If Orsana gadget pick up the voice from the speaker around the table and transmit to the iPhone then the iPhone transmit sound to the HA’s. Is this possible at the moment?
BT 5.2 & above will be available for Vlog/video whereby the sound will be pick up by mic at the speaker and transfer to the Phone by a add-on receiver. If the iPhone record the sound then it might be able to transmit the sound to the HA’s. It is possible?
No. Apple doesn’t do Auracast, so there’s no way for Orsana to transmit anything to an Apple device. It looks like they are trying to enlist Apple as a partner, though. There’s a demonstration of what it would sound like (or what they think it might sound like- unsure which) if Apple Live Listen used their technology.
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The LC3 codec may not be implemented in any hearing devices yet, but many companies are looking at it. The Pixel 7 pro has both the hardware and the o/s version that will support the new standard (with Auracast and LC3) and so I am hoping that they will soon support Auracast. There are also several companies that are offering Auracast dongles.
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I share the same hope, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. As far as I know, neither Google nor Samsung, which both have supposedly compatible hardware/software market LE Audio nor Auracast as a feature. Until major companies start marketing it, I don’t think it’s going anywhere.
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Cochlear Nucleus 8 is the only device that is confirmed to get Auracast in a firmware update but i suspect resound is probably going to release a firmware update for omnia hearing aid as well with auracast feature due to technical similarity between the 2 BT platforms in the resound HA and Cochlear sound processor
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@d_Wooluf , there’s one piece here I’m not understanding. If a transmitter supports LE-Audio / LC3 and the phone supports LE-Audio / LC3, is possible that the phone receives the LE-Audio transmission (I think you called that functioning as an audio sink) which is then passed to normal LE-Audio to a hearing aid that supports BT 5.2 / LE audio like the Oticon More? Or are phone manufacturers only seeing their phones as sound “sources” (e.g. playing a podcast for a group of students) and never as audio sinks (targets) which themselves could be intermediaries.
Part of why I’m asking this is that there would seem to be a need for a phone involved in HA Auracasts in any case. Without a phone (or other intermediate device) there’s no way to choose an Auracast channel (e.g. American Airline flights versus Delta flight announcements, or listen to dialog of Batman versus Everything Everywhere in a movie theatre) or to do something like scan a QR code for a specific Auracast channel. If the phone can be an audio sink, I would think that makes the heavy lifting on the HA side easier (perhaps just enabling LC3).
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I had a good reason to use my phone as a sink a few years ago with Bluetooth Classic. My searches indicated that it was technically possible with a few tweaks to the Bluetooth stack if you knew what you were doing (which I didn’t). I have no idea why phone companies didn’t want to expose that functionality. Support issues? Licensing issues? I hope they do this time around.
If the phone is the sink that opens up Auracast to wired headphones. Maybe mfi/ASHA too, but you might get bandwidth and latency issues.
Thinking about it, your phone is going to be an audio sink anyway. Audio from your hearing aid mics goes back to your phone. That’s no different from receiving an audio stream from a distant device.
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VOCE makes dongle type devices which support Auracast. Available on Amazon.
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I am (was) an engineer (but not in audio) but here is my understanding of how this new Auracast will work:
1)Audio is transmitted to cellphones in 3gp format (simplified MP4).
2) the cellphone has the capability to support LC3/Auracast and if it is selected it will be converted to that format (here it gets a little murky because you don’t want everyone to listen to your phone calls - I would think providers would supply a share/privacy option.
3) An app on your phone would allow you scan for external sourced audio channels but the phone would only be involved in the switching process, not the actual audio content.
4) My guess would be that an incoming call would interrupt any selected channel.
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The use cases I’ve seen for Auracast include personal audio sharing and broadcast, aided listening in halls, churches, cinemas, public address systems, silent tvs in bars and gymnasiums, and assistive devices like this. That’s broad. I think personal audio sharing alone might be enough to drive adoption. Sharing music without needing to know your friends’ brand of earbud or phone could be a compelling use case for young people.
I’m just hoping that if they developed the standard with enough care, this won’t be necessary. It took them almost ten years, so it’s not like they didn’t have enough time.
Auracast is part of the LE Audio spec and LE Audio comes with benefits that have nothing to do with Auracast. Power efficiencies, multiple independent streams, low latency, and decent sound quality should see it part of more consumer devices over time. If LE Audio is on everyone’s mobile phone, and LE Audio is on everyone’s ear buds, business cases for Auracast become simple to make.
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I think currently there is a “killer use case” and that is when one is struggling in noisy, social situations. But I agree with @mdboy that it may not extend to wide adoption and that will be more of a commercial problem for investors and owners. If the technology works and is clearly a disruptor then the question is whether it can grab enough market share from the other offerings out there, like the Roger On iN and other proprietary hearing aid assistive devices + generalised assistive devices, of which there is a few.
The other barrier to wide adoption is the visibility/discreetness of the device. We would all prefer if the technology was encapsulated in our aids. Otherwise it is the case that we have to place the device on the table etc. For young people I can see that being a barrier to entry.
It is a small market. To calculate the numbers it’s the amount of people who have a serious enough hearing loss in noise that is not helped by hearing aids where their social activities warrant them really needing a device. But I would be interested in trialling the device if it became available at a reasonable price point. The Roger On iN, which I own, does not block out extraneous background noise entirely.
I think there’s a bit of confusion between Orsana and Auracast. Orsana cleans up noise and isolates voices. That’s great but it needs a way of getting the audio back to the user. It used wires in the beginning, but that was never going to fly. The only wireless, low latency and potentially universally available solution is Auracast.
If Orsana was something you could buy now, I would make sure that my next aids could connect to it. That means Auracast. I think Orsana could be a “killer” device to encourage hearing aid makers to speed up development of Auracast. Probably not Phonak though.
On paper, It’s exactly what I want. Interoperable, it works, and potentially cheap. I don’t think the market is limited to people with hearing loss. Young people must get sick of having to yell at each other in noisy cafes. There’s also the nifty idea of incorporating it into a charger. Casually plonk it down on a table and no-one need know.
Bring it on.
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@d_Wooluf Thanks for the reply. All great points. I’m definitely hoping you’re right and Auracast and related devices gain tractionl
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@glucas What would really be ideal is if local, regional, and national governments had a mandate around providing Auracast based services in public places like airports, train stations, etc. But I remember well how difficult it was to get landline phone manufacturers to make their phones t-coil compatible. The cost was miniscule to add t-coil support but manufacturers fought tooth and nail to avoid the incremental cost.
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It wasn’t just landline phone manufacturers. Apple were called to account. Their argument at the time was that they already provided assistive technology- mfi Bluetooth. I think it will be a very long time before Auracast becomes mandated.
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