How can I reset my Phonak hearing aids?
- Koorosh Nejad
- Oct 9, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 27
Yesterday morning, like every day, Gill picked up her Phonak Paradise P90 hearing aids from the charging dock and put them in her ears. "mmmm, the right one doesn't make any sound?!" Gill whispered to herself. She put them back on the charger, waited for 10 seconds or so and picked them up again, the same, the right one is dead!
When you put the rechargeable hearing aids on the charger and remove them, they reboot.
Another way to reboot a hearing aid is to press and hold the Volume-Down on the ones with a rocker switch, or press and hold the single button on the ones which have only one button for 5-7 seconds to switch it off. Then press and hold the same button for 5-7 seconds for the aid to start up again.
Gill called our clinic in the morning, and I managed to help her hard reset her Phonak hearing aids. Here is how to hard reset (or hard reboot) your Phonak hearing aids:
Press and hold the Volume-Down button on the hearing aid for 30 seconds,
Remove your finger and put the aids on the charger unit (please make sure that the charger unit is fully charged and connected to the mains),
Wait for 10 seconds and remove both hearing aids
This will hard reset your Phonak hearing aids.
Why do hearing aids need a hard reboot?
Hearing aids are getting much more sophisticated than before. Now they have their own firmware that needs updating, and if this is not enough, they have artificial intelligence algorithms that can mimic the human brain to help speech intelligibility in noisy environments. Just like your computer or your smartphone, they can clean up and rest their files and settings when you give them a reboot. But then this can be done at a deeper level in file management and clearing their memory if you give them a hard reboot.
Should I give a hard reset to my Phonak hearing aid regularly?
Your computer, laptop and smartphone can benefit from a reboot once every couple of weeks. Hearing aids are not as sophisticated as those devices, but if you feel that one or both of your hearing aids do not turn on, or if they turn on, they have a problem connecting to your mobile phone, or if the Bluetooth connectivity is unstable, then a hard reset of your hearing aids could help. So my advice is that you do not need to hard reset your hearing aids every week or every month, but if there is a need, you can do it when and if needed.
Does a reset erase the settings of my Phonak hearing aids?
A hard reset will bring the hearing aids back to the last time that they were set up by your hearing care professional or your audiologist. A hard reset of your hearing aids does not erase the prescription already set in them, and their sound will not change; however, if you have done some manual settings on the app on your smartphone, those personal settings might be erased.
Does hard rest work for other brands of hearing aids?
Most hearing aids have a hard rest, similar to the ones described in this article. For further details about the hard rest of your hearing aids, please consult with your hearing care professional.
My Phonak hearing aids work fine, but I cannot stream music through them. Why?
If your Phonak hearing aids are working fine and you can hear through them, but you cannot stream music through them, the problem may be with the Bluetooth settings of your mobile phone.
On your mobile phone, go to Settings > Bluetooth, and you need to see 3 lines of Phonak devices at "Connected" status. Sometimes one of them quits its Bluetooth connection.
If you see only two Phonak lines at "Connected" status, do the following to connect the 3rd one:
Restart your mobile phone and the hearing aids at the same time
Check the Bluetooth setting of your mobile phone, and you see the 3rd Phonak line under New Bluetooth Devices. Tap on it to connect.
If the 3rd Phonak line doesn't appear, then give your Phonak hearing aids a Reset as per the instructions in this article.
I have two Phonak hearing aids, but there are 3 devices under the Bluetooth setting of my mobile phone. Why?
The way that Phonak hearing aids connect to your mobile phone is different from other hearing aids. Your audiologist set up one of the hearing aids (in binaural fitting) to be the main Bluetooth hub, which is usually the right side hearing aid. Then that hearing aid will create two Bluetooth ports for the left and right hearing aids. That's why in total you will see 3 lines of Phoank devices under the Bluetooth settings of your mobile phone.
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