In the future. 
ASHA is kind of like the Android version of Made for iPhone.
LE Audio will be a universal (hopefully) standard that Android or IOS or Windows could use. It will require BT 5.2 LE audio also has the potential to be used in performance venues if I’m understanding correctly.
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LE Audio will have more functionality than ASHA and mfi and it will be more mainstream. So eventually your young hipster family and friends (who may hear like bats) will also use it.
One example of possible new functionality is if your have a cochlear implant and wear a hearing aid. I’m assuming that right now you can’t stream audio to both ears simultaneously? LE Audio will have multiple independent streams. You could stream the left channel to your implanted ear and the right channel to your hearing aid. Don’t hold me to that, but I don’t see why not. In fact, you could do that AND stream the same audio to a pair of Bluetooth speakers so other people in the room can listen in AND stream the same audio to anyone in the room who happened to have their LE Audio equipped ear buds with them.
I don’t know if your unit will be upgraded to LE Audio. That’s something to ask Cochlear when the time comes.
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Ok, I found this hot off the press:
Key points:
In commercial production
One usage case (amongst others) is ‘advanced wearables’
Supports Bluetooth 5.2
and…
“In addition, the SoC has been designed to meet the requirements of LE Audio, enabling audio streaming over Bluetooth Low Energy. LE Audio supports multi-stream synchronized audio for applications such as earbuds, and Audio Sharing, whereby a single audio source can be broadcast to multiple recipients. With an LE Audio- enabled software stack, the nRF5340’s radio can support Isochronous Channels, the Bluetooth 5.2 feature required by LE Audio for streaming. LE Audio also introduces the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3), a high-quality, low-power audio compression codec that can run efficiently on the nRF5340. The audio data can be transferred to other parts of the system (for example, AD/DA converters, speakers, and microphones) using the I2S and PDM audio interfaces, which employ the nRF5340’s low-jitter audio PLL clock source.”
Interesting that they say “in addition” when we were wondering whether Bluetooth 5.2 was sufficient in itself for supporting LE Audio.
When they say “with an LE Audio- enabled software stack” I’m guessing that they mean is “with the addition of”.
Anyway what we seem to have here is a hardware platform that is in production and can be used to develop advanced hearables including ones supporting LE audio when updated with a LE audio software stack. Just a sign that things are moving forward.
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“Another exciting capability built in to the new QCC305x SoCs is support for the upcoming [Bluetooth LE Audio]”
It’s a SoC intended for use in developing earbuds. Qualcomm of course also makes chips designed for use in mobile phones. So, we can see things starting to come together. Still waiting on the LE Audio specifications to be published however
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I’m guessing you saw this, but will post if anybody else is interested: ENS Wearables | Bluetooth® Technology Website
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Some earlier technology of this sort is already available in iOS 14.3. In iPhone Settings, scroll down to “Exposure Notifications.” The blurb that goes with turning it on says the notification is based on general iPhone location. From what I’ve read about the already existing technology, it doesn’t given any hint on how close one has to be to someone who later is identified as positive, e.g., I go to an HEB Grocrery Store, there’s someone in the store > 100 ft away from me at all times, and I get an Exposure Notification? I think more details as to exactly what one is buying into would help people intelligently use such features and maybe posts related to Exposure Notifications via BT, etc., should be split off into a new thread - as it’s not exactly LE Audio! 
If BT LE is involved, that can work up to 80 ft away or so. If it’s classic BT in wearables, we’re talking more like 25 to 30 ft. So it would be good if the monitoring system by way of signal strength detected with another wearable BT ID could provide at least a rough estimate of proximity to a person who later was identified with an active coronavirus infection.
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They rolled it out in California over a week ago. It was in beta on the UC CA campuses before that. I installed as soon as it was beta.
The CA Notify website with more info is here.
