Rondo 3 & Bluetooth

[Mary Beth]

And also from the phone menu like this

 

[Mary Beth]

It gets complicated when you set the iPhone to automatically connect to your HA.  Then it will do that.  And if you want to use AudioLink instead and only hear in your Rondo 3, you need to tell your iPhone.  AudioLink is controlled via BT settings .  Your hearing aid is most likely set up as a hearing device under accessibility.  iPhone can only stream to one or the other.  You can choose which one.

 

Since Artone may work with both your HA (if it has an active telecoil) and Rondo 3 it is simple.  You would forget this hearing device for your HA.  Then pair Artone under BT.  That’s it.  Just one device.  If you want to listen only with your HA, just put your HA in MT and leave your Rondo as is.  If you want to hear just with your Rondo, keep your HA in M and plug in the Rondo telecoil.  If you want to hear from both simultaneously, put your HA in MT and plug in your Rondo telecoil.

But your phone would just always use the Artone BT to stream.  So much easier from the phone point of view.

Experiment until you find what works best for you.  Everyone is different when it comes to connectivity preferences.

[Mary Beth]

I believe @Lauren and @Dianna and @Nikki are using their AudioLinks.  Maybe they can help you with the flashing lights.

[Andrew42]

I may have to fo the Artone way. I have been trying to avoid it and understand how to make Audiolink work. In your post where you suggest I select the blue audio link. Mine isn't blue it is white and all I have as a choice is iPhone or some music which I suspect is iTunes. However, using the phone menu when I actually make a call all the options are there if all are connected: ie. Speaker, Iphone, HA or Audiolink. Thank you. That is a first for me and I appreciate your advice. I am going to work with that and learn if I can pre-set it or only select after the call is placed.

[Mary Beth]

@Andrew42

mine is blue in the picture because it is actively connected to my Artone neckloop and streaming.

AudioLink can only directly stream phone calls- that is the type of BT protocol it uses.  In order to stream all other audio from your iPhone through AudioLink, you must download the free Med-El app called Audio2Ear AND have that app open and running in the background.  It is an A2DP converter app.

Maybe there is a Med-El rep in your area that can help you with your AudioLink?  In the US we have regional Med-El reps who can help us 1:1.

[Lauren]

2 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

I believe @Lauren and @Dianna and @Nikki are using their AudioLinks.  Maybe they can help you with the flashing lights.

I’ve only had white flashing lights twice so far:

1- Incoming phone call (regardless of streaming BT or not, it’ll flash any time a phone call is incoming).

2- When I had trouble hooking the base up to my TV (had it hooked into the wrong port) and it couldn’t send the signal to my processor. So it blinked for 3-ish minutes before turning off (energy saving setting). 

AudioLink works great with my Rondo 3 so I haven’t needed to try the Artone neckloop with it yet. The AD2P app @Mary Bethmentions above is how I do all streaming to Rondo 3 that is not phone calls or TV. I just make sure the AudioLink is connected to the device’s BT, make sure it’s connected in AudioKey2, then toggle on in Audio2Ear and leave running in background as Mary Beth also mentions - works for Netflix/other, music, rehab apps, etc. The apps used must be toggled on in the device you’re actually using though. If I want to switch to my iPad from my iPhone I can, just have to repeat the steps so it’s connected to the device I intend to use.

I primarily the Artone with my Sonnet 2 and HA. My Phonak HA isn’t one that can direct connect to anything so Artone/Telecoil is how I stream to both. As a result I also don’t run into the issue of multiple similar devices trying to connect at once. 

Provided I’ve checked to ensure everything is connected properly first, I have no issues streaming either to just Rondo 3 with AudioLink, just Sonnet 2 with AdioStream, or bilateral to Sonnet 2/HA via the Artone with Telecoil. 

[Andrew42]

1 hour ago, Mary Beth said:

you must download the free Med-El app called Audio2Ear AND have that app open and running in the background.  It is an A2DP converter app.

