Phonak Marvel 30 Voice issues during Bluetooth Call

In the meantime my question was answered by @RogerPM.
… I’m sorry to say that Roger microphones cannot be used as input for phone calls with Marvel. You are bound to using the microphone in the hearing aids. …
Thanks to all for your answers and ideas.

On connevans.co.uk i think I saw them for around 600 gbp both, so around 300 each. Non edu versions.

https://www.connevans.co.uk/catalogue/5874768/Roger-radio-aid-receivers

Yup, was right. Price you mention looks more like that for the edu receivers.

Edit:
@Cologne
Oh, and in Germany, sites don’t mention which type they sell, but it’s around 600 eur each. However, price for select and select iN are roughly similar. Don’t ask me why. Don’t tell them :joy:
And Roger pen iN you cannot buy in Germany because they are not importing it. My audi called phonak and checked this. In front of me. Reason given: Germany isn’t big enough market. And pen 1.1 is roughly 800-900 eur. Add to that 2x 600 eur receivers (2000 eur), and you’re better off buying select iN and regular pen 1.1 (also around 2000 eur), since select iN already comes with 2 receivers and you get two mics for different situations.

Of course if you buy only select iN and then pen in uk/ebay, it will work.

However on this uk site select and select iN prices differ for roughly 600 gbp, eg price for two non edu receivers, so iN is around 1500 gbp.
However pen they have, based on description is first generation, not second (pen 1.1 is the one you want).

User RogerPM mentioned somewhere that better range for pen/select iN is due to the marvels hardware not that much due to the pen, so I’d say you’re fine with regular pen 1.1.

Plus it doesn’t make sense to pay for the receivers twice (in select iN and pen iN) because you need only two of them for 2 has, not 4 of them. Each gadget comes with 2 receivers.

If you buy in uk/ebay roger x receivers, they can be transferred into marvels using some device that your audi should be able to obtain from phonak. That is assuming that audi will want to cooperate :slight_smile:

Edit2: on the topic of separate mic and sound, one wired solution is to put mic+audio splitter at the output of the phone, direct mic output to the wired mic (headphones with mic should work as well, they just won’t receive sound), and direct sound output to the roger select/pen ordinary audio input (micro usb to audio cable) who will then wirelessly transmit sound to the HAs. That way you effectively stream audio, whichever it is, while having separate mic. However, wired mic in this case.

My case which I’ve tested is more complicated since it I wear only one HA (right), and I didn’t want to rely on bad ear only, but wanted to hear in both ears. So, one HA (right) and headphones with mic (left earpiece only) using homemade splitter to accomplish sending mic signal only to headphone and not select, while sending audio to the both (I won’t bother you with tech details, unless you want it). Worked perfectly, tested both indoors and outdoors (sitting on a bench with various noise nearby).

But it really is a ‘contraption’ :joy:

And yes, I’m currently looking at testing two HAs (will start next week), one reason being not neededing that insane contraption but maybe only simpler one. Another is to benefit from programs that utilise 2 HAs like speech in 360 and similar. We’ll see.

Your solution should be less juggling since you need equal sound source into both ear eg through HAs.

Also, if you want almost completely wireless solutions eg that your mic is also wireless and not wired, you might look at the BT device to plugin into that mic only hole and catch that signal with BT mic. But I don’t have experience with that part, so I can’t tell how it works.

Edit3: maaaaybe bt mic to the phone and marvels bt switched to audio only and not calls & audio. But I haven’t tested if they’ll work that way for ordinary and/or voip calls (I use WhatsApp calls, but forgot to test this yet). I mean, one way to test is to see if they’ll catch audio while you use phone mic as mic.

My trialling is focused on figuring out what exactly is wrong with my ear and how to set up HA to help me, and at what degree. Current suspect is that I either dead regions in cohlea at low frequencies or damaged nerve, so increasing the volume creates distortion and lowers comprehension, which is even harder to fit than already hard low frequency hearing loss itself. I might know more when I have more time to focus on gadget’s features and not on survivability only :joy:

I can’t see why you wouldn’t be able to get the Roger Direct set up and to use a Roger Pen 1.1 and take calls that way?

I know, right? Logically it should work just fine, yet it doesn’t when using Marvel’s Roger Direct.

Drove me nuts for a month, but I’ve finally made peace with it. :smiley:

Thanks for the clarification. Phonak needs to do a better job of communicating this to their dispensers and end clients.

Few ideas, unless you tried them all.
First idea - if you’re self programming, put roger on manual switching, and then choose it directly in the app / through the button and see if connection roger-HA is steady.

Second, if you’re using it on phone, connect roger with phone, and disconnect marvels from bt (onlyconnection which is bt, and not bt_le which is used by my phonak app for controlling HAs). Try then streaming calls through the roger device.

