I’m lucky in that my health insurance pays for a new pair of hearing aids every three years. Unfortunately due to COVID lockdowns, my previous audiologist deciding it was a good time to retire, and then things just falling through the cracks, I’ve had the same hearing aids since 2019.
But now I have a new pair! And for years I’ve wanted to be able to stream audio directly to my hearing aids from my phone, but previously Android did not have that capability. My current phone is about as old as my hearing aids were (Moto z3 running Android 9) so it’s time to get a new phone that is compatible with the new HAs. So of course I turn to my fellow Dopers for recommendations.
I’ll just say right up front that I’m not even remotely interested in an iPhone, so if that’s what you’re planning on recommending, don’t bother. I just want to hear about Android phones.
My audiologist gave me a list of compatible phones, 90% of which were some version of Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy. My last three phones have been Motorola and I’ve generally been happy with them, but there were no Motorola phones on the list.
While I would appreciate any recommendations for specific phones, what I’d really like is to hear from anyone who has a phone that can stream to their hearing aids and what their experience is like.
My husband is the one with hearing aids, and he uses them with his iPhone. From what you say, though, the newer Samsungs at least ought to be compatible.
I use a Samsung Note (the larger “phablet”-style phones) and really like that - which depending on your preferences, may be something to consider.
I hear ya on the older phones not playing nice with hearing aids. We were at a friend’s place a few years ago, and she was trying like crazy to get hers set up. Bluetooth ought to work, right? Nope (and things we found online at the time said that it wouldn’t, for this use case).
If you really prefer the Motorola, do some research - the audiologist’s list may or may not be complete.
Not asked for, but something my husband loves: there’s a device he can attach to the TV, that lets the sound be piped directly to his hearing aids. Not sure if it goes via his phone (I don’t think so).
I’m trying to picture what foul technological sorcery is limiting compatibility to such a small subset of the smartphone universe, when at the bottom of it all it should be just plain Bluetooth.
Bluetooth can be very fiddly. I’ve seen much online discussion of why some Bluetooth headphones can’t connect to some laptops using Bluetooth, just for one frustrating example.
To the OP: My hearing aids connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth, and their manufacturer (Phonak) has an app for my phone. I can use the app to adjust volume and modes. I had one recent failure in the app, but it’s otherwise been solid for the 18 months I’ve had the hearing aids. See if your manufacturer has an app that is compatible with the phone you want.
My hearing aid manufacturer also has a device that plugs into my smart TV and transmits the audio to my hearing aids via Bluetooth. That’s been great, and reliable. It’s nice for me to have volume control for the TV independent of everyone else.
I got my first pair of hearing aids earlier this year, in March. The manufacturer is a company called Starkey. I really like these aids, as they have certainly enhanced my hearing.
I have a Galaxy S22 phone, which is probably about two years old.
The audiologist made certain that I was able to pair my hearing aids to my phone before I left the store. She also had me download an app from the manufacturer.
Through the app, I can control various setting on my aids, including the volume. There are also a few preset programs to which I can switch using the app. One of these programs is called ‘Crowd’; another is ‘Car’. Self-explanatory. You can also create your own programs using the various settings.
I was also excited that I could stream music and audio books to my new aids, as I was thinking that they would replace my noise-cancelling earbuds. I quickly learned that this was NOT the case. As long as I am in a quiet setting, like my living room or my doctor’s waiting room, the hearing aids work fine as a Bluetooth device. However, when I’m outside walking or on the treadmill at the Y, there is far too much external noise to effectively use my aids as my listening device. The hearing aids, of course, amplify these external sounds, which interferes greatly with listening to an audio book. I soon learned to go back to my earbuds for most of my streaming.
Also, I find that I rarely use the Starkey app to control my aids, except for the volume. And, since I can manually control the volume via the small buttons on the aids, I really don’t need the app.
Bottom line answer to the OP: Any recent Samsung phone should work. But be forewarned that you may be disappointed in the streaming experience to your hearing aids, as I certainly was. Of course, your experience and situations may be far different than mine.
I think you’re right. Probably any new-ish Android phone should work. I believe their list is phones that they’ve actually tested with the hearing aids (Oticon Intent), so they are likely testing the most popular phones.
I have ~2yo Beltone aids and a Samsung S10e. Other than that I have almost exactly @Railer13’s experience.
