told me they trusted in their own Roger Direct Streaming product and wouldn’t support Auracast.
Did you get a chance to ask them if they thought that theatres, cinemas, airports, train stations and the rest would ever be likely to install the necessary equipment to support Sonova users exclusively?
When I choose my next hearing aids Sonova devices would have to be compellingly better than the rest before I consider them. I believe in supporting companies that support me and people like me. That’s not Sonova.
I’m speculating, but there might be another reason why Phonak wants everyone to forget about for the Infinio platform:
Clearly the Bluetooth hardware that’s built into the Infinio chip is new. I’m willing to believe that Phonak had the intention to deliver Auracast when Infinio came out.
But maybe, when their engineers started working on it, they might have encountered some insurmountable problem. This could be a hardware bug in the new chip, overall performance issues, etc. We will never know.
Now they can’t deliver on their original implicit promise, and they start throwing smoke grenades about Roger being better and Auracast not being ready yet.
This isn’t quite correct. There are multiple bluetooth standards and most hearing aids use the low-energy version for streaming audio because of the higher battery drain of bluetooth classic audio streaming. There isn’t downwards compatibility for this and there are plenty of bluetooth devices that are of the same generation that have incompatible software stacks, for example a lot of Huawei phones don’t play nice with Sonova brands hearing aids using even classic bluetooth. It’s all about how the manufacturer implements it in their product.
specifications (and Bluetooth in general) are developed and released by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the organization that is responsible for the Bluetooth specifications. The group of specifications describing how Auracast works have been released by them and that is what is being used to develop Auracast devices (transmitters, receivers, hearing aids, headphones, etc.).
I know you are an enthusiast @d_Wooluf and that enthusiasm has been somewhat curtailed over a few years! Phonak will do exactly what Phonak does… They ain’t interested in Auracast, they cannot make a profit from it, so they probably won’t enable it, until most likely an “EU Directive” forces their hand? Let’s face it, at this point in time, Phonak probably makes the best hearing aids within the market, their Bluetooth works extremely well, it’s pretty universal and will connect to the most common devices available… Personally, I do not give a rats ass about Auracast, it just doesn’t float my boat, it bored me listening to years of supposed development on here, and is now being rolled out at a snails pace! IMO, Phonak has the “Roger Cash Cow” and they will not want to relinquish that nice little earner, anytime soon? I have, several Roger ’s, I rarely have the need to use them, but they are there, if need be… I am unlikely to visit a Theatre or Cinema, I can probably count on the one hand, the amount of times I have been to either in the last 20 years or so, I have 2 TV Connectors, but I only watch sport on TV or a very occasional film, TV bores me, so in effect, I would have little or no use for Auracast… Again IMO, I reiterate, if Phonak can’t get a handle on Auracast, with some leverage to make money, then they won’t be interested! Cheers Kev
We all have different priorities Kev. No worries there. Yes, Phonak will enable including at a time that suits their bottom line. In the alternative universe I inhabit, a company that makes money from selling stuff to people with hearing loss would forgo a little bit of that profit for the general good of that population. In further news, fairies might not be real either.
Embracing more fully seems more likely the focus for Sonova. Phonak with Sphere 2.0, rest of the stable getting Sphere 1.0 or a tweaked 1.5 maybe to keep it fresh.
seems to be in chick/egg territory. Makers don’t see mainstream use cases so it’s not a priority to enable. Venues don’t see mass population equipped with devices, so they don’t enable it. And so on. I work in the UK civil service and I could see it being brilliant in our offices and at conference venues. Public transport hubs too. But seeing as my offices are still getting on board with loop systems…might be a while yet for Auracast.
Phonak or Sonova aren’t interested in your needs or wants @d_Wooluf, they will blatantly discriminate against your disability, if it means a drop in overall profits, and that is their bottom line! They don’t care… Now, I am a person whom will praise Phonak, because they simply make brilliant hearing aids, on the other hand, I am also brutally honest about their faults, of which they have many! Shaming them on here, for some folks this might be considered unhelpful, but it does give the forum members, a voice to vent their frustration… And rightly so! I am 100% sure Phonak follows threads like this, to gauge opinions, so get a grip Phonak, fulfil your promise to activate !!! Cheers Kev
I did some research on this, and hearing aids fall under the regulatory domain of the . The FDA stance has been to ensure that hearing aids are clinically safe and effective, but they stay out of the Bluetooth game, neither mandating Bluetooth nor any specific Bluetooth protocol. So hearing aids should not face a market barrier at the end of this year. [ref - more specific to , but probably extends to prescription]
On the other hand, the FCC has regulatory domain over cell phones, and the FCC mandates that phones implement hearing aid compatibility using wireless technology (using open, global standards) by the end of this year, which doesn’t seem like a stretch as I’m sure market pressures have already caused this to happen. However the FCC does not mandate a particular wireless technology or a particular Bluetooth protocol. [ref1]
I’m sure that pretty much any big name hearing aid currently on the market meets these low-bar requirements. I wouldn’t expect any seismic change come January.
My aids are provided to me from the Veterans Administration and they are only the top tier aids from the top sources that can meet the standards to be offered contracts with the Veterans Administration.
Those FCC documents give me a headache but my understanding from my last attempt to read one is that although they don’t mandate explicitly they do rule out the proprietary alternatives. LE Audio is last man standing.
TBH, I think any protocol is okay. Phones often support more than one. But is the one that makes the most sense for battery life (today). FCC doesn’t want to say BLE, though, because who knows what innovation might happen next?
Keep in mind: That’s the phone, not the aids. No requirements on aids from . That’ll just happen as a side effect of phones.
I think you should return them because they was not as promised. ready SHOULD mean they are READY NOW. THERE IS NO DOWNSIDE for Auracast. I have just changed my life by pairing a £40 Homespot BA210 and Resound Savi 4s with the TV. With most new TVs they come with Auracast. Why do you need a Phonak overpriced Roger to watch TV?
I have found the C5’s native erratic. The sound can have a lag between hearing aids. I’m fortunate enough to have different Auracast enabled hearing aids and can confirm this happens regardless of manufacturer.
HiSense is the latest manufacturer to reveal it is working to integrate Auracast into its product ranges, following in the footsteps of Samsung, LG and Panasoni
I have found the C5’s native Auracast erratic. The sound can have a lag between hearing aids. I’m fortunate enough to have different Auracast enabled hearing aids and can confirm this happens regardless of manufacture
Thanks for the info. As i said I prefer to just route audio through my AVR, and use subtitles, if needed.
Most times I can boost my center channel enough, and switch my Oticons into the Lecture program.
I will say, the C5 is a beast coming from a top rated Samsung plasma circa 2014.
EDIT: I read your link to the Hisense, and also read your C5 review. I’m not curious enough to try, but it’d be interesting to find out if there’s a work around for and the soundbar to play nice together. Maybe Chat has some ideas?
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