isn’t just about venues but about your own ecosystem- the things you personally connect to such as your PC, TV and HiFi.
And when it comes to venues its more than theatres and concert hall: think railway stations and airports, stadiums, museums, walking tours and book groups.
It might not be everywhere yet, but deployment is rapid and with hearing aids expected to have a five-year lifespan, IMHO not buying an Auracast Enabled pair now is a folly (caveat, has to be right for your hearing loss)
You and @Jay.Aitchsee seem to be conflating LE audio (which would be used for calls) with . Auracast is based on LE audio, but is not the same thing. Auracast it a broadcast. It could be sent to a hundred receivers in your vicinity, and there is no necessary pairing. LE audio for your phone calls should be one-to-one.
Yes, @WhiteHat, you are exactly right. In my response above, I did conflate LE audio with when talking about phone calls. Thanks for pointing that out.
This comment is of course correct. Just to expand on it a bit….. If I have any mistakes in the following, please correct!!
Phones do not communicate with hearing aids using , at least for the most part. Phones use Bluetooth. Some hearing aids use “standard” bluetooth (I think many Phonaks do this); newer hearing aids use Bluetooth LE (LE = Low energy, I think). Most phones, either Android or iphone support bluetooth and bluetooth LE. I have Costco Soundgear AMPS (rebranded Starkey Edge); I just switched my phone from a Pixel 7 to an iphone 17E, both stream well to my ’s, for both phone calls and audio from a phone app. On the Pixel the bluetooth LE connection was established using the “bluetooth” setting on the phone, on iphone there’s a special “hearing aids” setting screen. The sound is good, and for the most part the connection is solid. For the most part.
Some HA’s, I think some Phonaks, also stream to phones, but use standard bluetooth.
Auracast is different. It is a one way sound broadcast from an Auracast enabled transmitter device, such as a newer TV. Older TV’s don’t usually stream auracast, but you can buy a gizmo for about $70 that would connect to the TV’s 3.5mm or TOSlink audio output and convert it to Auracast. I use an Avantree AudiKast 4, and it works well.
It’s your hearing aids, not your phone that need to be Auracast ready; many newer HA’s are. Auracast is one-way, the sound is streamed to your HA’s, but your HA’s do not transmit to the auracast device. Many devices (a room full of people with HA’s, for example) can receive auracast simultaneously, and it’s expected the technology will gradually replace . That’s what its designed for. Auracast is based on blue tooth LE, but its a different standard.
Auracast on HA’s is usually controlled by an app in your phone, so it’s confusing. You tell your HA’s to “tune in” to the auracast broadcast using the app, but it’s the hearing aids, not the phone that’s receiving the auracast. The app speaks to your HA’s typically via a bluetooth LE connection, and controls the auracast, the HA’s are doing the heavy lifting.
Most hearing aids nowadays use Bluetooth LE; older HA’s use standard bluetooth. Some older TV’s which have standard blue tooth can probably broadcast audio to HA’s that can handle standard bluetooth (many can’t); if this is your situation you can probably pair your TV with your HA’s. I think the pairing would be controlled from your TV, and might be straightforward or might not be.
The nice thing about Auracast is that the connection is simple - there is no “pairing”. You have to use a phone app to tell the HA’s to receive an Auracast broadcast, but the connection is much more straightforward than bluetooth pairing.
iPhones and IOS 26 or 27 do not do auracast; though my understanding is that the iphone hardware can handle auracast, apple just has to build it in to IOS. This does NOT affect the iphone’s ability to tell the hearing aids to receive an auracast broadcast. Newer pixels do have native auracast, I would imagine this means they can receive an auracast broadcast. You could connect headphones to a late model Pixel, and use the phone to receive an auracast broadcast.
Then there’s computers. Suppose you want to have a Zoom or Teams call through your PC, and using your HA’s for the audio. There are, I believe, two ways to do this. Older PC’s have standard bluetooth, and I would guess they could pair with older HA’s that use standard bluetooth. I haven’t tried this. Newer Windows PC’s can do Bluetooth LE; there’s a setting in the sound settings that enables this on compatible PC’s (again, this is only newer PC’s or laptops). These PC’s can be paired with newer, Bluetooth LE hearing aids.
