Anyone using any Phonak wireless accessories?

healthnut76….I have Phonak Bluetooth hearing aids that are 1 year old. I love Bluetooth for pairing to my phone for calls and music. I would agree that restaurant settings do not work well for me either. If I try adjusting background noise it always affects speech volume. I try to place myself on outside walls and have the person directly across from me. Phonak makes a microphone system that I tried using with my last set of hearing aids which was tied in with the Compilot II necklace piece but did not see great results with that either. I am still learning how to deal with these situations. Hope this helps!

@johnbflat I'm not aware of a cellphone that has a telecoil but it's certainly possible. Old landline phones had the equivalent of a loop transmitter that would send the signal to a hearing aid inductively. However, if your cell phone did have a telecoil, it would have to be a "receiver", as opposed to a "loop transmitter" to work in the scenario that you describe. In your scenario, the venue would not be considered telecoil, but a loop transmitter. Your telecoil equipped cell phone could pick the signal up and Bluetooth it to your hearing aids. Again, I'm not certain of a cellphone that has a telecoil. For hearing aids without a telecoil, that function can be performed by an accessory device that would be obtained from the hearing aid manufacturer. The telecoil would pick up the venue loop signal and send it to the hearing aid, not by Bluetooth, but by the "near field" signal that is proprietary to the hearing aid manufacturer.
Tony in Michigan

For cell phones, if it has a “T-Rating” it has a coil. The T-Rating tells how strong the coil is. May 30, 2018.

spectrum.net/support/mobile/spectrum-mobile-hearing-aid-compatibility.

Samsung Galaxy Note10 M4/T3

I don't yet have hearing aids and I'm new to hearing loss devices, but while doing my research I found references that report my Samsung Note 10 phone has a T3 rating on its telecoil connection method. There is also a M4 rating on the microphone connection method. It's not clear on the "coil type", but I'm still digging.
Something I plan to ask about further during my treatment appointment with my AuD this Friday.

@johnbflat Yes, just about every cell phone today has a telecoil. The T rating reflects that. It is an indication of how well the cell phone transmits the signal to the hearing aid so the cell phone would not be able to act as a receiver for a venue that has a loop system installed. It is confusing. For those that may not be familiar with the M and T ratings that John mentions, the range of each is from 1 to 4, with 4 being the best. An M4/T4 phone is best but it doesn't mean that anything less is bad. I think my iPhone 6 has an M4/T3 rating. I wouldn't even consider a rating less than 3.
Tony in Michigan

I have Phonak (not newest model) hearing aids that are Bluetooth compatible but my main problem now is being very uncomfortable in restaurant settings because of background noise. I do have a setting for this but it absolutely does nothing to help me hearing even people sitting right next to me! I did see that there was an accessory you could use for places like this but don't know if it would really help. If anyone has this problem please advise, Thanks!

healthnut76….I have Phonak Bluetooth hearing aids that are 1 year old. I love Bluetooth for pairing to my phone for calls and music. I would agree that restaurant settings do not work well for me either. If I try adjusting background noise it always affects speech volume. I try to place myself on outside walls and have the person directly across from me. Phonak makes a microphone system that I tried using with my last set of hearing aids which was tied in with the Compilot II necklace piece but did not see great results with that either. I am still learning how to deal with these situations. Hope this helps!

I have Phonak Audio Marvel's, 2 years old. I also had been trying to use the Restaurant Program in the phone app, but it really didn't work in loud venues. It was ok in a quite deli. So I bought the Roger On at the recommendation of a fellow HOH person. We like to go to a local craft brewery, but it is very loud since it is also a sports bar. Prior to using the Roger On, I could hear an occasional word from my wife and daughter, but otherwise I had to sit and watch the games while they talked. But when I use the Roger On, I can now hear them over the loud restaurant noise. I am guessing it is picking up their voices since they are the closest and feeding that to my HA's while suppressing the noise in the background. The background noise doesn't disappear, but their voices win out. It also has helped tremendously with Board meetings where I put the Roger in the middle of the U-shaped tables and cannot hear the soft spoken women on the other side much better.

I have Phonak (not newest model) hearing aids that are Bluetooth compatible but my main problem now is being very uncomfortable in restaurant settings because of background noise. I do have a setting for this but it absolutely does nothing to help me hearing even people sitting right next to me! I did see that there was an accessory you could use for places like this but don't know if it would really help. If anyone has this problem please advise, Thanks!