Probably a dumb question, but: neckloop

[Kara of Canada]

Lol it happens to all of us sometimes! 

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

multiple posts are not your fault.  This forum has that issue often.  @MED-EL Moderator

 

You are funny Dave.  I can see an easy chair with power and USB ports!  Smile.

 

Can you return the Artone and see if the replacement has a better battery life?  Just a thought.

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

multiple posts are not your fault.  This forum has that issue often.  @MED-EL Moderator

 

You are funny Dave.  I can see an easy chair with power and USB ports!  Smile.

 

Can you return the Artone and see if the replacement has a better battery life?  Just a thought.

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

My apologies for the multiple posts! The browser or server seemed to be stuck!

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

My apologies for the multiple posts! The browser or server seemed to be stuck!

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

My apologies for the multiple posts! The browser or server seemed to be stuck!

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

These multiple replies and 505 timeout from the server are a bit annoying!

I've been out of town for a few days and haven't been on the forum. My apologies again for all the repeats!

Finally got a chance to try out the the Artone neckloop and battery powered Avantree BT transmitter at church this morning. Not so good ! It might be the FM receiver from church that I plugged the BT transmitter into but all I got was static. The Avantree xmitter works fine with my TV at home. The neckloop works pretty good for most other places, even in my car. I do get a bit of static when on the phone in the car with my phone linked to the neckloop but it's manageable. Bottom line: I think the Artone neckloop and Avantree BT xmitter are keepers. If nothing else, they work well with T-Coil enabled hearing aid and CI to make TV and media streaming an ok experience.

I've also been playing with the Roger Pen and receiver. The system seems to work ok when attached to input like from the TV. When paired with the phone, the volume from the phone is much too low. I can barely hear the other person. I'll be seeing my audi on Friday. Maybe there's a particular program that needs to set so I can hear the phone. (I'll also be asking the audi about low frequency rumble, wind noise suppression, ASM, etc.) One downside of the Roger system is that it doesn't look like my Siemens/Signia hearing aid will work. I could go with the Phonak / Med-El MyLink neckloop but that's just another T-coil interface. I really would like to minimize the number of adapters, dongles, cables and accessories I have to carry around just to hear!

Thanks to all HearPeers for the encouragement and support!

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

These multiple replies and 505 timeout from the server are a bit annoying!

I've been out of town for a few days and haven't been on the forum. My apologies again for all the repeats!

Finally got a chance to try out the the Artone neckloop and battery powered Avantree BT transmitter at church this morning. Not so good ! It might be the FM receiver from church that I plugged the BT transmitter into but all I got was static. The Avantree xmitter works fine with my TV at home. The neckloop works pretty good for most other places, even in my car. I do get a bit of static when on the phone in the car with my phone linked to the neckloop but it's manageable. Bottom line: I think the Artone neckloop and Avantree BT xmitter are keepers. If nothing else, they work well with T-Coil enabled hearing aid and CI to make TV and media streaming an ok experience.

I've also been playing with the Roger Pen and receiver. The system seems to work ok when attached to input like from the TV. When paired with the phone, the volume from the phone is much too low. I can barely hear the other person. I'll be seeing my audi on Friday. Maybe there's a particular program that needs to set so I can hear the phone. (I'll also be asking the audi about low frequency rumble, wind noise suppression, ASM, etc.) One downside of the Roger system is that it doesn't look like my Siemens/Signia hearing aid will work. I could go with the Phonak / Med-El MyLink neckloop but that's just another T-coil interface. I really would like to minimize the number of adapters, dongles, cables and accessories I have to carry around just to hear!

Thanks to all HearPeers for the encouragement and support!

[DaveD]

@Kara of Canada @Mary Beth

These multiple replies and 505 timeout from the server are a bit annoying!

I've been out of town for a few days and haven't been on the forum. My apologies again for all the repeats!

