I reached the age where I needed hearing aids and purchased a pair of Starkey Genesis AI aids. I also wear the Dexcom G6 fulltime. Since July, I have had 36 cases where the left hearing aid has stopped working. I’ve had 3 left aid replacements and all have quit. I can restart them by placing them in the charger.
The new aids are BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and Starkey seems to think the failures are frequency interference. I’ve changed all my home devices to 5GHz, turned off BT on my iP13, except for the Dexcom G6 and gone without my Apple Watch (BT for G6 readings) all without stopping the failures. Starkey has suggested users turn off notifications and limit streaming until they find a solution - not acceptable to me with my CGM.
My question to the CGM community wearing the newer AI, BLE hearing aids and a Dexcom: have you experienced any hearing aid failures while wearing a Dexcom?
Hi Al. Sorry to hear Starkey is pulling your ear. That’s not how Bluetooth works.
Out of curiosity, if you got left and right units, in the My Starkey App does the battery for the left one always show the same as the right?
No, left battery is red and the left aid on the “test my aids” shows no connection, mic, receiver and circuit are not checked. BT runs in the 2.4Ghz band and interference does happen. ANT+ can handle multiple devices on the same frequency, but BT can’t. That’s why Starkey came out with their recommendation.
I think BT was always intended to operate with multiple active devices. I routinely have my phone, G7, pump, and earbuds all connected through BT. The G7 talks directly to both the pump and the phone. BT handles it all well.
I believe your microwave oven also operates in the ISM band and might be a source of interference.
I wear blue tooth hearing aids and a Dexcom Sensor. I don’t believe that I’ve ever experienced interference however I definitely have occasional incidents of having a hearing aid disconnnect. I don’t believe that my sensor had anything to do with it. I run a few things on my phone that use bluetooth at the same time.
I’m an audiologist, although I work with pediatrics so don’t fit Starkey aids. I have not heard of this being an issue.
That is a LOT of replacements/repairs, and it seems really odd that it would just be happening to one aid and not both.
This is probably not the answer, but can you put your aid in flight mode (deactivates the BT) and see if that prevents the issue, at least temporarily? If you try that and don’t have any problems, maybe there is something to your theory.