Honestly, I don’t know. I live in a very rural area and Costco visits are a 200 mile round trip journey. On top of that, because of my work schedule, I only have one off day that the hearing aid center is open. Point being, I have only had one adjustment made on my original set of Rextons. However when I picked up my replacements two weeks ago, telecare was setup and I have had some adjustments made with a call. I am looking into DIY and performing my own adjustments.
2 Likes
I dont have your aids, i have the Jabra equivalent. But in the programming software, there are a few adjustments that allow the noise suppression levels to be set, along with the sensitivity levels of when the suppression kicks in. Seems some really aggressive settings very temporarily ramp down volume levels to a low decible while the suppression tries to figure out if the sound that set it off is noise or should be heard. I would maybe ask your hearing specialist to look into lowering the suppression and sensitivity levels because if they just keep reprogramming to your audiogram you are probably gonna keep getting the same result.
Are you using domes or molds?
I’m using domes which were changed to a different style when I picked up the replacement HA 's. The change was a mistake, wrong size and probably should have been open ones. I have a good bit to straighten out in my next appointment.
@Member204 : Thanks for sharing your experience. If I could ask which costco you visit ? I am in GTA and the costco HA’s here are quite clear that there is no trial period.
Thanks
The problem with the loud sound fluctuating is programming issue. I had the same problem with my bi-cores and I resorted to the DYI route and re adjusted the gains in either the soft sounds or the loud sounds in the basic tuning tab. This will depend also where you have the sound pro setting set to. But increasing those will make the problem go away. I resorted to the DYI due to long wait times to get adjusted and a particular issue with my voice sounding like a broken speaker. Thank fully I have really tweaked the hell out of them that they really sound like I don’t have hearing aids in. The specialist can’t dedicate a lot of time to really tweak an OCD person like my self. Also you can try using the AI on the app which they finally fixed the biggest issue with it. The issue was if you used the app to make changes you were stuck with it whether it worked or not. Now you can go back to the initial fitting by going into the rexton assistant and hitting the gear icon and the option should show up if all update ‘reset changes’
4 Likes
REXTON Bicore C R-LI - 2.2 years old. from COSTCO. Searching Hearing Aid Tracker as I am not going to buy Rexton again. I do need streaming audio and phone for my Android. The HAs has been nothing but huge problems. Tried 5 phones to try an correct. Each phone had a problem. The recent phone was Moto G 5G - 2022 - the phone receiver volume was approx 5% but the volume control had zero effect. In a really quite room, could barely hear the conversation. Upgraded to the Moto G 5G - 2023 - The Streaming Audio was FULL VOLUME - volume control wouldn’t work - phone ring worked (tones) but zero phone voice. Then that phone was updated to ANDROID 14, nothing will work. Have removed REXTON app, rebooted, taken Rexton Bicore back to Costco to insure it’s firmware is up to date… Nothing works.
The hearing aid aspect seems to be OK. The Rexton App volume, tone, balance… seems to work. But, the rest of this isn’t as advertised for HAs.
Doesn’t really look like they keep this up to date, does it?
My United Health Care (Medicare) claims they assist with hearing aids. I am going to begin to search for a replacement.
Best of Luck on your solution. Appreciated everyone’s post.
Unfortunately it’s an Android OS problem with their ASHA protocol. That’s the protocol they have for HA. I switched to IPhone and problems went away with bluetooth control of the HA.
1 Like
Not always, the forum is full of people complaining about their iPhone connection, but your right ASHA is nowhere as good as MFi, as stated Samsung, pixel are working, but without a doubt I’m looking forward to LE Audio (hopefully working on “all” makes and models)
1 Like
Agreed, but the newer HA and IPhones are trending in the better direction of usability . I read that the new Android OS is going to improve the ASHA protocol . The trick was that Apple recognized this trend of HA connected thru bluetooth a long time ago ahead every one else so they have been working on it for longer
1 Like
Apologies for the delay @email2deal. I was away. I am in Victoria BC and visit the COSTCO in Langford.
2 Likes
@thefrioman my issue was definitely Microphone Management (i.e. BiCore Processing). When engaged for any of the options, I have the issue discussed in my original post. Any other tweaks were ineffective. I too have gone the DIY route and have tried many many variants.
3 Likes
@OatMan I have a Samsung Galaxy S22 5G (on the list) and have not had the issues you describe. My main problem is the range of the low-energy Bluetooth used for Android. I like to listen to podcasts while walking but find that the link gets a bit flakey while walking with the phone in my pocket. Are there any issues with range using the iPhone and the MFi protocol?
2 Likes
@Member204
Aussie here,
I got my new Rexton’s a week ago and am having exactly the same issue. I lose the mid to high frequencies. But mine doesn’t seem to come back after a few seconds. The way I can tell is simply by rubbing the top of the hearing aid and the scratching noise from the Mics is distinctly different, sort of muted and lacking highs. It is the same prior to the issue occurring.
