Signia App 17+

Needs Apple Watch support

The app frequently drops Bluetooth and battery connection icons, frequently requiring a restart to regain connection.

The Bluetooth connection is weak compared to my Sony WI-C200 and AirPods Pro. Each Pure Charge&Go 5XIT Hearing Aids exhibits a flaky connection on calls and streaming audio if I put the iPhone in my pants pocket on the opposite side of my body. This is unacceptable as in this day and we use our hearing aids for more than just hearing speech, we stream day in and day out and simply cannot carry the iPhone center-chest all the time. If $200 earbuds can stay connected, then overpriced $5,000 hearing aids has better stay connected!

Competing brands of hearing aids have Apple Watch support their app, why don’t Signia?

Room for Improvement

I’ve had my hearing aids and have been using the Signia app for about 7 months. I’m mostly pleased with both the aids and the app. But there are a couple of things I’d like to see. 1. Dark mode. I keep my hearing aids in until I’m ready to go to sleep, and then I like to lower the gain to 0 to avoid feedback taking them out. I have to switch over to this BRIGHT WHITE app to do that. PLEASE give us the option to follow the phone’s settings for dark mode. 2. Individual access. At this moment, the cover is not staying on the left hearing aid, so I’m not wearing it. The app thinks it has to be in contact with both in order to access settings (other than gain), but I’d like to at least be able to see the settings for the right one that’s in service. 3. There seems to be a spurious error message that the app uses the iPhone’s speaker to control the aid, and it asks me to raise my audio volume, but it works just fine if I don’t. Please remove that error message, or make it clearer just why it’s appearing. 4. It also might be nice to be able to create our own programs. I only ever use Universal because the others don’t seem to make any improvements in my listening environment. 5. The app keeps telling me that the aids have different firmware versions, but when I look at the Versions tab, they’re identical.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the feedback. 1) we have submitted the Dark Mode feature request to our developers for consideration. 2) You are correct in that the app cannot make a full Bluetooth connection to the hearing aids if one out of the pair is missing (e.g. off). The app can still make basic remote control changes to the existing hearing aid (program, volume, sound balance, etc.) but more advanced changes would require a Bluetooth connection. Just in case, you can go into the iOS native menu to make adjustments to the hearing aids if you can't find the adjustment you want for the single hearing aid you still have - triple click the iPhone's Side or Home button to access that menu. 3) The message about the iPhone speaker being too loud/quiet is related to the app reverting to a back up communication mode to send instructions to the hearing aids. If Bluetooth is missing, the app will use the phone's speakers to communicate to the hearing aids. Above or below a certain volume level, the message will trigger although, as in your case, the output from the phone speakers is still loud enough for the hearing aids to detect. Results may vary depending on phone type, if the phone has a case on it, etc. so it would be difficult to tailor that message for each unique setup which is why it appears as it does despite successful communication in this mode. 4) We have submitted the feature request for end user, customizable programs to our developers for consideration. 5) this is an issue with the app that will be resolved in a future version. If it becomes too bothersome, you can try to uninstall/reinstall the app to see if that prevents this message from appearing erroneously.

App seems ok

I am trying to slowly work down my number on tinnitus setting but each time it defaults to 7. So I have to manually change it every day, a few times per day. I can either use one tinnitus setting or off. It would be better to have more options.

The pains of Bluetooth: They disconnect from Bluetooth frequently even with the newest firmware, iOS, and app. I think this is because of cheap Bluetooth implementation. Old AirPods have zero issues but are not socially acceptable to wear in all settings, short battery life, and they are inside/outside the ear canal where my hearing aids are behind the ear possibly blocking Bluetooth a little.

The microwave causes them to drop out 100% unless I am 20+ feet away and behind a wall from it.

My IPad causes interference by having Bluetooth on it so I turn that off because it will occasionally switch the sound over to iPad for no reason.

Holding my phone a certain way causes Bluetooth to drop out.

Putting phone in my pocket also drops out. Putting phone nearby still has drop outs.

Basically, if I want to use Bluetooth then I take my hearing aids out and use AirPods because these are so annoying to use.

Don’t tell me to re-pair. It does not fix this issue. The problem is the hearing aids.

The hearing aids: Pure C&G T 7AX.

Developer Response ,

Hello, it would be best to discuss your tinnitus masking workflow with your hearing care provider. This way, they can add other maskers with varying volumes that you can switch to. Switching programs will always revert the masker to its default volume setting in the middle, but they can adjust each one so that 'middle' volume is set to a different gain value. So, instead of constantly changing the volume of one masker program, you can switch to a different masker program that is set to a lower gain.
As for the Bluetooth issues, it is true that cross-body interference plays a part in the connection, and interference from other devices on the 2.4GHz band such as microwaves will especially have an impact. It is recommended to keep the phone in a suitable position to maintain a Bluetooth connection to both sides.
Lastly, the interference caused by the iPad can be mitigated by changing a couple of settings. On both the iPhone and iPad, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices, and turn off the toggle switch for both Control Nearby Devices and Audio Handoff. This way, the devices do not try to juggle the hearing aids back and forth. You can then simply turn the Bluetooth off for the device you don't want sound from, and turn Bluetooth on for the device you do want sound from. This should keep the hearing aids connected to the desired device.