Phonak Marvel / Paradise + Roger Select to understand speech better in noisy environment

Hearing Aids
#21

Thanks for detailed info.
I guess this connectclip will not solve my problem, as it can cover distance of approx 2-3 feet. Also i am not happy with this OPN paradigm of Oticon, wherein the sounds seems to be very disturbing (only in noisy environment)
Few weeks ago I trial Hansaton Xcite hearing aids in office for a week just to see the difference. Overall I felt the background noise was much balance in Hansaton compared to OPN.
However in silent environment (at home), the sound quality was more crisp & bit loud with my OPN. But then with Hansaton I was using domes & for Oticon I use custom shell with 105db receiver. Maybe that cud also be a reason for more sound in Oticons.

I havent tried any speech to text yet. Which is the best for Iphone in your opinion?
Can i use this app when I get a call on my cell? - coz i face the same issue while speaking on my cell although I do direct streaming. I mean with British/american accents its bit difficult to understand,
however with the Asian/middle-east accents I am able to understand every single word :slight_smile:
On the phone because of direct streaming, even the soft spoken females i can clearly understated only if they have Asian/middle-east accents.

#22

Sorry for the confusion with regards to the distance I mentioned earlier.
I measured the table distance in the meeting room again & if I place the Mic in the center of this table, the distance will be in the range of max 4-6 feet from all the people sitting around this table.
Pointing a pen everytime when someone comes to my desk will be difficult.
With regards to noisy restaurant, I have already given up many years ago. Hence I avoid going to such places.
But when it comes to office, I have no choice. Have to stick & adjust to the environment whatever it is. Hence trying to find a solution which will be most suitable in office itself.
Just trying the best option to improve speech so I can continue working.
I will also check on Starkey table mic, but what about the Starkey HA? havenā€™t seen any positive reviews yet. Also due to Covid, the Starkey agents are not allowing for trial period. They say, I hv to visit their place & take the trial there itself. I cannot take it out at the moment.
Will the starkey table mic be compatible with other HA brands?

#23

So I guess, for closed meeting rooms (silent environment) the table mic II will be better option.

But how about my own desk, where in the background noise is too high. Will table mic help or Select is more beneficial?

#24

I will be getting a trial for Marvel hopefully after few days, hoping tht I get the select/table-mic also for trial. Some reviews also says that the frequency lowering in Phonak is much better compared to other HA technology. Lets hope for the best.
Since Paradise is not currently available in UAE, is it worth waiting for it or Marvel should be ok.

Is there a vast difference between Paradise & Marvel in terms of speech clarity & background noise. and diff in cost?

#25

Hi Brandong81,

If you are only going to go for one device, in your situation Roger Select would probably be the most flexible option. But if you have the ability to trial them Iā€™d advise you to try both, and make sure you get a pair of Table Mic II so you can try them out together. It really helps to have more than one mic if people are going to be spread out around a table. 6-8ft is a long range to cover with a single mic. The closer anyone can be to a microphone the better.

Both Select and Table Mic II will give you a benefit when you are at your desk but the ability to chose which beams should be active can prove to be beneficial if you are only interested in voices coming from a certain direction.

#26

For speech-to-text apps, Otter is the favorite on iPhone.
For Android only, Live Transcribe is fantastic.
There is also Ava, Microsoft Translator, MyEar and othersā€¦
These apps are not for phone calls. You need InnoCaption or CapTel type apps for that. The Pixel phones have started auto captioning calls but it doesnā€™t seem that great yet. Anyone tried it?

#27

I have both select & pen and they both have made a big improvement in my ability to hear clearly in complex and noisy situations. but, for me, the gain is over distance, like more than 10 - 12 feet, maybe even moreā€¦ Any less than that I can adjust the gain and focus on my aids, M90s, and that is much better. YMMV.

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#28

I also use the Oticon ConnectClip as a remote mic. But I find it isnā€™t helpful for me in a noisy restaurant unless clipped to on as a lapel mic to the person I need to hear. I think the Roger pen would be better if you are standing and talking to someone, so you could point it at them at a closer range. Getting a mic at a point where breath is coming out from under a mask helps get less muffling of the mask.

But the speech to text app is likely your best bet. Microsoft Translator app is designed to work with different accents and on any devices. As an American, among Americans, I find Otter (all devices) and Google Live Transcribe (Android only) very good. These can be used by just sitting on your desk or in a meeting. If you zoom any, set up the app to run on your smartphone sitting next to the computer to provide meeting captions. For large meetings, if you are comfortable to do so, put a mic on the podium, or better, ask the speaker to wear it. In the States, they have always easily agreed.

#29

Skype also provides captions.

Zoom is expected to roll out integrated automatic captions next year.

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#30

As far as I know, no, only latest starkey.

Android explicitly forbids that, maybe iPhone is different.

Marvels are great aids. Paradises didnā€™t bring much difference in hearing part. Even those motion sensors would work only if you walk, so not for office setting either. I noticed better noise handling from P, in terms of sudden noise not piercing my ears. But M and P sounded equally for speech in noise.

I was in louder restaurant tonight, and it was hard with paradises. I started with select and thought it was hard, but then battery died and I realised how much harder was without it.

With select I couldnā€™t understand waiter. Select was on my far right side, 4 if us were sitting at the rectangular table for 6, so letā€™s say 150 cm table or something. Walter was on far left side and standing and a bit away from the table.
Quite a lot of speech babble from other tables.
But I could follow people around my table (family).
Waiter was like 3-4m mouth to mic by air distance.