I use Audio2key all the time. I have Audio2Ear installed on my iPhone but have yet to try using it.

all this info is really useful and I need to digest it..

[Mary Beth]

@Andrew42

i know it’s overwhelming and that they have similar names makes it even more confusing for many people.

Audio2Ear, like @Lauren mentioned above, must be open and running in the background on your iPhone in order to stream any audio that is not an actual phone call to your Rondo 3 through the AudioLink intermediary device.  Otherwise you must have the AudioLink cabled to the phone.  

[Andrew42]

23 minutes ago, Lauren said:

AudioLink works great with my Rondo 3 so I haven’t needed to try the Artone neckloop with it yet. The AD2P app @Mary Bethmentions above is how I do all streaming to Rondo 3 that is not phone calls or TV. 

You are all so kind and light years ahead of me. Today I have been showered with lots of advice that I need to assimilate, understand and play with.

I believe and hope my white flashing light moment was caused by something I did which broke the connection between my Rondo and my audiolink. It didn’t unpair them because the main blue light was on. However the Mix button stopped functioning and the white what I call the wifi light flashed quickly and continuously for a short while and then shut down it and the mic. I repaired the Rondo over the existing pairing and the issue disappeared. 
 

Enough already. Sweet dreams 😴 

[Mary Beth]

@Andrew42

Users of Rondo 3 are reporting a constant ticking sound when using telecoil.  Due to this, I do not recommend using the Artone neckloop with your Rondo 3.  Hopefully Med-El will have a fix for this ticking sound and Rondo 3.

 

 

[Andrew42]

Thank you. I will watch fro developments. I havent yet used telecoil either with my HA or my Rondo. I didn't realise I had it available on my HA until I started reading posts here and checked with the HA shop here. Now I need to find a place that broadcasts for telecoil. 

Today my son called from China on Wechat and it went straight into my Rondo which was a major advance. It instantly gave me another problem in that I could not find how to move the signal away from the Rondo and onto the speaker so that my wife could hear. I had to shut the conversation down and call him back on the speakerphone. Sometimes you just can't win!!

[Mary Beth]

Not sure about WeChat but when on a call with my iPhone, I can change the audio while on a call by pressing on the phone and then audio.  Then select where to direct the audio.

 

[Andrew42]

Yes. I can do that too but in Wechat I didn't find that option. I've asked my son in China who uses Wechat all the time but as it is his birthday and. given the time change, I think he was otherwise occupied excercising his right arm.

[Andrew42]

Every morning when I start up my Rondo 3, I also connect AudioLink 2 and Audio2Ear and run them all day. I have two questions for which I would be very grateful for advice:

1. I am measuring Rondo battery usage as I have a feeling the Audio2Ear is draining the battery down to about 13 hours a day which is reaching an unacceptable level. Is anyone else noticing a simlar trait?

2. When I use Test Sound in Audio2Ear the tones frequently sound slightly distorted. Does any one else experience this and , if so, is there something to do to correct the problem?  I am wondering if I may have an issue in my Rondo 3. If I do, there is nothing I can do about it until late in January, I will just have to live with it.

In the meatime, Happy Holidays to one and all!

[Lauren]

8 hours ago, Andrew42 said:

Every morning when I start up my Rondo 3, I also connect AudioLink 2 and Audio2Ear and run them all day. I have two questions for which I would be very grateful for advice:

1. I am measuring Rondo battery usage as I have a feeling the Audio2Ear is draining the battery down to about 13 hours a day which is reaching an unacceptable level. Is anyone else noticing a simlar trait?

2. When I use Test Sound in Audio2Ear the tones frequently sound slightly distorted. Does any one else experience this and , if so, is there something to do to correct the problem?  I am wondering if I may have an issue in my Rondo 3. If I do, there is nothing I can do about it until late in January, I will just have to live with it.

In the meatime, Happy Holidays to one and all!

