Really baffling problem with Resound Enzo MFi hearing aids

Hearing Aids
#1

SUMMARY

  1. Right hand hearing aid cuts out without warning intermittently and recovers.
  2. Problem applies to both Enzo Quattro and backup Enzo 3D hearing aids
  3. Is not affected by the phone…it happens paired to two different phones and not paired to any phone.
  4. Is not affected by geographic location (eg outside interference) …first event was 200 miles from home.
  5. In the “dead” state it is still powered…detected by phone.

DETAIL

I have been using Resound Enzo 9 hearing aids since 2015, and have owned the original version, then the 3D and currently the latest Quattros. So I am an experienced user.

All has been (mostly) OK until April 3rd, the RH aid went dead with no warning. Replaced battery, un-paired and re-paired without result.

I paired my Enzo 3D instead and all was OK…until next morning the RH Enzo 3D did exactly the same thing.

I tried pairing the Enzo Quattros and now they worked! The RH aid had recovered.

All was then well until April 29th when same sequence happened.

At this point I realised I had had a new iPhone (13 Pro Max) on March 18th, not long before the first event. So I was suspicious of the iPhone.

So I unpaired from the iPhone 13 Pro Max and paired with an iPhone 12 mini instead.

All was well for an hour, then the same thing occurred again.

Then I paired iPhone 12 mini with the Enzo 3D and they worked but after an hour the RH HA cut out again.

Next I unpaired from iPhone 12 and started using the Quattros not paired to any phone at all. After about an hour the RH cut out. Then tried the Enzo 3D unpaired and the same thing happened.

Important note the HA is is still powered when it cuts out, as it can still be un-paired and re-paired and is detected by the Smart app.

So I am baffled!! Possibilities:

  • both Enzo 3d and Enzo Quattro RH aid have had independent failures.
  • the iPhone 13 Pro Max is causing EM interference which causes nearby aids to stop working even though not paired.

Very grateful for any thoughts!!

PS My ReSound Danalogic HAs supplied by NHS are not affected. These are not MFi HAs.

#2

The two right aids have something in common, namely your right ear. But they’re BTE’s and not RIC’s, so I can’t think of a mechanism involving your ear.

#3

Thanks x475aws.

The saga has become even more extraordinary since I wrote the initial post above:

  • The Danalogic ReSounds did the same thing.
  • My first generation Enzo 3 also did the same thing.

That’s four different hearing aids showing the same problem!

That put the focus on the idea that my new-last-month iPhone 13 Pro Max was causing EM interference affecting the RH hearing aid, even when not paired.

So I turned my phone off completely…and an hour later it happened again!

Now thinking some kind of environmental interference, but that is undermined by the fact that the first time it happened was at my son’s house 200 miles away.

I am currently using them in turn since they recover after an hour or two.

This defies all logic…I don’t know where to go from here.

#4

Are they all using batteries from the same pack?

#5

Thanks again. Thats a good thought, but the Enzo’s use size 675 and the Danalogic use size 13.

So far all the Enzo events have used batteries from the same batch, but I do have some of a different brand so will try those, but not optimistic as the Danalogic have the same issue.

#6

@boreham

Are you under an Audi?

When my friend had something go wrong with only her left hearing aid, her Audi swapped her hearing aids over, so left became right, and right became left, all with the same settings. I have no idea why, but it resolved her issue. She doesn’t using GN tho.

Could be a way of problem solving especially if a new batch of batteries don’t help?

#7

Thanks Zebras. That is weird, but useful as it shows weird things can happen.

If the problem only applied to one hearing aid set I would be straight down to my audi. But the same problem applies to four different pairs of hearing aids. All four can’t have the same fault independently.

Since all four sets are ReSound, I think my next move will be to contact ReSound Technical Support in UK. They can be reached by direct phone call and I have used them before.

Unfortunately it is a bank holiday in UK and I am about to go away for a few days.

#8

I’m in the UK as well. :slight_smile:

Does it still happen when you have left the house for the whole day, like at work?

#9

Thanks. The very first event was at my son’s home 200 miles away. The rest have been in own home.

Will see what happens away from home next couple of days.

#10

See my thread about cleaning your app cache…
“ReSound Smart 3D app locked up, fixed”

#11

Now 200 miles from home and just had a dead RH after 14 hours with batteries from a different batch. (This is not same location as original events).

@mr.smithster. Thanks. I have stopped using the Smart3D app. I did wonder about the Smart 3D app and uninstalled it early on. It has happened with and without Smart3D. It was never installed on the iPhone 12 mini.

1 Like
#12

Have you tried a hearing aid drier? It sounds like something I went through with my Resound HAs. Was showing as connected in the app but it would randomly stop working in one ear. Overnight in a drier fixed the problem. I use a drier religiously now.

1 Like
#13

Thanks for the suggestion. Definitely a parallel to my case there. However I already use an electric dehumidifier religiously every night, after having problems a while back, though not the same.

I have had another phone call with ReSound and sent them a full written report. They want me to see my audio, unsurprisingly, so waiting for appt.

Standing back from the whole problem, the only common factor across all the combinations of HAs and phones is my right ear.

Cold hard logic would suggest there is something about the state of my right ear which is triggering the behaviour. Since all aids have feedback suppression software and wax can cause feedback maybe it is what is happening here.

There are a lot of reasons why wax should not be the explanation but I have started drops in ears and the audio will see.

I have had wax caused feedback in the past, but cut out was never the symptom.

#14

Eight days after syringing and removing some (but not a lot) of wax, I have had no repeat cutouts.
So looks like cold hard logic was correct…the problem was in my right ear not the hearing aids or phones.
Still very surprised that a modest amount of wax has had this effect on four different hearing aids. I have had feedback caused by wax buildup in the past, but never cutouts like this.
Thanks for all the inputs.

1 Like
#15

@boreham

Glad it wasn’t your Aids but I hope you can get your right ear sorted.

#16

Thanks! I think it is sorted. Still no more cutouts since the syringing. I still think it is baffling, but I can’t argue with the evidence.