Just get an iPhone

Hearing Aids
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#1

Bluetooth LE (Auracast) just isn’t working the way it should. For any Android users who are considering new hearing aids, I implore you to look into getting an iPhone.

Maybe at some point in the future this will be different, but for the time being it’s so much more beneficial to have an iPhone than to rely on Bluetooth LE (auracast) to work properly.

All I’ve seen are issues. Respond/Jabra will say it’s a phone issue. Samsung will say it’s the hearing aids. Resound/Jabra will then say it’s the current version of Android to blame. Around and around in circles. Then a new version of Android is released and connectivity is broken again.

As Auracast gets more prominent maybe this’ll be different; but for right now just get an iPhone.

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#2

An iphone 11 or newer will work better for HAs than Android’s BT LE audio now, and I made the switch myself, but only because my Galaxy S20 5G wasn’t on ReSound’s compatibility list. Everything else that I used - messaging, virtual keyboard, clock, file system - is better on Android than on the iphone, IMO.

BT LE Audio & Auracast are new now, and they’re bound to break as they encounter environments that were never part of the testing. Give it a while (6 mos? 12?). It will almost definitely get better.

2 Likes
#3

I’ve seen complaints about hearing aids and iPhones too, so it’s not a panacea, but anyway, if you want to use Android, just turn off LE Audio, then it works fine.

You do lose ability for hands free calling, but that doesn’t bother me at all. My hearing aids are hidden, so if I’m using hands free, I look like I’m talking to myself. I’m fine with having the phone in my hand or having it sitting on table while I talk. Then people know I’m on the phone.

2 Likes
#4

I went from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S23 android last summer and I have been much happier. My aids would disconnect from my iPhone all the time, I haven’t had that issue since switching to the S23. So to you I say I have been there done that and I have returned to Android

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#5

No, I’ll just wait until they get the bugs worked out. Plus I never use hands free calling so no big deal for me.

It will be interesting to see if Philips and Opticon can do a better job. We should know pretty soon.

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#6

Not now, not ever! I’ll stick to my Resound Prezas until it’s worked out before I reduce to an iPhone!. This new tech is in its infancy. Won’t be too long.

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#7

My Phonak P90 HAs work very well with Bluetooth and my Google Pixel Android phones. I stream audio daily, and have frequent hands-free phone calls as well. So another suggestion for those who want BT and Android is to go Phonak.

2 Likes
#8

Or just get the phone clip device, and be happy.

#9

I had a phone clip device on my prior generation HAs, and it very much did not make me happy. Super annoying having another gadget to keep charged and (very) close whenever I might want to use BT.

Direct phone to HA connections are so much easier to live with. I’ll never go back to HAs that require an extra gadget for BT connections.

#10

Yes, i have Phonak so im done with extra devices, i hope, but the phone clip devices can be a very convenient way to get high quality hands free and bluetooth streaming from other devices.

#11

Well i have the Samsung galaxy S23 and it stays connected to my Oticon More1 and my Real1 aids better than any of the iPhones that i ever had. The sound is great. For the ones that say with the android there isn’t hands free, that is true but then again no one could ever understand me when i tried hands-free so i stopped using it with my iPhone.

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#12

Bluetooth LE Auracast is several years away from being a mainstream technology.
No public locations such as cinemas have it at present and only a few absolutely brand new 2024 HA models have it.
No smart phones older than i year will have it either.
The universal roll out of Bluetooth le Auracast will require all compatible devices to use a totally new style of Bluetooth Radio Transmitter.
Current devices cannot be made into an Auracast compatible one with a software update.
We will all have to buy totally new equipment.

#13

The specific bluetooth connection issue with Resound/Jabra and Samsung Android devices relates to their use of the bluetooth ASHA protocol in 2019.
By 2021 ASHA was an outdated protocol and development on it had stopped by Resound and Google developers. Android versions 10, 11 and 12 had difficulties maintaining a reliable bluetooth connection between phones and hearing aids.
These ASHA specific bluetooth problems were fixed in Android version 13.

#14

Maybe, but it’s rolling out right now, and that’s all that matters, all the big names are in on this simply because it’s a far superior service to offer, manufacturers of smartphone, TVs and audio equipment are all coming out with this, like in the next few months we’ll see a big jump.

Watch this space, all bar one manufacturer will have this by the end of the year.

They can if it’s 5.2. version, but also you may want to watch this video, it’s interesting.

LE Audio and the Future of Hearing - #997 by tenkan

#15

I agree.

Help my Apple stock

#16

Nah, even the App isn’t worth that sacrifice. :slight_smile:

#17

If you bought an iPhone 11 today, it would have just 1 year remaining of support. I am on my last year of support for my XR, which works pefectly well. But it won’t get any of the valuable upgrades in the coming years. I don’t like Apple. But they do have me caught in a kind of trap.