Phonak introduces Marvel platform and Audéo M hearing aids

I have had my BT on since 8:30 A.M and have 75% battery it is now 3:20p.m

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Very reassuring to hear. @GR8Dane, wonder why yours is so different?

He did say that his audi did a reset and he said that he hasn’t had the problem since. It might have been a programming issue. After two months with my rechargeable M90-R’s, I’d never want to have to fiddle with disposable batteries all the time. Phonak says that the life of the battery is 6 (six) years and by then I’ll certainly have moved on to the next technology.

Another reason that it’s good to be sure one’s HA’s are switching to the provided Music program when listening to music is that the “attack” and relaxation constants for applying to compression to the sound (fitting the actual sound volume into the volume range that you can hear thanks to HA amplification) are usually set very fast for the benefit of speech, which varies between periods of fairly uniform speech volume sound and rapid switching to periods of speech silence in between syllables, where whatever other sounds are present predominate. Music, OTH, is usually fairly continuous but varies tremendously in volume and the ReSound video that I viewed, etc., on Audiology Online said that rapid attack/relaxation constants for music listening can distort the sound of the music and that’s why these constants have a relatively long onset/long offset in the music program. I think ReSound mentioned that you could get a warble effect from having too rapid applied compression changes for music (but then HA’s can just be defective, too, etc.)

P.S. Maybe Gary’s post is saying exactly what I’m saying, but just in different relative terminology. At the start of my post, I thought he was writing about a different aspect, e.g. shifting high frequencies to a lower frequency to enable comprehension when there’s profound high-frequency loss.

The other thing, @glennwiltse, is that you don’t say whether you wear domes or molds. In reading about the advantages of custom molds over domes in the various threads on that here, I saw some discussion of getting interference patterns from sound by passing the domes to go straight to your ear drums vs. sound reproduced by the HA’s. Someone claimed with DSP the HA-produced sound lagged slightly behind the unprocessed leaking “natural” sound and that could cause interference (warbling?). So if you’re wearing domes, not molds, and they’re not very occlusive, I wonder if that could be part of the problem?

Something that’s not here yet but if it catches on may “solve” the problem is that Samsung has introduced reverse wireless charging with its new Galaxy S10. You can wirelessly use your phone’s battery to charge your Samsung wireless earbuds, so why not your HA’s (someday). Your phone serves as a battery pack and most people carry their phone with them just about everywhere.

Obviously, the limit to this is the amount of charge you want to spare in the phone battery. Perhaps if it’s a successful idea, we’ll see bigger phone batteries or just a push to get more energy-dense higher capacity phone batteries. Perhaps you’d have to remove your HA’s and set them on the phone (haven’t read the details of how it works). But it would be one less thing to carry with you if you wanted backup for your rechargeable HA’s.

Every time I get a new pair of HA’s, this that you are describing happens. However, as they adapt to my surrounding within the 1st 30 days, it corrects the problem. Make sure your Audi has turned on the 30 day adaption setting.

I also think the trial Marvels you are using are defective. As TraderGary also said, my rechargeable Marvels are connected to my iPhone continuously from the time I put them on until I take them off 13-16 hours later. In the interim I receive multiple phone calls and stream music occasionally. I also access the app from time to time during the day. My Marvels have been in constant use for the past six weeks and have never had less than 25% and usually around 50% battery left.

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Could it be the amount of amplification that @GR8Dane needs compared to you and Gary - and the greater “noisiness” of the environment he’s in than you two guys (and others). Seems like his hearing is a bit worse across the frequency spectrum so that his HA’s might have to chew more battery all the time to make up for it, particularly if he’s in a more sound-filled environment than other folks comparing their HA battery performance to his. Too bad the fitting software can’t predict for the hearing loss and the sound environment what sort of battery life you’re going to get - at least for the user during the trial period. That way the buyer might know if they need to upgrade to something with a higher capacity battery, etc.

I wonder what additional percentage of battery drain there would be with different degrees of hearing impairment. Have there ever been battery studies on this? I’m quite definitely within Phonak’s advertising claims of a full day with streaming on a charge with my fairly common degree of average impairment.

