Just another quick follow-up: first of all, the phone I bought was a Samsung Galaxy S23 FE which is apparently just a little bigger than a regular S23, as I discovered when I tried to find a case for it and a regular S23 case didn’t fit. I’m very happy with it so far, and in fact bought one for my wife over the weekend (since she needs a new phone too).
Had my two week follow-up with my audiologist a couple weeks ago, she got the new hearing aids paired up with the new phone and tweaked some settings for me, so all is good. I’m loving the audio streaming to the hearing aids. It’s a lot easier to hear phone calls, and I can privately listen to music or watch a video. One of the things I’m still getting used to is having a text or email notification sound go off in my ears at random times. But overall, I’m a happy guy now.
How well does the other party hear you when you’re on a call? Are you just talking into space, or are you holding the phone to your head and speaking into the phone’s microphone?
That’s not helpful since I don’t know how you hold your phone to talk. Probably my fault since I didn’t give enough background for you to understand the context of my question. Sorry.
When I’m phoning w people I leave my phone sitting on a table 20 feet away or in the console of my car while I drive and I talk to them exclusively over a Bluetooth headset. I substantially never have the phone in my hand and I absolutely positively never hold it anywhere near my head.
I would be interested in pairing my hearing aids to my phone ONLY if I can talk into my aids and have the person at the other end of the call hear me.
No, it’s basically one-way communication into my hearing aids from my phone, not two-way like with a headset. I still have to hold the phone up in front of my face when I’m talking so the phone mic can pick up what I’m saying.
When my audiologist gave me a list of compatible phones, it looked like maybe there were a few that could do two-way communication? But they were all more than I was willing to spend on a phone. So it might be possible to do what you want, but not with the particular phone I bought.
What? I’ve had my Phonaks for the last four years and they definitely use the mics in the hearing aids to converse on my cell phone. I believe the connection is called A2DP. I can set my cell phone down on the table and walk into the kitchen and still continue the phone call.
I don’t know specifically about your hearing aids, but I have a Samsung S23 (plain model) and this feature works fine for me. The aids also worked this way with my older Samsung S-series phone four years ago.
The mike or not capability difference, is almost certainly within the various aids, not the phones. Any / every phone knows how to talk to a generic speak/listen BT headset.
The whole question is whether any particular brand / model of aid can behave like an ordinary speak / listen BT headset.
PSA: For threads that have been running almost a month it’s amazingly useful to read the thread, not just the OP, before replying. He bought a new phone last week.
ASHA uses Bluetooth LE audio. BT LE audio supports 2-way audio, but ASHA only supports one-way (phone to hearing aids). I’m not sure why; particularly when A2DP supports 2-way as @ZonexandScout mentioned. Not sure what iPhone supports, but wouldn’t be surprised if it is 2-way.
And I just noticed this from @gnoitall’s link (bolding mine):
The information on the web is confusing and I’m not sure how a consumer is supposed to figure this stuff out. Unfortunately I missed the thread when it was first posted and a long-time Moto household converted to Samsung.
Agreed, it is all very confusing, and for all I know my phone and hearing aids may do exactly what @LSLGuy is looking for, and I just haven’t figured it out yet.
Color me baffled here in 2024 that any standard would specify hearing aids as receive-only. 15 years ago in the infancy of digital computerized hearing aids, sure. But it’s now about 10 years past time to retire that obsolete standard.
Especially baffling to find the hearing aid industry and their booster club is the one promoting this grossly obsolete standard.
Sorry to be able to add to this thread, but i ran IBM 1403/3211 printers for years, frequently with my head under their covers and chainsaws for the month of June for 10 years.
I have Phonak hearing aids and have learned the pairing to listen to media and conduct phone calls. Sadly my insurance company insisted that i get them through them, so i got the Sprawl Mart version of what appears to be a good unit. I can’t turn off the chimes that go when i go outside of or reenter Bluetooth range - frequently. They default and return to the automatically set program - tinny and annoying to my ears. The custom programs i create vanish mysteriously. I keep my right ear set to +2, but any change to the environment, like using many phone apps or the frequent reset to automatic cancels the +2.
Overall it is nice to have hearing aids and nice to pair with my phone, but i needed to get my dose of statins and whiny complaining out of the way before noon.
I’m no fan of Bluetooth and also wish it would die, but I don’t think it is the issue here. The underlying BT LE supports 2-way audio.
I suspect the goal is to minimize the complexity/cost/size/current drain of the hearing aids by re-using the phone’s mics, echo cancellation, etc. Of course the cost of prescription hearing aids seems absurdly high, but that’s another matter entirely.
I keep my notifications off when wearing h’aids, and just rely on the phone vibrating. Unless I’m waiting for an important call.
But hey, ain’t living in the future wonderful?
My mind is still blown by the fact that I can listen to an audiobook without worrying about headphones (just a minute ago I was on a ladder, painting, but my mind was traversing a volcano rim).
I don’t listen to music; my hearing aids (Widex Moments) are a little ‘tinny’, enough that I don’t listen to music that way.
Anecdote: I’m always evangelizing about getting hearing aids to my friends, and twice now, when I mention being able to listen to a book, I’ll get asked “Are you doing that now, while I think you’re listening to me?”
I’ve had my wife ask me a couple times recently “Are you ignoring me?” Nope, just didn’t hear you because I was watching or listening to something on my phone. (Also she tends to try to talk to me from two or three rooms away, which doesn’t help.)
