Streaming Phonak Audeo B-Direct to MacBook Pro

Your type of loss can have an impact on your brand choice. With @bluejay, she has fairly flat severe loss. Some find that even with aids they don’t get anywhere close to perfect results. An added auditory disorder can impact results.

She and I have a lot of problems with noise. An aid that allows more noise is problematic. She found that and chose the right aid for her.

Another may have a lot of problem with soft voices and choose based on that. The list of needs vary.

These tend to be things that the audiogram doesn’t answer. WRS, additional test and the interview process are tools used by best practice fitter. Those who do this are are who to seek. There are a lot out there who aren’t. If you don’t have a well qualified fitter, brand means nothing.

1 Like

^^^^ Very well said! There is a lot left to the end-user in the case of aids: we have to be persistent and articulate, and keep trying models and fine-tuning what we have till we have a solution that works for our needs and listening preferences.

Ibawaya, there are a LOT of positive comments on the Oticon Connect Clip in a different thread here. Hope you can try that out in addition to Phonak’s solution. I’m SO HAPPY for the folks who are satisfied with the Oticon streamer. I would’ve LOVED to try it out too, but as KenP says, my bigger issue was simply never being able to discriminate speech with the Oticon OPN miniRITE.

@1BluejayI hope I can try both also. But I prefer not to buy extra accessories if possible, since I hate carrying things around.

^^^ Well then, in our (highly) imperfect world, you can go two routes: automatic pairing with the iPhone compatible Oticons (or other similar models out there), or single-ear pairing with Android device using Phonak Audeo B-Direct.

As far as I know, neither of these strategies require any other gizmo or gadget to pair - and that is a very good thing! :slight_smile:

Hey @1Bluejay, I’ve figured out the rebooting glitch on my own Audeo b-90 directs. It actually has to do with Bluetooth connection to your cellphone. In my case with the iPhone 8, it reboots whenever I stray too far away from it.

This issue is addressed on the Phonak website, it reboots in order to reattempt a bluetooth connection

^^^ Intriguing! It could be the reason for my own random reboots … I get in to see my aud-guy on Wed to see if a firmware update can fix it?

It’s odd that my aids reboot when my Samsung cell phone is on my person even! I’ve had the aids reboot while at a booth making a purchase, only to go … UM. DUH. No. Can. Hear! It takes about half a minute for the irritating reboot to complete.

My reboots seem random, in that they go down maybe once in 6 weeks or so? I even wondered if someone else’s electronic device could be triggering it? No idea! But I do appreciate your insight here, which I’ll share with my aud-guy tomorrow.

I’ll come back and post what he says and the HOPEFUL outcome of a fix. If I have to leave my aids with him to send in to Phonak, so be it, but I will be back to wearing the Alta Pro Oticons ITEs again. Like going from a comfy running shoe to a small flat with no arch support. Ah, gets the job done anyway …

I have a feeling it’s safety related: driving for instance. The ability to hear your surroundings in general. I could be wrong.

Hey all! Om going to try out THE phonak thing. Im only hearing in One ear and that ear too has hearing loss. Im born with it. And in curius about this paring with phone with phonak. Always been irritated when i have to pull out My aid to hear THE call haha but … phonak B direct seems like the sulution. And THE tv conector…Can you simply connect it to a PC and then use THE aid as a headset?

I am in the same boat as you, hearing in only one ear. I am going to be trying a Phonak Bi-Cros solution, with an Audeo B-Direct in my left ear and a microphone only Phonak in my right ear. I hope to pick them up later this week. I ordered a TV Connecter too.

I went to a specialist because my right ear hearing has been dropping due to an acoustice Neuroma. She recommended that I try a Bi-Cros solution to hear people on my right side.

Yeah that “sit in the wrong Side” while talking i regorgnize. But…do you hear with both? Or Do you medan you only have the mic in the deaf ear? Got a bit Lost there haha.
Ok ill try out THE cors maby Also. But do cros have bloothot?

Thanx for the reply!

