Auracast demo

[Mike Austin]

This is an interesting demo of Auracast at the recent EUHA Convention in Germany.

Whilst not yet commercially available, it does show how quickly manufacturers are moving towards that goal.

My main interest as an SSD CI recipient is dual stream to an AirPod and my Audiolink/Rondo3

Mike

https://youtu.be/ZxPUEe8MenU

[Mary Beth]

@Mike Austin

Thank you for sharing this link.  I am very excited about the new BTLE Audio and AuraCast and am thrilled that Med-El is in the SIG.  Fingers crossed that Med-El offers this direct kind of connectivity in both its next BTE processor as well as its next Rondo version.

[Tim]

Thanks.  I had not heard the term "audio hotspot" before.   The term is very descriptive of some good use cases for Auracast. 

[John Schulz]

The suspense of whether Med-El will have LE Audio in their next processor continues building!

[Mike Austin]

I think people are probably over-estimating the speed at which something like BLE Audio is going to become ubiquitous in the marketplace, particularly in medical devices like a CI processor, where there is a pretty hefty penalty in time-to-market going through the approvals process.

The BLE Audio spec has only been confirmed in the last 18 months, and there aren't more than a handful of devices on the market that support it.

Auracast is another kettle of fish altogether, as you need a device configured as a Broadcast Assistant to broadcast the audio signals, and I think the only commercially available device that supports this currently is the Samsung S32.

So, given the MedEl release cycle seems to be around 4 years, and you probably need to account for up to a year delay from design finalisation to product release for the approvals process, I would say:

•  Sonnet "3" - 100% not going to have BLE Audio
• Rondo "4" - 50/50

Even Apple are hedging their bets with BLE Audio at the moment.

[John Schulz]

1 hour ago, Mike Austin said:

I think people are probably over-estimating the speed at which something like BLE Audio is going to become ubiquitous in the marketplace, particularly in medical devices like a CI processor, where there is a pretty hefty penalty in time-to-market going through the approvals process.

The BLE Audio spec has only been confirmed in the last 18 months, and there aren't more than a handful of devices on the market that support it.

Auracast is another kettle of fish altogether, as you need a device configured as a Broadcast Assistant to broadcast the audio signals, and I think the only commercially available device that supports this currently is the Samsung S32.

So, given the MedEl release cycle seems to be around 4 years, and you probably need to account for up to a year delay from design finalisation to product release for the approvals process, I would say:

•  Sonnet "3" - 100% not going to have BLE Audio
• Rondo "4" - 50/50

Even Apple are hedging their bets with BLE Audio at the moment.

Med-El might not have the firmware support for it at launch but I see no reason why their next BTE processor won't have an HCI version of 5.2 or even 5.3. Whether they will add LE Audio or AuraCast support in a later firmware is an entirely different question. I sure hope they've learned their lesson about not having a way to update the Bluetooth firmware after the last two BTE releases.

[Mary Beth]

Other cochlear implant processors and hearing aids are marketing themselves as new BTLE & AuraCast ready.

[John F]

So as it currently stands, the next processor is purported to have traditional BT much like AB. (I'm taking this info with a spoonful of salt.)  This would be very much a welcomed update if only not having to deal with limited Accessibility issues again.   But, whether that supports Auracast and such is an unknown since info is second hand and I'm not sure MedEl has thought that far ahead as @Mike Austin said, especially when there's so few devices that even supports it currently.  (Granted, unless you're due for an upgrade or pay out of pocket then it'll be a while before majority of MedEl folks even have access to new processors.)

This may change but all this (Auracast, etc) has been talked about for eons as is, so I'd keep expectations to a minimum especially in regards to MedEl... Even Apple, which oodles of folks rely on for phones and all that is extremely slow to adopt new protocols. (Like, seriously years behind in many things).   I mean, they still do not support CIs in their macOS and definitely do not fully support Bimodal folks like Android which has Dual BT abilities and ASHA in many of their devices.  

I expect the approved Maestro 10.0 to be implemented in Jan/Feb since Audis as staff are starting to train  on it throughout the US.  HearCare app will show up around the same time, maybe little later when new products are announced.  Somebody elsewhere said it sounded like a remote access type app, and I'd be inclined to agree with that but reps are not spilling the beans on these two things even though moderator told folks to inquiry to our reps in that other thread.  😠

There's a few things other things coming up in Q1 & Q2 of 2024 which should satisfy many users.  How the new devices are implemented I've no clues since even my sources are in the dark on some of the stuff MedEl is planning.  And no, no word on AudioLink update or replacement for it which seems to be a common question many Audis have.

[Mary Beth]

There is always a lot of speculation and discussion about future processors and related items.

We will not know for sure what Med-El will be offering until they release the information.  And then there is usually a wait for those items/features to be FDA approved/released in the US.

Exciting to think about the possibilities.

 

[John Schulz]

10 hours ago, John F said:

Even Apple, which oodles of folks rely on for phones and all that is extremely slow to adopt new protocols. (Like, seriously years behind in many things).   I mean, they still do not support CIs in their macOS and definitely do not fully support Bimodal folks like Android which has Dual BT abilities and ASHA in many of their devices.  

It's funny that you bring this up since Apple is one of the bigger contributors in defining the Bluetooth LE Audio specification. I think they wanted to solve all their issues with MFI and allow their products to be more functional on other platforms such as Android. Android still hold the predominate global market share and this is unlikely to change anytime soon. I think Apple's reasoning is if they can't sell their iPhone due to economic, cultural, or government constraints then they should try making their less expensive products more compatible. BLEA allows this to happen without sacrificing on the integration and audio quality the AirPods are known for. This is why I'm optimistic that BLEA will see a quicker adoption with their push for it as well as by other companies.

[Mike Austin]

If you want a deep dive into a more technical forum discussion on BLE Audio, etc, check out this link.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/le-audio-and-the-future-of-hearing/51431/871

Be warned - it spans > 900 posts and goes all the way back to mid 2020!

All this BLE Audio/Auracast discussion reminds me of when I first got involved in the development of wireless charging back in 2004.  I think it was 2019 before I got my first Wirelessly Chargeable device!!

[John Schulz]

900 posts = 175 pages (consolidated)... which is more than the BLEA specification docs iirc 🤣