Resound Omnia MFi connectivity

Cochlear Implants
#1

Currently demoing an Omnia for my right ear as I await Cochlear procedure in the next few weeks and trying to decide on AB or CA for the implant. I’ve had Phonak for years and so I was leaning to that bimodal solution. Meanwhile was advised to demo Omnia for the HA to see if I would be happy pairing that with an N8. There are pros and cons to each solution. One obstacle I’ve noticed is that I cannot successfully pair the Omnia with my iPhone 13 and an Ipad Air 4 at the same time. All running current iOS and App. The Omnia pairs no problem to the iPhone, but when trying to also pair to the iPad, the MFi will appear to pair and settings show up, but it cannot be adjusted or used. Also then the Resound 3D app on the iPad cannot connect at all.

Another issue is that with the phone when paired it may drop off connection when away from the phone and then I will need to restart the HA to reestablish connection. My Phonak aids seems to hold their connection or be easier to reconnect without restarting HAs.

Any input or advice appreciated.

#2

I have the Omnia and N8 bimodal solution but I am on Android, it works great. The future is BT LE audio, not ASHA or MFI proprietary protocol itself. or Phonak bluetooth classic, which is very power hungry.
N8 have been confirmed to get LE audio and Omnia possibly gonna get it at the same time too because they are working with the same radio chip platform dubbed GN LEWIS and they( n8 and Omnia) have been announced on the same month if my memory serves me correctly, same week just a few days apart…

Source: Bluetooth SIG

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#3

You need to turn off bluetooth on the iphone to get ipad to connect.

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#4

Are you able to connect to multiple devices at the same time?

The pros for me are N8 and Omnia are less power hungry and smaller than the AB Naida bimodal solution. The pro for AB is that Phonak for me has been very good for sound quality and processing and the solution will work dynamically for both ears using one app. Programming can be done for both devices at the same time to see how they blend, perhaps better. I’ve had no issues with connectivity really using phonak HAs.

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#5

Have you had rechargeable Phonak aids? Some people here are not impressed with their battery life when using Bluetooth.

#6

Last time i tried it, was like a few year back with N7 and Quattro , no.

N8/ Omnia battery is king. it last the entire day,/last forever… I’m really glad i didn’t pick phonak/AB…

They are having a lot of problems with battery life due to bluetooth classic is trash on battery life…

Power consumption is a big concern for me because I wear mine like 18 hour day, I don’t want my hearing devices dying on me in the middle of the day…

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#7

You are in a tuff position trying to see what direction to go in.

I wore Phonak aids my entire time wearing hearing aids, self programmed them. When I made the decision to get CI my decision was to go in the direction my surgeon and audiologist recommended. CA is just a better choice where I live. More doctors and audiologist use CA. But you have to see what is best for you where you live.

As mentioned you can on connect with one device at a time. You can be paired to more than one but you can only connect with one at a time.

Good luck with this.

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#8

Thanks. I’m meeting with surgeon and audiologist again this week. They are leaving it to me and say outcomes are the same. Reps and the audiologist say they are very experienced with either one.

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#9

I have not, though my Dad has them and seemed like a good 18 hrs but he isn’t really streaming anything.

#10

The HA may not be so important in the long run I’m thinking. I’ve read many become more dependent on the implant side and the hearing I have on the better ear now is deteriorating. Have any of you found that to be the case?

#12

Oh yes, i prefer the CI side but i do well on both side independently 80% on sentences 4 people. hitting the performance ceiling with bimodal, (near 100%) bimodal noise test was ~70%.

bimodal just makes everything easier to understand nowadays…

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#13

Thanks, I really appreciate all your input on this.

#14

This post is better moved to Cochlear implant section

pinging @Deaf_piper (Cochlear) and @joanhawsey (AB) who are bimodal recipient

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#15

Big decisions and all of research can be daunting - good work reaching out. This forum along with Facebook groups for each brand were helpful. Zooming with each brand rep very helpful to me. It was important to me to have my CI and HA work together, and I liked the electrode expansion capacity in the AB array.

I am one month post activation for my AB CI and am having excellent early results. I was borderline for approval with steep ski slope hearing and decided to do it sooner rather than wait for more hearing at deteriorate.

I find the CI and HA work very well together from one app. I stream a couple of hours daily and wear mine for about 15-16 hours daily and have never depleted beyond 50%. I have the medium size battery. The large will go longer. I have the option of carrying the physical battery accessory with me as backup but haven’t needed it.

Another factor to me is that my AuD locally has a lot of experience with AB mapping for follow up. I did my surgery at Vanderbilt five hours away and wanted quality mapping close to home.

Always happy to chat via PM.

#16

For bimodal control in one app, Cochlear is going to have this feature soon, i hope but it is far too late in the game and Cochlear needs to somehow get the bilateral/bimodal synchronization going with their devices which i hope they do it in a firmware update which allows this feature…

#17

Thanks! I’ve been scouring FB groups and met with reps; gave myself a couple months now to decide and seems like surgeon and audiologist are both extremely experienced with either brand. Having this done about an hour away at Stanford and will almost certainly need to go there for any follow-up mappings and adjustments to an HA should I go with AB. Being bimodal with AB sounds better in many ways (syncing and shared dynamic processing) though on the HA side you become limited to one larger high-powered aid choice and then you really don’t get the fine tuning adjustments with it or necessarily newest tech with it as quickly. The plus using Resound is I can get that adjusted locally or even do it myself potentially. It is rather tough to decide even though it seems I won’t regret either decision.

#18

Completely understand the dilemma. I will say that now that my CI is mapped to be more effective, the HA is nice to have but not the primary aspect of my hearing concern. I am lucky to have some natural hearing to balance out the CI but it is no li fee the critical issue it used to be.

#19

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I also had a SSHL in my R ear several years ago now. 3.5 yrs ago I was in the same position trying to decide what company to go through, either AB or Cochlear Australia. I’m from Melbourne to get the AB I would have had to go to Sydney for surgery and mappings… This added cost was to high for mappings, accommodation and airfares. The thing I didn’t really like about AB was all the recalls they have had on the internal array.

While with Cochlear I had no out of pocket expenses at all, nor for mappings, it’s all been bulk billed… Which made things easy for me Even though it’s about a 4+ hour return trip on public transport… I love the streaming of my N7 & Resound Enzo. This makes phone calls so easy. Please keep wearing your aid until surgery happens. As this will keep your acoustic nerve stimulated. Even though you say you can’t hear it’s still possible for some sound to be getting through.

Here’s my journey with my Cochlear. It’s been a fantastic ride and it the best decision I’ve ever made.

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#20

Thanks for sharing and advice. I met with the surgeon today. She is equally confident and experienced with both products and thinks from a surgical viewpoint my outcome will be the same in terms of effectiveness and chances to preserve some low and mid ranges in the implant ear. I will have a final meeting with the audiologist next week to see if he thinks there are any programming or user interface pros or cons. It’s great that the CA/Resound solution syncs well for you. Are you also able to stream TV easily to both devices (if you do that)?

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#21

I’m assuming you have the Naida Link M for the HA? Curious if you got the Roger On. The rep said that was the extra accessory to get as would link to a TV or other device as well as act as a remote mic.