LE Audio and the Future of Hearing

@Reginald said:

Meaning that you can have direct LE Audio connection, devices without broadcasting?

Yes… you can do that …

Credit to @AbramBaileyAuD see link:

Interesting observations and reflections from EUHA 2023

Thread by @Dan_Schwartz on Thread Reader App12

@Dan_Schwartz: Sonova will wait with new Bluetooth standard: Happy with current solution “The question is when the right time to change technology will be,” says the Sonova CEO. While Denmark’s GN is gearing up for ...…

Dan Schwartz (@Dan_Schwartz) on X2

Just in case it disappear:

Sonova will wait with new Bluetooth standard: Happy with current solution
“The question is when the right time to change technology will be,” says the Sonova CEO.

While Denmark’s GN is gearing up for the company’s launch of the world’s first hearing aid with the necessary hardware and software for the new Bluetooth low energy standard built in, several other companies in the sector remain hesitant.

This applies to Danish rival Demant which would like to see a few more devices, such as TVs and phones, with the technology on the market first as well as having the technology thoroughly tested.

And at the world’s largest hearing aid manufacturer, Swiss Sonova, management is also taking a ”wait-and-see” approach.

The main argument here is that Sonova has been working for several years on its own connectivity technology that allows the company’s hearing aids to stream from all types of smartphones without intermediaries — what the company itself calls ”made for all” — or just MFA.

Sonova does not doubt GN’s statement that the new Bluetooth low energy standard will become standard in the very foreseeable future, but Sonova is still hesitant to rush the switch, according to the company itself.

”The question is when the right time to switch technology will be. I would think that those who don’t have MFA are in a somewhat different position than us because we have all the benefits of it. It connects with any Bluetooth device and there’s high stability in everything we do,” says Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova, in an interview with Marketwire at this week’s European Union of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA) trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany.

”We are very happy with our MFA technology. Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised if we move a little slower to the new Bluetooth low energy standard than others. It’s not because we’re not ready. It’s a management choice we have to make,” says Kaldowski.

The new standard is a major theme at this week’s industry trade show, as GN is also presenting its new top product, Resound Nexia, which has the technology built in.

~
GN: New Bluetooth standard future-proofs Resound Nexia
According to GN, having the new standard included in the Nexia launch already gives a competitive advantage even though there are not many devices on the market with the new standard yet.

With its new top product on the hearing aid side, Resound Nexia, GN can showcase the first hearing aid that is able to use the new Bluetooth low-energy standard.

And even though there are not yet many TVs, computers, phones, and similar devices on the market with the new standard, which is an open software solution for everyone, GN says that having the new standard in the Nexia launch already gives it a competitive advantage.

There’s an element of future-proofing in it, says Scott Davis, who as of October is head of GN’s hearing aid business following the merger of GN Hearing and GN Audio into one company.

“A lot of hearing aid users keep their hearing aids for five years. So they want to make sure you can use it for that entire period,” says Davis during GN’s presentation at this week’s European Union of Audiologists (EUHA) trade fair in Nuremberg, where GN is also exhibiting Resound Nexia and showcasing the new streaming capabilities.

In the future — and for the relatively foreseeable future — GN expects that all hearing aids will utilize this option, as it is an open software and not a proprietary solution as has been the case in the past.

“The whole industry will move there. There’s no doubt about that. I think we’ll see different manufacturers moving at different paces, but it’s very much about being ready for it,” says Peter Karlströmer, CEO of GN, at the presentation.

Several of GN’s competitors are more hesitant about adopting the new Bluetooth standard—precisely because the rollout of products using the standard is still at a very early stage.

But according to GN itself, it is crucial to roll out the technology as soon as it is ready.

“The standard is done. There are products coming to the shelves that use it. We see TV, we see computers, and we see phones coming with the standard built in. The reason we’ve been so quick to get it into the launch is because we were part of the development team,” explains Brian Dam Pedersen, CTO at GN.

And even though the new Bluetooth low-energy standard is an open software solution, it also requires hardware work to make a product ready for the software update.

