Whilst Apple I-Phones have been streaming successfully to bluetooth enabled hearing aids for many years Android has come to the party very late and is still a fragile set up for most compatible phones, hearing aids and their associated Apps.

ASHA seeks to resolve this issue by allowing high-quality, one-way direct streaming from Android devices with Android 10 or later and Bluetooth 5.0. But is only available on the latest models of Smart phones – see the lists here – and not all Hearing aids are equal in terms of what they can offer with Android.

The main feature variance is whether the aids will stream phone calls one way or both.

That is to say compatible set ups will send the incoming part of the conversation direct to the hearing aids, but not all set ups will stream the outgoing element (your voice) of the call back to the phone. You will still have to rely on the phone’s microphone to pick up and transmit your voice.

There is also the question as to whether you can answer the call by pressing a button on the hearing aids – meaning that your connectivity is truly hands free – or whether you still need to answer and end a call using the phone handset.

The landscape is changing almost weekly so its probably best to check with us for your particular needs so we can advise you.

Oticon

One-way direct streaming from Android devices with Oticon More Oticon More is compatible with the new Android accessibility protocol, Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) allowing high-quality, one-way direct streaming from Android devices with Android 10 or later and Bluetooth 5.0.

Sonova - Phonak and Unitron

Two-way direct streaming from Android devices with two-way direct streaming from Android devices with Android 10 or later and Bluetooth 5.0.

Calls can be answered ended, and rejected by pressing a button on the aid.

Starkey Evolv range

Two-way direct streaming from Android devices with two-way direct streaming from Android devices with Android 10 or later and Bluetooth 5.0.

Calls can be answered, ended and rejected by pressing a button on the aid.

GN Resound

One range  section under development

Signia AX 7 range section under development

Widex Moment section under development

Lost Connections ........

are a nightmare. when your hearing aids and your smart phone stop communicating completely or when you have some degree of connection that enables you to make volume adjustments for example, but you cannot get the phone to stream to the aids.

Things to check:

Make sure the aids are working as expected for normal conversation. Are the batteries fresh?  Are the aids fully or at least well charged?

Is your wax solution clean and have you checked your dome for wax as well?

Once you know the aids themselves are working you can narrow down the problem to the phone. 

Almost all streaming issues are down to the Phone settings, not the aids, and far less so the App or the hearing aids.

Phone manufacturers update their software periodically which affects the way they communicate with the Apps. Hearing aid manufacturers have to update their Apps to work properly with the phone's updated software, but the process of updating software is supposed to be backwards compatible with older versions of the App, and also hearing aids running older firmware versions.

Things to do

Clear the Cache

The Cache is a sort of internal memory for connections and link devices and App processes. Most of us run a great many apps, many in the background that we don't even know are there! Sometimes as the phones update your apps to a newer version the old one lingers in its memory, clogging up the system up with older data. 

Refreshing this 'cache' can often allow your phone, App and hearing aids to talk to each other again.

Here's how to do it:

• Close the App
• Unpair the hearing aids in your phone's Bluetooth menu and turn them off or put them in the charger
• In settings on the phone, go to Apps, find your hearing aid App, go to the storage section in the App
• In there, clear the data and clear the cache.
• Reconnect the aids via Bluetooth connecting the left aid first. Wait till it is fully connected before connecting the right.           (see below for Unitron and Phonak issues here!)
• Open the aid manufacturers App and re-connect to the aids.

Re-Install the App

Occaisionally, especially with Apple/i-phone the phone records can get corrupted after an update - or just when the phone feels like its having a bad day!

It is often a good idea to just delete and re-instal the App. The same principal of turning it all off and turning it all on again!

Here's how to do it:

• In the 'settings' menu, find 'Bluetooth'.
• Tap on this and it will bring up a list of devices your phone knows about. 
• Tap on the little blue ( i ) on the right hand side of the hearing aids. 
• This will bring up a menu. In here tap on 'Forget this device'. Do this for both aids (see below for Unitron and Phonak issues here!)
• Go to your main screen and uninstall the app. Tap and hold the App icon. this will bring up a small menu where you can delete the App.
• Turn the phone off and back on.
• Turn the hearing aids off and back on
• Re-pair the aids. (Settings > Accessibility > Hearing devices). dont forget to pair both aids - it does this one by one (see below for Unitron and Phonak issues here!) scroll down for how to pair your phone and aids 
• Re-install the app 
• Open the App to re-pair the aids to the app. This should happen automatically

This process can also be used for Android phones, although with android you pair the aids via the bluetooth menu, or direct into the app depending on the phone and hearing aids that you have.

Keep up to date

It goes without saying that having your phone's software and the App version as up to date as possible is important if you are having difficulties. 

The aid will have periodic Firmware updates, but in the main, the phone and app updates will be backwards compatible so whilst desirable, its not always crucial to have the hearing aid firmware right up to date.

If you are unsure, contact us and we will check your firmware version and update it for you. 

Sonova - Phonak and Unitron

 Sonova use a slightly different set up when pairing to your smart phone. Even though you have two hearing aids, only one will pair to your smart phone, so don't waste hours pulling your hair out string to get the second aid to show in the pairing dialogue - it never will!

