I've had my CROS II equipment since Tuesday 6/16/15. Here are my observations to date. I'll be reporting more later.
Phonak CROS II and Audeo V90
June 16, 2015
Picked up new equipment consisting of CROS II, Audeo V90, PilotOne Remote Control with clip-on carry holster, eight batteries, 2 plastic cases, cleaning tool, 3 packages of wax traps, 4 domes, small vinyl bag, user manuals.
The audiologist configured the PilotOne to the hearing aids and installed 3 switchable programs: Speech in Loud Noise, Speech in Noise, Comfort in Noise. I had also wanted Speech in Wind and Speech in 360 Degrees but those two apparently weren’t available with the CROSS II. No problem. I can still have two custom programs configured if I need them.
I was a little disappointed that my old MyPilot Remote Control was not compatible with my new equipment nor was there an upgraded MyPilot available for the new generation of equipment. I’ll miss the view screen.
However, the PilotOne Remote Control turned out to very easy to use. There are two large buttons labeled + and – for volume control. Volume can be adjusted in 5 increments in either direction. You hear a beep with each increment and 2 beeps when you’ve come to the end of the increments.
The medium sized button switches between the switchable programs.
The small button resets to the default setting which, in my case, is mid range volume and all the automatic features.
PilotOne runs on a single AAA battery. Want free batteries? If you have a Harbor Freight in your area start collecting Harbor Freight coupons. Eventually you’ll come across the free batteries coupon. That gives you a pack of 24 AAA batteries with any purchase and there are plenty of one and two dollar household items you can buy to get your freebies.
Interesting thing about PilotOne. You don’t need to leave it on. Whatever your last setting was will stay that way when you turn off PilotOne so you can leave it off for most of the time to conserve the battery and just turn it on when you need to change your volume or program. Then turn it off again.
The first test in the field today was at a local restaurant. Unfortunately, my friend and I couldn’t go until about 2:30 PM when the restaurant only had a few people in it. There wasn’t a lot of background noise so it wasn’t much of a test although my friend’s voice was clear. There was one point when we were getting out of the car before going into the restaurant. We were about 15’ apart and my friend was talking. I could hear him clearly which (I think) would not have happened with my old equipment. I will have to test that again at another time.
One negative issue so far is that I’m getting a hiss.
June 17, 2015
I had someone come to the house this morning and we spent some time talking outside while moving around a bit. Seems like voice was coming in clearer at greater distances. That’s just an impression. I’ll have to make a quantitative test at some point.
I went to dinner with my friend at about 5 PM. The restaurant was about half full. Not a great deal of noise, but some. It seemed like my friend’s voice came in clearly without the background noise being bothersome.
June 19, 2015
Today I went out to meet my son to pick up some stuff at his friend’s place of business. We were both inside and outside, at times up to 15’ apart and the new equipment brought in both voices clearly.
Then my son and I went to lunch and we were talking while in my truck. My son has a tendency to talk to his chest and with my old hearing aids I would have to look at him and strain to hear what he was saying. Not so with the new equipment. I was able to keep looking straight ahead and still hear him clearly over the noise of the truck and the AC.
We were at McDonald’s at noon. The place was crowded. The noise of customers and kitchen was horrible. While at the counter I had to turn the volume all the way down and I was at the counter for too short of time to experiment. However, when we got a table I was able to hear my son clearly with the volume turned down.
Nothing conclusive yet but a good indication that the latest technology is an improvement over the old technology.
I will do more experimenting.
