Advantage of iPhones in hearing aid compatibility?

[livendive]

advantage of iPhones in hearing aid compatibility

Just to be clear, I dislike the Apple ecosystem and would prefer to not invest in it even minimally, as I find iTunes clunky and Apple laptops and tablets ridiculously overpriced. That said, my wife is getting sick of my "I didn't hear you" excuses, so it looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet on a pair of hearing aids soon, which has caused me to look at compatibility with cell phones. The difference is not insignificant. iPhones can connect directly to hearing aids to stream phone calls, music, etc directly to them, thereby avoiding the logistical "how do I wear headphones and hearing aids at the same time" issue. By contrast, Android phones seem to require an intermediary device to provide the same type of communication, and those devices are expensive (~$300) in addition to being unattractive and physically clunky. For reference, check out these two options:

http://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-hearing-aid.html
http://www.resound.com/en-US/hearing-aids/accessories/phoneclip-plus

Given that there are few hardware differences between Android phones (in my case, a Galaxy S6 Edge) and iPhones, it seems like the problem is probably in software. My guess is it has something to do with the battery required for different communication protocols, as hearing aid batteries are tiny and must be as energy conscious as possible. iPhones seem to communicate with them at 2.4 gHz, whereas for Android phones, the intermediary device seems to convert the phone's native signal down to 2.4. Does this make sense or am I completely off base?

The audiologist I met with indicated that Android is just playing hard to get with some sort of Bluetooth licensing, and he expects that to change sometime soon, but when this model of hearing aid costs $1800/pair and has been out since February, I'd like to be a bit more confident than just the "We guess..." of a salesman. Anyone know where I could find out if I'm doomed to switching to iPhone for full functionality?

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: advantage of iPhones in hearing aid compatibility

That's interesting information. I would wonder if it's more of a business decision on the part of the hearing aid companies, since I'd guess that iPhones are more commonly used by the elderly population than Android. The variety of Android devices might also present a problem--I saw that the Beltone HearPlus app is only compatible with certain Android devices, which suggests that it might be more difficult to make an app like this more universally compatible.

 

[tnerf]

I've mixed hearing aids and Android phones for years. I have a slightly larger aid with a T-coil built in. There iis a limited selection of Android phones with a T3 or T4 hearing aid compatibility, meaning they have a compatible telecoil in the phone, so you combine your unaided hearing with an electronic boost via induction between the phone and aid coils. I get the boosted sound in both ears, since my aids communicate with one another. To be clear, both the phone and the hearing aid must have t-coils for this to work.

iPhones almost all have good t-coils, but this is only a real advantage if the aid does, too. You have to enable the hearing aid compatibility (t-coil) in settings on the phone. I gave up a Nexus 5 (no t-coil) I loved otherwise for an LG G3 with a t-coil. G4 has a higher rating, but not enough to flip me from a perfectly good G3. You can generally find the hearing aid compatibility ratings at phonearena.com. In my experience, no rating means no telecoil. The M ratings are for microphone compatibility: you need M3 or M4 to limit feedback, but I've never seen a T3 or T4 that didn't have M compatibility. M without T means you may have to place the phone speaker next to your hearing aid very carefully, and my experience is that may not work (Nexus 5). I had a bluetooth setup that gave me great results on the hearing end, but lousy results on the microphone (inferior sound to the person on the other end from me) and lousy battery life in the hearing aids. It involved an intermediate device that housed the mic and went between the aids and the phone. Expensive and disappointing. I press a button on my aid to invoke the t-coil if I get someone with a soft voice. The phone setting is on all the time. It doesn't only work with cell phones, but with wired phones, too. Most office phones have induction coils, e.g. in every office I've worked. Some even have a magnet that triggers the telecoil in my aid so I don't even have to push the button.

 

[Rukbat]

There are also aids with Bluetooth, so you can use one of the aids as a Bluetooth headset. (Get Bluetooth for your better ear.)

The coils work, but with the aids getting smaller, the coils are getting external, and that's annoying - wearing a coil around your neck.

(I have severe loss starting at 4KHz, so I just hold the phone up to the aid's mic and I can hear everything.)