There are four more specifications showing for LE Audio now. Adoption date is showing 15/12/2020 but I think they were added to the list today (Christmas day)
| LC3 | Low Complexity Communication Codec | 1.0 | Active | 15 Sep 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AICS | Audio Input Control Service | 1.0 | Active | 15 Dec 2020 |
| VCP | Volume Control Profile | 1.0 | Active | 15 Dec 2020 |
| VCS | Volume Control Service | 1.0 | Active | 15 Dec 2020 |
| VOCS | Volume Offset Control Service | 1.0 | Active | 15 Dec 2020 |
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And while I’m here… I came across a Qualcomm paper today comparing their previous model of earbud SoC (QCC304x) with the new one (QCC305x). The 304x was described as Bluetooth 5.2. The 305x was described as Bluetooth 5.2 AND ready for LE Audio.
That relates to something we were discussing a while back. Is Bluetooth 5.2 sufficient for LE Audio compatibility? We’ve seen some reviewers ascribe LE compatibility to one new hearing aid model (sorry, can’t remember which) because it has BT 5.2. The Qualcomm paper makes me think that’s a wrong assumption. I wouldn’t assume that BT 5.2 automatically means LE Audio compatibility.
If I find that paper again, I’ll post the link.
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The following article seems to imply that their new Snapdragon 888 smartphone chipset will be the first that will support LE audio. This seems a little odd in their already released 865+ makes similar claims. The next era of truly wireless audio: Qualcomm QCC305x SoCs
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I can’t quite work that out myself. They seem to be ramping up the publicity anyway. With the arrival of their new earbud SoC they are now claiming end-to-end hardware solutions. That’s where the ‘newness’ comes from maybe.
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Chinese mobile phone brand Xiaomi last night released the latest smartphone, the Mi 11, which is also the first Snapdragon 888 smartphone to be released. According to Xiaomi’s instructions, it has Bluetooth 5.2 and can streamming to two sets Bluetooth headsets at the same time.
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Yeah this is great news,this will get the other big players in the market moving fast to catch up, its been a long time coming!
here’s the full specifications
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_11-10656.php
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Nice find and good news but I think the multipoint streaming they’re talking about is a Bluetooth Classic tweak, not a BT 5.2 thing.
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“It is expected that most of the required components for LE Audio will be adopted by the Bluetooth SIG in the first half of 2021. T2 Software currently has early versions of all required host stack software available for evaluation and license today, with qualified versions expected as soon as adopted by the Bluetooth SIG. A complete host stack solution with support for both LE Audio and Classic Audio will be available from T2 Software as a qualified solution in Q3 2021, assuming LE Audio adoption by the SIG.”
from
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Is the Oticon More LE Audio compatible?
Is “prepared” for LE Audio is what they say.
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and same claim is made for Resound One, but I don’t think anybody else is claiming that at this point?
I’m fuzzy regarding phones. Samsung support claimed compatibility for all S21 versions, but I’ve seen a couple sources state that it will only be available in Ultra. (Wi-fi 6E also seems limited to Ultra)
Just had an odd thought. There is the certification of the LC3 by the Bluetooth SIG group and its incorporation by HA and phone OEM’s. But I wonder if the BT LE Audio protocol has to be certified by the equivalent of the FCC in each country of the world? And would that add further delay, depending on where you are?
Not exactly germaine but this availability thought was engendered by MDB’s remark on S21 availability. Samsung used to have an alternative to NFC payment called “MST” - Magnetic Secure Transmission - built into all its higher end Galaxy phones, enabling the phone, in a secure way, to mimic credit card sliding on old anachronistic terminals that only had an insecure card slider (also works on modern chip reader terminals that still have the slider). But Samsung is starting to phase out MST as more and more NFC terminals replace older terminals. So you would think every Samsung S21 phone would still come with MST built-in, whether you could still use it in your particular country or not. However, I read a recent tech article that said whether your S21 has MST capability or not will depend on which country of the world you buy it in and it varies across Europe, for example, in spite of the EU.
So, TL; DR: I wonder if whether BT LE Audio gets turned on any time soon depends on which country in the world you’re in, at least if you’re buying a Samsung phone?
Adding to the confusion is that Samsung uses different CPUs in different countries. I think it’s Quallcom in US and China and Exynos in other countries, but not sure.