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Oticon More 2-Way Hands-Free Streaming for iPhone and iPad

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Also take a look closely at the IPhone and iPad list of what this will work with the list is small compared to the iPhones and iPads in use today

I have a feeling that Apple fudged and had the hardware there in the newer iPhones, but only enabled the lower Bluetooth capability in firmware, it is a trick of all hardware companies

That will be interesting to hear about your results. I always trade my older phones in when getting a new phone

The new update for the More aids will give you hands free for the new iPhones 11 and up and the newer iPads. Other wise my understand the aids will work the same for the older iPhones and iPad. Technology keeps advancing, it does seem to take hearing aid companies a little longer due to them having to get the needed information for the smart phone companies. My understand is this the iPhone 11 and up really has newer bluetooth than the iPhone 10s and older, Apple just didn’t activate the capacity in firmware until IOS 15.

Phonak Marvel aids appear to have implemented the capability already and I am not aware that it is limited to a small subset of iPhones like the Oticon aids will be. I wonder what is different?

The Phonak aids uses a completely different technology, that has its on issues. Phonak uses classic Bluetooth, which isn’t as low a power consumption, and it has issues with being able to stream in the outdoors. Oticon uses MFI, and now . ASHA is limited to only the newer smartphones that have the correct hardware and the correct versions of Android. MFI doesn’t seem to have the same issues with streaming in the outdoors as the Phonak aids. You cannot compare Phonak with classic bluetooth to aids that have MFI or ASHA because it is like comparing apples to oranges.

Edited

Phonak built a special chip (called the SWORD chip, for Sonova Wireless One Radio Digital) that enables the hearing aid’s end to support classic Bluetooth without having to consume the kind of high power that a normal classic -supported device would consume. It’s almost as if Sonova takes the intermediary streaming device that used to be necessary and do special tricks to make it low power, and put it into the hearing aid itself.

In this sense, yes, it is not the same as MFI or in which their communication protocols are already built-in for low power in the first place. But in the sense of compatibility, it’s better than MFI or ASHA because it’s almost universally compatible with ANY kind of classic BT-supported device. There’s almost no exclusivity.

Whether MFI and ASHA allows the hearing aid to consume less power than the Sonova SWORD chip or not is unknown. But apparently the SWORD chip supports low “enough” power consumption to enable communication with classic BT so that it can support virtually any device that supports classic BT, which is a lot more than just iPhones and the newer Android phones that support ASHA. At least laptops and tablets and older phones that has classic BT support should all work with the Phonak models (Audeo and Marvel and Paradise).

So in this respect, the Phonak models still have an advantage that MFI or ASHA can’t compete with. But of course as you move forward toward more ASHA compatible Android phones, this edge advantage will eventually be minimized. But we don’t know if laptop and tablet mfgs will ever eventually offer MFI or ASHA support or not.

Now if it doesn’t work as well outdoors or not, I don’t know, because I don’t follow how well the SWORD chip based Phonak models work. But it isn’t to say that the ASHA protocol as supported by the Android phone mfgs have had all of their kinks worked out yet anyway.

I disagree after dealing with both and trying to help Veterans at the clinic deal with their connectivity issues. I have seen all versions of aids. Most veterans are more outdoors people and I hear the issues with Phonak aids streaming while outdoors, it seems to be an issue regardless of the phone being used.

In reply to @Volusiano

I’m not sure what is meant by ‘work as well outdoors’?? This is counterintuitive to radio signals. Outdoors a radio signal will go further in unobstructed situations vs. indoors with walls, doorways, etc. Especially a low power signal.

Personal experience with my P90s- they work great indoors and outdoors streaming from the phone or tablet at distance to my .

Having HAs that are backwards compatible with non- LE BT devices is/was the deciding factor for me in choosing the P90s. It connects seamlessly with all my tablets, phones and devices. The 2 way audio for phone calls, Zoom meetings and Whatsapp calls is fantastic. In fact I use mine to stream music from my Garmin smartwatch when I’m out jogging. Awesome.

But if I was in the iPhone ecosystem then I would have really considered the Oticon device and made a comparison of the two.

I am not sure why either but I see the issues every week at our weekly meeting at the clinic. It normally happens with the aids in their pants pockets. I hear a lot of the complaints when they have the phones in their back pocket and they are either outdoors or in a very large area. As an electronics technician I believe the hearing aids done have the power to transmit through the body but in a small room the signal will bounce off an end side wall.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with 3 different aids in the last 6 months, using all with both a relatively new Android and a new iPhone.

is simply not well developed yet. Connectivity is fickle, streaming while moving is terrible and choppy.

Phonak’s “classic ” protocol is by far the most stable. I had no issues streaming outdoors while exercising. The only outdoor problem is using it for phone calls with a lot of noise around (busy street, windy, more crowded public settings) as the mics pics up all the noise and the person on the other end of the line will hear it. I would think this issue will be the same with Oticon, which is why I am hoping there’s an option to toggle between mics and phone mic when the update comes next week (hopefully). For me, unfortunately, I simply didn’t like the Paradise for complex noise environments by comparison.

is definitely way better than ASHA, which is why I changed phones, but not nearly as good as Phonak. Connection stability is great. Streaming while walking/moving is far improved over ASHA, but not without occasional issues/choppiness.

I draw these results from using the Paradise for over 2 months, the Signia AX for 2 months, and the Oticon Mores for one month, streaming outdoors for at least 2 hours a day, another 1-2 hour streaming indoors in a more stationary spot.

thanks to both of you for explaining, this makes more sense to me. outdoors= phone in a pocket or somewhere in clothing vs. indoors where it is sitting on the table next to you. Now I understand how there could be a difference.

I hope for the Oticon users the update provides streaming capability like the Phonaks have. I believe it is the future (bluetooth connectivity to everything) and the more manufacturers that make it work means sooner or later it will become standard.

In reply to @jcw11

In some cases yes classic Bluetooth is great, but not in every case. Also, I have tried Phonak marvels and was not able to understand speech as well as my Oticon OPNS1 or More1 aids, and I felt like my ears had blinders as I couldn’t hear anything but right in front of me.

Agreed. was a big factor in my decision making, but not the ultimate deciding criteria (I made my final decision and picked up Oticons just last week). I just pass along my experiences for those wanting to compare solely BT functionality.

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