Sonnet 2 and Audiolink interaction

[Smileydent]

GM:  I am new to Hearpeers, so I will try to explain my difficulty.  My left ear has been completely dead for 30 yrs and I had a CI placed in my failing right ear about 12 yrs ago.  I do pretty well but….as with others, I still struggle with a noisy background situation.  Anyway, I started with the Opus 2 system and have recently upgraded to the Sonnet 2 system.  Due to the upgrade, I now have an Audiolink which can aid me greatly in telephone usage.  However, a nagging problem has developed.  Due to the “power hungry” nature of the Audiolink device, I am struggling with which batteries to use.  If I use the disposables, I find that when I receive a phone call, ( unless my disposables are fresh out of the box), after about 15 seconds into the call, my processor starts to beep…..I have to apologize to the caller, take their phone number, hang up, change to a rechargeable battery and call them back. This is a pain.

If by chance, I have a rechargeable in place…..unless the rechargeable is fully charged…..I can get about half way through my phone conversation and the beeping begins. Then I have to go through the same steps and call the individual back.

To me, it appears that the Sonnet is underpowered to be effectively used with the Audiolink system….IMHO.  When MEDEL switched years ago from the 3 battery tray in my Opus system to the two battery tray in my Sonnet, I was immediately concerned about the loss of power.  To this time, I have no problems with the new Sonnet system.  The only difficulty is when I use the Audiolink.

So…..my question…..has anyone else experienced a similar situation to mine with the Audiolink?  I would appreciate any comments/ solutions/ suggestions any readers might have. Thanks

Smileydent

 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Smileydent

Welcome to HearPeers!

I also started with OPUS2 and now have Sonnet.

I noticed that the Sonnet processor is very picky about battery power.  In fact, some brands of disposable implant batteries consistently gave me dead battery beeps with my Sonnets- even without streaming with the AudioLink.

For me, Power One Implant batteries work consistently great with my Sonnets and provide 2 full days of listening and streaming.  I change them out every other morning making sure to let them air up a bit after removing the tabs.

I also clean my Sonnet’s disposable battery contacts on a regular basis with a dab of isopropyl alcohol per Med-El’s recommendation.  They have a YouTube video showing how to do that on their Med-El YouTube channel.

I hope you find a solution.  Have you tried AudioStream with your Sonnet2?

[Smileydent]

Thanks so much for your info. I share your observations re: the Power One implant batteries and have learned to change the batteries every 2 days for best performance. For my lifestyle, the rechargeable system is not very convenient but I have it as a backup.

I am intrigued by the Audiostreaming…… has never been mentioned to me.  Where can I find info on this? 

You have given me new enthusiasm…..😀😀😀
 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Smileydent

AudioStream is a special battery cover for Sonnet/Sonnet2 that has a built in BTLE receiver that streams all audio directly from our cell phones and tablets.  It sounds AMAZING!  I so prefer it over AudioLink for direct streaming from phone/tablet.

Med-El has videos on their YouTube channel about AudioStream and we also have an AudioStream topic here.  There was a firmware update to AudioStream that really improved its connectivity performance.

 

Here is a link to our AudioStream topics

https://forum.hearpeers.com/forum/44-audiostream/

And here is a link to Med-El’s YouTube videos on AudioStream

 

[Dianna]

Hi smileydent, i have sonnet2, i use both audio stream and audio link. I dont have much phone activity but i stream spotify a bit. I did get dead battery beeps occasionaly when i should not have. If i do, i pull sleeve off and on but im not on a phone call when it happens. I use the cable from ALink to phone, and i use the sleeve for Astream. I will use Astream all day, sometimes when my phone connection fluctuates i can hear clicks and beeps, but all in all good music. 

If i had to choose, i would have difficulty deciding i like them both, but i am afraid the newer phones from samsung are removing the earphone jack! 

So i am using audio stream more and more so when upgrading phone i dont worry. I really have not had many battery issues like yours

I am currently implanted on the one side only.

