- Hi guys.
Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology
and Founder of Applied Hearing Solutions
in Phoenix, Arizona.
And in this video,
I'm talking about Bluetooth hearing aids,
and if Bluetooth wireless technology
is something that you really need to help you hear better.
Coming up.
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Two thousand and thirteen was the first year
that we saw Bluetooth technology hit
the hearing aid market,
with the release of the ReSound LiNX
and Starkey Halo hearing aids.
Bluetooth was first invented in 1994
and eventually hit the consumer electronics market in 1999.
It then took an additional 14 years
for hearing aid manufacturers to utilize
this Bluetooth technology and incorporate it
with their hearing aids that I mentioned before.
In case you are unfamiliar with what Bluetooth is,
it is basically a wireless technology
that allows two different devices
to communicate with each other.
In the case of hearing aids,
it allows you to stream audio directly from a device,
like a smartphone or a tablet,
right into your hearing devices.
When Bluetooth was first released,
there were a lot of hearing care professionals
who absolutely hated it,
and still hate it to this day
because of all the additional time it takes to set it up,
train an individual on how to use it,
and to solve all the Bluetooth troubleshooting issues.
However, this does not change the fact
that Bluetooth is one of the main reasons
why hearing aid adoption rates have been skyrocketing over
the past eight years.
But before I explained exactly why this is the case,
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That being said,
let's go ahead and talk about this Bluetooth
a little bit more.
Before Bluetooth existed inside of hearing aids,
it was possible to stream audio directly
into your hearing devices.
One way of doing this was with the telecoil.
So if you had a telecoil enabled hearing aid,
you could walk into a public venue
that had a hearing loop installed
and you could stream the audio
from that venue directly into your hearing aids.
The other way of accomplishing
this wireless audio connection
was to use near-field magnetic induction,
which basically required you wearing
some kind of a Neck-Loop that could connect
to a different device,
stream that audio into the Neck-Loop,
and then convert it into
that near-field magnetic induction signal
and send it into your hearing aids.
The great thing about Bluetooth, though,
is that it is very common and universal.
So the telecoil was great,
but you had to go to a venue that had a hearing loop,
or you had to have a telecoil-enabled phone,
With Bluetooth, virtually every phone is Bluetooth-capable,
which means you can stream audio
from that phone directly into your hearing aids.
And did you get what I said there?
I said directly into your hearing aids,
so you no longer need to wear a Neck-Loop
to use Bluetooth technology.
All you need is that direct connection
between your hearing aids and whatever device
that you have that would stream audio.
Now that Bluetooth hearing aid technology
has been around for a while,
hearing aid manufacturers have begun to expand upon
the capabilities of their hearing aids using this form
of wireless communication.
Not only can you stream a bunch of different types of audio,
like phone calls, audio books, podcasts, YouTube videos,
but you can also do a lot more with these hearing aids now
because every major hearing aid manufacturer
has its own proprietary smartphone app
that lets you have a little bit more control
over your devices.
And I'm not just talking using it like a remote control
to adjust your volume and programs.
There are other things that you can do with it as well.
And these things include making your own custom programs,
using a Find My Hearing Aid feature,
activation of other wireless accessories,
and remote assistance from your hearing care professional.
With the ability to make custom programs,
you can make adjustments to the programs created
by your hearing care professional
to potentially let you hear even better
in unique listening situations that you encounter,
whether this means adjusting a frequency band equalizer,
volume, or other digital features,
like noise reduction and directionality,
or using machine learning to let your hearing aids
do this all for you,
you can make a program that is specifically designed
for what you want.
With a Find My Hearing Aid feature,
you can easily locate a lost hearing aid,
because the hearing aid app can show you
the last known location of the device,
based on when it disconnected from your phone's Bluetooth.
If that hearing aid
that you lost still has a battery inside of it
that is powering the device,
you can use the Bluetooth signal strength
to tell you when you are closer or further away
from your hearing aid.
if you happen to have other wireless accessories,
like a TV streamer or remote microphone,
then an app will let you activate and deactivate each one
of these devices using the Bluetooth.