If you tried, please share your findings :slight_smile:

1 Like

@Alvin and @Zebras: When I use Roger Configurator for the combination “Audeo M90-312T - Roger Select” it says, RogerDirect would be installable for Roger-devices having SN > 1744xxxx and by using “Roger Installer”. If this is true, my wife would be able to unpair her marvels when working in her office and take the phonecalls by using Roger Select paired with her phone. Alvin, but you didn’t get it to work or did I misunderstand you?

@Blacky: Thanks for all the details, I’m also an engineer, there’s a big change that I’ll come back to you for some further details of splitting bluetooth etc.

1 Like

The Roger Installer looks like this.

Not roger devices per se, but, read carefully roger X device. That’s little cube like with 3 pins device, where roger receiver resides. Commonly used to give roger functionality to non phonak HAs through that brands streamers or DAI (direct audio input) shoe/boot, or to some phonak models that can use it through the boot/shoe also.

If you buy pen or select (non iN) versions, you’ll need roger X as well. However, in marvels you don’t plug it in, but instead transfer the ‘licence/receiver’ (phonak has stupid names, receiver for me is physical object, but they’re just transferring license/key or something). Marvels have hardware for roger system, but has to be turned on by buying that ‘licences’ (receivers in phonak’s terms).

Device for transferring is a disk in which you plugin roger X and you put HA in the middle and they do the transfer.

On the other side, if you buy device from iN family, they come with two licences / receivers. However they still need to be transferred to HA in order to activate that hardware.

Once transferred be it from roger X or from iN device, that device doesn’t have license in it anymore. They could be removed from HA and put back, in case you want to change HA or something.

Don’t know what happens if you lose HA, you’re probably out of luck and need to buy it from scratch.

Also think I have a diploma already in trying to figure out phonak’s specs. And no, they don’t inform their dispensers properly, since mine had no clue about some things and he had to call and the person on phone wasn’t exactly sure.

Like he was told that I’d like to buy both pen and select, and instead saying ‘yeah, you need just one iN device, doesn’t matter if pen isn’t iN type if you have select of iN type’, he actually suggested that only way is to use pen additionally buy 2x roger Xes :woman_facepalming:
Either his attention span is shorter than a minute and he forgot about select, or he really has no clue. In any case, I had to found out myself by trying and confirming how it works. I couldn’t find proper info on site either. Someone linked later here something. But you know, to gather information should not be that hard.

For example, until now I didn’t saw this configurator :joy:
And I definitely spend dozens of hours digging about roger tech.

If you use select/pen (non iN) and buy 2x roger X in order to transfer licences into marvels, and then connect with BT between phone and select, while select connects to marvels using roger tech. It could work.

I assume you’re speaking about BT enabled phone?

No need to unpair marvels from phone, just disconnect them (they usually have 3 connections, 2x LE and one regular, disconnect that one).

I’m trying to figure out how to test it, without calling anyone to be my guinea pig :joy:

@Blacky: Thank you for clarifying, I didn’t know about Roger X so far, my wife started with Marvels.
Ok, to follow your idea idea: I’ll buy 1x “Roger Pen iN” in UK, buy 1x Roger Select (no iN) whereever (ore vice versa), install the licenses from Pen iN into the Marvels (manual found here: https://www.phonakpro.com/content/dam/phonakpro/gc_hq/en/products_solutions/wireless_accessories/roger/documents/Installation_Guide_BtB_Roger_iN_microphones_210x297_EN_V1.00.pdf) and then try to do the same I described before having additional costs of one Rogen Pen iN. Following the Roger configurator this setting should work.

Yes, she uses a Samsung Galaxy A3.

Thanks @Blacky for the suggestions. I hadn’t thought of shutting off Auto-connect for my Roger streaming, but it’s worth a shot!

What Roger stuff did you end up with?

The Roger iN Pen doesn’t have Bluetooth. Not 100% sure of the Select.

The only Roger devices that I know of that have Bluetooth are the Pen 1.1 and the standard Select. Neither the Select iN, nor the Pen iN, nor the Easy Pen have Bluetooth.

#tooconfusing :wink:

1 Like

Yup.
I have the select iN and ordinary pen, transferred licences usin select iN and they both work as mics. That part I’ve checked. But I didn’t manage to test your use case yet. I did find a way though, I’ll use skype assistant for testing calls, echo. Gimme some time :wink:

@Alvin I still haven’t bought anything, my fit ended being really complicated, but I have bunch of things on trial: select iN, regular pen 1.1 and tv connector on trial as well. And will add second HA next week to try that combo as well. It’s not ‘just low frequency hearing loss’ as things look like. I’ll post an update on my topic.

