I am glad I found this thread albeit it is now around 2 years after the last posting. Moderator should I make a new thread to elicit a conversation about the Roger On V2 or continue here?. Thanks for your work!
I found an app called HeardThat that actually is designed to shut down extraneous background noise and stream in the voices you want to hear. I could slip my phone onto the table at an extremely noisy, clattering coffeehouse and could clearly hear my soft-spoken brother-in-law across from me, his voice streamed directly into my HAs via Bluetooth. Otherwise conversation in there might have been impossible. The app requires a subscription after a trial period, But it’s way, way better than Live Listen, which hardly filters at all. Or directional settings on my Signia app, which changes where the sound comes from but doesn’t filter out extraneous noise. So I’m inclined to subscribe instead of buying an expensive accessory that may or may not be effective in real time.
I found an app called HeardThat that actually is designed to shut down extraneous background noise and stream in the voices you want to hear. I could slip my phone onto the table at an extremely noisy, clattering coffeehouse and could clearly hear my soft-spoken brother-in-law across from me, his voice streamed directly into my HAs via Bluetooth. Otherwise conversation in there might have been impossible. The app requires a subscription after a trial period, But it’s way, way better than Live Listen, which hardly filters at all. Or directional settings on my Signia app, which changes where the sound comes from but doesn’t filter out extraneous noise. So I’m inclined to subscribe instead of buying an expensive accessory that may or may not be effective in real time.
Thanks whoever wrote this posting above and LiveListen sounds well worth trying. I had written this before reading that so I will continue with the post I have regarding my Roger On tryout.
It was the first time that my audio had ever been asked for this device so if I buy it (for $1300 a relatively good price but of course expensive) I worry a bit about after sale service and advice albeit I have two techie sons nearby who both have some degree of hearing loss.
OK so now to my experience with this device after 5 days.
1. In quiet settings as when 4 of us had tea in our house and also 4 people again on a neighbor’s deck for lunch it made listening to the speaker very easy and even when I went inside to the powder room I could still hear the speaker. In both of those situations my hearing is such that aided alone I might have strained to understand depending on the speaker or asked them to repeat none of which I needed to do with the Roger On. I have to note that in those small quiet settings if more than one person was speaking at once the hearing advantage wore off.
And in the house with my husband wearing it on a lanyard it worked well but wouldn’t be needed if he only faced me! I didn’t hook it up to the tv but put it near the soundbar and from that can imagine that it would stream well obviating the need for closed captions which are now essential.
2. The second situations were in noise and not successful. Whether I could have gone into the app and turned off some of the 4 microphones for a better situation I don’t know and at 84 I am not a big cell phone user or that adept at my iPhone compared to younger ones albeit better than most of my peers!
Anyway both in a restaurant and at the optical desk at costco the background noise came through with the speaker’s voice loud and clear and I did better without the device and turned it off in both instances.
3. Another situation it is meant to be good for but I am never likely to need these days is meetings where one person at a time is speaking although I gather it is not good if more than one person is speaking and this I found in the quiet home settings too.
The situation where I think I would find it useful is in the back of the car when about 4 times a year we get driven somewhere by others. Unless the upfront passenger turns to the back normally I can’t understand them.
So this is my experience to date and I am still on the fence about whether to buy or not. In terms of other assistive devices I love the Captel phone on our landline and use innocaption on my cell for the very rare call on that.
Someone just mentioned NALSCRIBE and I think it would have been great at the Costco optical situation as would likely have been other speech to text apps. By the way I have 4 year old phonak audeo hearing aids.
I would very much appreciate any input that would help with my decision.
I am glad I found this thread albeit it is now around 2 years after the last posting. Moderator should I make a new thread to elicit a conversation about the Roger On V2 or continue here?. Thanks for your work!
Hi
I have a Roger On and I am disappointed in it - especially for the high price. I use the microphone for 1:1 but the speaker has awful background noise that drowns out people at the table.
Hi! I have profound hearing loss & have had Phonak Audeo hearing aids for 3 yrs. Just tested the Roger On & while I don’t go out all that much, think I’m sold on it. Speech clarity is real good. Restaurant setting may be iffy as it makes background noises louder but speech clarity is better.
Hi! I have profound hearing loss & have had Phonak Audeo hearing aids for 3 yrs. Just tested the Roger On & while I don’t go out all that much, think I’m sold on it. Speech clarity is real good. Restaurant setting may be iffy as it makes background noises louder but speech clarity is better.