Hi Andrew - any amount of streaming will drain the battery faster. What I do is only toggle on Audio2Ear when I am actively streaming from my phone or tablet. When I stop/finish, I turn Audio2Ear off so its not streaming anymore. This doesn't impact

For Question #2 I'll defer to someone more experienced, but it could be a MAP or adjustment issue. I am about 6 months into my journey and some things still sound weird to me.

[Andrew42]

@Lauren. Thank you very much for the input. I'm still struggling to understand streaming with Med-El. With my hearing aids I simply set them up and everything streamed into them automatically, telephone calls, haptics, emails, alerts etc. All I had to do was decide if I wanted my iPhone or my iPad to be the starting point. With Rondo, I cannot find anything that tells me the difference between Direct and Audiolink. I cannot work out if Iphone calls divert automatically to Rondo without Audio2Ear. I know haptics and email messages and other alerts don't which for me is very annoying. I am logging all battery usage twice a day, (start and finish) so in a month or so I'll have reliable data for how I operate.

Currently, I am operatiing as much as possible with only my implant. I know that I can simply put my hearing aid in my other ear, set it up and everything will stream into it as used to happen but I am trying to get my implanted ear to work as well as my hearing aid and, currently, it doesn't. I'm way behind you in experience as my activation was just over one month ago.

The distortion is a totally separate issue.

Thank you, again, for responding.

[Lauren]

7 minutes ago, Andrew42 said:

@Lauren. Thank you very much for the input. I'm still struggling to understand streaming with Med-El. With my hearing aids I simply set them up and everything streamed into them automatically, telephone calls, haptics, emails, alerts etc. All I had to do was decide if I wanted my iPhone or my iPad to be the starting point. With Rondo, I cannot find anything that tells me the difference between Direct and Audiolink. I cannot work out if Iphone calls divert automatically to Rondo without Audio2Ear. I know haptics and email messages and other alerts don't which for me is very annoying. I am logging all battery usage twice a day, (start and finish) so in a month or so I'll have reliable data for how I operate.

Currently, I am operatiing as much as possible with only my implant. I know that I can simply put my hearing aid in my other ear, set it up and everything will stream into it as used to happen but I am trying to get my implanted ear to work as well as my hearing aid and, currently, it doesn't. I'm way behind you in experience as my activation was just over one month ago.

The distortion is a totally separate issue.

Thank you, again, for responding.

The AudioLink prioritizes phone calls and doesn't require any app, just needs to be on and connected to Rondo 3 and phone via AudioKey2 app. With that, you'll be able to adjust settings and receive phone calls.

Audio2Ear is needed for streaming music and Netflix (or other streaming service, eg YouTube, HBO, et al). If its not toggled on, you wouldn't be able to stream those things. 

Direct connection is when the processor doesn't need AudioLink to connect in AudioKey2 for use in place of the Echo Remote. With iPhones, this is only possible with the Sonnet 2 (not sure on Sonnet 1 as I do not have that). When I have my Sonnet 2 processor on, I don't need the AudioLink to use the app to change volume/program/sensitivity as its under "Direct" connection. However with Rondo 3, I can only use the phone app as the remote to change settings if I also have AudioLink on my person and connected.

Also with Apple products, you'd need Telecoil currently to stream bilaterally. I have the Artone 3 MAX which Mary Beth recommended to me and when I want to stream to both my Sonnet 2 and Hearing Aid, I use that. Rondo 3 has a telecoil adapter but I do not recommend getting/using it right now as you'll (most likely) get an annoying clicking sound when its plugged in. Currently, the only workaround is to put Rondo 3 into flight mode and that is not easy. Med-El is aware of the issue and seems to be working on a better solution.

[Mary Beth]

@Andrew42

Here is my understanding of streaming audio with Rondo 3.

 

There is no direct streaming of audio.  No BTLE built in receiver for streaming audio.

AudioLink acts as an intermediary device for streaming audio.  Phone calls do not use Audio2Ear.  All other audio does use Audio2Ear.

