LE Audio and the Future of Hearing

Scholarly Articles, News, and Other Resources
#930

I think part of the problem for something like ReSound Nexias and Auracast is that you have a relatively small company, even though they make Jabra stuff, compared to the likes of Samsung and Apple and big TV, appliance, and electronics manufacturers. So GN ReSound tries to get a leg up on a competitor like Phonak by being on the bleeding edge, but Apple, Samsung, and Phonak are more successful in what they do now. Usually, a big business has trouble undercutting its bread-and-butter products with something very new and different. Samsung might be more forward-looking than Apple as Apple almost owns the personal audio business with products like AirPods and Beats Audio. In the Stephen Frazier article that I posted above: LE Audio and the Future of Hearing - #924 by jim_lewis, Frazier did write (as of March 2023) that It’s not clear yet whether companies like Apple and Samsung will make LE audio software upgrades available for existing devices. Still, Stephen Frazier wrote that Apple is reportedly working on LE Audio–compatible AirPods and iPhones.

That blog post was nine months ago, and the iPhone 15 was announced months ago. Maybe the problem, besides the inertia of Apple riding on its current audio wave, is that Apple sees no point in coming out with something that’s not compatible with the forthcoming ISO standard that @MDB references in his post about the GN ReSound Audiology Online course on Auracast.

(right now, I’m too consumed learning about Ford vehicle ECUs to worry about whatever affects my hearing future!).

#931

How to access broadcast assistant on Samsung S23:

https://cdn1-originals.webdamdb.com/13512_154566073

3 Likes
#932

Ok. Five years maybe before your cinema, the airport, and the counter at your bank are enabled. I think it’s very feasible though that within a year your phone, your tv, your girlfriend’s tv, and your computer will all be enabled. That puts us ahead of where we’ve ever been. We might have to wait for the fruit…

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#933

This is quite possible, but it is unlikely telecoil will see much expansion given that better technology is now available. For example, I live in New Hampshire, and the online site to find telecoil usage lists 14 sites for the entire state (none of which I would ever use). Auracast should cost a fraction to implement of what a coil would cost, and has many applications beyond hearing aids, which will also likely add to its adoption.

As an electrical engineer that is new to wearing HA’s, I am going with BLE Audio and Auracast and not the telecoil. I choose the future, not the past.

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#934

Right now, it’s not either/or and you need both BT and telecoil. Telecoil is not just for looped venues. Used with a neckloop, it serves as an interface between non-BT LE Audio hearing aids and BT LE audio transmitters and as an interface between FM/IR/WiFi transmitters and any hearing aid. (I’m also an EE in NH)

#935

I thought I’d jump in here and remind folks about Magnesiums role in proper heart rhythm along with several hundred other reactions in your body chemistry.

Most of the world is deficient of this very necessary mineral because it’s hard to get sufficient quantities in diet and poor availability in food sources. To make matters worse, proper body levels are not easily measured because the majority lives in the bone marrow, not the blood supply. Also, certain common prescription drugs actually deplete Magnesium from your system. Check yours out to see.

Find a good source of absorbable Magnesium and take it daily. Do your research. All the information you need is available online.

I started taking Magnesium Taurate years ago now and it’s completely stopped my AFib. Your results will vary, of course, but proper Magnesium levels will help you in many other ways.

Do it today. It can help.

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Atrial fibrillation and magnesium
#936

Actually, whether you “need” either a telecoil or BLE Audio is a matter of personal choice. As I stated, I have no use for a telecoil, and don’t want a larger HA to accommodate a coil I will never use. There is no venue that I ever attend that has a loop installed, and the neck loop you mention is something, fortunately, I do not need with the level of hearing loss I currently have. So for me, and anyone else in similar circumstances, BLE Audio is more important that a coil. Also, since BLE Audio has applications far outside of HA’s, there is a greater chance of new developments that use BLE Audio.

With that said, I’m sure there are many people who use, and need, coils. But I have no use for them, and will not buy a hearing aid without BLE Audio and Auracast.

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#937

Has anyone seen this video demonstration of LE Audio and Auracast done by Andrew Bellavia.

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#938

Excellent video @tenkan, thank you for sharing :smile: Cheers Kev :wink:

1 Like
#939

Yes. I really liked the integration with Windows they showed in the second interview.