I having meetings on an older which has bluetooth, but NOT bluetooth LE. My hearing aids are bluetooth LE. I don’t think they’ll pair with my older computer, but I haven’t spent time with this. What I did was to buy another gizmo from Avantree, an Auracast transmittter dongle. I plug this into the USB port of my PC, and tell Windows to use it like it would use headphones. (this is usually done via the Windows settings app, but in Teams it’s a separate device setting in Teams). I then use my phone to tell my HA’s to receive the Auracast audio. This works, usually seamlessly. It’s a oneway connection, I use my computer’s microphone for my voice.
Maybe you are missing the distinction between LE and . Sonova aids (Phonak and friends) mostly use BT classic. Almost all the other hearing aids use mfi or asha over a BT LE connection. As you mentioned “newer ones” that use LE audio in addition/instead of the mfi/asha protocols. Look those up to see the differences.
It might not be everywhere yet, but deployment is rapid and with hearing aids expected to have a five-year lifespan, IMHO not buying an Auracast Enabled pair now is a folly
Really?
I just tried one of those websites that claim to identify installations. West of the Mississippi, it found one location in Wyoming, another in Arizona, and a bit farther west, one in Australia.
Reminds me of the Emperor's New Clothes. Or perhaps there's a better search website. But unless I belong to a Church that believes the universe was invented in six days 6,000 years ago it seems I probably won't benefit from having the technology in my ears.
it seems I probably won't benefit from having the technology in my ears.
Don't worry about it then. You're reacting like Phil's at your door trying to sell you encyclopedias. I use it every day at home. A friend has it on her TV. There's a performing arts centre within reach that has it. I expect there to be more public venues with it next year and the year after that. The aids I have now and will probably still have then are ready for it.
It costs me nothing extra to have it in my ears. Even if I didn't use it, I'm contributing to the number of 'enabled' users and that number is what venues notice. So, you can accept things the way that they are or hope for something better. Buy the technology, bore your friends with it at dinner parties ("hey, has your TV got ?"), write polite emails to your local cinema. A little positivity to go with that dour consumerism.
Part of the point with is that it is MUCH less expensive and much easier to install than an induction loop. Yes, uptake will be slowish with hearing aid users but the younger generation of non medical ear bud users replace their equipment much more often and they will be Auracast users too, helping create a commercial demand.
I agree that use is rapidly expanding. I got a HomeSpot Auracast transmitter (HS_BA210) on Amazon for my 14 year-old Philips plasma TV set for $50. The space museum I work at has a similar system in their gallery and will soon be expanding it to other lab and demonstration spaces. My audiologist has just donated Auracast systems to the two largest music/concert halls in the city. We will be reaching out to the largest convention center in town to add Auracast to their sound systems and will be working with the City to add it to the loop system they already have in place at our airport. In parallel, we will be demonstrating our systems to the three major amphitheaters in the area. I really believe that once venues are 1) made aware of Auracast and 2) see how inexpensive and easy it is to implement, it will catch on very rapidly. (I haven't even started to show the local sports bars and gyms how they can use it.) My advice to people thinking about getting new hearing aids is to make sure it is included and activated. I can assure you, it will be very common before you need to replace the hearing aids you buy now. All of the major hearing aid manufacturers have or will have it in their new hearing aids. (At this time, the implementation through the Phonak app on iOS devices is clunky, but I'm hoping that Apple and Phonak can get their app licensing restrictions squared away soon - maybe by summer - to make it more convenient for people who use their app on iOS.) Remember, as was well stated above, Auracast does not come to the hearing aids through the cell phone. All the app does is allow the hearing aid to identify, select and connect to the desired Auracast broadcast. Thereafter, the connection is between the Auracast transmitter and the hearing aid, headset or ear pods directly.
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