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Sonnet EAS is able to function as EAS or CI only. Sonnet is only able to function as CI only. Some audiologists always order Sonnet EAS if there is any chance at all that residual hearing will be preserved and fall into the EAS parameters.

That makes sense. My surgeon did say I'd most likely lose my residual hearing - if not from the array insertion from ossification in the weeks after. She was correct.

Last time it went down and came back I looked to see if anything was new or different. Just saw the larger travel pack which I got in addition to the items I was wanting to order in the first place. The pack is much larger than the little cases I got with my kit!

@Kilgary I would not say that they ordered the EAS by mistake. My Audi said that they always order the EAS Sonnet 2 when there is a possibility of residual hearing being retained on the chance that it might be useful since the cost (at least after insurance?) is the same in the US and the EAS works perfectly fine in non-EAS mode. In my case, I also retained no useful residual hearing and have never used the EAS functionality of my Sonnet 2 EAS. I have always had the fully closed clear hook on my Sonnet 2 EAS and never unboxed or tried the green EAS hook.

Interesting. I got an EAS model on activation day (I guess by mistake because my residual hearing went away after surgery). I noticed because of the green ear hook. I requested a clear hook because I didn’t like the look of the green tip. Did the right thing for my processor by accident! My Sonnet 2 sounds identical to my Rondo 3 so you can certainly use it without the ear mold like a non-EAS Sonnet 2.

I saw a post on Facebook where a guy says he regularly goes swimming with his Rondo 3. Just puts it under his swim cap and doesn’t bother with Water Wear. I know it has an IP68 rating and the product page says it can be underwater at 1m for 60 min. Is this a thing folks regularly do? I’m 17 months post activation and am paranoid about anything happening to my processor. I don’t necessarily want to take mine swimming but I wouldn’t mind having it in my spa without constantly buying pricey Water Wear plastic wraps. I used to regularly play music while hanging out in my spa before I lost my hearing on one side and it would be nice to get that back. Is this a safe activity with my Rondo 3 without using Water Wear?

Looks like it’s back up now. Weird it just goes offline for days. Never seen that with a major business.

Ah yeah. Apple doesn’t use ASHA so not something I think about much. Knew the BT in the AudioLink was old but I’ve not the foggiest when it was even released. BT 3.0 is way past its prime. Lol

While they are updating the US Web shop, we can contact our customer service reps by phone or email to place orders.

I meant ASHA as a whole was intended to be phone only then music became an after thought. As for the AudioLink, the MCU they used is the Silicon Labs WT32i-A-AI61 which is Bluetooth 3.0 (yikes!). The worst part is that they could've done general Bluetooth to Bluetooth streaming, not just phone calls only.

They keep closing it a lot it seems. Bad timing for me personally. Oh well.

BTLE which is what the AudioStream supports has a limit itself on what is can support, add in that the sleeve hasn’t been updated (outside firmware) so it’s a bit outdated by like, 3 or 4 years. Newer BT standards can support a higher rate. I also highly doubt they designed the AudioStream solely for Phone calls knowing MedEl with Music an afterthought. Most likely whatever the industry standards were when they released the AudioStream they went the Apple route and released them with a slightly older version of BTLE. (Apple only recently began using current BT chips in new models and was well known for being behind in lots of hardware areas.) AudioLink… I keep wanting to say it’s BT 4.2 but I don’t use it so not interested in much info. Only know it was rushed and even employees are not keen on it as a whole.

I don't know what the AudioLink streaming specs are. I think it should be roughly the same. My guess as to why it sounds bad is improper grounding within the processor that introduces a ton of static. The reason why the bitrate and codec was chosen was because it was intended for calls only but decided that it wouldn't make sense to block other streaming. Frankly, Google should roll out a revision to ASHA that uses LC3 since it would blow G722 a kilometer (0.6 mile) out of the water from what I can tell 😆. Bluetooth streaming will not be lossless in Cochlear Implants for a longgggg time (10+ years?). If you want lossless then use the 3 prong sleeve and AUX cable.

So you mean AudioStream has twice the bitrate of AudioLink? Now that explains why I found the quality of AudioLink unbearable when trying it out for music streaming. 128kbps is still pretty low for todays industry standards though 😕 I‘m curious why they decided to settle at this bitrate and with this codec. Hoping for lossless support for the next generation / update!

@MED-EL ModeratorCan you answer what the codec and bitrate of the AudioLink is? @Julius Also, I mixed up the AudioLink and AudioStream when I typed my last reply. I don't get why Med-El didn't name them StreamRemote and StreamSleeve since these both satisfy the German/Austrian tradition of smashing words together but in a way that makes sense. I digress. The AudioStream uses G722 and the standard sample rate is 16kHz with each sample being eight bits so that would be 128kbps. I guess G722 is intended to not go above 64kbps since it's a phone optimized compression codec but there's nothing preventing it from being higher. @John F you were right! https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/bluetooth/asha#audio-packet-format-and-timing

Pretty sure the dongle hasn’t been approved by the FDA yet. Just routine maintenance probably like last time.

Yeah it seems down again. That’s the same stuff I saw about two months (?) ago when it was down.

So, ever since they announced the AudioStream dongle for the Rondo 3, I’ve been checking the US Webstore for it every few days to see when they’ll start offering it in the US. Yesterday when I logged in, I got a generic “WordPress” page with no content. Same thing happened today. Anyone else in the US? Is the Med-El store down for you too?

Now I wonder because I could’ve sworn I saw something about it streaming 128… hmm Cannot find it in the Manual but need more coffee.

I do not know exactly what the AudioStream uses but I believe it's G722 (since that's what ASHA uses) which has a max bitrate of 64 kbit/s. If I had to guess, it's likely not even using the highest bitrate.

@Sakin possibly some of it can be a firmware update. I don’t know. But the mixing options seem to be processor specific. Rondo 3 treats direct audio input for the telecoil adapter and the AudioStream in a similar manner. The audiologists can create direct audio input only programs, microphone only programs and mixed input programs with various mixing ratios available. So the fact that mixing ratios with AudioStream adapter and Rondo 3 are available seems to be consistent with the Rondo 3 processor options for audio input. Not actually something new per se. Rather an established Rondo 3 feature applied to a new input (AudioStream adapter). That’s how it seems to me. Sonnet/Sonnet2 has not had the same options, even with prior battery sleeve receivers like the Roger 21. So it makes me think we need a processor design change for the BTE processors in order to get more mixing options. I could be completely wrong. It’s just the way it seems to me so far.

@Mary Beth looking forward to it! I wish these features were offered with an update, not a new device, cover or design!

@Kilgary I agree and I hope user control over mixing ratios and a way for the next BTE processor to use a 100/0 streamed audio only setting are offered in the next processor design. It’s high on my wish list. Along with BTLE Audio & AuraCast features.

Bummer. That’s the one major function still missing vs what the AudioLink (and Rondo AudioStream) can do.

These improvements are very encouraging! Thanks for sharing! @Kilgary and @Sakin I do not believe we have any mixing options on the Sonnet/Sonnet2 AudioStream unfortunately. Just what we had before by decreasing the processor volume and increasing the phone volume or having a specific program designed to find our sweet spot. The closest I can get to streaming only (100/0) mix is a program with volume set at 75%, sensitivity set at 0 and increase phone volume near max. It’s not 100/0 mix but close.