ReSound One Hearing Aids Now Offer Hands-Free iPhone Streaming

A bit of a tangent, but I think we should know by the end of the month if the new Snapdragon 895 (or 898) chip has BT 5.3. Quallcom is supposed to announce it by end of the month. I believe it will also be the first with ARM 9 architecture.

I heard that Oticon was hoping their 5.1 chip could be upgraded to 5.2 in their most recent hearing aid to use LE Audio, but they discovered it wasn’t possible.

The manufacturers are learning as they go along. I’m pretty pleased that the ONE supports hands free calling!

I do see 5.3 as being listed as better in some ways including reliability. It seems like LE Audio has potentially finished the hard work of standardization so they released 5.3 and quite quickly while 5.2 was around for quite a while.

So my guess is that perhaps some 5.2 devices will support LE Audio if the manufacturer wants to use it. But there might be a feature that isn’t released until 5.3.

I’m going to wait for the successor to the Resound ONE as I would guess it would have 5.3 Bluetooth.

I’m hoping 2022 is the year I feel confident in buying multiple products that I plan to keep for a long time!

It isn’t every few years that Bluetooth experiences such a drastic upgrade. Yes, it’s hard to be patient. But it will be worth it.

Granted, for those who want to buy hearing aids now, they’re very good. And you’d get a lot of features. Fortunately, iPhone users don’t have to wait to enjoy terrific phone calls and hands-free calling with the ONE! (Or Phonak).

Just personally, I’m thinking 2022 is the year of more future-proof products.

I agree that 2022 may be the year that LE audio gets fairly well sorted out. I try to avoid the allure of “future proof.”

Poking around with the Bluetooth Product search and discovered that the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform is 5.2 certified. Interesting for a device that came out early 2019.

The only thing I found in this is the kind of nebulous claim of “…direct audio streaming via future-proof Bluetooth Low Energy.” https://pro.resound.com/en-us/products/hearing-aids/one4

I was about to post the brochure from Resound which states it’s future-proof for Bluetooth Low Energy Audio and also I’ve asked and they’ve said they’d be able to do a firmware update to support it: https://cdn1-originals.webdamdb.com/13512_110297007?cache=1598478408&response-content-disposition=inline;filename%253DMK605319-br-one-dispenserbrochure.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf&Policy=eyJTdGF0ZW1lbnQiOlt7IlJlc291cmNlIjoiaHR0cCo6Ly9jZG4xLW9yaWdpbmFscy53ZWJkYW1kYi5jb20vMTM1MTJfMTEwMjk3MDA3P2NhY2hlPTE1OTg0Nzg0MDgmcmVzcG9uc2UtY29udGVudC1kaXNwb3NpdGlvbj1pbmxpbmU7ZmlsZW5hbWUlMjUzRE1LNjA1MzE5LWJyLW9uZS1kaXNwZW5zZXJicm9jaHVyZS5wZGYmcmVzcG9uc2UtY29udGVudC10eXBlPWFwcGxpY2F0aW9uL3BkZiIsIkNvbmRpdGlvbiI6eyJEYXRlTGVzc1RoYW4iOnsiQVdTOkVwb2NoVGltZSI6MjE0NzQxNDQwMH19fV19&Signature=NQc3gaJJ9Tge6sKwk356EV3QTStYX13TDWp7eDS~bmnVmHxH-jXl6SFdxRDlZvoYh7tyBwArKDN64zCG54IxH4bIc7WRnZ7fzT1UubKEwwaf412EEvnGpuHsQj5ksOU1pF0CLjyJRJhJO40QbyXL5W2HiWLI1u01FgQnbi5ZtVMnswRh771MXFt~EJaU1Sa5VYzmuFGL6dvRnYWcxjePeCCsFll8z8Ro3YkjN1q6efFkWbW04rE14JZbYEDxx8bk0IPofPePS1jds1exisRyo3TWKX1OxVVDQdLBKaFLmNobm-C64zeFkXrvbdWNGx1wEbqOF2IBK4qLER~U2JPV4w__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAI2ASI2IOLRFF2RHA

I don’t see anywhere where it says Low Energy Audio. They say Bluetooth Low Energy which most current hearing aids support and even ones that don’t use it for streaming (like Phonak) use it for controlling the app. They may very well support LE Audio and I think that’s the impression they’re trying to give, but they’ve left themselves enough wiggle room if they can’t pull it off.

I think your “it” refers to the Resound One? To best of my understanding Phonak (in Marvel and Paradise) use standard Bluetooth for streaming and LE Bluetooth for controlling the app. I have no idea how they accomplish this. They’re also using some sort of low energy radio for TV Connect, PartnerMic and I believe a separate signal for Roger accessories. Either multiple antennae or a multipurpose one.

I think users should ideally always be given a choice if possible… so if they want to use classic Bluetooth despite the battery life, then that should be an option. But I could see patients getting confused over the different settings.

However, I do believe Bluetooth 5.2/5.3 and LE Audio will have the goal of accomplishing the functions of classic Bluetooth.

But, what I’m REALLY happy to see is that Apple somehow figured out how to get hands-free streaming capability in their proprietary MFi technology before the release of Bluetooth 5.2/5.3 so the Resound ONE can have hands-free calling even without requiring Bluetooth 5.2/5.3. One of the features mentioned as a benefit for LE Audio was the hands-free calling functionality; so I’m thrilled we only have to wait for the ONE’s firmware update in December. Hands-free streaming does only work with iPhones 11 or higher, since those have Bluetooth 5.1. So I happen to have a XS Max iPhone, so I’ll need to upgrade my phone if I want to use it. I was planning on upgrading my iPhone next year when hopefully they would support 5.2 or 5.3. But oh well.

I hope the hands-free calling of the Resound ONE is a much better experience than what I had with the loaner Phonak Marvel I was provided with while my Linx2 was in the shop. The sound quality of my voice to callers was staticky, even with enhanced Bluetooth enabled in the myPhonak app.

I’d be looking at something that I could take back to the outfit I got the aids from, wave under their noses and point to the bit where it says “future compatibility with LE Audio” and say “make it happen”. I still haven’t seen anything.

I’ve seen two reviews that have claimed future compatibility. I’d assume that Resound were well aware of the reviews, but I haven’t seen anything from them to confirm or deny. It seems strange for a ‘medical device’ maker to leave that kind of stuff hanging. Anyway, let’s hope @Patrick72’s audiologist knows what they’re talking about.

Is this set of features expected to land on the Android world? It would be pretty handy…

Not sure what you mean by “this set of features.” Hands free streaming is available on both Android and iPhones in Phonak Marvel, Paradise and related hearing aids. Some of us expect a more fully featured version of Bluetooth (BT 5.3) and LE Audio to bring a lot of advanced features and think it will be present in upcoming Android and iPhones.

The linked article says that, on iPhones, you can now answer with a double tap and the microphones of the hearing aid now stream sounds back to your phone. This features are not available on Android and there you can only streaming music or voice, unidirectional from the phone from the HAs.

I just skimmed a couple of links and didn’t see what you were referring to. The Resound Ones only allow the 2 way streaming with iPhone (Model 11,12, 13 and SE(2020)) Phonak Marvel and Paradise allow it with pretty much all Bluetooth capable smartphones.