Interesting information, and as you say “when it works”
1 Like
Yeah; but when Apple glommed onto the Bluetooth 4.1/Low Energy (BLE) protocol to enable AirPods, it blew up Phonak’s attempt to make their hearing aids “universally compatible” with any Bluetooth-enabled device… and any time Apple makes an iOS “update” it blows up Phonak/Unitron/Kirkland/Advanced Bionics connectivity.
1 Like
Wow, again great information for everyone.
2 Likes
So the only solution is to go back to my iPhone XR, which seems to work flawlessly with my Phonak P90.
1 Like
@tenkan & @KeithL Although not the best from an audiological standpoint, GN’s hearing aids – ReSound, Beltone, Jabra (Costco), and Danalogic (Britain’s NHS) – have about the best, most foolproof Bluetooth connectivity, as their Engineers helped develop the original Bluetooth 4.0/Low Energy (BLE) protocol in 2010-12 for their Unite line of wireless accessories.
[That is also why Cochlear Pty. licensed their technology in September 2012.]
3 Likes
Thanks for that, and Kudos to GN. The same engineer-team, with their expertize in Bluetooth Low Energy/BLE also produced the Airlink2 Hearing Aid Programming Device, which (after a simple firmware upgrade) became the industry standard Noahlink Wireless.
But that, plus $5/€5 will only buy you a cup of coffee. It must be difficult for GN to keep up with (seemingly constant) new razzle/dazzle money-making marketing campaigns that frequently advertise new platforms that are (in reality) only slightly changed from the previous technology.
That why i went with CochlearAmericas/GN Hearing 
They had the most futuristic 2.4 ghz tech which eventually became bluetooth LE Audio and one of the first to launch the nucleus 8 sound processor and Resound Omnia with bluetooth 5.3 .
Good information over here. Thanks to @pvc and @Discpad This helpful in depth info I did not find on my internet tours about the BT HA connectivity.
On my Android cellphone the Phonak BT works great. And with my former Resounds I had some more issues when using the Android and less with the iPhone.
1 Like
I have iPhone 11 running 16.03 and Phonak P90R but don’t have this problem. I stream podcasts and music from the iPhone in addition to the Phonak TV connector.
It seems like the problem has gone away. Streaming seems more stable now, not that I have made any changes. Long may it continue to behave.
3 Likes
It is possible you might get interference from other sources. An multi-field radiation detector might find the source of your
interference.
Posted too soon.
The problem is still there; centre soundstage drifts to the left when streaming. Stop streaming briefly and let Autosense take over, then start streaming again and centred soundstage is re-established briefly (sometimes lasts longer then drifts to the left). The only other BT item connected to the iPhone at the time is my Apple Watch.
I’ll try streaming with watch disconnected and report back.
I don’t have access to a multi-field radiation detector.
Thanks for that Zebras. I might give it a try.
However it doesn’t explain why I don’t get sound drifting to the left when streaming from my old iPhone XR.
Is this not how ALL (true wireless)ear buds work using Bluetooth classic not made and managed by Apple? The concept should be the same since the limitation is with Bluetooth classic which was never designed to connect to two devices individually for a single stream.
I had a look in Target fine tuning. Speech streaming and music streaming are very similar.
The only time I use streaming is when I walk my dog and that’s wholly current affairs speech oriented. If I want to stream music from my iPhone I use my Sony BT headphones which behave perfectly.
From the phone’s perspective, it is only streaming/connected to one device in the phonak world, the bt master hearing aid. That aid sends the stream to the other hearing aid via another protocol. The individual aids are paired to the phone in LE for app management of the aids only, and not necessary for streaming at all.
WH
2 Likes
Is this happening also indoors or only outdoors?
Outdoors, the signal is not reflected by walls, and the body also attenuates the 2.4GHz BT signal.
If it only occurs outdoors, try holding the phone in front of you for a test.
Sorry for the late reply - yes it happens both indoors and outdoors. There is no rhythm or reason to its occurrence. If you take the central image at 12 o’clock, the drifting to the left can be anywhere between 11 to nearly 9 o’clock (which is left only). Always a fresh connection to streaming will give a 12 o’clock central image and sometimes stays central for up to 15 minutes, and sometimes drifts left within a minute.
I cannot figure it out.
I was having trouble with my KS9s which are basically phonak hearing aids. In the easy line remote app on my iphone, somewhere in the settings for bluetooth, I can choose between “Normal sound quality (fixed bandwidth)” and “Enhanced sound quality (enhanced bandwidth)”. I found that switching them to normal from enhanced resolved a lot of weird issues with bluetooth sound.
Note that this setting is under “bluetooth phone calls” in the menus. I don’t know if it will resolve your streaming issues but I was having a similar issue with phone calls. I assume the phonak app has something similar you can play with.