Thanks whoever wrote this posting above and LiveListen sounds well worth trying. I had written this before reading that so I will continue with the post I have regarding my Roger On tryout.
It was the first time that my audio had ever been asked for this device so if I buy it (for $1300 a relatively good price but of course expensive) I worry a bit about after sale service and advice albeit I have two techie sons nearby who both have some degree of hearing loss.
OK so now to my experience with this device after 5 days.
1. In quiet settings as when 4 of us had tea in our house and also 4 people again on a neighbor’s deck for lunch it made listening to the speaker very easy and even when I went inside to the powder room I could still hear the speaker. In both of those situations my hearing is such that aided alone I might have strained to understand depending on the speaker or asked them to repeat none of which I needed to do with the Roger On. I have to note that in those small quiet settings if more than one person was speaking at once the hearing advantage wore off.
And in the house with my husband wearing it on a lanyard it worked well but wouldn’t be needed if he only faced me! I didn’t hook it up to the tv but put it near the soundbar and from that can imagine that it would stream well obviating the need for closed captions which are now essential.
2. The second situations were in noise and not successful. Whether I could have gone into the app and turned off some of the 4 microphones for a better situation I don’t know and at 84 I am not a big cell phone user or that adept at my iPhone compared to younger ones albeit better than most of my peers!
Anyway both in a restaurant and at the optical desk at costco the background noise came through with the speaker’s voice loud and clear and I did better without the device and turned it off in both instances.
3. Another situation it is meant to be good for but I am never likely to need these days is meetings where one person at a time is speaking although I gather it is not good if more than one person is speaking and this I found in the quiet home settings too.
The situation where I think I would find it useful is in the back of the car when about 4 times a year we get driven somewhere by others. Unless the upfront passenger turns to the back normally I can’t understand them.
So this is my experience to date and I am still on the fence about whether to buy or not. In terms of other assistive devices I love the Captel phone on our landline and use innocaption on my cell for the very rare call on that.
Someone just mentioned NALSCRIBE and I think it would have been great at the Costco optical situation as would likely have been other speech to text apps. By the way I have 4 year old phonak audeo hearing aids.
I would very much appreciate any input that would help with my decision.
@barbarat I've used the Roger On for 3 years. I also have a Partner Mic for car rides, which is much cheaper. Between $100-$200 I believe nowadays. I've experienced everything you discussed in your posting with the On.
1) Putting it on a table when it is just 4 of you at the table can be useful as long as there is not a lot of extraneous sound in the background because when laid down flat, the On picks up 360 degrees. So if there are lawn mowers, etc. in the neighborhood, it will pick it up The other issue is if more than one conversation is going on. If either of those occurs, you need to pick up the On and point it at the conversation you want to be a part of. When in pointing mode, it works good just picking up that person's voice. I use pointing mode when in cocktail party situations and only want to hear one person in front of me. There are some adjustments you can make to the app on your phone that I discovered in order to block out more extraneous noise around you, but probably too tricky to explain in this post.
We like to go to a sports bar nearby weekly. I will point it at my wife or daughter or the waiter as well as adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me and it has been working well -not perfect but good enough. Speech-in-noise will never be perfect.
2) You mention hooking it up to TV - I've done that and it works great, better than a bluetooth connection to TV in my experience. The one negative is that it tends to block out other people in the room so hard to have a conversation with them. You can also buy Phonak TV Connector to listen to TV.
3) You mention its use in meetings. This has been a tremendous help for me as I sit on a couple of non-profit Boards and the table setup is like a U-shape. I was having trouble hearing people that weren't within 3 -4 chairs from me. So I began putting the On on a small table in the middle of the U-shape and now am hearing all 12 board members pretty well as long as they don't talk into their hand or mumble! I would do the same if it was a large Conference table. But again, if there are numerous conversations going on, it doesn't work as well.
So there are many uses for it. Counters like at CVS or the airport are helpful too. It takes some practice but has been worth it. If you can get it for $1,300, that is a good price and what I paid 3 years ago. I've heard people pay as much as $1,750.
I didn't see any references to TV watching, so I'll chime in.
I was watching a TV show when my central AC came on, and it made it difficult to hear the TV, just like in a restaurant. I picked up the Phonak TV connector from my Audi and gave it a try. Wow, what a difference! If you set the ambience setting to favor TV audio (phone app), it's like wearing headphones. I do have 90-series Lumity Life aids, so I can "mute" the TV using a double-tap on my ear. Others in the room can adjust the volume to their desire since the TV connector plugs into the optical output where the volume remains constant, and you adjust it using buttons on the connector.