 

[Andrew42]

@Mary Beth, @Lauren Thank you for helping this backwoods boy.If I understand you correctly Med-El has sliced and diced the way phone calls, emails, music, alerts, podcasts work with their implants and those ways are different for Rondo and Sonnet; that Medel has decided to treat phone calls differently from notifications, emails, music, haptics etc. Medel has introduced hardware beteen the emitter (Mobile phone or Tablet) and the Implant Processor (Symphony or Rondo)and coupled that hardware with an app Audio2Ear to handle everything that is not a phone call. Which of these interfaces (hardware or software) are to be used depends on the input source and the output desired. Medel has also given Audiolink two settings "Audiolink" and "Direct" wihtout actualy describing when one should be used in place of the other. I have read that some say "Direct" is only available with Symphony but I have access to it and I only have Rondo. I have also read that for Rondo to receive a telephone call Audiolink must be up and running. I must be doing somethig wrong becasue incoming calls do not go to my Rondo unless both Audiolink 2 AND Audio2Ear are both activated. At my level of understanding the Medel method is so much more fragmented, complex and fraught than simply connecting top end Hearing Aids via Accessibility in an iPhone. In other words at my level of understanding Medel has taken a simple well working practice of the hearing aid industry and redsigned it to be less simple, less effective, more costly and not as efficient. 

Please someone lead me into the paths of righteousness I have great diffifculty in accepting the conclusions I seem to be facing. They just dont seem right or logical but I confess not to having all the English speaking user guides covering all these issues.

All I have:

User-Manual-FineTuner-Echo-EN-English_web.pdf . This I have never opened as I was told that Audiolink 2 renders it unnecessary

4_50_User-Manual-RONDO-3-EN-English_web.pdf

4_30_Quick-Guide-RONDO-3-EN-English_web.pdf

AW39858_40_User-Manual-Audiokey-2.0-EN-English_web.pdf

But nothing on Audio2Ear

Any and all help is very much appreciated.

 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Andrew42

I know it is overwhelming at first.

It has to do with the type of protocols phone calls use versus other audio from phones.

AudioLink can handle the protocol used by phone calls without the need for an app running in the background.  So AudioLink can stream phone calls without the Audio2Ear running in the background.

AudioLink needs all other audio from the phone converted to a protocol it can handle.  So when streaming all other audio through AudioLink the app called Audio2Ear must be open.

 

The term DIRECT is used in two completely different functions.

One function is that the processor can connect directly to the AudioKey2 app for remote control functions.  This has nothing to do with streaming audio.  Just has to do with using the AudioKey2 app as a remote control instead of the FineTuner Echo.  Rondo 3 does connect directly with the phone for the AudioKey2 app as a remote control.

The second way DIRECT is used has to do with streaming audio directly from phone to processor without using any other device.  Rondo 3 can not do this.

 

I hope this helps a bit.

[Andrew42]

Thank you. That is very helpful. Now for me to find out why phone calls don’t seem to default to my Rondo unless Audio2Ear is also activated and running. 

[John F]

On 12/23/2021 at 3:05 AM, Andrew42 said:

Thank you. That is very helpful. Now for me to find out why phone calls don’t seem to default to my Rondo unless Audio2Ear is also activated and running. 
 

At my level of understanding the Medel method is so much more fragmented, complex and fraught than simply connecting top end Hearing Aids via Accessibility in an iPhone. In other words at my level of understanding Medel has taken a simple well working practice of the hearing aid industry and redsigned it to be less simple, less effective, more costly and not as efficient. 

 

It would come through the Audiolink since the Rondos BT codec doesn’t accept direct BT sounds from a phone or tablet  without an intermediary device.  You shouldn’t need Audio2Ear with the Audiolink for receiving phone calls.  The app, last I was aware was geared more towards music listening.

 

And Yup.  Many wishlists leads to simpler more integrated processes than what’s offered currently.  Hopefully one day their Rondo and Sonnet lines take advantage of modern conveniences rather than rely on 3rd parties or tech that’s a bit dated.  Apple also has some work since they made their big announcement towards accessibility a year ago and then stalled.