And that’s why GN management feels confident that having Resound Nexia ready to use the standard is a clear competitive advantage.

According to data from ABI Research, it is expected that around 3 billion devices with Bluetooth’s new low-energy standard will be shipped to electronics stores worldwide by 2027.

At the same time, it is expected that by 2030 there will be around 2.5 million locations globally where the technology and streaming with Auracast will be available~

10:05 pm · 21 Oct 2023

@Baltazard said:

The main argument here is that Sonova has been working for several years on its own connectivity technology that allows the company’s hearing aids to stream from all types of smartphones without intermediaries — what the company itself calls ”made for all” — or just MFA

Uh? It’s just classic bluetooth 4.2 been around a lot longer then Phonaks MFA

As always, it’s about money.

Never mind that LE Audio will enable a new generation of assistive devices that people might actually be able to afford. And here we are, a maker of- you know- medical devices, ignoring the potential benefits, because we’ve renamed an old standard and managed to sell it to the masses because- luckily- 99% of them don’t even know the new standard exists. And by the time they do, it’s too late, 'cause most of them won’t be able to affort their next set of aids for another five years! And even better, we’ve got an exorbitantly priced assistive device that’s totally proprietary to us that we can sell them in the meantime! Genius!

Sorry. Extreme crankiness today.

I hope you’re right. Sure doesn’t seem to get a lot of coverage in the tech press. Reminds me a bit of WPA3 WiFi security. Got quite a bit of coverage initially and then seems to have turned out to be a nothing burger. I really think LE Audio and Auracast will be a big deal, but I suspect it’s going to take longer than I want.

Oticon’s IOT (Internet of Things) capable hearing aids also turned out to be a nothing burger. Predicting the impact of tech is harder than I think, but it sure seems like LE Audio is a sure thing.

I was fully intending to buy a new iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro) about now, but the lack of any mention in Apple’s launch blurb about compatibility with LE Audio hearing aids has made me pause, especially as Resound has announced that the just-released Nexia does have LE Audio and Auracast.

So currently I am thinking that I might leave it another year and hope Apple have sorted themselves out by then.

From the way things are developing so far, I think Android is the best bet to help kickstart Auracast. If Google and Samsung start offering it with their phones, that will put pressure on Apple to do the same for its devices, especially if there is increasing danger of losing users to Android for Auracast benefits. Otherwise, Apple is in the cat bird’s seat like Phonak with not a whole bunch of motivation to change its existing audio scheme until Auracast is more widespread. Samsung or Google could help get the ball rolling by coming up with earbuds to match their phones that give incredible battery life because of LC3, etc. The problem might be that with the best lossless classic BT codecs, the audio quality is better than achievable with just plain old LC3 and normal hearing users may be willing to sacrifice the battery runtime of their earbuds for audio quality. Phones that could do either classic BT or BT LE Audio would help (maybe that’s the way things are going to work already and I’m just ignorant).

There must be a game plan somewhere amongst the BT LE Audio folks as to how the transition is going to go and what needs to happen to really get it going. Like when are the first BT LE Audio TVs going to come out?

Who are the two big players with LE enabled HAs? GN/Resound for sure, but I’m unclear who else is a sure thing. Sounds like Phonak and Oticon/Demant have already said they’re waiting.

WS Audiology, their Signia IX range will have it enabled via firmware update in the first quarter of 2024.

Thanks. Do you have a source?

I noticed today that the Enhance Pro Android app was updated a few weeks ago to support LE Audio. Seeing as it’s got “Jabra Enhance Pro” stamped all over it, is it reasonable to assume that the actual Jabra Enhance Pro hearing aid will be updated soon?

Enhance Pro3

Jabra Enhance Pro™ - for your hearing aid...

I’d be guessing that there will be a new Costco Jabra aid out soon based on the Nexia.

There’s a Costco fitter out there with a Youtube channel. He says he thinks there will be an updated Nexia-based model in the next couple of weeks, but states about ten times that he has no inside information.

Everybody I’ve talked to from Costco says they get about a one day warning when new aids show up.