I am generally very satisfied with my new (to me) Oticon Opn’s.
However there is one issue that I have. Whilst streaming, I notice a slight distortion in the sound. This happens with any kind of streaming (TV Adapter, iPhone, iPad). I do not have a Connectclip or a Streamer Pro so I cannot see if that would improve things, I am streaming directly to the HA’s.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be causing this?
Thanks
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The distortion might be due to the right hearing aid receiver being overdrive at the very high frequency where you have severe to profound hearing loss. Maybe when streaming, the high frequency sounds are more prevalent than when hearing environmental sounds. You can try Speech Rescue configuration 2.4 (the left most one) on both ears to lower the high frequency sounds toward the 1.6-2.4KHz destination range, then turn off the High Frequency Band option so relieve the receivers from being (over) amplified at the high frequency sounds and see if it helps. You can just make a copy of the General program and enable Speech Rescue for this copy program, then switch back and forth between the 2 programs to see if the copy helps. If yes, you can either put SR into the General program next so that it’s always on by default. Or leave the copy program there so that you’d just switch to it when you stream only.
If SR doesn’t seem to help, you can use the Fitting Assistant available in Genie 2 to see if it can help diagnose and come up with a solution for you or not. Or play around with the Fine Tuning section and decrease the gain one by one across the frequency channels and see where the distortion is (and of course put back the gain to the original value if it’s not).
You didn’t say what size receiver you’re using either. If 85 dB then try the 100 or 105 dB size with a custom mold and see if it none of the above steps help.
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Many thanks for your help. I will try your suggestions and report back.
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@Volusiano I put Speech Rescue to the max and selected “no” for keeping high frequency sounds. This did improve the distortion, but not completely. I am using 85db receivers but I have some 100db that are really too short for my comfort. Nevertheless I tried the 100db receivers and voila! the distortion has gone. I will now get some 100db receivers in the correct length and I will then be a happy camper.
Many thanks for your help.
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The poor sound quality is probably due to the bluetooth transmission they use. For my TV sound I directly connect it to my Oticon Streamer using cable and the sound is much better than the bluetooth connection. The streamer has now been discontinued, possibly for this reason.
I discovered that Oticon are now using Bluetooth LE (low energy), optimised for better sound quality. And it’s incompatible with earlier bluetooth products like the streamer and education bluetooth mics, which I bought to use with my NHS (UK) supplied Oticon Spirit Synergy hearing aids. These don’t have bluetooth in the hearing aid itself, which is why I use the streamer.
Surprisingly, streaming from my Apple iPhone is much better, although it can’t be Bluetooth LE as that is incompatible with my Oticon streamer.
Does anyone know of hearing aids using Bluetooth LE for better quality?
e.g. NHS Oticon Engage ( relabled OPN S ) support Bluetooth LE Mfi (direct connect to Apple iPhone only)
Bluetooth LE (BTLE) comes in three different forms
1: original Bluetooth LE without audio streaming , this were first available and is only for transmission of small data packages (no audio streaming) one way from Phone to hearing aid. The heaing aids use this to connect to the designated App for changing settings: Program change, volume changes, etc.
2: Bluetooth LE protocol known as Mfi and ASHA , this is an enhancement of the original Bluetooth LE standard and support one way audio streaming from the phone to hearing aid. During a phone call you can hear the caller in the hearing aid, but you have to speak into the phone microphone that the caller can hear you.
Mfi = Made for iPhone
ASHA= audio streaming for hearing aids (audio streaming over BTLE for Andoid phones)
3: the newest Bluetooth LE Audio , this is the latest and newest and is often written as: BLE Audio or LE Audio, this new standard support two way audio streaming, A) from the Phone to the hearing aid and B) the input of the hearing aid microphone can simulaniously streamed back to the phone, for hands free phone calls.
Only the new Bluetooth LE Audiosupporting Auracast.
From Oticon hearing aids, only the newest Oticon intent supporting BLE Audio.
It could be the tubes need cleaning, you might have a bit of wax in them, did they provide cleaning wires?
They are RIC’s so no tubes and I did change the wax filters.
Thanks, Firenzel, I’ve got a lot to learn about bluetooth versions - didn’t realise there were so many.
In my experience, the distorted sound quality from TV bluetooth adapter to my Streamer is due to the Bluetooth quality, as proved by my cable connection being so much better. Oticon stated that they have changed their Bluetooth standard for better quality. That agrees with what I thought.
Unfortunately, this info doesn’t help the OP who can’t use a cable connection.