[Smileydent]

Thanks so much for your reply. I am planning on ordering an AudioStream very soon…..from what I read and what you and others have experienced, it sounds like a very good solution for me and my difficulty in hearing with the telephone usage. The Audiolink works well….when it works. I always have to be conscious that I have fresh batteries in place when I use it. It is a “power hungry” device to be sure.

Cheers.    Smileydent

[Dianna]

Just a note, i did have dead battery signal yesterday when the batteries were fresh. I had audio stream going streaming spotify. Im thinking that power necessary to pull in the signal was the cause. We have weak internet here.  I had to pull off put on the sleeve and streamed great rest of the day. 

[Mary Beth]

@Dianna

Using rechargeable battery or Power One Implant disposable batteries?

Med-El recommends using disposable batteries for frequent streaming with AudioStream.  Maybe that will help.

[Enegra]

1 hour ago, Dianna said:

Just a note, i did have dead battery signal yesterday when the batteries were fresh. I had audio stream going streaming spotify. Im thinking that power necessary to pull in the signal was the cause. We have weak internet here.  I had to pull off put on the sleeve and streamed great rest of the day. 

If that happened with disposables, it's possible that perhaps some dust got stuck in the AudioStream sleeve and cut off the airflow. Zinc air batteries need air to operate, else they just die.

The quality of the internet connection won't cause additional drain, unless the Spotify app was constantly kicking out and back in the streaming mode. It's the phone that would get upset about not receiving the data fast enough, the communication between the phone and the AudioStream is just the audio.

I've had some bizarre issue with my AudioStream causing the processor to become a bunch of static and nothing else, but it was all fine after meeting my blower for electronics.

As for battery life, I use rechargeables and I've not had issues with their life when streaming, there is some impact, but not huge. Never straight out died on me. Can't say much about the battery life with AudioLink, because it's too staticky for me to tolerate it long, but if the device is regularly causing the batteries to be drained instantly then something is wrong, either with the processor itself or the AudioLink.

[Dianna]

Nope, just the dead battery signal when i clicked on spotify. It was a just delivered replacement audio stream. Perhaps its the tray. I swabbed it last night. I just purchased the disposable battery tray. I let my batteries air.

I will keep watch over the next few days, but today i wanted to wear my orange sleeve. 💘 

[Dianna]

Oh, and i used the same powerone batteries. Im just repeating what happened. 

[Mary Beth]

It’s always good to read user experiences- both positive experiences and problem experiences.  Thanks for sharing @Dianna.  I hope it doesn’t happen next time.

[Dianna]

I am dianna giggles

[M Dodge]

H

On 7/1/2022 at 5:57 AM, Smileydent said:

GM:  I am new to Hearpeers, so I will try to explain my difficulty.  My left ear has been completely dead for 30 yrs and I had a CI placed in my failing right ear about 12 yrs ago.  I do pretty well but….as with others, I still struggle with a noisy background situation.  Anyway, I started with the Opus 2 system and have recently upgraded to the Sonnet 2 system.  Due to the upgrade, I now have an Audiolink which can aid me greatly in telephone usage.  However, a nagging problem has developed.  Due to the “power hungry” nature of the Audiolink device, I am struggling with which batteries to use.  If I use the disposables, I find that when I receive a phone call, ( unless my disposables are fresh out of the box), after about 15 seconds into the call, my processor starts to beep…..I have to apologize to the caller, take their phone number, hang up, change to a rechargeable battery and call them back. This is a pain.

If by chance, I have a rechargeable in place…..unless the rechargeable is fully charged…..I can get about half way through my phone conversation and the beeping begins. Then I have to go through the same steps and call the individual back.

To me, it appears that the Sonnet is underpowered to be effectively used with the Audiolink system….IMHO.  When MEDEL switched years ago from the 3 battery tray in my Opus system to the two battery tray in my Sonnet, I was immediately concerned about the loss of power.  To this time, I have no problems with the new Sonnet system.  The only difficulty is when I use the Audiolink.

So…..my question…..has anyone else experienced a similar situation to mine with the Audiolink?  I would appreciate any comments/ solutions/ suggestions any readers might have. Thanks

Smileydent

 

 

You might try the MED-EL app AudioKey 2? It works pretty good.