As this is meant to be the new ‘game changer’ within the Industry I thought it was worth having a collated thread about the Auracast launches.
For those not aware, Auracast is a new shareable Bluetooth Low Energy standard that allows hearing aids to receive a signal that’s better than original Bluetooth, with less lag and way less power use.
As far as I know, GN already has their offer on the table, the Oticon/Bernafon Product launches before the end of February and the rest of the pack is releasing some versions. The two main outliers are Starkey and Sonova . I’m not sure that Starkey are going this route with the current Genesis, but it might be upgradable via firmware and Sonova haven’t really been headed down the Bluetooth LE route since day one.
The standard is “LE Audio”. The Resound Nexia has LE Audio, not Auracast. Auracast is a name given to the broadcasting functionality within that standard. It’s not just nit-picking. You see people saying that Auracast isn’t worth having because no-one’s wired up any movie theatres yet, not realising that LE Audio is more than Auracast. It’s like the Bluetooth SIG have given one branch of their new creation power to strangle the rest of the vine!
There’s already a lot of good stuff in the LE Audio And The Future Of Hearing Thread. Rather than creating another fork in the road, I think it’s good to have general news continue on in that thread, and then discussion of particular hearing aids or accessory devices can branch off willy-nilly as it always does.
I think what they are releasing is an LE version with Auracast capability. So you make the Bluetooth aerial and supporting chip to fit with the current standard and firmware upgradable to follow the trajectory of what’s going on.
I might be way off here, but the obvious potential usage is not static broadcast, but the potential for two proximate wearers to hold a ‘his and hers’ conversation in a hugely noisy environment like a bar or bus-travel with no additional devices in play. Basically taking the need for beam-forming mics out of the equation (except for other people) and allowing comms without the challenge of SNR getting it the way.
It works if you have an Auracast-enabled ‘sink’- headphones, speaker, buds, aids- or you want to build a wireless bridge between a source and a wired device. I don’t see any way that you’re going to route the broadcast into a set of aids that use any other protocol.
@d_Wooluf Thanks for that. I’m looking forward to Auracast in SoCal!
The fact he used a non LE Audio iPhone was a real plus, too.
My Pixel 6a doesn’t support it, and I’d rather not upgrade for a while, but it’s tempting because my Oticon Intents would give me hands freed phone calls, too.
I found the part about the host wearing an auracast enabled microphone just as encouraging as Andy’s experience of the show. So many possibilities there
This was my thought as well. Seems like there’s an endless amount of possibilities for where the technology can be used with little to no changes in the listening environment, just that of the hearing aids / auracast tech.
I am in the trial period with Phonak Sphere I90s, which are “Auracast ready.” If I am reading these articles correctly, it seems like Phonak could “enable” Auracast with a change to the phone app, and no change to the hearing aids. Is that correct?
The hearing aids already come with all of the hardware to enable LE Audio. So no worries for the Phonak Sphere owners. Phonak will enable it, likely soon.
What you also need is a phone that either enables Auracast through an app you download or built in software.