And arguably one of the biggest advantages
of having this Bluetooth capability
is the ability to have remote care sessions
with your hearing care professional,
without even having to go into their office.
This feature has really expanded the way
that my clinic has been able
to make treatment more accessible to patients
who do not live local or who have mobility issues.
With remote programming,
I can use Bluetooth to tap directly
into my patient's hearing aid programming
without them being in my clinic,
which allows me to make programming adjustments
even if my patient is in a different country.
Before Bluetooth made remote programming a possibility,
it was much more difficult for me to remain involved
in my patients' treatment plan
if those patients were living outside
of the state of Arizona.
All of these different features
that have been made possible by using Bluetooth
is quite amazing,
but it does beg two different questions.
Number one, is Bluetooth necessary?
And number two, should you really get a hearing aid
that has Bluetooth capability?
To answer the first question of
is it necessary to have Bluetooth inside of a hearing aid,
the answer is, honestly, no.
If you have hearing aids with Bluetooth capabilities
and you do not want to use any
of these Bluetooth capabilities,
then you do not have to use Bluetooth
to make these hearing aids function
like they would normally function.
It's only if you want to have more control or access
to some of the features that Bluetooth
would ultimately give you.
But I get patients asking me all the time,
"Cliff, if I get a Bluetooth hearing aid,
do I have to have a smartphone
that allows me to use those hearing aids?"
And the answer of course, now that you know this, is no.
However, you may think that you do not want to use Bluetooth
with your hearing aids,
but if you struggle on the TV or the telephone,
or with any other multimedia device audio,
then having Bluetooth can solve those problems.
So the answer to the question of
is Bluetooth necessary really depends
on what your specific wants and needs are.
And to answer the second question,
should you get a Bluetooth hearing aid,
I would say that it doesn't really matter
whether you want a Bluetooth hearing aid or not,
because the vast majority of hearing aids out there
have Bluetooth by default.
Unless you want an invisible in-the-canal hearing aid
that is too small to have Bluetooth capability,
or if you're going to go with a really cheap hearing aid
that you buy online,
you're probably going to be finding a hearing aid
that has Bluetooth, whether you realize it or not.
This is why I stopped making
my best Bluetooth hearing aid videos,
because it was basically the same exact video
as my best hearing aid videos,
because every single one
of those hearing aids had Bluetooth.
Now, there are some differences
between different Bluetooth hearing aids,
and the thing that you have to pay attention to
is if they are a made-for-iPhone hearing aid,
or if they are a made-for-any-phone hearing aid.
Now, the vast majority of the made-for-iPhone hearing aids
work best with iPhones.
But if you have an Android phone,
I would highly recommend that you go with an option
that is a made-for-any-phone hearing aid.
Now, if this still confuses you,
you need to make sure that you find
a really good hearing care professional
who has a deep understanding of Bluetooth technology,
so they can help provide you with accurate guidance.
When finding this professional,
make sure that you specifically ask
if they are willing to take the time necessary with you
to set up your Bluetooth
and to provide you with troubleshooting,
because there are a lot
of hearing care professionals out there
who will just make you set it up on your own
and never provide you with any assistance
when it comes to troubleshooting.
And as sure as I know that the sun will come up tomorrow,
you will run into Bluetooth troubleshooting issues
at some point down the road,
no matter what brand of hearing aids that you have
and no matter what phone you have.
In the grand scheme of things,
Bluetooth technology inside of hearing aids
is still a very new technology that will continue to develop
as the years go by,
especially when we see
the new LC3 Bluetooth Codec come out
in the next several years.
That technology will completely blow away
the other forms of Bluetooth technology
that we currently have inside of hearing aids.
Now, if you want to learn more about that,
I do have that video link down in the description
of this video.
All that being said,
Bluetooth technology is absolutely here to stay,
and I see this technology expanding
on hearing aid capabilities into the future.
You just need to decide
if you want to use all the additional features
that Bluetooth gives you,
or if you're just happy enough using
your hearing aids without it.
That's it for this video.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comment section below.
If you liked the video, please share it.
And if you want to see other videos just like this one,
go ahead and hit that subscribe button.
Also, feel free to check out my website, DrCliffAuD.com.
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