@Blacky, that’s fantastic that you have been given an opportunity to trial all that stuff. Might I ask a favour of you? Can you couple your Pen with your phone using Bluetooth and tell me what happens? I suspect you will get an endlessly repeating series of chimes playing through your hearing aids which will only go away when you turn off the Bluetooth on your Pen.

I’m curious to see if my experience is repeatable. The only difference between our hardware is that I have X-03 receivers, whereas you’re using the receivers from the iN device.

Thanks!

@Alvin will do, I’m already making notes what combination should I test, be it for myself or you folks here :smiley:

Yeah, I found one awesome fitter :slight_smile: I’ll be in a possession of around 7 thousand euro worth of good in German market (ok probably even more, I use trial HAs, I belive they’re more expensive), and I didn’t even sign a paper, let alone gave deposit. He did scan my insurance card, so I guess that’s enough for him.
Ok yeah, that makes me a bit nervous, like ‘what if I accidentally spill drink on select, or my friend’, I don’t like to have other people’s things in my possession :joy:

I’m trying to figure out best use case for the pen though. I was nervous to successfully try it in one shop today, there was decent amount of bg noise, but I think I didn’t aim it right (yeah, didn’t practice yet on my hubby), or my open fit messed that up (or my roger program settings) .
How do you use yours? Do you literally interview people or you have some more discreet move to aim?

@Blacky - that’s so funny. When I was trialing the Pen and the Select I kept losing the Select. I’d swear it was in my attache only to find it in my jacket, or I’d swear it was in my jacket only to find it covered with paper on my desk. Drove me nuts! Never lost the Pen though - not sure why.

For the most part, I only hand-aim the Pen when I’m attending presentations. I sit in the front row so I can still read lips and hold the Pen discretely in my lap while pointing it toward the presenter. Works great. I haven’t had an opportunity to use it in a more kinetic situation but I think it would be fun playing ‘reporter’.

Here’s two tips for you:

  1. Use the microphone orientation lock button. Phonak thinks it knows what you want, but it typically doesn’t.
  2. Even if you’re aiming it at someone, try and place the Pen on a flat surface. I think the resonance of whatever surface the Pen is on helps the Pen pick up the desired signal.

Thank you very much for helping me with the Bluetooth thing. :slight_smile:

Yup, can confirm.

I tried unpairing all and repair in different order (various combinations), same thing.
If I put HA in flight mode, as it said it kills the BT (both normal and LE), however it also kills roger connection. That part I couldn’t find (what happens with roger direct in flight mode), but my tests show it behaves like that.
All connections are dead. Or in other words, same chip handles BT and roger connection (or at least, same power supply), that explains why they could put both of them in the same aid.

The moment pen enables BT, HA goes nuts.

This was on automatic roger program.

I’ll try with manual and report here if there’s any difference.


Edit: report - same thing. They just kill each other the moment I want to use mic program, and of course, switch back to autosense.

So, my conclusion is that no BT feature of regular pen 1.1 can be used with marvels, because they go crazy. They seem a bit better when both HA and pen are unpaired from phone (just few pings and then stop, but it’s because pen is searching for BT device), and the moment you pair ONLY pen with your phone, HA goes crazy, even if neither BT nor LE_BT from HA is officially connected to the phone.

So basically if you have Marvels and choose regular pen, DO NOT TOUCH phone call buttons since they activate the BT

Next idea would be to test proper BT mic, but I don’t have it, so someone else could try that, but I doubt it works because of what follows.

HA refuse to receive audio signal from call when it’s put into ‘audio only’, they only receive call sound when put to ‘call and audio’, but in that case they also steal the mic. Tested using skype echo assistant.

Only way that comes to my mind to split those two would be to use Y splitter audio+mic, then connect BT emitter to audio, connect HA onto that if they will obey*, and on the mic side again BT emitter to connect BT mic.

Regarding * - if you put roger select in place of that BT emitter it will work properly - redirect audio to the HA, with additional benefit of not using BT which I think uses more power than roger tech. Don’t hold me on my word about that though.

My phone (S8) can split the audio signal, but not for calls. It has to do with that tech explanation I’ve omitted earlier (even though phones allow to fork audio BT signal, since phones can’t process two mic inputs, they don’t even try, even though you might not plugin mic thing on one side of that fork - I don’t if new ASHA or whatever BT protocol is named brings changes in that area as well)

@Cologne maybe this above answers some of your questions.

If I forgot to test something and I have correct / enough gadgets, please let me know and I’ll try.

On the bright side, now I know how exactly flight mode works, and I might start using that as my default until I want BT/roger connection.

1 Like