Finally got a chance to try out the the Artone neckloop and battery powered Avantree BT transmitter at church this morning. Not so good ! It might be the FM receiver from church that I plugged the BT transmitter into but all I got was static. The Avantree xmitter works fine with my TV at home. The neckloop works pretty good for most other places, even in my car. I do get a bit of static when on the phone in the car with my phone linked to the neckloop but it's manageable. Bottom line: I think the Artone neckloop and Avantree BT xmitter are keepers. If nothing else, they work well with T-Coil enabled hearing aid and CI to make TV and media streaming an ok experience.

I've also been playing with the Roger Pen and receiver. The system seems to work ok when attached to input like from the TV. When paired with the phone, the volume from the phone is much too low. I can barely hear the other person. I'll be seeing my audi on Friday. Maybe there's a particular program that needs to set so I can hear the phone. (I'll also be asking the audi about low frequency rumble, wind noise suppression, ASM, etc.) One downside of the Roger system is that it doesn't look like my Siemens/Signia hearing aid will work. I could go with the Phonak / Med-El MyLink neckloop but that's just another T-coil interface. I really would like to minimize the number of adapters, dongles, cables and accessories I have to carry around just to hear!

Thanks to all HearPeers for the encouragement and support!

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

 

If your audiologist has a Roger Touchscreen Mic or Roger Inspiro, she can change the Easy Gain setting in your Sonnet 21 Roger receiver.  She can boost the Roger signal up to a max boost of 6 or 8 dB I believe.  Actually anyone can make that setting change in the Roger 21 receiver but you need a Roger Inspiro or Roger Touchscreen Mic to do so.  Once the setting is changed in the Roger 21 receiver, it will maintain that setting with the Roger Pen.  I found the Roger 21 receiver to sound quieter than the plug in Roger X (type 02j receiver set to the Sonnet CI setting.  That surprised me because the Roger 21 is a Roger X (02j integrated receiver.  The difference in volume was quite noticeable though to me.  Much better signal strength in the Roger X for some reason. Maybe it was just a difference in the two receivers that I tested out.

 

I think whenever we have to go through too many signal changes, we lose things.  As direct as possible is always best.  Did the FM receiver at church have a headset jack?  If yes, you can plug in a DAI cable to the Sonnet using the battery door with the Euro jack on the bottom and a Med-El DAI cable.  If your HA has the ability for DAI, which maybe it doesn’t if you can not use Roger X universal receiver with it, you could use a splitter to plug into both your HA and your Sonnet.  You could also plug in headphones and listen with both your HA and Sonnet.  Since your HA has a telecoil, you also could plug in music link bilateral silhouettes and hear from both sides.

 

Artone has their own remote mic that connects to the neckloop.  It’s small and discreet.  I have one.  You could place it strategically at church.....on your pastor, at the podium, a foot in front of the general speaker system, etc.

 

At a play in NYC, they offered FM receivers with headphones.  I plugged in my Cozy Phone flat speakers and heard awesome with my Rondos.  BUT, the first FM receiver they gave me was not working correctly.  So we had to switch it out.

 

Listening with ease and simplicity is a great goal.  I hope you figure out simple solutions that work for you.  It does take a bit of trial and error.

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

 

If your audiologist has a Roger Touchscreen Mic or Roger Inspiro, she can change the Easy Gain setting in your Sonnet 21 Roger receiver.  She can boost the Roger signal up to a max boost of 6 or 8 dB I believe.  Actually anyone can make that setting change in the Roger 21 receiver but you need a Roger Inspiro or Roger Touchscreen Mic to do so.  Once the setting is changed in the Roger 21 receiver, it will maintain that setting with the Roger Pen.  I found the Roger 21 receiver to sound quieter than the plug in Roger X (type 02j receiver set to the Sonnet CI setting.  That surprised me because the Roger 21 is a Roger X (02j integrated receiver.  The difference in volume was quite noticeable though to me.  Much better signal strength in the Roger X for some reason. Maybe it was just a difference in the two receivers that I tested out.

 

I think whenever we have to go through too many signal changes, we lose things.  As direct as possible is always best.  Did the FM receiver at church have a headset jack?  If yes, you can plug in a DAI cable to the Sonnet using the battery door with the Euro jack on the bottom and a Med-El DAI cable.  If your HA has the ability for DAI, which maybe it doesn’t if you can not use Roger X universal receiver with it, you could use a splitter to plug into both your HA and your Sonnet.  You could also plug in headphones and listen with both your HA and Sonnet.  Since your HA has a telecoil, you also could plug in music link bilateral silhouettes and hear from both sides.

