Pretty much all hearing aids support MFi because that’s what Apple supports. Most aids of the last five years support ASHA because that was the only low power protocol that Androids supported- until recently. ASHA does not support handsfree at all. Demant, Resound, Signia, Starkey now support those two protocols plus LE Audio in their latest models. Resound and Starkey support Auracast. Demant and Signia will implement Auracast with future firmware upgrades. Phonak have hardware support for LE Audio but have not enabled it and seem to be dithering on it.
LE Audio has the best sound of the low energy protocols, probably the most robust connection out of all of them, low latency, and is an official standard of the Bluetooth SIG. It is also kind of the preferred Bluetooth standard of the FCC, who have mandated that all phone manufacturers will have models supporting LE Audio by the end of next year (I’m almost sure but happy to be corrected). Downside is it’s newish and there’s not as much supported hardware out there right now. You’d have to think that over time its market share will increase and the others go in the opposite direction. If you were to bring a product to market right now, though, you will find a lot more phones supporting MFI and ASHA
But you probably know all this a lot better than me. All the best with your project.
LE Audio will probably be sufficient for Android going forward, but it’s not clear whether it will also replace MFI on Apple devices.
MFI does more than just audio streaming, for example you can change hearing aid volume or programs without the manufacturer’s app.
Yes true, but Apple will be forced if the manufacturers go LE Audio only, I believe the latest Android version now supports extra features for Has as well, we’re getting there but very slowly…
@Jayden, this article contains some information about Signia using NFMI for communication between HAs:
The fact that they only mention Signia doesn’t mean others won’t use the same approach… Pretty much anything on AudiologyOnline needs to be considered promotional material for whoever provided the article or presentation…
