Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

MacOS Sonoma and Hearing Aids (MFi)

225 replies13.1k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply

It currently not possible because of missing bidirectional MFI protocol. I have resound / Cochlear and it is not working right now…

Apple deceived us. Only certain computers with only certain processors and only certain hearing aids! Even when you bought right things - it turns out that the mouse and keyboard don’t work because Bluetooth protocol is busy with hearing aids!

So processors are not supported with Sonoma.

List of Made for iPhone hearing devices – Apple Support (AU)1

These Made for iPhone () hearing aids are compatible with iPhone and iPad. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are also compatible with Mac.

Note no asterix after the product which means ok for iOS not for sonoma
Cochlear

  • 5
  • Baha 5 Power
  • Baha 5 SuperPower
  • Kanso 2 Sound Processor
  • Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

Cochlear Limited

  • Kanso 2 Sound Processor
  • Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

It is interesting only 3 resound products make the Sonoma grade - given the same chip I am really curious why the oversight.

There is a very small proportion of Sonoma supported devices so we have to be loud and proud!

I strongly suggest we all CI recipients provide very strong feedback to Apple that this is unacceptable and a very much desired feature for we very, very deaf people.

Product Feedback8

We would love to hear your comments about any of our hardware and software products. Send us your thoughts.

Choose your device as I did, my MacBook Pro and offer a very strong feature request for Sonoma. What is the point of not supporting devices only provided to severely impaired people?
Ensure you remind them of the huge demand in the CI community.
I have 2 both cochlear nucleus 7.

I have had trouble finding the list for my rig: Macbookpro 2021 M1Max chip. Apple say “some ’s with M1 Max chip” I got it to work once. Seems buggy, but I did get it working. I probably need to do use it more so I am more familiar with the process.

In reply to @BernSh

Have found the handoff between iPhone and Mac to sometimes be less than graceful. For example, if I start audio on the Mac without first pairing with the iPhone, that works fine. Then, starting audio on the iPhone gets switched to fine. However, if I then switch to audio on the Mac, I have to manually select the as the Mac’s speakers are used instead.

There are numerous variations of this switching sequence, and I haven’t tested any of them rigorously. I’m posting this as just a note to take notice.

This lack of perfect switching between devices is, for me, a quality-of-life level of issue compared to just having them work at all. Usually, software or hardware updates improve matters over time. I know HA hardware costs are steep and bring up difficult feelings, so while it’s easy to type “…hardware updates improve matters.” the reality of doing that takes something!

No joy yet for me. I have Oticon More 1 (firmware 1.4.3). I have a 2021 MacBook Pro (M1 Pro chip) which is on the supported list. Running macOS Sonoma 14.0

When I go to Settings->Accessibility->Hearing Devices, my will sometimes show up under Available Devices but the asterisk on the same line keeps spinning and the Connect button is grayed out.

Any suggestions from someone who has been able to make this work?

I solved this problem by purchasing Connectclip. No more wrong computers, no more wrong processors, no more wrong macOS.

In reply to @oxothuk

@oxothuk, I just got the Reals after been a More user and if @user1218 suggestion does not work, do you have a Magic Mouse or a Magic Keyboard? I experienced the greyed out connect button and then turned of my Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard and could then connect the new Real’s.

Hope that helps…

I wasn’t quite sure what user1218 was suggesting. I’ve never been able to pair my More’s with the MacBook, so how would I get the Mac to “forget” them?

I do have a Magic Mouse/Magic Keyboard and have wondered if that was part of the problem. However, I tried turning them off and just using the built-in keyboard/trackpad and I still get the same result.

Ok…. You probably already did this and maybe one more thing to try. When you turned off the keyboard and mouse, did you also then restart the hearing aid searching function in accessibility on the Mac and power down and power back on the hearing aids? This is what I had to do to get the button not to be greyed out…. YMMV.

Shop Oticon Connectclip, Resound Multimic and other Bluetooth accessories for your hearing instruments. Apple has fooled us once again.

Edited

In reply to @Luga

I had to open a chat with Apple, but I finally got my to work with the MacBook (sort of). The problem turned out to be incompatibility with my old Apple bluetooth keyboard (I thought I had already eliminated that as a cause, but apparently not). The incompatibility only shows up when trying to pair the HAs; once they are paired I can use the old keyboard with no problems.

Now I’m trying to figure out how useful it is to connect my HAs to the MacBook, when most of the time I want to use them with my iPhone. It seems like I have to turn the iPhone’s Bluetooth off/on in order to switch between iPhone and MacBook. Not as seamless as I would like.

Edited

This is also my experience. It’s a hassle to
turn Bluetooth on and off to alternate between the iPhone and the Mac and then the iPad. On the other hand, it’s great to watch movies on the MacBook when traveling with the sound straight to the .

Good to hear that you got it working.

@Luga said:

It’s a hassle to
turn Bluetooth on and off to alternate between the iPhone and the Mac and then the iPad.

My impression as well. They work fine when connected to just one device (iPad, Mac, or iPhone). I’ve ended up leaving my Mores connected only to my iPhone now and grabbing over-the-ear headphones whenever I need to listen to audio from my Mac. Just to avoid the hassle…

For me the bluetoooth implementation blows. But on my MBP running Sonoma the evokes pair right up. THe Oticon More is always more finicky. It’s like you have to shut off blue tooth on any other device and reboot. I suffered through endless hang up because Apple wants to connect their watch first, their phone first and blah blah blah and by that time the ’s do not pick up. Widex bluetooth implementation is far superior than Oticon. Both of the suffer. Other bluetooth devices in the vicinity have to be shut off. It is the same with all third party devices. All the companies want you to surrender to thir platforms and go completely vertical.

The focus has become more centered on exclusivity and making money than pushing the envelope forward to help the end user.

It is a battle one cannot win.

Oh, and my other MBP (mid 2015) running Monterey grabs the ’s immediately and streams flawlessly.
I run the internal sound on the MBP through Hijack, a program that grabs the internal sound from the mac and lets you make your own block chain of compressors, equalizers, limiters, etc, and then select an output. This has been very helpful to me to find out what frequency bands I need to work with.

I actually prefer my mid 2015 MBP running Montery to my newer expensive bomb MBP with the M1max chip. I googled it for fun - and that particular model (mid 2015) is widely considered the pinnacle of the MBP’s.

It certainly is faster and more bug free.

I shoulda saved the 4 grand.

I have an iMac that is mid 2010 and an old ipad I bought, or so I thought. Apparently it was only a contract and the term was limited.

I’m having many issues with google, gmail and others because my computer is no longer supported by Apple. I did replace my iPad. I have buyer’s remorse. It cost so much. Everything is different on the new iPad. I have so much to learn.

You’re right It’s a battle I cannot win.

Related discussions