@barbarat I've used the Roger On for 3 years. I also have a Partner Mic for car rides, which is much cheaper. Between $100-$200 I believe nowadays. I've experienced everything you discussed in your posting with the On.
1) Putting it on a table when it is just 4 of you at the table can be useful as long as there is not a lot of extraneous sound in the background because when laid down flat, the On picks up 360 degrees. So if there are lawn mowers, etc. in the neighborhood, it will pick it up The other issue is if more than one conversation is going on. If either of those occurs, you need to pick up the On and point it at the conversation you want to be a part of. When in pointing mode, it works good just picking up that person's voice. I use pointing mode when in cocktail party situations and only want to hear one person in front of me. There are some adjustments you can make to the app on your phone that I discovered in order to block out more extraneous noise around you, but probably too tricky to explain in this post.
We like to go to a sports bar nearby weekly. I will point it at my wife or daughter or the waiter as well as adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me and it has been working well -not perfect but good enough. Speech-in-noise will never be perfect.
2) You mention hooking it up to TV - I've done that and it works great, better than a bluetooth connection to TV in my experience. The one negative is that it tends to block out other people in the room so hard to have a conversation with them. You can also buy Phonak TV Connector to listen to TV.
3) You mention its use in meetings. This has been a tremendous help for me as I sit on a couple of non-profit Boards and the table setup is like a U-shape. I was having trouble hearing people that weren't within 3 -4 chairs from me. So I began putting the On on a small table in the middle of the U-shape and now am hearing all 12 board members pretty well as long as they don't talk into their hand or mumble! I would do the same if it was a large Conference table. But again, if there are numerous conversations going on, it doesn't work as well.
So there are many uses for it. Counters like at CVS or the airport are helpful too. It takes some practice but has been worth it. If you can get it for $1,300, that is a good price and what I paid 3 years ago. I've heard people pay as much as $1,750.
@mikepa this is extremely helpful and thank you for taking the time to recount your experiences with the Roger On (presume V2).
I returned my loaner today as I felt I needed a bit more time to look around for other assistive devices such as apps as I have only recently decided that hearing aids were no longer enough.
Based on others recommendations I have started using a free app called NALscribe which is a speech to text app which transcribes very accurately and saves the transcriptions. I have only used it with family at the moment but it would have been great in the costco experience I mentioned in my post.
A reasonably.priced app using your phone as a mic I am investigating. This was suggested by @ner another kind member of this forum and I need to check some aspects of it with him before signing up.
Anyway thanks again @mikepa for your help! Barbara
@mikepa this is extremely helpful and thank you for taking the time to recount your experiences with the Roger On (presume V2).
I returned my loaner today as I felt I needed a bit more time to look around for other assistive devices such as apps as I have only recently decided that hearing aids were no longer enough.
Based on others recommendations I have started using a free app called NALscribe which is a speech to text app which transcribes very accurately and saves the transcriptions. I have only used it with family at the moment but it would have been great in the costco experience I mentioned in my post.
A reasonably.priced app using your phone as a mic I am investigating. This was suggested by @ner another kind member of this forum and I need to check some aspects of it with him before signing up.
Anyway thanks again @mikepa for your help! Barbara
I just purchased new Phonak Lumity 90 series hearing aids, for which I paid $6200, but my audiologist gave me the Phonak TV connector as well, which I have appreciated very much. It works very well, although sometimes trying to balance volume - and thus sound quality - is tricky, as you can adjust on the device directly and also on the hearing aid app on your phone. I’m still working on the best approach, but it does make a difference in my enjoyment of watching TV. I like the ability to balance TV and ambient sound in the room and to be able to converse as well as watch.
@barbarat I've used the Roger On for 3 years. I also have a Partner Mic for car rides, which is much cheaper. Between $100-$200 I believe nowadays. I've experienced everything you discussed in your posting with the On.
1) Putting it on a table when it is just 4 of you at the table can be useful as long as there is not a lot of extraneous sound in the background because when laid down flat, the On picks up 360 degrees. So if there are lawn mowers, etc. in the neighborhood, it will pick it up The other issue is if more than one conversation is going on. If either of those occurs, you need to pick up the On and point it at the conversation you want to be a part of. When in pointing mode, it works good just picking up that person's voice. I use pointing mode when in cocktail party situations and only want to hear one person in front of me. There are some adjustments you can make to the app on your phone that I discovered in order to block out more extraneous noise around you, but probably too tricky to explain in this post.