I hear with both now, but the right ear has zero speech recognition now. The specialist recommends waiting 6 months and getting another MRI to see if the size changes. I had just bought some new ReSounds and she suggested I go back and see if I could trade them in on a BiCros solution. They agreed to do that.

I hear enough with the ReSounds to get some sound from the right side. Kind of like having peripheral vision only in my right eye except it’s for hearing. The BiCros system will take some getting used to. It is supposed to transfer the sound coming into my right ear over to the left side and then mix it with the left side. My Audi said that Phonak has the best system for doing this… I think Starkey does too.

Oh i ser :slight_smile: thanx new info for me om that. Might look into that too.

Just wanted to add my 2-cents’ worth here, as I have the Audeo B-Direct and YES you can easily pair this with either phone and/or TV/computer.

I bought TWO TV pairing devices: one is hooked up and dedicated to my TV at home only. The other device travels with me so I can plug it into my Macbook Pro and stream IN STEREO on the road. The TV streamer offers stereophonic listening for us Phonak Audeo B-Direct users, unlike pairing with a phone, in which case you only hear audio in ONE ear.

I’ve paired my aids with a Samsung Galaxy S9 phone. Works like a total charm, sending the audio to my LEFT ear only. I’m amazed how I actually got spoiled with that hands-free, device-free pairing ability, thanks to these aids.

Also, after you pair with your phone, it is impossible to ever miss a phone call again! Even if your phone is buried in a bag, purse or in the other room, your aids will ring when the call comes in. I typically answer my phone by hitting the button on my aids.

It’s magic. And I’m LOVING it! :slight_smile:

I wanted to update y’all as to what I learned! My aud-guy said that my aids already have the latest firmware on them, so if they continue to reboot at odd intervals, I should have them reprogrammed.

Weeeeeell, maybe that’s what it’s gonna take! I just returned from several weeks in JAPAN (fabulous place, and dang I wish I’d had time to look into getting fitted with a pair of waterproof aids while there!). My aids did indeed reboot one fine day - middle of nowhere, for no reason. I groaned, knowing that it’d be a good 1.5 minutes till I was “live” again, and so it was.

I love these aids so much that I simply don’t want to turn them in for any kind of monkeying around tho! I’m going to live with my weird reboot situation till it drives me nuts. There’s no rhyme or reason for the event, but maybe it’s related to T-mobile network connection for my Samsung? God KNOWS the dang phone never ever even once worked the entire time I was in Japan. I was able to dial out but no one could ring me. Just a total puzzle.

Sounds like you will need the Com Pilot II. Then you can receive from any Bluetooth device and, I presume, stream phone calls to both ears.

I’m not sure the Audeo B-Direct has the capability to work with the ComPilot II. The idea behind these aids is a device-free pairing with the cell phone - hence the name “B-Direct”.

But that’s FINE by me! The fewer gizmos and gadgets I have to travel with, the better! I’m totally happy with the aids streaming audio to my left ear.

i picked up my Phonak Bi-Cros and Audeo-B90 yesterday. I had also ordered a TV Streamer but that is not available if you have a Bi-Cros. Phonak uses their one blue-tooth band to send the Bi-Cros signal from the bad ear to the good ear. They said that if you get Bi-Cros, your good hearing ear cannot connect to anything else. Not to an Iphone, not to a Com-Pilot, not to a TV Streamer.

But the good news is that hearing on my bad ear is vastly improved. I still have some sense of direction on the right (bad ear) side because I still have some hearing there. But speech and music from the right side sound like they are centered in front of me. Haven’t had a chance to try out noisy environments yet.

I also got the new rechargable versions. There is no battery door, you use the button to turn them on and off. The button is also used to step between programs. They are supposed to last 2 days on a charge. The charger has a cover you close to make it work as a dryer. The built-in batteries are supposed to last for 6 years.

I looked up the BiCros on the Phonak web site, and the only accessory they list is the Compilot. The text said that when a signal comes in from the Compilot, the good ear will drop the signal from the CROS aid and switch to the Compilot.

So that’s how they work around their bluetooth limitation.

^^^ So does that mean your CAN use your TV streamer? Hope so!