Serious connectivity problems, Oticon More trial

TBH, I 've grown to love the ConnectClip with my OPN S’s.
Sure direct connect is nice, but the Clip allows hands- free without having to speak in to the phone, and the remote functionality , volume, program change, and mute are great.
Not to mention the Microphone for hearing in difficult situations, and TV dialogue.
Once you get it properly paired, you’ll appreciate it.
I’d hate to have to go the iPhone route, or invest in a flagship android.

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@flashb1024: I find the ConnectClip very easy to position optimally, using the short lanyard (supplied).

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I prefer hands-free and am used to it, having Widex Com-Dex. One thing I really like about having a direct connection, though, is getting notifications and rings in my ears. Too often I miss the notifications, when I’m not wearing the dongle.

@decklife: Sorry, but I’m not understanding. To which dongle are you referring? iPhone will connect directly to Oticon More, and you can answer it as long as the iPhone is in your shirt pocket, with the mics pointing skyward, out of the pocket.

All the ConnectClip is needed for is to provide a mic that you can keep closer to your mouth, because iPhone mics are short range, [EDIT: … and not all my shirts have breast pockets.]

I used to find the ConnectClip clumsy when I was trying to clip it to my clothes: the short, breakaway lanyard (supplied) solved that problem, and I have gotten in the habit of wearing it every time I know I’ll be driving, or taking a long call.

It’s just one of those little quirks, as @cvkemp notes, that you accept because of the many Oticon pluses.

[Spoken like the true Oticonian that I am!]

Like said I place my iPhone in my shirt pocket upside down and the mic is in range for phone calls.

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I have been trying various demo aids for over a year. Because of the pandemic I cannot really try speech in noise yet. I have More 1 right now. Do not use a connect clip, but MFI to iPhone is solid.
I am a Google person and really preferred Android phones. But when blue tooth to iPhone appeared, I switched to iPhone. Still not a FAN of iOS although late updates that let me select Google products as default have helped a LOT. But after all my demo’ing, I am staying with iPhone for the MFI connectivity.

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@lsmith77025: If I may make a suggestion: give the ConnectClip a try. It’s a great convenience.

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As I said in my first post, I was using the ConnectClip. My hearing aids would individually reboot themselves or one would just randomly not connect to the ConnectClip. Another problem was that people were not hearing me through the ConnectClip, but rather throught the phone’s mike. I tried re-pairing everything to get that ConnectClip mike working for me; I also re-paired in a particular order as suggested in one of the posts above. I also tried phone use without the ConnectClip, and I still got rebooting or just one aid connecting.
I am glad to hear people find the iPhone connection solid. I am likely to try that. Right now, I am trialing the Widex Moments, and the phone connection using Com-Dex is solid with my Samsung phone. I prefer the Oticons, though, so I am glad the audi is ordering a new pair and a new ConnectClip for my to try.

@decklife: No need to shout. For some reason, I missed the first post, or failed to remember it (I am 72, after all.) Sorry.

I’ll read it again prior to further replies.

[PS/Edit: I regret having missed the fact that you’re still using the Samsung Galaxy … I got the impression later in the thread that you were using an iPhone to trial More again …

Had it not been for that misunderstanding, I would have just demurred from commenting, since I have zero experience/knowledge with Samsung phones.

Again, my apologies for the misunderstanding.]

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Sorry I snapped; too much stress here right now. My husband is in hospital 3 hours away recovering from burn surgeries, plus I had to verify my demented mother’s identity to the IRS over the phone. The consequent phone use has been a challenge with misbehaving hearing aid and phone technology.
And fyi I am only three years younger than you!
I am pretty well convinced that a switch to an iPhone is essential. I’m going to put forth some guesswork in another post.

@decklife: Please don’t worry about the post. My wife has come down with some serious health issues in the last week, so we’re both preoccupied.

FWIW, it annoys me when people don’t read my posts, or they talk through their hats, so - I consider that what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander.

I wish you and your husband a full recovery and better times. Let’s not sweat the small stuff!

Peace and kindest regards.

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I have a theory as to why I had so much trouble with Oticon More and my Android phone.
The short version is that either the Android streaming protocol is not ready for prime time or my phone has an incomplete, faulty or beta-like implementation of it. (It is not among the Android phones listed by Oticon as capable of direct streaming.)
It has puzzled me that the aids would reboot when I used the ConnectClip and when I had a direct connection. I believe the phone’s technology was such that it could not deal with two bluetooth connections at once, so it would shut down the connection with the ConnectClip. Hence, when I thought I was using the ConnectClip, I was really just using the direct connection, which required the phone to be used for the mike. I think the aids rebooted in sort of a revolt from the somehow faulty Android streaming protocol.

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I am thinking seriously of trying it or some other remote mic when I purchase new aids. But I have been using free demo aids for over a year! Started out with a new provider in town wanting someone to demo various brands and give feedback just before lockdown. And since I cannot tell a thing about speech in noise when I hardly get out of my house, have just continued using freebies.

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@lsmith77025: I sympathize. Six years ago, I was wearing Unitron Moxi Duets (2011 vintage IIRC). They were working really well for me, and I asked the new audi at the Sonova-owned clinic why I had to upgrade (VAC provides me with new devices every 4 years, but I’m a “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” guy.)