 

Artone has their own remote mic that connects to the neckloop.  It’s small and discreet.  I have one.  You could place it strategically at church.....on your pastor, at the podium, a foot in front of the general speaker system, etc.

 

At a play in NYC, they offered FM receivers with headphones.  I plugged in my Cozy Phone flat speakers and heard awesome with my Rondos.  BUT, the first FM receiver they gave me was not working correctly.  So we had to switch it out.

 

Listening with ease and simplicity is a great goal.  I hope you figure out simple solutions that work for you.  It does take a bit of trial and error.

[Mary Beth]

These are the stereo music links (silhouettes) that I have.  I am bringing them on a vacation this summer to plug into the listening devices they pass out for guided walking tours.

 

http://www.tecear.com/Music_Link.htm

[Mary Beth]

Here is a link to the Artone Mic

http://www.artonecs.com/store/p14/Artone_MIC___wireless_microphone.html

[DaveD]

Hi @Mary Beth

Thanks for the tips and the links. The church FM receivers are normally set up for a person to use just headphones plugged into the 3.5 mm stereo port. In the past I used a Siemens BT xmitter plugged into the church unit. That worked pretty good except for the poor battery life on the church units. I'm sure I'll work something out. The biggest help may be getting with my audi for a mapping adjustment to get rid of the thumping bass. I feel like if that could be managed I would be hearing quite well. Hurry up Friday!

 

[Mary Beth]

Keep us updated and good luck at your MAPping @DaveD.

[DaveD]

@Mary Beth

The testing of the Airtone 3 MAX with the Avantree Priva IIA continues. At first, it seemed that everything worked pretty good. I mentioned before that battery life with the neckloop might not be as good as advertised. The factory rep made some suggestions and it might be ok.

My main problem is the inconsistent connection between the devices. Usually the neckloop connects to my phone just fine. Occasionally I have to cycle power on the neckloop to get the phone to reconnect. Connecting between the neckloop and the Priva seems to be a crapshoot. Sometimes, I can walk into the room where the transmitter is and the devices show connected. I might leave and come back 10 minutes later and they won't connect back up. Cycling power doesn't seem to help. A few times it seemed to work if I disconnected the neckloop from the phone BT screen. About the only way of consistently getting connected was to actually re-pair the devices.

Once they do connect, it's actually pretty good. There still seems to a bit of a lag between the speech on TV and the neckloop. Barely detectable but still there. I don't think the neckloop takes advantage of the low latency capability of this transmitter. Per Avantree, the neckloop needs a particular audio codec that the neckloop doesn't seem to have.

If you have any tips or tricks on how to make these two get along, I'm all ears!

[DaveD]

@Mary Beth

The testing of the Airtone 3 MAX with the Avantree Priva IIA continues. At first, it seemed that everything worked pretty good. I mentioned before that battery life with the neckloop might not be as good as advertised. The factory rep made some suggestions and it might be ok.

My main problem is the inconsistent connection between the devices. Usually the neckloop connects to my phone just fine. Occasionally I have to cycle power on the neckloop to get the phone to reconnect. Connecting between the neckloop and the Priva seems to be a crapshoot. Sometimes, I can walk into the room where the transmitter is and the devices show connected. I might leave and come back 10 minutes later and they won't connect back up. Cycling power doesn't seem to help. A few times it seemed to work if I disconnected the neckloop from the phone BT screen. About the only way of consistently getting connected was to actually re-pair the devices.

Once they do connect, it's actually pretty good. There still seems to a bit of a lag between the speech on TV and the neckloop. Barely detectable but still there. I don't think the neckloop takes advantage of the low latency capability of this transmitter. Per Avantree, the neckloop needs a particular audio codec that the neckloop doesn't seem to have.

If you have any tips or tricks on how to make these two get along, I'm all ears!

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

I will try.  Smile.  

Connectivity....

