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LE Audio and the Future of Hearing

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Edited

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 , etc., should be split off into a new thread - as it’s not exactly ! :slightly_smiling_face:

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.

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.
https://canotify.ca.gov2

There are four more specifications showing for now. Adoption date is showing 15/12/2020 but I think they were added to the list today (Christmas day)

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

Specifications | Bluetooth® Technology Website

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 .

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 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.

Edited

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.

@MDB said:

Snapdragon 888

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.

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

Xiaomi Mi 11 - Full phone specifications3

Xiaomi Mi 11 Android smartphone. Announced Dec 2020. Features 6.81″ display, Snapdragon 888 5G chipset, 4600 mAh battery, 256 GB storage, 12 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

In reply to @menglxs

@menglxs said:

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.

Nice find and good news but I think the multipoint streaming they’re talking about is a Bluetooth Classic tweak, not a 5.2 thing.

“It is expected that most of the required components for 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

T2 Software Licenses Bluetooth LC3 to Nordic Semiconductor5

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- T2 Software www.t2software.com (formerly T2 Labs) announces the licensing of their implementation of the Bluetooth Low Complexity Communications Codec () to Nordic Semiconductor for integration into...

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 by the Bluetooth SIG group and its incorporation by and phone OEM’s. But I wonder if the 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.

In reply to @MDB

@MDB said:

and same claim is made for Resound One

I don’t think that claim has been made explicitly (but we’ve been around the block a few times on that one already)

@jim_lewis said:

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?

I don’t think so. I’ve neve seen anything alluding to that in all of my obsessive internet searching. There’s nothing new in the radios that would interest FCC or any other regulatory body.

I am a pessimist that “Resound One”, “Phonak Paradise”, “Oticon More”, “Widex Moment” could be supported through firmware on the new bluetooth or Bluetooth 5.2 because in order for that to be possible, they must also support older devices , like MFIs and , must support those additional devices like roger select, oticon microphone, oticon, phonak widex (tv play) in various devices. The point is that they have to keep the compatibility they had and that’s why I think it’s impossible to have support for LC3 at the same time.
As far as I hear the LC3 has recently arrived, I think hearing aid manufacturers still don’t know what a hearing aid needs to support itself, it’s not just software but also a hardware component that needs to be able to perform some actions. The same goes for smartphones, the chip must support it and be able to perform those actions required for the new Bluetooth 5.2 otherwise it is not Bluetooth 5.2

It is more likely to be more supported through future hearing aids that will come later this year or in the second half of this year. Maybe even because some manufacturers are late with the ejection of hearing aids because they are not yet sure what they have to support for the new blueototh LC3, it also takes time to test to avoid problems that Phonak Marvel / Paradise, for example, has.

I believe Oticon has said that the More will support Made for iPhone and out of the box and in the future.

Patrick Tullly, a serious hearing aid user with a cochlear implant as well, commented in Dr. Cliff’s September, 2020 review of the ReSound ONE that he asked ReSound if the ONE would be upgradeable to and they responded in the positive as Geoffrey Cooling of Hearing Aid Know also reported in a separate later review, too. Tully asked if handsfree would be possible with the upgrade to BT LE Audio and ReSound told him “No,” according to his comment. I guess such remarks by Tully and Cooling are just hearsay but it’s a hopeful sign. I notice in the ReSound Pro support materials for the ONE, ReSound advertises something like “ReSound ONE adapts to patients’ lifestyles by connecting them to the world around them with direct audio streaming via future-proof Bluetooth Low Energy.” Unless BT LE Audio can be unlocked, the ReSound ONE is certainly not going to be “future-proof!” Dr. Cliff’s review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VjXHmDXvVs3

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