She said: Unitron North Moxi Fit 800s are advanced HAs: more channels, auto program switching, better hearing, Bluetooth with a streamer, blah blah.

None of the supposed better performance ever materialized for me. I went back for adjustment, time and time again. Had the regional manager in on 3 long tweaking sessions that did nothing.

After a few years of this non-productive to and fro with the audiologist, I gave up on ever again being able to understand speech in noise. I didn’t go back for new devices at the 4 year mark, I was that despondent.

For 6 Christmases, at our family gathering, I’d constantly asking people (only 8 present) to repeat. For 6 years, they would say: “Are you wearing your HAs? Have you forgotten them, again?”

After a couple of Christmas dinners, one person got so irritated, she reamed me out and told me that I needed to fire my audi and find a competent one who could fit me. For some strange reason, I didn’t listen.

Then, late last year, I made the acquaintance of my current audiologist - a bright young fellow who was going to work for a newer, smaller, and independent audiology clinic downtown. I went to see him in February. He tested me, we discussed my expectations and desires, and he recommended that I wear Oticon More3s.

The basic Tier3 More is all that VAC offers, but my audiologist went through the (crippled) features and explained to me that most (but not all) of the features with lower capabilities would cause little degradation of performance because my lifestyle is so quiet.

Initially, I pushed back because More had been on the market for only 3 weeks … I even changed the order to Opn S3s at one point, but - after reading about the Polaris platform and ciphering on it overnight, I accepted the initial recommendation for More3.

I’m glad that I did, because my skilled and empathetic audiologist was able to fit the basic, entry level More3s well enough so that I could understand speech again!. Even though I went to a restaurant with my friend and had to use my ConnectClip on him as a personal mic, due to the clatter, those hearing aids gave me something that I hadn’t experienced in 6 years. I could understand sentences on the first pass!

In a real sense, my audi gave me back my quality of life. So here’s my bottom line:

Don’t expect to get any better results from returning time and time again to the same audiologist. I think it’s time to move on to someone new who can actually fit you so you can hear!

My $0.25/YMMV

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Absolutely agree!
AND do not turn up your nose at a good Hearing Instrument Specialist rather than an “Audiologist.”
The important part of your sentence is “skilled and empathetic,” not “audiologist!” I am convinced that fitting hearing aids is as much an “art” as it is a “science.” The same aid for 2 people with the same loss is NOT a “given!”

My husband started wearing hearing aids in the 1970’s because of inherited hearing loss. Fortunately a cousin who is profoundly hard of hearing AND a teacher of the deaf, recommended SHHH which has morphed into Hearing Loss Association of America!! Through their publications we were able to stay on top of the many technological changes.

I learned about “tuning aids” when he had his first digitally programmable aids and was doing some part-time Community College teaching and needed to hear students, but NOT HVAC system!! The local audiologist taught him to use her tuning program and would let him do his own tuning during her lunch hour!!!

I now live in Sun City Texas and have my own hearing issues. I lead a group here called Hearing Solutions where we TRY to educate our population to the hearing solutions that ARE available. I always feel like any new “medical issue” is like “reinventing the wheel.” Help is available but HOW do you know where to find it???

We now have many of our facilities looped for t-coil listening, but are having a difficult time getting all the local providers to recommend T-coils when selling new hearing aids!!!

LOVE THIS FORUM!!! I have learned so much!!

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I don’t think that I did so. I always say “audiologist”, because that’s where VAC sends me.

I did not mean you personally. Just seems to be an implicit bias on this site that you need to be dealing with a “Dr. of Audiology!”

Naw … not in my case, anyway. As long as there are no underlying medical issues, I think a trained and empathetic fitter is better than the crackpot audiologist I kept returning to for 6 years.

If it’s any comfort … I’ve had similar probs with my Phonak Marvels paired to my Samsung Galaxy cell phone. Even after firmware updates, once in a while (not infrequently!) my aids will bonk on the streaming, sending the sound to just my RIGHT ear. Pity, cuz that ear is not my favored hearing ear, and seems like putting the phone up to a rock. I just don’t process speech that well in the right ear.

At that point, I SIGH LOUDLY, and just take the dang phone out of Bluetooth mode, continuing the call with the phone up to my left ear. Defeats the whole purpose of hands-free streaming tho!

I DO have a program dedicated to “Acoustic Ear” on the Marvels, so that works almost as good as streaming, as it seems to send the sound to both ears even tho it’s not streaming. Maybe Oticon has such a program?

I had more trouble with aids rebooting in the middle of nowhwere when I had Phonak Audeos. That got better after a firmware update tho. But when they rebooted (always mid-conversation!) it would be a good 30 seconds till they came on again. By then, I’d be getting cross-eyed stares from folks wondering why I wasn’t responding during that reboot. :thinking:

I think it’s safe to say that there are ongoing issues in the Bluetooth/hearing aid world that aren’t going away any time soon, so thank goodness for all the advice and suggestions given to us right here.

“DOES NOT COMPUTE. REBOOT IN PROCESS” - a flashback to old movies concerning robots just came to me.