Is there anyone reading this with a more severe audiogram that might comment on their Marvel rechargeable battery use?

There is mention on other threads that the M50s 12 channels put less stress on the chip than do the 20 channels of the M90 allowing it to run faster, cutting lag between ambiant and amplified sound arrival, and at a reduced power drain increasing short and long term battery life.
Speculation?

Sorry, I’ve been so busy lately and haven’t been able to get on here as often as I would like. I think it’s possible that the right device has some issues, but it’s been pretty solid since the reset. My left Marvel runs down a lot more quickly since it’s my primary. Here’s my charge state last night after 17 hours of use, (15% left, 60% right). I’m not much of a sleeper, so I’m pushing these 18 hours per day on most days.

I just installed a Bluetooth connection monitor app on my phone, so maybe I’ll see how much time/use is actually occuring. I seem to get a lot better battery life from these if I keep the Media Audio turned off in my Bluetooth connection to the Marvels, but this past week I’ve just been leaving it on to see how it impacts battery life. It would be nice if you could get stats for how much streaming is actually done. I would say that today I haven’t done any streaming, but I’ve had about 1000 notifications come through and taken 4 phone calls through my Marvels. That could equate to 4 hours of streaming for someone else with all of the connecting/disconnecting, etc.

Do your Marvels run the power or ultrapower receivers?

I’m actually running the new M receivers which should use less power than the P or UP.

Don’t know about Phonak but the ReSound fitting software under “data logging” keeps stats on HA usage to help guide the HA provider in fitting adjustments: hours of use, hours per day, programs used, including streaming, relative volume settings in program, microphone directionality or not, etc.

Unfortunately, besides the other gray aspects of accessing such information for your HA’s, you need a hardware device to connect your HA’s to the fitting software on a computer. I got a Noahlink Wireless, my main purpose being just to see for myself how my provider had set me up and what happens any time changers are made to my fit (asking for a Clinician’s Report for one’s fitting might do almost as well but it’s not as interactive and instructive as wandering through the software and taking online courses about the software). But for all the other expenses of owning/using HA’s, the cost of a Noahlink did not seem like a big deal. Maybe someone familiar with Marvels and the Phonak fitting software can comment on what you could get out of going that route - if only to find out from time to time how your HA’s have been performing in details not normally directly accessible to the user same as for ReSounds.

I got my Noahlink Wireless the other day. I’ve only hooked it up once for a few mins to poke around. There was a ton of data though, which was cool. I saw lots of stats regarding time in program and I didn’t think to go back to that. I haven’t wanted to mess with them much while they are on trial, but that will change once I get the permanent models. Hopefully soon!

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My caution is going to extend, I think, a considerable bit through the 3-yr warranty period. Although perhaps if HA’s are replaced under warranty for any reason (“the dog ate them”), perhaps an HA OEM couldn’t very well deny coverage for screwing around a bit using their own fitting software - I would hope. But as pvc pointed out to me, as soon as you go back to your provider, they’ll be able to tell you’ve accessed the HA’s if you update any settings on the HA’s themselves-the date of the update is recorded in the HA settings for ReSound’s. When I got a fitting software upgrade, it automatically updated my saved settings in the database. Don’t know if I had had the HA’s connected whether the fittings on the HA’s would have automatically been updated, too, without asking for my permission but that might be something to look out for and hope that the actual fittings on the HA are never updated without permission.

Thanks for the info, I am starting a trial next week and will probably have to have the ultrapower with my loss, no silicone tips available for the up receiver I am told. I am also curious how much additional battery the up receivers use… I guess time will tell.

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Is there an easy way to tell which receiver I am using? My aids do say M90R on them so does that mean I have the M receivers?

No R is for rechargable it’s written on the end of the receivers, on the bit you insert into your ear canal, written in very small front, P for power m for medium and S for standard.

Just connecting to them shows up in my next visit, but my provider is awesome!!! I’m looking forward to trying the remote fitting as well. Programming the hearing aid over a video chat session sounds pretty cool too!

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