The aid that does pair to your phone will send and receieve the streaming information and send it bia internal bluetooth to the second aid. 

once you have paired the one aid, the system should work perfectly.

Sonova do not have a 'find my aid option' on their app.

Starkey - Thrive App

In our experience, the Thrive App is one of the less stable apps in the hearing aid world, especially on Android phones. 

Deleting the app, clearing the cache and re-installing everything is often the only way to get things working again.

on a poisitive note.....

Starkey have a 'ping' option on the aid to find the phone, and a hotter/colder option for find my aid, which is excellent.

click here for Starkey's own guide 

click here for user adivice on the Starkey Thrive app

My hearing aids seem to go off for a second or two then come back on

Check your 'Notifications' settings in the phone.

If you get a beep or other sound when you receive an incoming text, social medfia message or email, your phone will try to send it to the aids.

The aids will usually think there is some music being streamed so try to change to music streaming settings. By the time they have done that, the message notification has been and gone, so the aids have to reset back to normal.

The solution?

Turn off the notification sounds for messages etc in your phone's settings.

General Pairing Tips. Please see the panel above before you start pairing.

Apple have built in a dedicated, generic hearing aid remote control into their software. You do not need a manufacturers app to use it.

With i-phones, the pairing process is done through the 'Accessiblitly' menu; not through the bluetooth pairing dialogue and not using the manufacturers app.

the process will vary slightly depending on which i-phone you have and which IoS operating system you have. 

How to pair

1. Turn OFF your hearing aids. (Open the battery door or place them in your charger.)
2. Turn your phone's Bluetooth ON  (settings menu)
3. on your i-phone go to:
4. 'Settings'
5. 'Accessibilty' (this may be found in 'settings/general/accessibility)
6. scroll down to 'Hearing Devices'
7. At the top you will see 'MFI Hearing Devices' and the 'search' dialogue will automatically start
8. Turn your hearing aid on (closed the batteries door(s) or remove them from your charger
9. Once the aids have booted up (up to 20 seconds depending on settings) the aids will be identified in the dialogue box. (usually it will say *your first name's* hearing aid or somthing similar) 
10. You will then have to option to pair to the aid(s). Note that for two aids there will be two 'pair' dialogues.
11. And that's it , done. You can use the remote control that will appear once you have paired or come out of the setiings menu and go the you manufacturers app.
12. Reboot your aids and open the manufacturers  App. it will pull the aids through and open automatically allowing you to use the app, or the i-phone's generic remote control.  
13. Note: with an I-phone you don't need to down load the manufacturer's App. Apple have their own hearing aid remote control in the 'Accessibilty/Hearing Devices' section of the Settings menu. 

PROBLEMS?

If you change aids, change phones or are just struggling to connect, you can delete the paring and start again.

Go to stage 7. above and you will see your aids specfified. Click on the aids and click on the 'Forget' button to delete the aids.

Secondly you should also check your bluetooth list for paired devices and delete the aids in there if they appear.

General Pairing Tips. Please see the panel above before you start pairing.

The process will vary slightly depending on which Android phone you have and which operating system you have. 

You can only controla nd stream from your Android Smarty phone if you are using the manaufacturers App.

Please also note that you must be running Android 10 or newer and your phone must be compatible (see here). Android is comparitivley new to the idea of connecting to hearing aids and so the reliabilty and stabiltiy of connection is nowhere near as good as with Apple. 

The process will vary slightly with each phone but the basics below should get you through. 

How to pair

1. Turn OFF your hearing aids. (Open the battery door or place them in your charger.)
   
2. On your phone go to the Bluetooth in the settings/connections menu. 
3. Turn your phone's Bluetooth ON, and click on the word Bluetooth'.  
4. Turn your hearing aid on (closed the batteries door(s) or remove them from your charger)
5. Once the aids have booted up (up to 20 seconds depending on settings) the aids will be identified in the dialogue box. (usually it will say *your first name's* hearing aid or somthing similar) 
6. find your hearing aids. you usually have to scroll down to the bottom of the list and look under'available devices'
7. Tap on each aid seperately and wait for the pairing to take place.
8. And that's it , done.
9. You can come out of the setiings menu and go the you manufacturers app.
10. Reboot your aids and open the manufacturers  App. It will pull the aids through and open automatically. 

PROBLEMS?

If you change aids, change phones or are just struggling to connect, you can delete the paring and start again.

Go to stage 3. above and you will see your aids specfified. Click on the aids and click on the 'Forget' button to delete the aids.

Secondly you should also check your bluetooth list for paired devices and delete the aids in there if they appear.

See above for instructions.

NOTE:

the  I-phone has a built in hearing aid controller, so you do not need to use the hearing aid manufacturer's dedicate app. 

You will find it in 'Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices'.

In here you can turn the aids up and down, select alternative programs (where available you may not need to have any in place), and cruically adjust your streaming options. You can decide whether the phone sends the signal for media (music etc) and phone calls to the hearing aids or the phone's speaker. Useful if you are showing someone a video for example.

You can also select mono or stereo streaming and left/right bias amongst other settings.