Phonak Roger for Hearing Hackers sen 2024-11-13 - Disclaimer - This is not medical advice, don't blame me if you use info here and spend money on something that doesn't end up working because of some technicality I didn't cover, do your own research, etc. :) - Summary - Phonak Roger is a system of remote microphones and receivers which allow transmitting sound from a source directly into hearing aids, what's traditionally called an "FM system" in the hearing world. It's very useful in large group situations such as classrooms/large meetings/restaurants/etc., places where the speaker and the listener are further apart such as cars/sports coaching/etc., and loud environments. The equipment is quite expensive purchased new, but used parts can be found for much less cost and put together! The quote I got from an audiologist was $4200 for a pair of receivers and one transmitter, but using the info here I built a system with a pair of receivers and three transmitters for ~$700. There are several gotchas and incompatibilities to keep in mind however, and after talking about this at an event recently I thought it was worth putting a document together about it. - Technical Details - Not many are known, and I haven't really dug into it much. The protocol seems to be proprietary, it's definitely digital and uses frequency hopping in the 2.4GHz band. Someday I'll look at reversing it more, but I haven't got there yet. - Receiver Types - There are two types of receivers, "type 02" and "type 03" (sometimes referenced as just "(02)" and "(03)"). Type 02 receivers are intended for students in educational environments, and can interoperate with both 02 and 03 transmitters. Type 03 are the "adult" or "business" series of receivers, and can ONLY interoperate with 03 transmitters, they can't see or receive signals from 02 transmitters. There's a lot of second-hand 02 equipment on eBay, so it's worth finding 02 receivers unless you're sure you won't want any of that. If you're reading this, you're probably the kind of person who wants the option to use the weirder hardware devices in ways they were never intended for, so aim for 02 receivers :) There's two forms of receivers as well, physical receivers and RogerDirect receivers. The former are physical devices that attach to hearing aids, whereas the latter are a license key that unlocks functionality that already physically exists inside a hearing aid. Older hearing aids only support physical receivers, whereas more recent ones can use either type. - Physical Receivers - There's a few different formats that physical receivers come in: - Roger Neckloop (a.k.a. Roger MyLink) goes around your neck like a necklace, and transmits audio to hearing aids via electromagnetic fields, to be received with a telecoil. I'd avoid this one if you have any other option, as the amount of interference you get using a telecoil can be significant and it requires dealing with a separate battery. - Roger X is a tiny silver cube that plugs into to any hearing aid that can accept a DAI europlug input, it's powered off the hearing aid itself. This is the one I use. Serial numbers starting with 1744 or higher ship with receiver licenses in them that can be extracted (and may already have been, if you're buying second hand) but numbers lower than that are physical receivers only. - "Design-integrated receivers" integrate into the hearing aid itself, usually by replacing the battery door with one that's slightly bulkier but has the receiver in it. These require matching the receiver model to the hearing aid model, using the compatibility chart available from Phonak (https://www.phonakpro.com/content/dam/phonakpro/gc_hq/en/products_solutions/wireless_accessories/roger/documents/roger_compatibility_chart.pdf). The advantage is they're smaller than the Roger X, but the disadvantage is that once you replace your hearing aids, you probably won't be able to use it anymore since you'd need a different model. They're also harder to find second-hand. - Roger Focus - Looks like a hearing aid, but is dedicated to just receiving audio from Roger. I believe these are all Type 02 as they're intended for "students with attention difficulties". - RogerDirect Receivers - If your hearing aids have RogerDirect built in, then all you need is the "license" to use it. This license is stored in either the transmitter or a Roger X device, and has to be moved from the transmitter or Roger X into the hearing aids. - With Roger X receivers there's a special device called a Roger Installer that's required to do this, audiologists have them but you can also obtain them fairly inexpensively on eBay. They connect to both the hearing aids and a Roger X, and a push of the button will move the license from the X into the aid, or vice-versa. - With Roger iN transmitters (the "iN" means it ships with receiver licenses inside) there's a physical button or menu item that will move the licenses in either direction. "iN v2" devices also now have