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Hands-Free Phone Calls Coming to Made For iPhone Hearing Aids

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Way t’ try t’ keep up with Phonak there Apple. Still proprietary. Still not open. Still not standard. Still only for Apple devices.
Phonak can work with an Apple device too. Look ma, no hands. For a couple years now.
But ok cool being able to enter an rather than fiddling with an equalizer or adjustments.

Phonak is great for the ones that like Phonak sound. Sorry I don’t. I prefer the Oticon sound, and the open 360 degrees of sound.

I went to Apple after a life long dislike of Apple fanboys, but when I retired I wanted to get away from, Windows, Linux and Android because I was tired of continual maintenance of the software. I personally am glad I did, I haven’t had to fix Windows updates and patches, I haven’t had to jump through hoops with Linux updates, and I haven’t had to continually buy new devices to keep my devices updated to the needed security issues that Android always left open too. In the beginning Apple was more expensive but not so much anymore, and I don’t normally get new devices for 4 or 5 years.

After several towers and desktops starting with Windows 3, I got an HP Windows laptop that came with Vista in 2009. It was right around the time 7 came out so they had a coupon to upgrade to 7. I skipped 8. They offered a free upgrade to 10. Patches and fixes keep coming. I suppose it’ll have an end of life eventually too. So does Apple. I’m typing on that laptop right now.
I never got into Linux. Too esoteric for me I guess.
I don’t really like Android because of Google and all. But it ain’t Apple. Apple will EOL their older phones too and stop providing updates. That window may be longer than with Android.
I really liked BB OS10 but alas.
There are way more Android devices than there are Apple devices.

To me it’s fuzzy if this will be using Codec and 5.2 or some special Apple version. Guess we’ll see, likely by sometime this Fall.

In reply to @z10user2

Yes there are a lot of Android devices all run variations of Android I gave up on trying to keep a score card on the different versions of Android and what works on those variations of the devices.

Well…I’ve never felt compelled to keep track of all the versions. I started into Android with 2.3 or something. Then I enjoyed BB OS10 for a number of years which got it’s own updates…and then not :slight_smile: . Then back to Android 8. Then another phone with 10 which recently went up to 11. I didn’t really need to change phones as it’s not about the version. Just I wanted some features that my 8 didn’t have. But the 8 keeps getting security updates.

I was an IT professional and it was a part of my job. I worked for a company that allowed it almost 10000 employees to choose their phones and devices, and to connect to the email server and secure website. I had to keep up with what worked and what didn’t. We pushed security handshake apps to the devices to in sure security. I came to realize Apple IOS, was causing the least issues once the major upgrades were done in the fall. And Windows, and Android was about neck and neck with issues after updates. Which was happening to often to keep up with. And tell device owners to not update was fruitless.

I am a great fan of Apple hardware, but perhaps not so keen on their software… They do make excellent iPhones, iPads and iMacs, but they are way too restrictive on what apps they will allow… Years ago, I built my own desktops running windows, but once the iPads came out, I gave that up… I do have 27” iMac with an i7 CPU, I duel booted it with windows 10, using “Bootcamp”, in fact I never use IOS on the iMac now, I am quite happy using windows… Apple is expensive, but they are good at what they make. I was going to go for the iPhone 12 Pro, but I decided to keep my iPhone X for another year, so I changed the battery… Cheers Kev :wink:

As a retired IT professional I found the restriction that Apple put in place a life saver for me. But I do understand what you are talking about. And it does keep the lawyers busy and rich fighting with Apple about it. But I believe it is what makes the Apple OSs secret as they are and stable. I have seen far less hard failures with Apple then I did with Windows, Linux or Android.

Yeah Chuck, my Windows 10 OS runs sweet on my iMac :rofl: :upside_down_face: :joy: and I do appreciate your sentiments, Apples hardware is excellent, it is their restrictive practices that gets me… You cannot fault their workmanship, some of their pricing is a wee bit OTT, but their stuff is made to last, although they don’t make it easy to swop out batteries on their iPhones and iPads, but where there is a will there is a way :wink:

Thanks for the news article. The original entire press release is to be found here:

Apple previews powerful software updates designed for people with disabilities - Apple9

Made for iPhone Hearing Aids and Audiogram Support

In a significant update to the hearing devices program, Apple is adding support for new bi-directional hearing aids. The microphones in these new hearing aids enable those who are deaf or hard of hearing to have hands-free phone and FaceTime conversations. The next-generation models from MFi partners will be available later this year.

Apple is also bringing support for recognizing — charts that show the results of a hearing test — to Headphone Accommodations. Users can quickly customize their audio with their latest hearing test results imported from a paper or PDF audiogram. Headphone Accommodations amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies to suit a user’s hearing.

I wonder if this will finally make Phonak give in and support MFi in their ’s? Lack of MFi is the main thing that’s keeping me from going Phonak.

In reply to @jim_lewis

@jim_lewis said:

I wonder if this will finally make Phonak give in and support MFi in their HA’s? Lack of MFi is the main thing that’s keeping me from going Phonak.

has been around all this time and they haven’t drunk the Apple Koolaid. lol It’s their lack of doing so that drives me to want to go Phonak next. That they stood out to be universally compatible and not just a closed sand box.

@z10user2 said:

they haven’t drunk the Apple Koolaid

Phonak did cave in to the “Apple Koolaid.” They finally got rid of their couplers, amongst the last in the HA industry to do so, and instituted a Bluetooth Classic kludge that still doesn’t work as well as MFI in connectivity distance and solidness and phone and HA battery life as does. If all the world were still going to be going mainly with Classic, Phonak “low energy” streaming might be a great future-looking solution but most prognostications show BT Classic slowly slipping away and BT gaining increasing foothold, especially since it will be adopted by the younger set for audio wearables, i.e., earbuds, headphones, etc. So BT broadcasting devices will increasing be produced with that consumer market in mind. The train will be slowly leaving the station but will Phonak be on board?!

Bluetooth is not Apple. Apple did their own little proprietary trick with it to make mfi. Good for them and all enclosed in their special beautiful sand box of expensive products.
There’s no reason any newer version of bluetooth could not be used in an open system that Phonak could just as well bring out.

In reply to @z10user2

@z10user2 said:

There’s no reason any newer version of bluetooth could not be used in an open system HA

Perhaps @d_Wooluf could answer whether and the hardware necessary to support it is truly “open” or whether there are licensing restrictions and licensing fees to be paid for the use of codecs like or BT hardware designs that might be patented, etc., .

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