We like to go to a sports bar nearby weekly. I will point it at my wife or daughter or the waiter as well as adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me and it has been working well -not perfect but good enough. Speech-in-noise will never be perfect.
2) You mention hooking it up to TV - I've done that and it works great, better than a bluetooth connection to TV in my experience. The one negative is that it tends to block out other people in the room so hard to have a conversation with them. You can also buy Phonak TV Connector to listen to TV.
3) You mention its use in meetings. This has been a tremendous help for me as I sit on a couple of non-profit Boards and the table setup is like a U-shape. I was having trouble hearing people that weren't within 3 -4 chairs from me. So I began putting the On on a small table in the middle of the U-shape and now am hearing all 12 board members pretty well as long as they don't talk into their hand or mumble! I would do the same if it was a large Conference table. But again, if there are numerous conversations going on, it doesn't work as well.
So there are many uses for it. Counters like at CVS or the airport are helpful too. It takes some practice but has been worth it. If you can get it for $1,300, that is a good price and what I paid 3 years ago. I've heard people pay as much as $1,750.
I also use it in pointer mode at restaurants and adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me. Thanks for that tip. It took me awhile to figure out the app though. There’s always a new challenging hearing situation that requires adjustments and learning curve with hearing aids and Roger.
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I found an app called HeardThat that actually is designed to shut down extraneous background noise and stream in the voices you want to hear. I could slip my phone onto the table at an extremely noisy, clattering coffeehouse and could clearly hear my soft-spoken brother-in-law across from me, his voice streamed directly into my HAs via Bluetooth. Otherwise conversation in there might have been impossible. The app requires a subscription after a trial period, But it’s way, way better than Live Listen, which hardly filters at all. Or directional settings on my Signia app, which changes where the sound comes from but doesn’t filter out extraneous noise. So I’m inclined to subscribe instead of buying an expensive accessory that may or may not be effective in real time.
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2 ReactionsThanks whoever wrote this posting above and LiveListen sounds well worth trying. I had written this before reading that so I will continue with the post I have regarding my Roger On tryout.
It was the first time that my audio had ever been asked for this device so if I buy it (for $1300 a relatively good price but of course expensive) I worry a bit about after sale service and advice albeit I have two techie sons nearby who both have some degree of hearing loss.
OK so now to my experience with this device after 5 days.
1. In quiet settings as when 4 of us had tea in our house and also 4 people again on a neighbor’s deck for lunch it made listening to the speaker very easy and even when I went inside to the powder room I could still hear the speaker. In both of those situations my hearing is such that aided alone I might have strained to understand depending on the speaker or asked them to repeat none of which I needed to do with the Roger On. I have to note that in those small quiet settings if more than one person was speaking at once the hearing advantage wore off.
And in the house with my husband wearing it on a lanyard it worked well but wouldn’t be needed if he only faced me! I didn’t hook it up to the tv but put it near the soundbar and from that can imagine that it would stream well obviating the need for closed captions which are now essential.
2. The second situations were in noise and not successful. Whether I could have gone into the app and turned off some of the 4 microphones for a better situation I don’t know and at 84 I am not a big cell phone user or that adept at my iPhone compared to younger ones albeit better than most of my peers!
Anyway both in a restaurant and at the optical desk at costco the background noise came through with the speaker’s voice loud and clear and I did better without the device and turned it off in both instances.
3. Another situation it is meant to be good for but I am never likely to need these days is meetings where one person at a time is speaking although I gather it is not good if more than one person is speaking and this I found in the quiet home settings too.
The situation where I think I would find it useful is in the back of the car when about 4 times a year we get driven somewhere by others. Unless the upfront passenger turns to the back normally I can’t understand them.
So this is my experience to date and I am still on the fence about whether to buy or not. In terms of other assistive devices I love the Captel phone on our landline and use innocaption on my cell for the very rare call on that.
Someone just mentioned NALSCRIBE and I think it would have been great at the Costco optical situation as would likely have been other speech to text apps. By the way I have 4 year old phonak audeo hearing aids.
I would very much appreciate any input that would help with my decision.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsHi
I have a Roger On and I am disappointed in it - especially for the high price. I use the microphone for 1:1 but the speaker has awful background noise that drowns out people at the table.
