Some background as a bit of introduction since I haven’t been around since the hearingaidforums.com days and it redirected me here. I have been wearing hearing aids of various types for 40 years at this point. I generally keep hearing aids until they break (10+ years). I’ve never loved them, it’s just been part of my life. And I am just as apt to get by without them as use them and generally like the quieter life and just put them in when I need them. I have been using AirPods Pro since gen 1 with the NC feature for any media consumption. And I have various Sennheiser headsets I wear with the TV. My most recent pair of HA came from Costco and I wanted TC and batteries, the model name was ReSound Cala 8 CL862-DRW. I didn’t wear them all the time because after awhile both ears would hurt with the weight of them. And like I said, I worked in a factory for 10 years with earplugs in all the time, I got used to not having them in and just kept that mindset in the office environment I work in now.
With the intro out of the way, I saw a reddit thread the other day praising the Sphere’s with the exact scenario that has plagued me my entire life: noisy environments and speech. I watched quiet a few YT videos and the prices were daunting, but eBay to the rescue. I found a pair and got them in a few days ago. After a bit I realized that I had ordered the wrong set and ended up with non-Sphere. Back and forth with the seller and I am in a demo period and have a few more days to decide whether to do a refund or he’ll knock some more money off. I’d be in $1350.
So these HA are better than any other pair I’ve ever had. I was excited that these had a full BT stack, though Auracast still doesn’t work. I was super excited to try that and had ordered a receiver for my TV, only to realize it’s not really Auracast-ready and who knows when that firmware will drop. The thing I like the most is that my ears don’t hurt after 12+ hours of use. I am much more likely to wear these all the time.
Onto the reason I created the topic:
I have Bluetooth synced to my MacBook and iPhone (SE 2022). I have since deleted them from my MacBook trying to fix the below problem. So it’s currently only synced to my iPhone.
When the BT connection is active to my phone, things work great. Except I will occasionally hear some white static or an open mic. It happened on my MacBook a lot when it was synced, with my iPhone I mostly hear it when sending text messages and it makes the blip noise, it will also have the white noise for five seconds. What is that?
After a bunch of hours my HA will loose the BT connection or the functionality of it at least. The myPhonak app will show them connected, the BT stack will show them connected. I can go into airplane mode, I can reboot the phone, I can reboot the HA. Even though all of the places show them as connected, the headset icon isn’t there and no type of media will stream to them. I haven’t done a re-pair when it’s in that state, but everything I could think of short of that. No matter what, I can’t get them to stream. So I’ve been swapping the AirPods in and turning the HA off for the night. Any clue on how to get them going when they are in this connected but not functional state? The little button that iOS has to choose your destination device doesn’t see the HA as an option.
So I am trying to decide whether to keep these guys or send them back for a refund and hunt for Sphere’s or maybe something that is Auracast ready today and not in another year. Open to any suggestions. This place is a bit overwhelming with the sheer amount of information.
I have the non Sphere Infinite l90 aids, as well. I do not use the myPhonak app, as I have found it to be problematic for me - either draining the aid batteries much more quickly, or causing other issues. I use the same iPhone, and also have a MacBook, that I tried connecting to the aids, but ended up “forgetting” them, as I can use wired headphones with the Mac.
Any notifications on the iPhone will generally cause some sort of noise or disruption on the aids, which can be an annoyance, but I personally really need the aids linked to the phone, as it is the only way I can understand voices on a phone call.
Ultimately if you can’t get them to stream consistently, I’d return them. I would include deleting app from phone in my diagnostics. If you do return them what you replace them is a judgement call. If they were “good enough” in noise, I’m guessing you could find a replacement Infinio for less than an Infinio Sphere. I personally wouldn’t be too concerned about Auracast right now, but that’s my bias.
Have you considered buying prescription hearing aids from Costco? Not the over the counter aids. The Sennheiser aids are pretty much the Phonak Lumity L90 hearing aids, great aids.
Doing this would get you a top of the line set of aids that are properly fit to your hearing loss with great support and warranty. All for very close to the price you paid for the Phonaks on eBay.
Looking at your hearing loss you do need to be properly fit to hear your best. Also wearing the aids as much as possible will maintain your best hearing. Hearing in noise is the holy grail for all of us hard of hearing.
