I too have an iCom and find the volumes too high. The background noise is so high that unless I am in a quiet place, people on the other end of the conversation can not take the noise from passing cars or even the ambient noise in my car at 50 or 60MPH. I visited my Audiologist who plugged in the iCom to a different piece of software. There is mic gain and output volume. I may not have the exact terminology but the controls are not unlike what a sound engineer would have for a performance mic on stage. If the mic gain is too high, the background noise becomes a bigger problem. I found that both controls were set very loud. The Audi had no idea what settings to use so I just had her turn them down a small amount. I wrote to Phonak and they gave me a rediculous answer: “make a knot in the neck cord to get the iCom closer to your mouth”. I asked if I could get the correct settings or the software to experiment, both were refused and instead they replied: “visit your Audiologist” (who has no idea how to set it). Does anyone have the software that sets the mic gain and output volume for the iCom?
I believe the audi can adjust the volume of the hearing aid’s mic up or down, which should reduce the amount of background noise you hear when in bluetooth mode. If the problem is the amount of noise the people talking to you are hearing, that is a problem with the icom mike. I have mine set to 39/39 on the icom, with the hearing aids mike turned down to -8. I have found, unfortunately, that the icom does not work well outside or in loud conditions :mad: I have not been able to find a setting which eliminates the sounds of passing cars but is still loud enough for the person to hear what I am saying.
How would I go about doing that on my iCom?
Unfortunately you can’t unless you were one of the lucky few who purchased the Icube before phonak pulled it from general purchase. You will have to go see your audi and have him/her adjust your icom settings.
Ah! So he can adjust that volume? That is good to know. I’m going to see him in a few days - I’ll ask him to cut back on the mic’s sensitivity.
(I was talking with my daughter the other day while sitting in a turn lane and she commented as to how loud the turn signal was!)
Your audi can lower the mic attenutation on the iCom. That controls what sounds the people you talk to hear I believe.
Please clarify something for me: To adjust the microphone volume in an iCom, is an iCube required (or the audi’s equivalent of an iCube)?
The reason I ask is, I’m thinking of trying to do this myself.
I notice that if I connect my iCom to my computer with a USB cable, the computer “recognizes” the device. I haven’t tried to make any use of this connection - but it does seem to exist.
Also, a couple of weeks ago I downloaded and installed the iPFG software (ver 2.4) when I was thinking about getting an iCube and the software was freely available on Phonak’s website.
So, I was wondering if it might be possible to connect to the iCom using the iPFG program and thereby be able to “fiddle” with the mic’s volume setting myself. Anyone know if this can be done?
If this is not possible then so be it. I’m going to be visiting my audi in a few days and I’ll ask him to make the adjustment. But it would be nice if I could do it myself.
Your computer might see the iCom, but doesn’t have drivers for it. That’s why you can’t program your aids or iCom yourself.
I’m pretty sure you can adjust the icom from the iPFG software through the USB cable. The drivers are part of the software package. I will try to do it tomorrow with mine and let you know. I witnessed my audi doing the same thing with the remote.
CryMeARiver, were you successful at connecting your iCom to the computer with a USB cable. I believe you have an iCube, but I would like to know whether it is necessary just for upgrade/adjustment of the iCom (or myPilot).
Thanks,
Gilbert
Well, I visited my audi today with the express purpose of having him turn down the sensitivity of the microphone in my iCom. He had no clue as to how to do it so he called Phonak. They told him it could NOT be done. They said they were working on adding that feature - that it would be availble sometime soon (yeah, right).
As I recall, there have been a couple of people here in this forum that said they were able to do this - right? Does anyone have any step-by-step instructions as to how to accomplish this?
MartinV,
This is possible and can be done - I have the Audeo Yes V with the iCom and myPilot. I have separate programs for the EasyAudio (streaming music with direct connection to the iCom) and a Bluetooth program for my office landline phone paired with a Jabra A7010. For both of these special programs I had my audi turn the HA mics down as far as she could adjust them (I think I recall it being -30dB). The screen needed to do this was not obvious and she had to hunt around for awhile, but eventually found it.
To test this I held a small standard earbud up to the mics on my left HA and played some music at a low volume - the HA picked up the sound and amplified it to a reasonable level. I then plugged a different audio source into the iCom - as soon as the iCom detected the streaming audio it switched to the EasyAudio program and I could no longer hear the music from the earbud.
If your audi can’t find it and claims the Phonak rep says it can’t be done, then someone is feeding you a line of bull.
I think it’s the mics in the HAs, not the iCom, that can be adjusted for sensitivity. I don’t think the iCom mike itself can be adjusted … yet. One user put a baby sock over the icom to moderate the mic sensitivity. might try a wrist sweat band???