Phonak Brio 3 RIC low battery with no warning

Hearing Aids
#1

A little bit concerned, I took my 3 day old hearing aids out and put in their storage boxes as assumed I’d be alone for the night, my husband returned home early so put them back in. be almost 2 hours ago at first something sounded off like it was struggling to pick up sounds but had a faint buzz like a electrical bee I turned up volume as couldn’t hear the tv to be walloped by the same buzzing sound on super volume. At first my initial thought was maybe it was trying to decide on which program to use due to quietness a similar thing happened during my walk earlier today where it stuttered with a car flying past.

Since my left aid has been making what sounds like electrical buzz noise for almost 2 hours I assumed maybe it was wax buildup so I changed the wax guard, it made no difference. I have followed my fitters instructions to the letter putting aid over the ear then sliding the Ric mould in and using the antenna looking thing to remove the mould before sliding the top part off the ear. I haven’t been in rain, or got them wet and used a baby wipe on the mould like advised to clean in a bit of a panic at this point as i have been incredibly careful with my new hearing aids and I haven’t yanked them out or even dropped them.

Surely the Ric can’t have developed issues already I’m getting no voice sounds from the tv either thought tv was on mute till put my right hearing aid in

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#2

Well, electronics can fail when new. The term is infant mortality. Bummer! Often it is a bad capacitor and those are used in filter circuits that stop what you describe.

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#3

Little confused by title. Did you try changing batteries? Did it help?

#4

Thank you for the replies @KenP @MBD it was the battery!!! I tried that this morning was surprised usually I’m used to warning beeps and to be honest didn’t expect one to be dying within 3 days!

Kicked right into normal sound with change, I’ve not had RICs before so it was a what the heck is going on moment. thanks again

#5

Those batteries were used to program which is power intensive. Hopefully, you’ll get an extra day. I run 3-4 days on a set depending on streaming. Newer processors are more powerful so getting the week plus isn’t going to happen like in the past.

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#6

I’d tried to amend my post with an update but signal was too iffy it changed my title but not my essay lol. That would make sense @KenP they were the same ones used in programming. I don’t stream as of yet but will decide after a few months whether it’s something I need to invest in.

#7

I normally get the low battery warning but on some batteries, I don’t get a low warning tone.

The last time that happened to me, the battery lasted only 2 hours.

It’s only happened a few times in 30 years of wearing HAs.

#8

I only get 3 to 4 days out of my Phonak brio batteries.

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#9

@Zebras still learning here, I’ve marked my calendar so I can figure out my average with new aids I’ve had a few Duff butteries in my lifetime too but only had a small handful go dead with zero

#10

New aids might have different beeps than you are used to. My old aids had a musical thingy from high to low. My new ones have a horn type beep beep. The first few times they went off I was walking outside. The first time I thought it was it was a distant Japanese car, the second an electric scooter was trying to pass.
I asked on my first checkup a few days later. They played the low battery sound and I was good to go while feeling a little stupid.

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#11

The app for my aids will play the various sounds to familiarize and also tell me what the last sound sent meant. Check your app to see if you have that feature. On mine you have to drill down about three levels to find it.

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#12

@KenP that’s cool! at this moment I don’t have the compilot 2 or compilot air 2 to connect to my Android phone. I wanted to make sure I was sticking with these first and then buy a secondhand compilot 2 with the TV link. The hearing aids and batteries swallowed most of my budget lol

#13

@HalfEar my tune up for these next month if I don’t get any beepy warnings with my next dying battery I’ll be asking my Fitter about what the sound is or to turn it on.

#14

I don’t think you need the ComPilot for remote control.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonova.phonak.rcapp

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#15

I think that app only works with Audeo B Direct. There’s this line hidden in there:
Phonak Remote requires hearing aids with direct connectivity.

If I remember correctly, Phonak does have a remote app that works if you have a Compilot 2 device.
Mark

#16

@mdb I had the second app that indeed does require compilot 2 or compilot air 2 to connect to remote control I downloaded it the first day I got these and went oh bugger.

@KenP thank you for the above link unfortunately my phone’s a cheapie and says the app is not compatible with my device I will eventually get upgraded on phones too there’s talk of that at the moment.

#17

You could just call them and ask. I’ve found most programmers just leave things at factory default unless the client asks for something different.