I plan to take the Phonak’s into a local audiologist that does the REM test and verify everything.
Overall I consider the Costco experience with the ReSound’s to be negative. It was too far of a drive and appointment times were always weeks or months out when needing changes. You 100% lose that personal touch with their setup. I got a different hearing specialist every time I went. And blank faces when I described some of the past challenges I had faced with older HA’s.
If the Phonak’s end up just as frustrating I will probably DIY or go back to Costco.
Yea, that is definitely the best part of the Phonak’s thus far. No pain and prolonged 12+ hour sessions that are almost unheard of for me. I keep them in because I am enjoying the experience for the first time in forever. Though I was at Sam’s Club last night and they had a forklift in reverse forever. I eventually pulled up the app and muted them for a few minutes until I was out of the area.
This shouldn’t or doesn’t have to be the case. Asking for a particular fitter is easy. That long drive is a concern though.
Costco does have 4 choices of top of the line aids.
I self programmed Phonaks for many years, before Costco aids were available. Knowing what I know now I would have done Costco rather than DIY and I was pretty good at DIY.
I appreciate the real-world experience and feedback on DIY vs Costco. And I will definitely insist on the same person each time if I go back to Costco in the future.
Bluetooth works almost flawlessly for me with the Sphere’s. Should be the same for the non-Sphere’s.
Best tip I can give you is that while these hearing aids can be paired with up to 8 devices, they can only actively connect with 2 at the same time. Once two are connected…nothing else will connect. If you leave your iPhone connected all the time, make sure you turn on Bluetooth on devices when you need to use them and then turn off Bluetooth when you are done. Otherwise, some device in your house will grab the second connection and you will think they are malfunctioning when you try to connect to Bluetooth (i.e. your laptop).
To summarize: Keep Bluetooth turned off on all devices except your iPhone. Only turn on Bluetooth on your laptop (and other devices) when you want to use them. When done with the 2nd device…turn off Bluetooth.
If you follow this process…you won’t have issues. That being said, I still get an occasional disconnect when using Bluetooth. I’m 95% convinced this is caused by the radio frequency interference of other Bluetooth devices in my home and my neighbour’s homes.
Oh the duality of man. I was on the way home at a red light trying to see around oncoming traffic and realize the car behind me is blowing their horn at me. I think: “man life was better without the HA.” Five minutes later, I am able to hear the emergency vehicle sirens before I see them for the first time in forever. I think: “man I’m glad I had these things in.”
The first time after I got my HAs that I heard a truck reversing that had a loud beeping alarm, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind not to stick my fingers in my ears!
I have the Phonak Audeo I90-Rs paired to a an iPhone 15 iOS18.5(22F76) as of 7/5/25. I have been a DIYer for a number of years now.
I also have had the connection go to white noise for five seconds or so when I receive some text. If you are in a personal conversation the other person has no idea your HAs are not working. The phone still shows the HAs are connected. I have not come up with a solution.
Another music streaming situation was walking a circular route in a park. A group was walking the same route in the other direction. Every time I came within 50’-75’ of that group my music stream would pause for 10 seconds or so. I notice one person had a phone and earphones. I asked her if it was an iPhone and was she streaming music. Yes to both. Maybe my HAs were trying to decide which iPhone they should be connected to. I noticed this behavior before but it was the first time I could tie it to another iPhone streaming activity.
Is it possible you have “auto join hotspot” turned on in your wi-fi settings? - It seems like what you describe may be that the other iPhone had personal hotspot turned on and your phone was joining?
Good suggestion, but no. Auto-Join Hotspot is set to Never. Ask to Join is set to Ask. But the phone could be still be checking a hotspot causing a streaming break, then checking the Auto-Join status.
More regarding the “hotspot” wifi settings - My phone’s hotspot “allow others to join” is also off.
I walked this morning and my music streaming was cutting on/off seemed like every minute or two. I tested the iPhone in my holster, handcarried, and near my chin (closer to HAs). Made no difference. I noticed that the music would pick up where it left off indicating to me that the phone was stopping the music, doing something, then restarting the music. I found a couple of text messages I had not read. The reminders may be the cause of the streaming stoppage. I did not get a chance to test that though.