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Windows 11 to add Bluetooth LE support for hearing aids

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Edited

The router in question also is set up to use “Wi-Fi steering.”. It doesn’t have separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5 GHz. A suitable adapter can use both channels simultaneously to achieve 1800 Mbps with a suitable fiber Internet connection. But Bing ChatGPT ( a Microsoft product) says in no uncertain terms that older Surface devices cannot use a Wi-Fi 6 router. Marvell either can’t or won’t upgrade the AVASTAR hardware to Wi-Fi 6. Kinda like the Omnias not being upgradeable to …

In reply to @jim_lewis

No idea on your question. I really doubt you have to do anything with enabling/disabling protocols. That’s so 1980ish when I configured Novell MPR software.

I’m using a surface laptop 5 on my Wifi 6 router, go figure.

Maybe your router is set to automatically downgrade the protocol in use to the capability of the client device? My relative’s router could be downgraded during my visit but it was easier just to buy a Wi-Fi 6 USB adapter (the relative had no idea how to log onto his router and I didn’t want to commandeer it and have him wondering what I’d done, get blamed for problems later, etc.).

Yeah that’s with classic bluetooth right, most people are not having issues with that, seems that is a bit behind then we were all hoping for.

In reply to @BarryH

People tend to confuse Bluetooth LE (low energy), which is quite old, with B LEA (low energy audio), which is quite new.
Phonak is the only one using , where the rest is using protocols developed specifically for hearing devices (, ) and very recently moved to B LEA.

Edited

In reply to @d_Wooluf

@ToriNi said:

and it works perfectly! :smiley:

@d_Wooluf said:

Can you control your aids from your computer? Volume, change programs?

You can alter volume but not programs but I’m on 23H2 version at the moment so I’ll eventually upgrade to 24H2 which will provide that functionality but it’s still in release preview I believe. Bluetooth is firmware LMP 12 so higher than the LMP 11 minimum required. I always have mine on General 100% so that is a non-issue for me. You can change programs on Mac but again, don’t change it anyway.

It’s just great to be able to connect directly and it works seamlessly when switching from devices too. Just make sure Bluetooth is turned off on the device you have been using such as on iPhone and then it’ll connect straightaway when you start playing audio on the PC.

I am currently using a pair of Ponto 5 Mini’s by Oticon.
I am considering switching to Windows 11 as i am on Windows 10 Pro 22H2, and i heard that Bluetooth LE/ LE audio is supported now?

On Oticon’s product page it says in the spec sheet that Bluetooth LE is supported, but the hearing aids are MFI. Does this matter if Windows 11 gets full support?

Edited

In reply to @Reginald

@Reginald said:

Phonak is the only one using BLE,

for iPhone is just a proprietary version of something akin to . Same with for Android. Phonak is the only one using CLASSIC . If you look in BT settings on an iPhone, there are three BT connections. The BLE ones are for control through the MyPhonak app (volume, program settings, etc.). Streaming media and phone calls are done through the third, which (if your right HA is the default classic connection), is R-Phonak Hearing Aid (the BLE ones are LE_L-Phonak Hearing Aid and LE_ R-Phonak Hearing Aid). And in the most recent new hearing aids, yes, you could call the streaming parts BT , but the control parts are effectively BLE, same as Phonak and the Sphere has BT 5.3, ~same as other most recent HAs. It’s just running classic BT under BT 5.3 for streaming.

In reply to @JohnnyP

There is support for hearing aids in Windows 11. However, if you have Windows 10, you probably have and older computer. If it does not include support for the newer version of Bluetooth, it won’t work with the hearing aids.

I have Philips 8050 aids. They support (Android’s hearing aid protocol) and Bluetooth . I also have a couple of WIndows 11 PCs. One is a Dell desktop from 2019, and the other is a Dell Laptop from 2021. On both PCs, I can pair the 9050s with the PC, and the PC recognizes the 9050s as hearing aids. But when I try to “connect” them (use them for audio output), the connection attempt fails. I believe the problem is the base level of Bluetooth supported by the PCs.

There are USB Bluetooth adapters that can be plugged into such older PCs. Some new ones claim to support Bluetooth 5.4, which should make this work, but I have not heard of anyone who has actually seen that work with hearing aids.

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