I use my Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop with both my iPhone and iPad for listening to audiobooks and aural rehab training.  What I have noticed is that the neckloop automatically reconnects with whichever device it was last connected to.  So if I end the day connected to the iPad and power up the neckloop in the morning, it reconnects to the iPad even though I may wish to use it with the iPhone.  It is easy to solve using those two devices.  I go to the connected device under BT and tell it to disconnect.  Then I go to the desired device and tell it to connect.  No need to re-pair or sync the devices.  Just need to toggle the connection to my desired device.

 

So if that is happening with your phone and your Priva...... you have options to solve it.  You can use 2 different Artone neckloops. Keep one paired to your phone and keep the other paired to the Priva streamer.  Or you can toggle the connections by telling the phone to disconnect when you want to connect with the Priva streamer.  Maybe you have an additional idea or two also?

 

Audio lag time with the Priva and TV.....

First let me ask if you have the Roger Pen and Roger receiver?  If so, by attaching the dock to the TV and placing the Pen in the dock you should receive the audio without a noticeable delay.  So that may be best.

I have read people’s posts about solving this lag.  It involves changing the audio setting on the TV slightly.  Each TV has different menu options but it is found under audio settings.  Setting the audio to a slight delay on the TV has synced the sound with BT receivers for several users.  It appears to be a slight adjustment and doesn’t negatively impact family members with acoustic hearing.  Search online for TV audio adjustments when using BT headphones.  

 

Good luck.  I enjoy reading about your tech experiences......good and bad.  Keep them coming!  

[DaveD]

@Mary Beth

Well, I think the electronics and I may be reaching an understanding! I sat down with no distractions (Mass about to start, wife and daughter waiting to start watching a movie) and re-read Avantree and Airtone manuals. I reset the BT xmitter and re-paired it to the neckloop. It seems to be consistent now with re-connecting when power is cycled. I found that sometimes if the phone shows connected the BT xmitter would not connect until I disconnected the neckloop from the phone.

I think the problem / confusion may be from inadvertent pairing of the BT xmitter to a 'second' headphone. Anyway, I'll keep using it and hopefully I / it learns how things are supposed to work and life is good.

I am less than impressed with the Roger pen. Unless the rep can do some magic with making the pen output a bit higher than background ambient I'm probably not going to mess with it. T-coil on the HA and CI through the Airtone 3 MAX paired to my phone works ok and if the Avantree Privia IIA continues to cooperate I might just say that's good enough until the next fancy tech comes along.

Thanks so much for your comments and guidance. I appreciate the effort you've put into researching different gadgets and sharing of your experiences. 

I'll post results of my next audi / Med-El rep meeting later this week.

[Mary Beth]

@DaveD

Terrific idea to make sure the neckloop is not presently connected to your phone before you turn on the BT streamer for TV.  I think that will work for you.

 

You are not the only person struggling with the volume received by your Sonnet 21 receiver.  I wish there was an easy fix that users could do themselves.  Sometimes HA audiologists have Phonak Roger Inspiros or Roger Touchscreen Mics.  If your HA audiologist has either, she/he can adjust the Easy Gain for you.

 

If you are up for another tech test....smile.....see what kind of volume you get from the Roger Pen PLUGGED INTO that same phone.  If you still get too low of a volume, then plug the Roger Pen into an iPad or computer with the cable and see what kind of volume you get.  This should clarify if the problem is BT function only of the Pen, a problem between the Pen and your phone no matter how you connect or an overall problem with everything.

 

Has your Pen been replaced?  Is it possible that your Pen is faulty?

 

Posts from people who use the Roger X (02) plugged into the Sonnet battery door have shown a clear improvement after the Roger X (02) has been set to the Sonnet CI setting.  Phonak says that the Roger 21 is default set for the Sonnet already and suggests adjusting Easy Gain if more volume is desired.

 

I am eager for Med-El to release the AudioLink, which will connect to the Sonnet’s built in 2.4 connectivity option instead of using the Roger System.  I hope it delivers true left and right separate audio for music.

 

If you are ever in a BOSE store, check out BOSE QC 35 BT noise canceling headphones.  Best sound I have ever found!