LE Audio and the Future of Hearing

Scholarly Articles, News, and Other Resources
#322

I have a question people, Will NoahLink wireless be in use for a long time ??? Like an old noahlink who used wires?

As far as I read Noahlink wireles uses bluetooth LE for data transfer. Although it is only for data. Could it transmit sound like the new bluetooth le that will be standard in hearing aids (bluetooth LC3)
?

I ask because, I would like to be able to transfer music sound or player sound within software for example Unitron Truefit has a small music player on the bottom left to play various ambient sounds, speech sound etc.

I’ve heard that at the moment it’s only possible to transmit “only” sounds for IN-situ.

When I tune my hearing aids, to have better sound via bluetooth streaming. I often have to close the tuning software because there is no “disconnect hearing aids” option, at least I didn’t find that option anywhere, and I wait 40 seconds for the hearing aids to connect to my smartphone, and play some sounds like speech (audio language course) or play music whether all the sounds are good, if not, if they are not sharp enough, if they are too distorted so I reconnect the hearing aids via the tuning software and it takes at least 5 minutes to reconnect them. at that time it is first to load my user profile and another 2-3 minutes to connect the hearing aids.

If I didn’t find the problem or got a better sound, I’ll try again. I still consider myself an amateur because I need to learn a lot about possibilities.

#323

Speaker manufacturer Sonos has acquired a company that specialises in LE Audio. While not directly relevant to hearing aids perhaps, it does show interest in LE Audio from the big players.

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#324

On Bluetooth Sig, Edifier has a Bluetooth 5.3 speaker with LC3

#325

I couldn’t find it on the home page. LC3 doesn’t necessarily mean it’s LE Audio though. Manufacturers can choose to use LC3 in Bluetooth Classic alongside SBC, AptX, AAC and all the rest. I’m sure there are benefits but you don’t got the benefits that go with the underlying isonchronous channels connection. Great if it’s the first LE Audio product though. I think Nick Hunn said there’d be a LE Audio speaker out in the new year (2022).

I was browsing through one of those specifications I mentioned a couple of posts back. That particular one (can’t remember which) stated that it relied on Bluetooth 5.3. It would be nice to get some clarity on 5.2 v 5.3 when product starts coming out.

#326

I did it as an advanced search for end product, BT 5.3 and checked LC3 under Layers. These are the Edifier speakers that came up. Maybe not officially LE audio yet, but I’d guess they have everything necessary.

EDIFIER Portable Bluetooth speaker, EDF100018

EDIFIER Portable Bluetooth speaker, M100 Plus

EDIFIER Portable Bluetooth speaker, MP100 Plus

#327

So, one of the major headphone companies (owned by one of the big six hearing aid companies) is apparently developing a product with LE Audio.

2 Likes
#328

It may not be crucial if Google doesn’t include full support for LE Audio in Android 13.

From https://www.xda-developers.com/bluetooth-ultra-wideband-mainline-modules-android-13/

"Google will make the Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband stacks mainline modules in Android 13. For the unaware, Android’s Project Mainline essentially lets Google take control of critical framework components and system applications, thereby allowing the company to deliver new features and security updates for those components/applications without waiting for OEMs to roll out a software update.

To do so, Google makes use of Mainline modules, which can be updated through the Google Play Services framework and the Google Play Store. In Android 13, Google is making Android’s Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband stacks mainline modules. This will let the company add new features to the Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband stack and get them to users as quickly as possible."

2 Likes
#329

I don’t get Ultra Wide Band. From little reading I’ve done, it sounds kind of like the 60GHz version of wifi that seemed to die pretty quickly. I don’t think it has anything to do with LE Audio? I know Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and S22 Plus both have it, but not the S22.

#330

From Nick Hunn’s book (I think):

Bluetooth LE Audio releases include a new, efficient codec called LC3 which is the mandated codec for Bluetooth LE Audio Streams. This provides excellent performance for telephony speech, wideband and super-wideband speech and high-quality audio

I thought it referred to the frequency range. We might not get as much out of it as your average Joe for obvious reasons. Also, it may not be used in hearing aids to conserve battery. A pity, because even for us those high frequencies do provide extra information.

#331

Here’s Wiki’s take on UWB. I think it’s more about the bandwidth of the radio waves. Ultra-wideband - Wikipedia

#332

You’re right. It looks like an alternative to Bluetooth in some use cases. You’ve opened up a whole new world.

Here’s what I was thinking of.

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#333

Where do you see that the ReSound One is BT5.2? I can’t find that anywhere. Don’t know if he is right, butJeff Solum from Starkey says manufacturers won’t be hardware ready until 2023.

#334

If you go to Bluetooth.com and look up the product.

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#335

2023 sounds very plausible.

#336

Good news I think: Xiaomi Redmi K50 series to be the first to offer Bluetooth 5.3 and LC3 audio - GSMArena.com news

3 Likes
#337

Good news but it comes a week after I got myself an iphone. The question in my mind is how good the software support is. Assuming it’s upgradeable to the full LE audio spec (when implemented by Google in Android 13 hopefully), will that happen?

#338

I don’t know Xiaomi at all, but I just thought it seemed hopeful since somebody finally came out with a phone that seems to have proper specs.

3 Likes
#339

I have Xiaomi, I have bought Xiaomi several times because it gives good specifications for a lower price.
But this time there is one problem. I don’t know if it happens to others. But for some reason google assistant doesn’t work when the smartphone is locked. I tried several times to solve this problem and I failed. Reportedly the problem in MIUI is that Xiaomi has made and complicated what google already had. The next smartphoen will be someone else because I want to use google assistant when the screen is locked.

1 Like
#340

Hey @markoo355 , I don’t know much about Xiaomi, but I saw this video which may be helpful.

Google search has a lot on this.

#341

First earbuds to claim LE Audio compatibility?

https://min.news/en/digital/0030fe9d942276aa003df8437036104e.html