What is Bluetooth Low Energy audio, and what exciting new features does it bring to
Bluetooth hearing aids, headphones, and earbuds? I’ll let you know in this video. Coming up!
Hi, I'm Dr. Derek - audiologist, audio engineer,
and musician with Pro Fit Hearing.com bringing you the best insight in today's
latest hearing aids, headphones, and audio technology to improve your life.
If you have concerns about your hearing, always consult with your local physician or audiologist.
Today, I’m talking about Bluetooth Low Energy audio released with Bluetooth 5.2
for compatible Bluetooth hearing aids, headphones, and earbuds. Within the Bluetooth audio
specification, we have Bluetooth Classic audio and now Bluetooth Low Energy audio (or LE audio).
Bluetooth audio uses a codec (or coder-decoder) to encode and decode a digital audio signal.
The coded audio signal is transferred wirelessly from a playback device like a smartphone
to a pair of Bluetooth hearing aids, headphones, earbuds, or speakers.
Bluetooth Classic audio uses the SBC codec (or sub-band codec), and Bluetooth Low Energy
audio uses the LC3 codec (or low complexity codec). This new LC3 codec is an improvement
over the previous version because it allows for better audio quality at a lower bit rate,
lower power consumption, and it also allows for a smaller device and battery.
Bluetooth Classic audio is single stream. This means you can connect one pair of headphones,
earbuds, or hearing aids to one playback device at a time.
This has worked well, however with the introduction of truly wireless earbuds
single stream transmission can cause increased latency and audio drop outs. This is because
the stereo audio stream is first sent to one earbud and then sent over to the second earbud.
Bluetooth LE audio is multi-stream. This means you can connect one pair
of headphones, earbuds, or hearing aids to several playback devices at a time.
You can hear all the audio streams without switching between playback devices. For truly
wireless earbuds, the audio stream is sent to both earbuds independently at the same time.
The audio is synchronized between ears which provides a more consistent stereo image and
connection. Multi-stream also allows for better voice control and voice assistant support.
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New to Bluetooth LE audio is broadcast audio. You can broadcast one or more audio streams
to an unlimited number of devices like headphones, earbuds, and hearing aids.
You can have an open broadcast so that anyone can listen with their Bluetooth device.
Think of it like a public WIFI network that anyone can log onto. This could be used at airports,
gyms, movies, or any public place and provide alternative audio tracks for different languages.
For Bluetooth hearing aid users, Bluetooth LE audio is especially important.
Bluetooth LE audio’s low power consumption is great for small hearing aid batteries
which allows you to stream audio for longer. Also, the multi-stream feature enables audio
streaming from a microphone or audio device to all compatible hearing aids in a room.
This can be very useful for hearing impaired students in a classroom
or for anyone that's using hearing aids in a public place that has broadcast audio available.
Also, an additional benefit of Bluetooth Low Energy audio is direct audio streaming from
Android devices to hearing aids. iPhone compatible hearing aids have been around for years,
but unfortunately Android users have been required to use an extra accessory
to stream audio. Now there's several hearing aids that use Bluetooth LE audio.
Check out the notes in the description for more details.
Which Bluetooth Low Energy audio feature are you most excited about?
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