iOS9, VoiceOver and hearing aids

By Brian Negus, 16 September, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi, just to advise that there appears to be a bug in iOS9 routing of VoiceOver speech to made for iPhone hearing aids. There's a nice new facility which allows the ringtone to be played over the hearing aids which seems to work reliably, but I've only had VoiceOver speech streaming to my Resound Linx hearing aids once. Most of the time the VO speech is coming from the iPhone 6 speaker. Since the main reason I bought the made for iPhone hearing aids was to have VoiceOver speech stremaed to my hearing aids, I'm not happy! I've reported the problem via the hearing aid supplier.

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Comments

By Jeff Bishop on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

Try turning off blue tooth and turning it back on. I use the Starkey Halo I110 Hearing Aids and this resolves that issue for me.

By Brian Negus on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

Thanks Jeff. This used to work for me with iOS8 when things went wrong with VoiceOver and the hearing aids but sadly it doesn't work with iOS9 for the Resound Linx hearing aids. I've also tried forgetting the aids and re paring them with no effect.
VoiceOver started streaming to the aids once after an incoming phone call, but it reverted to the loudspeaker after sleeping the iPhone and the incoming call trick didn't work a second time.

By david s on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

Hello,

Try to place a call, say to 611 or your home number. Then when you hear the ringing, hang up. Does all VO speech now go to your Has? You can also try restore to factory default and with no apps installed except for the Resound app, try again.

This is the scary part about updates and Hearing aids. I have the Starky Halos and only updated my ipad. I want to make sure it all works before updating my phone.

HTH and good luck.

Thanks David, it's morning here now and my iPhone 6 slept overnight too! When I switched on my Resound Linx hearing aids this morning, the phone came to life and VoiceOver started speaking on my hearing aids. I've put the phone to sleep a couple of times now and, so far, VoiceOver is still speaking correctly to the hearing aids. I've done a power cycle on the hearing aids and it all still seems to be working OK. Maybe the long sleep overnight dealt with a time out? So, for now, the Resound Linx 9 and VO are working together as expected. I'll report back in a day or so if they stay working correctly - or sooner if they don't!

By Brian Negus on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

In case it's of use to others, I've found one way of starting my Resound Linx hearing aids that always seems to get started correctly with VociceOver speaking through the hearing aids.
I leave the iPhone sleeping and then start the hearing aids. This wakes the phone with VO speaking to the hearing aids. Other ways of starting up often leave VO speaking through the phone speaker.

By david s on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

Hello,

This is annoying but not a big deal. Sometimes if you get an alert or hang up the phone, VO is routed to the phone speaker. Turning off then on the Bluetooth may or may not work. Restarting the phone may or may not work. What seems to work consistently for me is to place a call then hang up when the other party’s phone starts to ring.

I’ve seen this behavior on IOS 8.0 then went away on IOS 8.2. Along comes IOS 9 and the bug came out of hibernation. Odd thing is it only happens to my iPhone 6, not the 5. And yes, I did a factory restore and didn’t install any apps, not even the Starky app.

On the upside, I now hear all alerts on my hearing aids and don’t miss phone calls.

HTH and good luck.

By Brian Negus on Monday, October 5, 2015 - 14:33

I reported earlier that I had a work around for the issue in which my Resound Linx Made for iPhone hearing aids lost the VoiceOver speech. I was wrong and the problem persists with iOS 9.0.1. I have reported it to the hearing aid manufacturers, GN, and trust that they will resolve the issue with Apple. Are others experiencing similar problems? I'm finding that VoiceOver stays speaking through the hearing aids until I use dictation and then VoiceOver switches to the iPhone speakers. I can only reliably recover by power cycling the iPhone. I think Siri also occasionally triggers the issue, but dictation seems to have a much higher hit rate. Am I alone in this? Or have the rest of you held back from updating to iOS 9?

By Jodi on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 14:33

I just fot the resound hearing aids and the phone rings so loud in my ear others hear it acrooss the
Room . My audiologist called resound they hadno suggestion this was even with phone and ringer silenced. Any thought or suggestions?