#940

@kevels55 Yeah it was interesting, it certainly shows that it’s something to look forward to, all I want is no more drop outs, anything else is just a bonus.

@d_Wooluf absolutely, that’s been a big bug bear for a while now, integration with the very things we use everyday is really important for a lot of us, I’m looking forward to this, god I hope they don’t stuff it up, as in it just works out of the box!

1 Like
#941

Thanks for the video link, @tenkan. I liked Bellevia’s example of the competitive sports bar advantage of installing Auracast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxPUEe8MenU&t=347s.

But the BT Sig guy’s counterexample of how theaters that already had loops or FM might still want to switch to Auracast was super-impressive, as Bellavia agreed. The capability to provide multiple forms of accessibility: 1) for members of the general public wearing earbuds who just want to hear dialog better, 2) for the hearing impaired who want to hear everything better, and 3) yet another audio stream describing what was occurring visually for sight-impaired who might hear perfectly normally but not be able to see well (Microsoft has a developing technology, too, called Seeing AI that might be used to provide the audio streaming for such assistive listening: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/seeing-ai.

The video segment on multiple forms of assistive listening/accessibility that Auracast will enable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxPUEe8MenU&t=410s.

The last thing I liked about the video might be the real sleeper. The GN ReSound head engineer explained how two-way audio would now be possible between Windows PCs and BT LE Audio hearing aids, seeming to say it was something GN had been working on with Microsoft for ten years ( :astonished: if that’s true). But the sleeper part was where he claimed that a Team’s call through a Windows PC would be crystal-clear on both ends. Even if background noise were in your environment, the folks on the other end wouldn’t hear it. I wonder if MS will use PC processing power to remove call noise from your outgoing voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxPUEe8MenU&t=1120s or whether the directionality of the HA mics is all that will be at work, and, as is too typical, it’s more hype than reality?

Edit_Update: Apparently, AI-guided noise suppression has been built into MS Teams at least since 2021. So hearing aids or not, a Windows PC can do much of the heavy lifting. Having a good carotid mic or good HA mics should improve noise reduction on top of any the PC does: Reduce background noise in Microsoft Teams meetings - Microsoft Support (I don’t do Teams calls. I think Zoom has noise-suppresion features built in, too, but never carefully checked out how good it is).

3 Likes
#942

Thanks @jim_lewis & @tenkan for sharing my video and subsequent discussion. Here is another one you might enjoy, originally presented at the Academy of Doctors of Audiology conference in November, just after that EUHA video was recorded. It breaks down the need, present state, and future of LE Audio & Auracast, including a live demo with thanks to Bluetooth SIG for providing the hardware. In it I also showed a clip from Intel’s CEO further demonstrating what an AI-enabled PC can do in combination with connected hearing aids. https://youtu.be/dOYe1-LchZc?si=EoBPx3ex-vyFmcVC

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#943

Thanks for sharing this, it was interesting in mentioning that 10 year time frame, it’s seems too far away, I really hope it’s much sooner then this, as you know we need these features like “now” the whole PC thing with AI from intel is going to be fantastic,as it’s already started i can see a time frame much sooner then 10 years to saturate the market, so accessibility for HAs is going to have to play catch up! as a side note, watching the video from intel
(watching a video through a video) showed how bad the latency is, it was really bad through ASHA protocol!

1 Like
#944

Glad you liked it @tenkan. The meaning of the 10 years was not that it would take that long for Auracast to roll out, but that loops and T-coil hearing aids would be around for at least that long. There will be a long transition period where both exist.

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#945

Ahh ok, that sounds much better, thanks for clarifying that.

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#946

Great discussion of connectivity overall, proprietary connectivity vs. BT SIG standards, and why everyone should look forward to having BT LE Audio incorporated into their future devices. Very clear and easy to understand. :heart_eyes:

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#947

Thanks @jim_lewis, glad you found it useful!

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#948

@ssa
Have you got any updates on Auracast with your Cochlear Nucleus 8 and Resound hearing aid?

I was reading about the N8 being Bluetooth LE Audio ready and I thought of you.

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#949

Happy new year! @Raudrive I wish I knew, I don’t have any more info on this other than what publicly. I can say 2024 is the year for LE Audio implementation on everything. Maybe check out the news at CES 2024 on LE Audio which is going on right now.

3 Likes