Nice find! Sounds like the pieces are in place although it also some sounds like some of the reluctance is a desire for greater audio “quality” as discussed earlier.
This is somewhat hopeful in that they used an unmodified Pixel 7 with Android 13 in developer mode in one demo. Sounds like hardware is there. If HA users were a bigger market share, we’d have it already.
I’ve got a Pixel 7 Pro on Google Fi, enabling Bluetooth LE Audio is just a toggle in the settings. The hardware is there on the phone side for the P7 family, and the software is there in Android. I’m not sure off the top of my head if the S23 series of Samsungs has LE Audio, but it seems like we might be either reaching a tipping point or close to reaching a tipping point on the Android side.
I have a Pixel 7 and turned on LE Audio. It didn’t cause problems with the KS9 aids, but it did with the Philips 9030.
I could not connect the Philips aids to the phone. I called Philips and one of their technicians concluded that the Pixel 7 was not compatible with the aids. (It’s not on the list.)
I remembered I had enabled LE Audio, switched it off and everything worked perfectly.
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I have S23. NRF Connect claims it supports LE Audio, but I don’t find any settings to enable LE Audio. Do you have the NRF Connect app on your 7 Pro? If so, I’d be curious to hear what it reports
I don’t have that app, sorry.
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It’s a great app, available in both the App Store and the Play Store. I’ve put it on both my iPhone and my old Android phone. I guess how useful it depends on how many BT devices you have in your house. That’s one thing that surprised me in using BT scanning apps like nRF Connect, is just how many dang BT devices I have in my house. It’s amazing my HA’s can still connect to my iPhone!
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Hi @Jim_lewis, What is the name of the Apps for iPhone 13?
You kind reply is highly appreciated. Thank you.
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The nRF Connect app is the following one: nRF Connect for Mobile on the App Store (apple.com). Works on iPhone or iPad. @MDB and a few other folks recommended it to other forum members. It takes some “learnings” to make full use of it! Maybe we could have a thread: “Things You Can Find Out with nRF Connect!”
There’s a bit of a disconnect in the app description. At the end of the list of its various capabilities, the description says, “Requirements: iOS 9.0 or above.” (under the See More link). But under the various devices on which it’s supported, it says, “Requires iOS 16.0 or later.”
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Looking at the version history, their major update a month ago triggered the iOS 16 requirement.
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I downloaded the app and enabled LE Audio. Here’s a screenshot.
Interestingly my Philips HAs still connect and the app seems to be working ok. The problem I had seems to be just related to the initial pairing.
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Thanks. My S23 looks the same except for only 2 Max connected devices. Does it change if LE Audio is not enabled?
It says NO for LE Audio supported if I turn it off.
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Just to complicate things. Fraunhofer (who helped develop the LC# codecs) also refer to an LC3+ codec as being suitable for hi-res audio.
In the availability section they say that the codecs are available as Android patches which the suggests it MAY be possible to update aids with BT 5.2 onward.
Sorry, I typed the last message with a website reference and it has posted as an excerpt.
I am not sure how to add the website.
You did. Click the title. The excerpt is an optional field that can be used on a website.
Are there any expectations around when we will start seeing LE Audio features, including Auracast™ broadcast audio, BASS, etc., become readily available to the public in mobile devices and other CE devices?
We anticipate the availability of LE Audio and Auracast™ broadcast audio devices will ramp up in early 2023.
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Someone should tell them it’s March already.
There was one question answered that I was wondering about: Smartphones can be used as broadcast transmitters (might be a useful tool when directing the next mob that attacks the Capitol). There was a question about push notifications that was kind of sidestepped.
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Here’s something I found interesting, but no mention of LE Audio, but I guess SoC is “any and all”
USound Launches Kore 4.0 Audio Module for OTC Hearing Aid.
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Sounds like it can be used with any Bluetooth SOC but does not include one.