# Hearing aids and Bluetooth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648 "2019-09-22T14:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/1 "2019-09-22T14:26:22Z")
I got a new pair of hearing aids a couple of weeks ago. With this new set, I have an app for my Android phone that pairs up via Bluetooth and allows me to change volume or mute, switch to a different program (for noisy environments), shows the battery level, etc. The one thing it doesn’t do, though, is stream audio directly to the hearing aids. My question is, why not? Is streaming audio via Bluetooth any more complicated than all of the other things the app can do? According to my audiologist, I _could_ stream audio if I had an iPhone, so it seems to be more a limitation of Android more than the hearing aids themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/2 "2019-09-22T15:09:05Z")
Possibly an issue with your device. It seems it does not support the proper [Bluetooth profile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bluetooth_profiles). What capabilities are listed when you try to pair it up with your phone? Note that with, say, a generic Bluetooth headphones, I don’t go into a special app in order to stream audio. I go into the Bluetooth menu-- this could be on Android, iPhone, Linux, Windows, etc.— pick the device from the list, wait for it to acknowledge the connection is set up, and proceed to play music normally. On Android, the Bluetooth menu should be somewhere under Settings. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/3 "2019-09-22T15:28:00Z")
When you say “device”, you mean the hearing aids, not the phone? The hearing aids don’t list any specific capabilities in the Bluetooth connections. But if they can supposedly stream audio to iPhone but not Android, it looks like a limitation in how the aids connect to the Android phone. Thanks for the link to the Bluetooth article, by the way. I’ve never really looked into the details that closely and didn’t realize there were so many options for how devices connect. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/4 "2019-09-22T17:30:43Z")
The bandwidth requirements of doing basic controls/info vs. streaming music are _very_ different. You have to push a _lot_ more bits per second. That takes more power, more circuitry, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/5 "2019-09-23T03:06:36Z")
I have a blue tooth for my hearing aids. It connects my hearing aids to my phone so I can hear and has a hand piece that I hang around my neck that will pick up my voice when I talk. But I find it better just to put my I phone on speaker. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/6 "2019-09-23T03:41:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The bandwidth requirements of doing basic controls/info vs. streaming music are _very_ different. You have to push a _lot_ more bits per second. That takes more power, more circuitry, etc. But what might cause it to work paired with an Iphone but not an Android phone or laptop? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-aids-and-bluetooth/840648/7 "2019-09-23T10:31:29Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > But what might cause it to work paired with an Iphone but not an Android phone or laptop? Because nobody bothered to write drivers for it before now? i say “before now” because [it is one of the advertised features of Android No Dessert Name.](https://www.google.com/search?q=android+10+hearing+aids&oq=android+10+hearing+aids&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-hp.12...0.0.1.6771.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..34.mobile-heirloom-hp..6.9.1454.ZSjftK2Hgsg)