unlimited Type 03 licenses rather than just having the one pair that can be moved around, so it seems like Phonak is finally making this process slightly less annoying! - As of 2024, Phonak is now advertising the the Touchscreen Microphone transmitter comes with unlimited Type 02 receiver licenses that it can install without needing an installer device! It's unclear if older models can be upgraded to support this using an upgrader app or if only new hardware does this. Once a license has been installed into a hearing aid it no longer exists in the other device (except on the newer "unlimited receivers" devices as mentioned above), which means with Roger X you may now have a useless tiny cube as the physical functionality is sometimes turned off once the license is moved out of the X! Phonak claims this is always the case, but it seems to have been introduced in a later version as some models will function fine as physical receivers even once the license is pulled out. - Transmitters - There's a lot of types of transmitters, most of which are designed for specific situations. You can network transmitters of the same type (02 or 03) together to create a multi-talker network, but you can't mix 02 and 03 transmitters at the same time. - Roger Touchscreen Mic (Type 02) - Designed for school environments, but this is actually the one I carry with me and use constantly. Because it has a touchscreen it supports configuring receivers, running diagnostics, lots of options, etc. It has several microphones built in and can be used as a table microphone (via a built in accelerometer, once it detects its flat on a table it turns on mics around the perimeter), as a lanyard-worn microphone (for a teacher or sports coach), or as a pointing microphone (if you're talking to someone in a loud place). They also have a 3.5mm input, so you can connect an external microphone or line-level source. This is a super flexible device and can do most things the system is capable of. They're commonly available on eBay as schools get rid of them, and much cheaper than Roger Select or other more common Type 03 devices. The battery lasts a long time (~10 hours in actual use), as they're intended to be used by a teacher for a full school day. - Phonak Inspiro/Roger Inspiro (Type 02) - The previous version of the Touchscreen Mic, does most of the same things but needs an external lapel microphone (usually included). These often come up very cheaply because they're older, but aren't quite as flexible as the Touchscreen. Some older Inspiro models won't talk to Roger (only the predecessor system), so make sure the serial number is 1144xxxx or higher if you're picking one up. - Roger Pass-Around Microphone a.k.a. Roger DynaMic (Type 02) - Looks like a normal handheld microphone without a cord, just transmits audio to receivers. No frills, just does that one basic function. Don't confuse Roger DynaMic with the just plain "DynaMic" which is for an older FM system, and isn't compatible with Roger. - Roger Pen (Type 03) - An older Roger device, but one that's sometimes handy to have. You can give it to someone to wear on a lanyard or hold it like a reporter and point it at them, and it transmits. It also supports pairing with a phone via Bluetooth and transmitting that audio, but I've never used this functionality. These are the most common devices on eBay and are often very cheap. I don't use mine a ton but I've been glad to have it a few times, and it didn't cost much. - Roger EasyPen (Type 03) - Same as Roger Pen, but without the bluetooth functionality. - Roger Clip-on Mic (Type 03) - Small little box that clips onto someone's shirt and transmits audio from them. - Roger Table Mic (Type 03) - Designed to put down on a conference room or restaurant table in front of you and send audio directly to you. You can network several of these together for larger rooms, too. They sound nice in theory but are very expensive even second-hand and don't come up often, so I don't have any of these. - Roger Select/Select iN (Type 03) - Similar to the Touchscreen Mic but without the screen, they can act as a lanyard mic, table mic, or pointing mic, as well as accepting an audio input. They tend to be _much_ more expensive than the Touchscreen Mic however, as they're in the "adult" 03 line and mostly only hearing hackers bother with second-hand 02 devices. - Roger On/On iN (Type 03) - The next version of the Select, does similar things but... better? It's USB-C which is nice, but everything else sounds the same as the Select but for a lot more money. - Other Devices - - Roger WallPilot (Type 02) - Designed to go on the wall at the entrance to a classroom, will automatically pair any receiver that walks past it with the configured transmitters. If you take it apart, it actually just contains a Roger Inspiro with different firmware inside! - Roger Multimedia Hub (Type 02) - Broadcasts a 3.5mm input to a Roger Touchscreen Mic, which will re-broadcast it to all listeners. Only