I have already advised Costco of this issue and will be back in there next week and have bookmarked your discovery to discuss with them.
Thanks for the post.
1 Like
@Member204
I can also confirm the Bluetooth on an iPhone 14 Pro and the Rexton’s is also flaky. Carry the phone in my back pocket whilst walking and turn my head one way and I lose reception in the other ear. Turn right, lose left. I assume it’s not being able to travel through your body. But the catch is that my iphone 14 is relatively new and it doesn’t support Low Energy Bluetooth, so what I’m up for a new phone as well?
1 Like
Sorry to hear that @Filberto. If the highs don’t come back after a few seconds, how long does the effect last?
I needed a way to tell if any changes made while with my costco hearing instrument specialist affected the problem I was having. I downloaded an app called “White noise Generator” for my phone and found the “blue noise” setting to work best at low volume. I would then just drop a pen onto the desk in front of me and I could repeat the effect of loss of highs with that sudden sound. I also found it to be the most noticeable on the 360 surround setting under Direction for the Automatic program on the Rexton app on my phone.
I believe there is also a feature on most hearing aids that protects our ears from very loud sudden sounds by dropping the volume with a slow return afterwards. I do sometimes notice this with my aids but very rarely. My issue was not related to the volume of the sound, just the suddenness of it. I hope you find a solution.
2 Likes
Well that’s disappointing. I had thought that the iPhone’s proprietary MFi protocol was meant to be superior to the ASHA Bluetooth low energy (BTLE) used for Android. MFi supposedly allows two-way communication between the phone and HAs (i.e. both mic and speaker function for telephone calls). ASHA BTLE only allows the streaming of audio.
I do notice that when I am at home, the ASHA streaming has a decent range and is quite stable. While walking, however, things seem much more limited. Not sure if it is the motion or interference from external signals like cars etc.
2 Likes
Mine just occurs continually and only in the right HA. It’s not triggered by a loud sharp noise.
Yesterday I was down the local social club having a couple of drinks and I need to continually change the program on my phone either through the phone or via Hearing Aid and that will reset the HA for another couple of minutes. I just change to program 2 and back to 1 and it’s reset, or 1 to 5 and back, but you look a bit of a goose constantly dicking around with your phone or putting your hand up to your ear when having a conversation.
The Bluetooth/HA speakers are absolutely brilliant compared to the KS8’s. It’s headphone quality.
It’s early days and still got another 6 months to decide.
@Filberto @Member204 I remember having these issues and I’ve fixed them myself some time ago [via self-fitting].
As far as I remember there are at least four possibilities for sound/freq dipping and I don’t think that’s from sudden sound protection feature.
- If you have phone connected, it will dip every time the phone triggers streaming, firstly due to the default setting which lowers the outside sounds to 80% [it can be set to 100% so it never dips, this has additional benefit of triggering streaming faster too [when lowering is enabled often start of the stream gets cut off, sometimes not getting through at all if it’s short like notification sound]
Secondly, streaming uses different codec and compression methods, which are noticeably worse. - Automatic beamforming [also called sound focus in other devices], usually results in tunnel like hearing experience. There are several types of it. Some can be disabled. Some profiles have turned it off, like the Musician one.
- Per-profile noise suppression, it auto-triggers and can be toned down per frequency range [I remember changing this so it only applies to low-freq, disabling or lowering significantly for high].
- Sound compression [the most likely culprit], the default fitting algorithm uses compression generously, and manipulates sound a lot, often behaving unexpectedly, especially when it comes to loud noises. I couldn’t stand this. This got fixed by changin fitting algorithm to DSLv5 Adult, [which is great for high freq loses [NAL is also possibility]] and uses compression sparingly.
Last but not least there’s environmental detection feature [I forgot the exact name], which, manipulates the sound-fields, closer and further from you. and changes sound according to detected sounds profile [music, car etc.]. From my experience this one isn’t very problematic, it’s a never feature and changes are subtle, mostly works as intended.
2 Likes
I’ve had Motorola and I’ve returned it, their support and software is shitty. Now I have Asus Zenfone which works great with my Rextons/Signias. That being said, if you care for good connection and compatibility you have very limited range of choices. It’s either Samsung, Google’s Pixel line, or iPhones. It’s a smartphone problem not a hearing device problem.
3 Likes
ASHA is more or less done for [meaning both that it is feature complete and abandoned]. My Android device is still at version 13 and works perfectly, the issues stem from phone manufacturers implementation of both Bluetooth stack, ASHA and BT chip they use.
The full focus is now on BT Audio LE/Auracast, especially with version 15 of Android.
3 Likes