for you. If I value the MoreSound Booster feature and find myself use it all the times, I’d rather have my HCP program the equivalent of it in Program 2 for me so that I can access it with 1 push of a hard button.
If you’re able to enhance the bass via the Equalizer in the ON app when streaming, then you can achieve the same thing permanently by seeing your HCP and ask him or her to go to the Phone menu (and also the ConnectClip menu and the TV Adapter Menu) as seen in the screenshot below and set the value in the Power Bass feature (at the bottom of the menu) to High. That will be about as much bass as you can get while streaming. Then you won’t need to mess with the Equalizer every single time you stream to get better bass anymore. By the way, I like that “High” Power Bass perception a lot, even though it’s still not enough for me, but it’s better than no bass. I have it set in all my streaming devices, like my iPhone, my TV Adapter and my ConnectClip. That way I never need to mess around with the Equalizer and still have the best bass I can get while streaming.
As for lowering the highs for squeaky voices using the Equalizer, I never find it to be an issue for me. But that doesn’t diminish it being an issue for you. So yes, the Equalizer would be a plus to be able to dampen squeaky voices for you. But again, if you find that you need to set the Equalizer to dampen squeaky voices every time you stream, a better approach is to have your HCP adjust your gain curve in the Fine Tuning section to eliminate that altogether once and for all.
I totally agree that the ON app does exactly what Oticon wants it to do, which is very little adjustments as they are not frequently required and it’s better to adjust it in the programming. It’s not an Oticon shortcoming like the perception that many Oticon users here have. It’s a deliberate approach to keep it simple because their HAs should not need so much fiddling about if they have had the appropriate programming from the HCPs.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have these little features in the ON app like you said. But it’s a misconception to think that the ON app is lacking because they only have a small amount of little features and they don’t measure up to other HA mfg’s phone apps. It’d be an even bigger mistake to use the robustness of a HA phone app as a yardstick to make a purchase criteria. After all, you’re buying the HA, you’re not buying the HA phone app.
I think if you do a search on the Phonak app on this forum, you’ll find a lot to hate about it.
It never stays connected to your phone; it forgets your “Custom Programs”, and is an overall PITA!
Yes the On app is very minimal, but it does stay"ON"!
The MyMusic default program is tuned for people that don’t know anything about music!
The hearing aid fitter can, and should fine tune the program to the individual’s needs.
If I were a musician, I’d bring my instrument (no piano’s) to my fitter, and have them make adjustments while playing.
Chuck, you are one of those people that is very happy with the way your More’s are set up, as is.
You aren’t picky about music, so the General program suits you, and that’s fine, but for those of us that are audiophiles, and require fine tuning, having a music program, and the On ap for streaming EQ is very beneficial.
Well, V… I can attest to the fact that MYMusic program is tuned to my liking for both live, and recorded music.
I even use it for movies.
But streaming is a whole other ballgame.
I have all the settings in Genie maxed out for Bass, but I still require 4dB bass boost when streaming from my phone.
The ON app gives me the ability to do that, and by stuffing some cotton in my ears (behind my molds) I can achieve a noticeable improvement in overall bass response, and fidelity.
So, there’s that!
So you’ve also set the Power Bass setting in the 3 streaming accessories (Phone, TV Adapter, and ConnectClip) inside Genie 2 to High, and with the Equalizer, you’re still able to eke out another 4 dB of bass boost ON TOP of that? That’s good to hear, but then couldn’t you have just added 4 dB in your gain curve in Fine Tuning on the low frequencies just the same to achieve a permanent adjustment to it?
My point is that if there’s actually anymore room left to squeeze more bass out of those tiny little receivers, then an increase in the Equalizer or an increase in the gain curve to boost the bass is not really any different. The real limitation of more bass is the tiny receiver and the leakage (which you solved with the cotton balls).
@Volusiano: To be clear: my beef regarding the ON app is not that there aren’t enough features and “tweaks” - it’s that the app feels “clunky and ill-conceived”. For instance,
- volume setting not preserved when changing programs
- difficulty setting screen scales for reviewing historical usage data
- unique access to More Sound Booster through the app
- having to scroll through programs rather than having a drop-down list
I fully agree that if the HA is doing its job, the app can and should be rudimentary. But, does "rudimentary" have to equate to sloppy"?
Yeah, I’m not trying to defend the app, whether it’s lacking features or whether it’s sloppy. It’s probably both, but I could care less. The point is that once you recognize and dismiss the app as not really necessary or vital to the operation of the HAs, except for the case where Oticon makes it necessary (like having 2 TV Adapters or Mute), then it doesn’t matter how sloppily designed or lacking the app is. Yeah, OK, it’s a bad app, but who needs it?
Once you understand that it’s unnecessary because you can have your HCP set things up to have the equivalent features deemed exclusive on the app but not really so (like the MoreSound Booster or the Equalizer), then it becomes really just irrelevant of an issue. But if you let it become an important criteria in whether you will select the More or not, then you’re turning a mole hill into a mountain that can keep you from missing out and not seeing the real value of the HAs behind that mole hill.
@Volusiano: I didn’t realize that anyone would choose their hearing device based on the app. That’s like buying a car for the stereo system.
I love the set it and forget it the More 1 provides me. I use the app on my watch to change programs when needed and it works flawlessly. Different strokes for different folks.
I will just say that the three bands of EQ available while streaming are pretty useless. We have a cheap Behringer mixer at work for the conference room and it’s two bands of EQ per channel (hi and low only, no mids, no parametric) are far more noticeable to me. I would also like to see the EQ adjustable per aid, in a similar manner to how they link volume with one common slider, or one per ear.
Me neither before. But then I was under the impression that the OP’s friend (the musician) mentioned in the original post in this thread switched from his OPN 1 aids for Phonak and showed the OP how robust the Phonak app is compared to the ON app. Then a few sentences later the OP said that his friend quickly dumped the More aids. So it’s not clear whether it’s the OPN 1 to Phonak transition or the More to Phonak transition, but the whole implication and title of the thread and the example of the musician friend at least implies that the dated ON app caused the switch.
@Volusiano: To me, the strong need for such a robust app demonstrates two things:
- Lack of skill on the part of the fitter, to ensure that Phoncq’s Brain Proxy Switching technology works so that even a monkey could wear them and be in the “right program”, and
- Lack of skill on the part of Phonacq’s design engineering team such that (as is the case withOticon’s devices) no such Brain Proxy Switching is required.
(Just my opinion - YMMV)