Hearing Aid Apps Explained: What the Philips and Oticon Apps Can Do

Do you need the app?

Hearing aids work without an app. The buttons on the hearing aids still change volume and programmes on many models, and the settings themselves are made at the fitting. The app adds convenience: discreet control from your phone, a quick look at the battery and, for many people, help finding a hearing aid that has gone missing.

This guide explains what Philips and Oticon say their apps can do. It is not a full manual. The features you see depend on your exact hearing aids, your phone and how your hearing aids were set up.

Philips HearLink 2

Philips describes the HearLink 2 app as a way to control Philips HearLink hearing aids discreetly, with your smartphone as a remote control for changing listening programmes, adjusting the volume, muting your hearing aids and activating streaming options. According to Philips:

• Volume: you can change the volume in both hearing aids at the same time or in each hearing aid independently.
• Mute: you tap the speaker icon at the bottom left to mute and unmute your hearing aids.
• Programmes: your hearing care professional can make up to four different listening programmes. Additional programmes may be available for the Philips HearLink TV Adapter, Philips AudioClip and Tinnitus SoundSupport.
• Battery: you can see how much power your hearing aids have left at a glance.
• Find my hearing aids: you can locate your hearing aids on a live map.
• Remote sessions: you can hold online video meetings with your hearing care professional and get your hearing aids adjusted remotely.

If something goes wrong, Philips places troubleshooting in the app under More, then Help and Support, then Troubleshooting.

Oticon Companion

According to Oticon, the Oticon Companion app lets you:

• adjust the volume of your hearing aids independently and switch between listening programmes;
• check battery levels;
• use Find my hearing aid to help locate a hearing aid you have misplaced;
• get counselling and hearing-aid adjustments remotely from your hearing care professional in real time, via a live video call;
• interact with wireless accessories paired with your hearing aids, including the TV Adapter, EduMic and ConnectClip.

Finding a lost hearing aid with the app

Both brands describe a similar Find my hearing aids feature. Philips and Oticon explain that the app connects to your hearing aids via Bluetooth and uses your phone's GPS, and that you need to set the app's location access to "always" for the feature to work.

On the map, both explain that a green hearing-aid icon means the hearing aid is actively connected to your phone, and a red icon means it is no longer connected. Oticon adds that if the connection is lost, you can see the date and time when they were last connected. Philips suggests moving slowly towards your hearing aids so your phone can keep pace with you.

Set this up before you need it. If a hearing aid is already lost, see lost a hearing aid? what to do next.

Getting started

1. Check compatibility. Not every phone works with every hearing aid. See Bluetooth hearing aids and phone compatibility.
2. Use the right app. Philips HearLink hearing aids use the Philips HearLink 2 app, and Philips says it is available on the App Store and Google Play. Oticon hearing aids use Oticon Companion.
3. Pair first. The hearing aids need to be paired with the phone before the app can control them.
4. Allow permissions. Location access is needed for the find feature.
5. Ask at your fitting. Ask which programmes have been set up and what each one is for, so the names in the app make sense.

Apps for a parent

For an older parent, an app can be useful, but only if they are comfortable with it. Sometimes the hearing-aid buttons, or a family member helping during a visit, are simpler. If your parent does use the app, make sure the phone stays charged and that the hearing aids are paired to that phone only.

Talk to G-Sound

If you would like help understanding what your app can do with your hearing aids, call G-Sound in English. Have your hearing-aid make and model and your phone model ready. G-Sound offers Philips and Oticon hearing aids.