Signia App 17+

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.

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.

I have a pair of new Signia 7AX ITE hearing aids for the record.
I wholeheartedly agree with previous reviews of the controls available to the users yet alone tying the hands of the professional AuD by not allowing them to adjust certain protocols such as your bad compression algorithm.
I literally dislike your compression and as you suggested to others about setting issues I did go to my AuD. With his inability to adjust attack and duration of release because the software you set them up with, he can not adjust this feature.
So with no control of this compression feature, I told him then turn it off. As you already know, he cannot because your software doesn’t give even him ”the professional AuD” the ability to do so.
So stop telling folks to go see your AuD and they can program the hearing aids as needed.
THEY CAN’T! You simply do not give them the ability to do so!

Yes, I would like my personal setting to stay as I programmed them and return to the same when turning them back on.

There are many knowledgeable folks out there wearing your hearing aid and are versed in audio, be it Amateur radio, musician or stereo enthusiast. Give us and the pro AuD a break and give them more control to satisfy us your customers.

Hello. Thanks for the detailed review. I suggest that you go back to your audiologist and have them call into our Audiology team for assistance programming. The compression settings you are referring to are adjustable in the programming software if the fitting formula used to fit your hearing aids is set to a traditional formula rather than the proprietary one. With the proprietary formula, those compressions settings are locked as they are preset to ensure that the technology in the hearing aids are used to their fullest capabilities. However, there are many audiologists out there who still prefer fitting with traditional formulas as they like to tweak the aforementioned settings. Hopefully, with this small change, you can work together with your audiologist to achieve the sound you prefer.

Since hearing aids are categorized as a medical device, there are restrictions on how much access the end user has to adjusting the settings of the hearing aids. Nevertheless, we do appreciate your feedback regarding more advanced controls and will take that into consideration for future app development.

The well being app works sometimes / even if I open it up daily it doesn’t record the info consistently (mostly not at all). That said I do not find it to be valuable when I have Apple apps that do most of this already.

I have tried directional hearing and it barely make any change. Meaning I make the adjustment and it is not really any better. Only thing I find useful is the volume slider and really don’t use it either.

When I am in the car as a passenger my hearing aides connect to the car. So I can’t hear anything from on my phone thru my hearing aides when I am a passenger.

My provider was able to reduce the tinness sound, its better now but overall I am just unhappy. I have had hearing aides before these are my least favorite, and they hurt the back of my ears a lot - my provider is switching them out to something thinner but it means I will lose functionality of being able to answer calls by touching my hearing aide. I FEEL my hearing aides all day it’s painful. I thought my ears might toughen up with use but it’s been a month and I wear them 6 days a week 10 hours a day.

Hello. We have received similar feedback regarding My WellBeing not working consistently. Our developers are working to improve that feature so we thank you for your patience. I agree that if there are other tools that do health metric tracking better, there's no need to dwell on this specific feature if there are better options. Nevertheless, we will continue to work on improving the options we can offer our hearing aid wearers.

As for the directional hearing changes not making much of a difference. It is best to use this feature when you're in a particularly noisy environment like at a restaurant. If you are sitting across from someone can the perception of speech vs. noise doesn't change much between Automatic and front focus at the narrowest setting (i.e. tap on front arrow and drag the focus beam to the narrowest, colored section), then I recommend bringing this scenario to your hearing care provider to ensure the rest of the hearing aid is working properly and programmed appropriately for your hearing loss.

For the car scenario, if this is your car and your phone is paired to the car's infotainment system, then what you described can be expected as most often, the iPhone still stream to the device that was most recently connected to it. In this situation, if you are the passenger and want to route audio to your hearing aids, use the iOS Control Center (e.g. iPhone X or newer, swipe down from the top right of the screen) and the AirPlay option located in the top right of the media box to manually route the audio streaming destination back to your hearing aids (See this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202769).

As for the physical fit, if you are wearing RICs at the moment (hearing aids sit behind the ear with rocker switches on the back/top of the hearing aid), there are slimmer RIC options that do not have buttons (I believe this is what your hearing care provider described). These RIC hearing aid also have the ability to answer and end calls by double tapping the hearing aids. This model is called the Styletto AX hearing aid so be sure to check with your provider if this is the model that is being considered.