When select stopped, I lost the ability to follow conversation around the table, I missed a lot of words and even whole sentences. Soft spoken male and female. With select I could understand enough to follow, without select I had to say that I donā€™t understand anymore. :frowning:

No matter which additional program Iā€™d use. Autosense didnā€™t feel that useful. I was surprised to see that music program which I had as separate one (so the one from autosense with everything off) actually sounded the best. But still, huge struggle. And people were in front of me and to the left, so no one in my bad side.

If your workplace is loud as this restaurant, you wonā€™t be happy with aids alone, and select will work for people around dining table, but not much further.

Nice tech but not all mighty.

You mean when theyā€™re worn around the person that far away, or you hold them and the person is that far away? How noisy environment?

#31

Last new years eve, before times, I was at a noisy restaurant with a small group, select on the table, maybe a small improvement over the HAs alone. But, i walked across the room, at least 10 meters, and i could hear the whole table clearly.

#32

Thanks for clearing things up, yeah, this is what I expected, remote ability for those mics.

However, I wouldnā€™t call that ā€˜gain over distanceā€™, since distance between mic and person speaking is what determines sound quality, eg how much gain you get.

Your distance from the mic doesnā€™t matter, until you get out of a connection range. :slight_smile:

Since OP was interested in actual distance mic-speaker, just wanted that we donā€™t bring more confusion.

But itā€™s totally awesome how you can move around and still stay in the loop of the conversation :grin: I feel like I have a super power then :joy:

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#33

Itā€™s a tough situation you are in, working in a noisy environment. I sympathize with you and your problem as I find it is the same for me - although I am now retired.
I use the Roger equipment and find it very helpful in getting a clear signal to your ears. When the speaker is in a noisy environment it is vary important to get the mic as close as possible to the speakerā€™s mouth. A Roger pen - or for that matter a Select will work best in a noisy environment when it is held close to the speakerā€™s mouth. Either hand held or on a lanyard around the speakerā€™s neck. In this way, much less of the surrounding noise is picked up by the Roger device and sent to your ears. The speaker could even be 20 feet away and standing in noise but you will get a clearer signal if the mic is held close to the speakerā€™s mouth.
Mics canā€™t distinguish very well between speech and noise. So to have the mic 5 or 6 feet away from the speakerā€™s mouth in a noisy room will be very frustrating for you. It is similar in a noisy restaurant. Having the mic close to the speakerā€™s mouth works much better - in my experience.
I also sympathize with your frustration in trying to understand a person whose native language was not English - even if they are now fluent in English. I find there is usually an accent in the speech that baffles my brain. It is even worse if you are using a telephone in my experience. It seems as though your brain is attuned to handling the speech you were born listening to. It makes little difference to me whether I am listening with my cochlear implant or my Phonak hearing aid.
You may find that with your problem you need to find employment in a different environment in order to cope. Otherwise make sure people are aware of your problem and will work with you to help you understand by using the Roger pen or Select in a helpful way.

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#34

I have the Phonak marvels and I have a Roger select in. For me, the select works pretty good in a meeting where people are talking one at a time. It also works for people with soft voices, but not so good in places where many people are talking at the same time. I got the select because I have a big family and when we are sitting around the (big) table I thought I would hear the conversation better. The problem with my family is that most of the time more than one person is talking at the same time. Iā€™m not all that impressed with the select for what I paid for it (around $1200) and Iā€™m looking into selling it. Anyway thatā€™s my review

#35

I need to hear what people are saying in order to do my job. I was about ready to hang it all up until I got the Select. Best $1200 I ever spent. Thatā€™s my review.

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#36

Thanks all for your valuable advice.
Finally I received Marvel 50 for trial since 2 days. I am using it with the slim tips. So far the speech in noisy environment seems louder & clear. The background noise feels comfortable too.
The music in car seems to be much much better & clear than OPN. No screeching/rattling noise for music. No echo either. Before I used to struggle in the building elevator when other ppl talk. But with these Marvels there is no echo atall.
Same goes for streaming music videos, with Oticon it used to sound tinny&screeching, but with these they are so fuller & rich sound.

However I have noticed that I am missing some HF sounds/beeps with Marvels.
Eg. the signal turn indicator in car, my kids cycle bell, digital safe beeps soundsā€¦the last beep in microwave, cupboard door screeching soundā€¦ etcā€¦totally gone. Hence I am bit confused. Bcoz with Oticon & Hansaton I was able to hear these HF beeps very well.
Expecially my Kids bicycle bell, with Oticon & Hansaton too i was able to hear from 30-35 feet in the open ground. But with Marvel, i cannot hear it even from 5 feetā€¦strange.
Anyways I am going today for fine tuning. Lets hope they are able to bring back those HF beeps/sounds in Marvels.
My worry is, if I am missing whose electronic beepsā€¦does it means I will also miss out some HF speech? bit confused here.
Also the second issue was the phone was streaming only to one ear. When the incoming call comes, I get an option to select which ear I . This is strange, as with my other OPN it used to directly stream to both the ears.

#37

Communicating with colleagues wearing Mask, still remains a challenge for me even with Marvels.
Hence the my colleagues who knows my situation will pull down the mask a bit.

#38

I might get a trial for select soon. If it helps me even for one to one conversation with my colleagues having typical British/american accents, I will definitely go for it. As currently my real challenge is understanding speech in one to one and also in group with British/american accents.

Although the cost is too high, but somehow I want to save my job.

#39

Moving to different employer at this stage is bit risky.
Hence somehow I want to get adjust here itself. Lets see how best these remote mics helps in my case to understand speech at least in the range of 5-6 feet (from speaker to mic/select).

#40

Regarding not hearing the high frequencies. This should be able to be handled with frequency lowering settings (Sound Recover 2) Let your fitter know that you canā€™t hear the high frequencies.

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