John F Posted September 14, 2023 Report Share Posted September 14, 2023 I figured I would post this since the CI discord group are aware and a couple people have inquired. Apple announced hearing devices finally able to connect to macOS back in May. This coincides with the release of Sonoma that’s been in development for a while. You can find the initial discussion here. After months of various people checking each Developer build, as well as the Public Beta builds to see if their AudioStream or N7s, etc connects (and some who made claims it did that were not entirely truthful), we have finally arrived at the release candidate for Sonoma before it goes live and finally put to rest any guessing games. Their release notes for this OS update under the Accessibility currently state: - Accessibility • Live Speech lets you type what you want to say and reads it aloud in FaceTime calls or in-person conversations • Personal Voice helps users at risk of speech loss create a voice that sounds like them in a private and secure way using on-device machine learning • Made for iPhone compatible hearing devices can be paired and used with Mac (MacBook Pro (2021), Mac Studio (2022), and Mac computers with M2 chip) Anyways, with this release candidate out this week, one still is unable to connect their Cochlear Implant processors to the OS, however Hearing Aids have been able to connect the last few builds. Not much can or will change between now and September 26th when it goes live save for some bugs and such per usual. After a back and forth with Apple and then requesting they replace “hearing devices” to “hearing aids” since no MFi CI is actually included, they let me know their updated version. Hi John, Thank you for your email. Our support documentation will be update when macOS Sonoma is released to provide the following details on MFi Hearing Device compatibility with Mac: • Available on MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021), MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021), Mac Studio (2022), and all Mac computers with M2 chip across all supported languages Devices that appear in the list with an asterisk, indicating support for bidirectional streaming audio, will be compatible with Mac. Due to Bluetooth hardware requirements, devices that do not appear with an asterisk will not be compatible with macOS. Apple is always working with our Made for iPhone partners to expand the functionality of hearing devices. If hearing device support is expanded for Mac in the future, the list of supported hearing devices will be updated in the article. https://support.apple.com/HT210386 Sincerely, Apple Accessibility So, this puts a lot of speculations to rest for the time being. Apple will not be supporting Cochlear’s processors or MedEl’s AudioStream until maybe a later date in macOS 14 Sonoma. Hopefully my response and others involved in this can get Apple on board but doubting it, especially after their lack of willingness to support even MedEls Bimodal folks on any of their devices. dnagy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnagy Posted October 2, 2023 Report Share Posted October 2, 2023 @John F This is so frustrating, I absolutely hate that I need a third device (AudioLink) to connect my CI to my macbook. This should be basic functionality in 2023, and I hope that Sonnet3 will come with integrated bluetooth so we don't need to change covers. Do you think we could create a petition to request Apple to support CI devices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schulz Posted October 2, 2023 Report Share Posted October 2, 2023 9 hours ago, dnagy said: @John F This is so frustrating, I absolutely hate that I need a third device (AudioLink) to connect my CI to my macbook. This should be basic functionality in 2023, and I hope that Sonnet3 will come with integrated bluetooth so we don't need to change covers. Do you think we could create a petition to request Apple to support CI devices? It may be possible to submit an ADA complaint as Apple does work with the U.S. government. In fact, it may be possible to require both MacOS and Windows 10+ to implement ASHA support. Though, it's an awkward time in the Bluetooth world since ASHA may be mostly phased out in three years. Hard to gauge. I'm trying to understand whether AuraCast can be implemented on an OS level or if it must be implemented in hardware. I'm pretty... dissatisfied to put it kindly... with the Bluetooth SIG for the lack of open documentation around AuraCast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted October 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2023 Eh technically Apple is already complying with ADA regulations. So that is a non starter imo. It was mentioned once it’s plausible Sonoma requires a Bidirectional function to exist. But who knows? It never upset folks with lack of any hearing device support before macOS Sonoma, so it’s just another update for everybody. It sucks and if I sat on it, I’d be fuming but no reasons to dwell for now. If and when macOS supports CIs then we’ll all be much happier. If anything, it’s a good wish list idea for MedEl and Cochlear to implement true BT connectivity like AB (although I believe they have the patent on that?) just to avoid any of this accessibility issues that keep plaguing hearing devices. Until the day arrives when an OS supports hearing devices without a catch, then folks will continue using their Tablets and Smartphones with their CIs. Not great alternatives but least they’re there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnagy Posted October 2, 2023 Report Share Posted October 2, 2023 I still not understand why can't you use hearing aids and CIs like any normal bluetooth earphones. Pair with your laptop and listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schulz Posted October 2, 2023 Report Share Posted October 2, 2023 1 minute ago, dnagy said: I still not understand why can't you use hearing aids and CIs like any normal bluetooth earphones. Pair with your laptop and listen. It's because Cochlear and Med-El do not have the hardware to efficiently support BT Classic that allows for seamless connectivity. They instead use more efficient BT LE (low energy) chips with protocols that are designed for BT LE (ASHA and MFI). There is no reason why Windows, MacOS, and Linux can't support ASHA (or MFI for Apple), it's just that no one has gotten around to it. ASHA is still a somewhat new protocol, only being released into Android two years ago. Developers for these operating systems don't have much incentive to dedicate time to implementing these protocols unless pressured/forced to do so as the implementation would benefit a small user base compared to other things. Frustrating, yes, but that's how it goes. Med-El and Cochlear could work together on making a driver for Windows (or kernel module for Linux/BlueZ implementation) but I'm not sure if they have any in house people they can reasonably delegate the task to. As for why you need a sleeve... you technically don't. However, Med-El keeps their Bluetooth protocol closed source for no apparent reason and they don't provide drivers for it. As a result, open source developers such as myself can't make drivers for Med-El's Sonnet 2 BT LE implementation. All I've gotten is "we've forwarded your inquiry to the appropriate team" with no response surrounding Bluetooth. All I can say is keep making noise at this point. Dianna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Canada Posted October 3, 2023 Report Share Posted October 3, 2023 @John Schulz they might not be allowed to make it open sourced since a CI is a medical implant. John F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schulz Posted October 3, 2023 Report Share Posted October 3, 2023 11 minutes ago, Anthony Canada said: @John Schulz they might not be allowed to make it open sourced since a CI is a medical implant. https://creativecommons.org/2020/04/15/open-source-medical-hardware-what-you-should-know-and-what-you-can-do/ Also, why would that be the case? The protocol being open source would not affect how the hardware functions. That's just not how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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