works if you also have a Touchscreen Mic! - Roger Inspiro audioHub (Type 02) - Exactly the same as the Multimedia Hub, except broadcasts to an Inspiro instead of a Touchscreen Mic. - Roger Charging Rack - Charging dock, charges any combination of up to 4 Type 02 devices (other than Inspiro which is not compatible). Just has micro USB plugs sticking up into slots shaped to hold these devices. - Audio Shoes - Not technically part of the Roger ecosystem, but these attach to your hearing aids and give you a Direct Audio Input (often called DAI or "europlug") jack, which you can plug a Roger X into. These are hearing-aid-model specific as they often replace the battery door. You can also get DAI cables, which let you plug 3.5mm devices directly into your hearing aids. This was used a lot more before Bluetooth and other wireless protocols were common, but is still handy once in awhile (long flights when you don't want to run batteries in devices down with wireless, for example). One warning about these, some models of hearing aids have degraded water resistance once the battery door is swapped to the DAI version. - My Setup - - Phonak Sky B70 UP hearing aids (essentially the same as Naida UP except they come in fun colours :) ) - 2x AS19 Audio Shoes - 2x Roger X Receivers (plugged into the audio shoes) - 2x Roger Touchscreen Mic - Roger Pen I use the Touchscreen Mics all the time, having two means I can give each to different people, have one transmitting a 3.5mm audio source and still use the other, etc. I don't use the pen that often, but it was <$20 on eBay and once in awhile at an airport or something it's handy to be able to hand it to someone or point it. My plan had been to get design-integrated receivers to replace the shoes and Xs at some point, but the Xs work so well and it turns out I don't care at all about the extra size in practice, so I've never bothered. My most common uses are: - at figure skating practice I'll hand a touchscreen mic to my coach who can wear it on a lanyard so I can hear them despite all the rink noise - at church I'll connect the 3.5mm input to the assistive listening receivers the building has, so the AV system transmits directly to my ears - at group discussions/restaurants/group board game nights, etc. I'll put one on the table to transmit from everyone at the table but block out noise elsewhere - if I'm in the back of a car I'll put one on the dashboard or somewhere else in the front to be able to hear those in the front - lots of other situations too, but those are the most common ones! - Gotchas - - As mentioned above, 02 receivers can talk to any transmitter, but 03 receivers can only talk to 03 transmitters. - If you're buying second-hand Roger X receivers, make sure they have the receiver licenses inside! - If you're buying second-hand Roger iN transmitters and want to use the receiver licenses, make sure they have them. They're still functional as transmitters without the receiver licenses though (they just act as a holding area for them), so you can sometimes get good deals on ones that don't have receivers. - Type 02 and 03 transmitters can't form a network together, so if you were last using 02 devices and connect to a 03 device, that will become your new network. It's slightly annoying to have to switch between the two kinds of devices, so ideally stick to mostly one or the other. - Touchscreen Mics have no hold switch, if you stash one in your purse it will get turned on accidentally all the time and suddenly you'll just be hearing a loud rustling sound. Someday I'll 3D print a little molly guard for the button, but for now I just get annoyed with it then don't do anything to improve the situation :) - Almost all devices charge using USB Micro-B, which is annoying in 2024. - Often people who are selling Roger devices know very little about them, because they bought a job lot of tech from a school board that was upgrading or an audiologists' office that was shutting down, and they're not Hearing People. If the ads are vague, make sure you can return something if it's broken or doesn't have the required licenses or something. That said, you can often get really good deals on this stuff through that kind of seller because they just want to get rid of it because it's not their core business. - More of an anti-gotcha, if you're someone that relies on an audiologist for hearing aid programming (as most people do), you don't need to involve them to add Roger! Unless they at some point unchecked the RogerReady checkbox (there's really no reason to) you can just plug in a design-integrated receiver, or swap out your battery door for a DAI shoe and Roger X, or add the RogerDirect license, and it will work out of the box without any programming changes required. I worried about this because I'd just rejected my audi's quote and didn't really want to go in asking her to change my programming to accommodate my hacked-together solution, but everything just worked automagically.