The aids will not pair directly to the phone’s Bluetooth. By design it has to go through the Beltone app. That completes the pairing and thereafter you can stream music or voice phone calls to the aids without running or even installing their app.
Streaming music to hearing aids is IMO useless. As said, they are the opposite of noise cancelling in any but the most silent of environments. The audio is tinny as shit, far worse than AM radio. The manufacturer spent next to no time making this work well. As well, you can drain the aids’ batteries real quickly listening to music all day and find they’re dead when it’s time to go out to dinner w spouse. Oops. Time to set them in their charging cradle and do without for 2 hours.
They are even more useless for taking phone calls since you can listen on your hearing aids but you can’t talk into them. So your still holding the phone to your head or using speakerphone and shouting at everyone else in the grocery store with you.
My biggest annoyance relative to bluetooth is the aids are in my ears and turned on all day every day. Meantime, I want my phone to send audio to maybe my car, maybe my portable BT speaker, maybe my TV, maybe the dedicated earbud headset thing I use to make and receive phone calls. Whenever I need to send audio to any of those other places there’s a dick dance of getting the phone to disconnect from the aids, connect to what I want, and stay that way despite the hearing aids’ strong desire to be your only audio playback device.
I finally deleted the aid’s pairing on my phone so the phone doesn’t know they exist. I’m much happier that way.
I know you said “No iPhones”, but you followed that with
So I’ll chime in with “I LOVE it!” But mostly because I can stream audiobooks (I might be just a wee bit addicted).
Handy if I get a chance to catch a few minutes of Jeeves and Wooster (and no one can tell).
It’s also handy if my mother calls me (no one under the age of 90 does; they text). But it means I don’t have to hold a phone to my ear. Less radiation, but more importantly, I can keep my hands free.
All of the above will also work with Bluetooth earbuds, which sound better than my hearing aids. But now i don’t have to say “Excuse me, Mom, I’m going to try to pair some earbuds before I talk to you.”
I have Phonak hearing aids and use them with a Samsung S23 phone. Pairing is simple and the connection is made automatically…which can sometimes be an issue.
If I walk away from my phone by more than 30 or 40 feet, I lose the connection. With the current program settings, my hearing aids give me a warning tone (just a few notes that play in each ear). When I get back in range, they play tones again. If I, for example, leave my phone next to the couch and carry out the garbage, I get tones as I go out the kitchen door and tones when I come back. If I’m doing dishes in the kitchen, I may get the tones every minute or two as I move around. Of course, I COULD disable this, but I also like to know when a good connection has been made to my phone.
Also, it’s actually kind of cool to find my phone by walking around the house. I can immediately tell if I left it in the car by going to the carport door.
As others have stated, the Phonak app is required for connection. Plain old BT won’t work without some app or adapter.
The one downside to the connection for me is that my hearing aids “duck” ambient sound when they play anything from the phone. If I’m using Google Maps in the car, the turn-by-turn instructions cause the ambient sound (usually my wife) to drop significantly I often miss whole sentences.
This is what I would have expected, which is why I was surprised at people saying that they couldn’t hear anything if it’s loud.
I thought the whole idea of integrating hearing aids like this was that regular Bluetooth headsets don’t play well with hearing aids. I remember my old cordless phone had to have a special mode to interact properly with hearing aids.
I have TruHearing (Signia) aids and a Samsung S21 phone. Phone calls and other sounds go through the aids. I like this feature. I never used to listen to music on my phone but it’s so easy now, I think I prefer it to using the big speakers in my living room. Also if I get a text or the phone rings and the phone is in another room, usually I can hear the ping through my aids.
I have hearing aids attached to my phone via Bluetooth. I control the volume of the hearing aids separately from the Bluetooth music or TV volume.
So I can mix the two sources anyway I like. If the background noise is too loud I can turn my hearing aids all the way down to mute and only listen to music.
I have fairly basic hearing aids, I’m sure any model these days that has Bluetooth can do the same.
You can probably just mute your aids while listening to music. Turning them down won’t turn down the Bluetooth music/TV. They’re independent.
Yes, this is true, and, as has been mentioned, the aids go on mute when the Bluetooth device is active. I misspoke above. But there is still too much external noise to listen to a podcast or audio book. I much prefer my sound-cancelling earbuds.