A20 - Can't Hear Self - In Airplane or Out

[Spydermagnet]

I have the Bose A20 with Bluetooth  and need a little help.

In the airplane (I've tried 2 - both G1000 cockpits using a split plug) I can never hear myself, but the Instructor, passenger and tower hear me fine, and I hear them fine.

When I'm using this as a bluetooth device on my gaming pc, I can hear myself only if there is something generating an active sound signal from the pc (like if I'm watching a video), but within a few seconds of turning off a video, I can no longer hear myself. 

If I just turn the headset on without connecting it to anything - I can not hear myself.

This is my second A20 and I did not observe the problem in the first set.  

Bose product name

A20 with Bluetooth

Country

Firmware Version

(1.0.7, 4.8.1, 1.7.0, etc.)

App Version

(4.1.1, 13.0.2, etc.)

What devices were you using that were affected and what version are they on

(Samsung Galaxy S9 on Android 11, iPhone X on iOS14, etc.)

Detailed description of the issue and steps to reproduce

What environment do you experience the issue in?

(noisy office, quiet kitchen, etc.)

When did you start to experience the issue? Did it work correctly previously?

Any troubleshooting steps you took

[Keith_L]

Hi Spydermagnet,

Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community! 

If your headset is not connected to an intercom, your headset control module generates sidetone, which is what allows you to hear the sound of your voice through the headset. The sidetone level is adjustable using the volume knobs on your product. The left and right volume control wheels on the control module adjust the intercom volume of the corresponding earcup. You'll want to adjust both of these volume controls to increase the level of sidetone in both ears.

One thing to bear in mind though is if the headset is connected to an intercom, the intercom generates sidetone and the sidetone level is controlled by the intercom—not by the volume knobs on your headset. So it may not be controllable from the volume knobs of the headset control module when connected to your airplane.

I hope this helps!

[Spydermagnet]

Thanks Keith - so right now I have the A20 powered on, and noise canceling is working, the bluetooth is turned off and it is not plugged in to any audio source.   I should expect to hear sidetone in this configuration right?   I'm unable to produce sidetone, with any combination of volume settings on the L or R wheels, or with any combination of the Off - Mix - Mute selector switches in this configuration.

Also, in this configuration, should the headset remain on indefinitely?  Mine will remain on for 3-5 min and will then shut off.  It has new and fully charged batteries.  Green battery indicator is flashing once per second.

I suspect a problem with the control module so just trying to verify expected behavior.  

[Keith_L]

Hi Spydermagnet,

Thanks for the update. As your headset is turning off automatically do you have the Auto-Off feature enabled? There's a switch in the battery compartment of the cable which lets you turn the Auto-Off feature on or off. With Auto-Off enabled, the headset will turn off after three to nine minutes of inactivity, so it sounds like this is enabled on your headset. If your headset turns off by itself even when Auto-Off is disabled then you would need to reach out to your local support team to look into the service options for the headset. You can find the contact information at this link, by selecting your country/region and then the 'Contact Us' option at the bottom of the page.

Sorry for any confusion with my previous explanation, side-tone will only be active when the microphone is in active use, so when connected to your intercom, or connected to a Bluetooth device and making a call, you will hear the sound of your own voice in the headset. If you don't have them connected to anything and have just turned them on, then you won't hear the sound of your own voice in the headset. As you've been using the headset with your computer via Bluetooth, try placing a call through an app on the computer and see if you then hear the sidetone working as intended.

Let me know how you get on!