Hi! I have profound hearing loss & have had Phonak Audeo hearing aids for 3 yrs. Just tested the Roger On & while I don’t go out all that much, think I’m sold on it. Speech clarity is real good. Restaurant setting may be iffy as it makes background noises louder but speech clarity is better.
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2 ReactionsThanks Charlaine and chatty2. I appreciate your inputs. I need to try out the HeardThat app as we socialise quite a bit in groups.
@barbarat I've used the Roger On for 3 years. I also have a Partner Mic for car rides, which is much cheaper. Between $100-$200 I believe nowadays. I've experienced everything you discussed in your posting with the On.
1) Putting it on a table when it is just 4 of you at the table can be useful as long as there is not a lot of extraneous sound in the background because when laid down flat, the On picks up 360 degrees. So if there are lawn mowers, etc. in the neighborhood, it will pick it up The other issue is if more than one conversation is going on. If either of those occurs, you need to pick up the On and point it at the conversation you want to be a part of. When in pointing mode, it works good just picking up that person's voice. I use pointing mode when in cocktail party situations and only want to hear one person in front of me. There are some adjustments you can make to the app on your phone that I discovered in order to block out more extraneous noise around you, but probably too tricky to explain in this post.
We like to go to a sports bar nearby weekly. I will point it at my wife or daughter or the waiter as well as adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me and it has been working well -not perfect but good enough. Speech-in-noise will never be perfect.
2) You mention hooking it up to TV - I've done that and it works great, better than a bluetooth connection to TV in my experience. The one negative is that it tends to block out other people in the room so hard to have a conversation with them. You can also buy Phonak TV Connector to listen to TV.
3) You mention its use in meetings. This has been a tremendous help for me as I sit on a couple of non-profit Boards and the table setup is like a U-shape. I was having trouble hearing people that weren't within 3 -4 chairs from me. So I began putting the On on a small table in the middle of the U-shape and now am hearing all 12 board members pretty well as long as they don't talk into their hand or mumble! I would do the same if it was a large Conference table. But again, if there are numerous conversations going on, it doesn't work as well.
So there are many uses for it. Counters like at CVS or the airport are helpful too. It takes some practice but has been worth it. If you can get it for $1,300, that is a good price and what I paid 3 years ago. I've heard people pay as much as $1,750.
I hope this is helpful.
Mike
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4 ReactionsHi, Darlene.
I didn't see any references to TV watching, so I'll chime in.
I was watching a TV show when my central AC came on, and it made it difficult to hear the TV, just like in a restaurant. I picked up the Phonak TV connector from my Audi and gave it a try. Wow, what a difference! If you set the ambience setting to favor TV audio (phone app), it's like wearing headphones. I do have 90-series Lumity Life aids, so I can "mute" the TV using a double-tap on my ear. Others in the room can adjust the volume to their desire since the TV connector plugs into the optical output where the volume remains constant, and you adjust it using buttons on the connector.
It was rather pricey ($380 thru Mayo), and I've seen advertisements for cheaper from 'online stores', but you will also see poor customer service reviews and failing knock-off devices, so I chose to go with a warrantied solution.
https://www.phonak.com/en-us/hearing-devices/accessories/tv-connector-for-hearing-aids
JustTodd
@mikepa this is extremely helpful and thank you for taking the time to recount your experiences with the Roger On (presume V2).
I returned my loaner today as I felt I needed a bit more time to look around for other assistive devices such as apps as I have only recently decided that hearing aids were no longer enough.
Based on others recommendations I have started using a free app called NALscribe which is a speech to text app which transcribes very accurately and saves the transcriptions. I have only used it with family at the moment but it would have been great in the costco experience I mentioned in my post.
A reasonably.priced app using your phone as a mic I am investigating. This was suggested by @ner another kind member of this forum and I need to check some aspects of it with him before signing up.
Anyway thanks again @mikepa for your help! Barbara
I just purchased new Phonak Lumity 90 series hearing aids, for which I paid $6200, but my audiologist gave me the Phonak TV connector as well, which I have appreciated very much. It works very well, although sometimes trying to balance volume - and thus sound quality - is tricky, as you can adjust on the device directly and also on the hearing aid app on your phone. I’m still working on the best approach, but it does make a difference in my enjoyment of watching TV. I like the ability to balance TV and ambient sound in the room and to be able to converse as well as watch.
I also use it in pointer mode at restaurants and adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me. Thanks for that tip. It took me awhile to figure out the app though. There’s always a new challenging hearing situation that requires adjustments and learning curve with hearing aids and Roger.