This is my first post… have been reading posts on this forum for several weeks. This is a very impressive and valuable resource.
As mentioned in my profile, I’m on my 4th trial day with Signia Pure C&G 7IX CROS.
Signia’s app (iPhone) enables directional control of aids’ microphones and by many accounts this feature is excellent when using two aids. My CROS experience is that all manual direction adjustments disable the CROS microphones. Manually adjusting the microphones’ beam angle on the app can significantly reduce background noise as the beam is narrowed or focused to sides/front/back. However, the CROS microphones at my left ear are ‘dead’ throughout this process unless the direction is set to ‘auto’.
Tomorrow I’ll be testing speech recognition in noisy environments with a friend. Following that I’ll contact my audiologist with feedback. I understand that CROS, generally speaking, has some shortcomings in noisy situations where CROS might need to be turned off, but having zero use of CROS microphones for all manual direction control seems a bit extreme.
Is this normal Signia app CROS behaviour? Early days still with my first CROS experience. There are some positives but I’m a bit confused.
My audiologist has confirmed that CROS appears disabled if manual directional microphone beamforming is switched on in the Signia app. I’m paraphrasing… CROS is designed to take sounds from left/right; this function becomes counterproductive when activated beamforming pushes the microphone configuration into a forward focus.
Interestingly, though the 2 CROS microphones are effectively ‘dead’ in this situation, they are still being accessed by the binaural 4-microphone adaptive beamforming technology used in the other aid to help locate and filter background noise for the ‘good’ ear.
My own tests (finger-brushing the aids and also recorded voice) confirm that the 2 CROS microphones are ‘dead’ while the app is in manual direction mode (all beam coverages 15-360 degrees).
This is my first CROS experience… not quite sure what to make of it. My learning curve continues…
To all: Oticon’s CROS PX unit has multiple mics, but it is merely a “DUMB transmitter” that includes no Bluetooth capability and – worse – cannot receive microphone directionality program instructions from a companion Oticon HA unit that, for me, is an Intent HA. (The CROS PX also requires a different charger than the Intent).
As a result, that CROS PX effectively “cripples” the directionality control benefit of a companion “real” HA unit because when the “real” HA is set for “front-focused” hearing, the PX unit continues to pick up and transmit all of the “undesired sound” from behind the hearing aid wearer. If the wearer just turns off that PX unit, then s/he cannot hear speech by a person seated in front of and on the right side of that hearing aid wearer.
Think of it as having 4 persons seated around a card table and conversing with undesired background noise behind every seat. If a hearing aid wearer is sitting in ANY seat at that table, all of the other 3 persons will be seated “in front of” that hearing aid wearer, positioned as “Front Left”, “Front Center”, & “Front Right”. Any effective “front-focused” directionality control should severely attunuate all sound coming from behind that hearing aid wearer without also reducing any of the sound coming from his/her “Front Left”, “Front Center”, or “Front Right”.
Oticon’s CROS PX cancels out that directionality benefit of any “real” hearing aid it is used with.
Thus, I need “front-focused” directionality control over both a “real” HA unit and a companion “CROS” unit.
So, which HA manufacturers have a CROS unit containing multiple mics that can be directionally controlled by program instructions received from a companion “real” hearing aid being worn on the wearer’s other ear?
Thanks for your clear description of a key aspect of Oticon’s CROS technology.
Quick update… I returned my Signia Pure C&G 7IX CROS and have been using Phonak I90 Spheres since January 2025.
I personally found that the Signia CROS technology benefits were outweighed by two fully functioning aids. The transmitted CROS signal seemed to be low bandwidth and noise reduction was poor with the CROS microphones.
I am much happier using two full-featured aids, though this is just my personal subjective experience.
Very interesting! Out of curiosity, do you have complete hearing loss on one side? If so, I can’t understand how you obtain any benefit at all from wearing a non-CROS hearing aid on that side. I do have complete SSD on one side (only partial on the other), so I’d really like to know.
Clicking on ‘audiogram’ beneath my username reveals my level of one-sided hearing loss, which is not a complete loss.
Yes, I’ve traded a drop-off in aided hearing on my left side (specifically when someone is speaking next to me) for the all-round experience. I can reduce the deficit somewhat with the usual positional ‘dance’ and head-turning (less of this than before hearing aids). I’m fortunate that this trade-off is an option for me, facilitated by my retired, low-key lifestyle.