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LE Audio and the Future of Hearing

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Edited

In reply to @jim_lewis

That is an interesting idea about Resound having a non disclosure agreement with Apple. I read the phone gossip pretty diligently and although there are lots of rumors about the upcoming iPhone 14 versions, I’ve seen no mention of . We’ll see on Sept. 7 I guess.

In reply to @d_Wooluf

Was thinking about this more. Any scale with numbers can be modified so one can make it look like any percentage of improvement one wants to market. Set baseline to zero and any level of improvement is “infinite!” From my memory of the data, the SNR roughly doubled, but the absolute numbers were still relatively meager.

Now here I am passing on Apple rumours. Someone spotted an entry for an Apple “host subsystem” with 5.3 on the Bluetooth site and now the next Airpod Pros are going to have apparently. I hope they’re right.

Apple Seemingly Preparing for Devices With Bluetooth 5.2, Which Could Hint at...9

Apple appears to be preparing for future devices with Bluetooth 5.2 support, according to a filing in the Bluetooth SIG products database earlier...

Can’t find detailed specs on the Samsung website but the following tech report says that the just out Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro use 5.3 as its wireless protocol (see down under the Technical Specifications section, after the picture):

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro price, videos, deals and specs | NextPit1

Haven’t seen anything about codec or BT in any article yet related to these new ear buds. Samsung is apparently using its own proprietary audio codec.

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WH

I made a comment in another thread about another new technology (supposedly?) where I take the fluff stuff and anything not backed by solid tech specs and throw it in a marketing cr@p pile. I remember modems from long ago that were promised to be “upgradable” to a certain standard that was going to be released any day now. A few did. A few were upgradable but not quite to the full performance of the new standard. Almost. So sad. No refunds. Hope you’re ok. But our new one, it’s awesome! Buy it today!

WH

In reply to @WhiteHat

I imagine a bunch of folks expressed similar opinions when Bluetooth itself first came out. At least in the ear buds market for the masses, just because of greatly improved rechargeable battery life (and better sound quality for the battery expenditure), it’s not hard to see replacing classic BT. It’s not going to happen overnight but it’s most likely the long-term future (like Samsung says, “eventually”). Not too many ear buds users are stocking up on disposable batteries, so rechargeable battery runtime is of paramount importance to those folks. And those folks will have a big influence on driving the audio market. BT LE Audio will not be included in smartphones for the market, but it will for the ear buds market. And Apple, Samsung, and Google copycatting each other on “must-have” advanced features will help make sure the latest and greatest is included in your smartphone whether you really need it or not (always-on-displays, anyone?).

In reply to @MDB

@MDB said:

I think he was being satirical making a reference to snake oil salesmen

True story: My original told me to avoid sellers of hearing aids because they were all “snake oil salesmen”. Whitehat could have plonked his musical hall number anywhere on this board and it would have been on-topic. Genius!

@WhiteHat said:

Buy it today!

I wish.

@jim_lewis said:

I imagine a bunch of folks expressed similar opinions when Bluetooth itself first came out.

I’m not saying it will never get here. I’m saying be wary of the suggestions that someday “these will be able to do that.”

@d_Wooluf said:

True story: My original ENT told me to avoid sellers of hearing aids because they were all “snake oil salesmen”. Whitehat could have plonked his musical hall number anywhere on this board and it would have been on-topic. Genius!

I don’t think the ordinary independent audiology shops are snake oil salesmen. The single brand chains give me the willies. But the major mfrs certainly churn out a bunch of stuff that resembles what the horses leave on the trail. Is there a hard, testable spec? (The engineer in me wants a goodness figure or something. Maybe a meter.) Fine. Otherwise, it comes down to testimonial and deciding who to believe.

Personally, unless the new “thing” improves hearing SO MUCH that my audiologist decides it is worth it to me to dump my year old P90R for the new thing, I’m two years out from what I expect will be Phonak’s next gen aids. If they come out exactly two years from now, I’d probably wait until they are available on the next contract in November.

Reminds me of Reagan’s Russian proverb: Trust, but verify!

WH

Edited

I agree there isn’t hard proof, when it comes to hearing aids. But hearing aids have to deal with individuals with individual hearing needs, sure there are general hearing ranges but there is always individual differences to deal with, each person has their own environments and own understanding of what they hear. I also believe that the normal hearing test misses hearing issues that just aren’t tested. Some of us, me included had hearing loss that is missed because of the standard frequencies that are used, I have losses that vary greatly in between the normal test frequencies that greatly affect my word recognition. I understand that it isn’t possible to test every possible frequencies in the speech range, but I feel that the test don’t take the possibility into account. It was my own knowledge of audio frequencies and test equipment that found my issue, and it took years to convince my audiologists of that fact.
Even with my electronics technician/ engineering background, and having severe hearing loss I don’t envy the task of the ones that design hearing aids, most specially now with all of the software/firmware that adds to the mix. Even Bluetooth and Wi-Fi now is as much or more software/firmware magic as hardware.

The Jabra Elite 5 earbuds have just been announced. No word yet on spec but I’d bet it’s BT 5.3. Better battery life is touted as one of its specs. The various Jabra Elite models have been touted as serious competitors to Apple AirPods.

Oops! Down at the end of the review under Pros, it states that the Elite 5 are BT 5.2.

Jabra Elite 5 Review - Best all-rounder Jabra earbuds9

Jabra Elite 5 Review – I’ve used and review many Jabra Elite earbuds from the highest-end model to the most […]

Edited

The Airpod Pro 2 also has 5.3, but no mention anywhere- iphone 14, ios 16, or Airpod Pro 2- of .

Apple announces second-gen AirPods Pro with improved ANC1

The latest version of Apple's priciest true-wireless AirPods delivery better battery life, "personalized" spatial audio, and twice the noise-cancelling prowess.

Edit: LE Audio claimed for the buds here:

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Edited
@d_Wooluf said:

The Airpod Pro 2 also has BT 5.3, but no mention anywhere- iphone 14, ios 16, or Airpod Pro 2- of LE Audio.

Maybe they’re waiting for TVs, computers, etc., to come with built in.

ReSound with the Omnia advertises that all their old proprietary accessories still work with the Omnia. So, maybe until mass acceptance of BT LE Audio forces folks like Apple and ReSound to climb on the bandwagon, these folks may be happy to keep selling us their proprietary solutions. Perhaps where it’s possible, BT LE Audio will just be “silently” working in the background, too. Apple doesn’t explain much about how connectivity works. So, until BT LE Audio works with a lot of things, there might not be much point in providing it or emphasizing it just works now with, say, ReSound ’s. Maybe when every MFi HA is BT LE Audio capable, it will be a different story?

Edit_Update: Perhaps another possibility is that Apple didn’t want to hand over any iPhone 14s before release to anyone like ReSound, Oticon, Widex, etc. So, if you’re an HA OEM, it’s pretty hard to tout, Hey! Our HA’s are BT LE Audio capable with an iPhone 14, if you’ve never had your hands on an iPhone 14 or 14 Pro Max to physically test out connectivity, e.g., ReSound’s list of devices that have been physically tested for HA compatibility.

For example, as of right now (9/7/22, 7:25 PM CDT in USA), the iPhone 14 is still not listed as a compatible device for the ReSound Omnia.

Compatibility3

ReSound Smart Hearing aids enable you to stream from virtually any audio source and personalize your sound on the go. Find more information here.

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