DEAR Ranson
Because many hearing aids perform very poorly when using their built-in microphones during phone calls, the person on the other end often cannot hear clearly at all. Although hearing aid manufacturers promote “hands-free” functionality as convenient, the essence of a phone call is to clearly understand each other. However, using the hearing aid’s microphone often fails to meet this basic requirement reliably.
The smartphone’s microphone is definitely the most cost-effective and reliable option for capturing sound, as it’s designed for millions of users.
I’ve been looking for a way to use a traditional Bluetooth connection with PHONAK hearing aids on an Android system, so that during phone calls, I can hear the other person through my hearing aids, but my voice is picked up by the phone’s built-in microphone.
Thank you for your help!
Would you like help finding a specific solution or setting for your Android phone and PHONAK hearing aids?
Thanks for explaining the microphone performance issue.
I’ll do some testing to see if it’s feasible with the FMA120. If all goes well, I’ll share a link to a test firmware. We’ll test with a similar setup and assume it will work with Phonak, but since we don’t have any Phonak devices on hand (we only have some LE audio hearing aids), you’d eventually need to try it out with an FMA120 yourself.
DEAR Ranson
Phonak hearing aids typically use the SBC codec for audio transmission during phone calls, utilizing the Bluetooth HFP (Hands-Free Profile) mode.
Perhaps you can use any Bluetooth headset that supports SBC and HFP to test whether, during a phone call or voip app call, it’s possible to use the phone’s built-in microphone for audio input while using the Bluetooth headset to listen to the other party.
thank for your kindly help!
jack
Voice from mobile phone to HA’s via BT is problem when you are in noisy environment . It is due to interference from surrounding sound. The caller might not be able to hear you clearly because the HA’s also pick up the surrounding sound. If you are in a quiet room and Telco signal is strong, the caller will be able to hear you better.
Try to get your friend to call you when you are in a room versus when you are outside the house/street. It is different when the mobile phone near your mouth and ears.
Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback and comments on our product — I’ve just started a new thread introducing the dongle’s new Auracast receiver mode.
DEAR danka
Thank you for providing a great solution to improve the performance between mobile phones and hearing aids during calls.
In my humble opinion, the best approach would be to freely choose between the phone’s microphone or the hearing aid’s microphone during a call.
However, if only one option is allowed, prioritizing the phone’s microphone would be better for call stability.
Thanks again!
Jack
Here’s the firmware prepared for your specific Phonak requirement. It has been tested on a Samsung S23 Ultra, with audio routed to the connected Bluetooth device and the microphone remaining active on the phone.
Please note that priority is determined by the mobile operating system (iOS or Android); the dongle itself cannot control which audio interface the OS selects. While we can offer some workarounds, achieving a seamless solution would ultimately require pressure on Phonak, Apple, and Google to make this functionality available to users.
As an accessory, the dongle has no control over this behavior — even on Windows, it’s the user who selects which microphone is used.