Bluetooth Audio Transmitted to iPhone 15 Pro

I solved this issue a little differently. I had my audiologist activate the tele-coil program/function on my hearing aids. When I want to listen to such broadcasts, I switch my hearing aids to the tele-coil program and plug a tele-coil loop into the 3.5mm audio jack in lieu of the earbuds. I use the Listen Technologies LA-438 Advanced neck loop, and it works great. I use the tele-coil neck loop with assistive listening devices at theaters as well. Alan

Hello henryfrommd.

You can use hearing aids with iPhone. You'll want to check with the manufacturer of yours to see if it has Bluetooth capability and is compatible with iPhone.

If it is, you would just pair it like any Bluetooth accessory.

Use Made for iPhone hearing devices

You can find more info on hearing aid compatibility here: About Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) requirements for iPhone

Cheers!

I’m trying to find a solution for streaming bluetooth to an iPhone 15, as well, and coming up short so far. One issue, even if you got it working, is latency. Bluetooth latency doesn’t matter so much when listening to music but, when you want to use it in a performance, you may be introducing enough latency to throw off your timing. That’s gonna be a personal thing, but it’s best to keep in mind that any sort of computer-to-human interfacing will do that. You also might run into radio frequency interference issues, as well as distance since bluetooth has a super short range.

Caveats aside, and having used in-ears before, a wired solution should work, if a little kludgy; You’d basically have the following components:

• An in-ear beltpack
• A cable to connect the beltpack from whatever connector it uses to a TRS; TRS size will depend on your interface inputs.
• A small, portable battery-powered USB-C audio interface with a stereo audio input
• USB-C cable (if not included with the interface)
• An iPhone 15
• An app for receiving/streaming the audio to your hearing aid
• Hearing aid connected to the iPhone (this is the part I have no experience with, and can’t help with)

As for interfaces, a Zoom AMS-22 or U-22 may work; M-Audio might also make one, the caveat being that, because it’s often for stereo audio you’ll ideally need a stereo input to ensure audio staging/panning is still accurate; If your mix is mono that may be avoided, but that’s not been my experience so I’m assuming stereo panning is a requirement.

The short of it is that you’re connecting the belt pack to the adapter cable, running that into the audio interface, and then connecting the interface to the USB port on your phone. I don’t know about the audio software component but, if the interface doesn’t provide something, you can try looking at AUM. It’s reasonably priced and works really well as an onboard audio mixer with latency and buffer controls to help minimize both, plus it can add effects if you want.

Hopefully that helps get you in the right direction; It’s definitely an interesting problem to solve and, even if this doesn’t work exactly as described, I hope it helps you find a solution that does work for you!

Thanks for replying, henryfrommd, and that additional info, it really helps! At this point, please contact Apple directly for further support for your situation:

Apple Support

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

If you're hearing aids have bluetooth, this should work with the 12south airfly pro. It's a bluetooth with a 3.5mm headphone plug on the other end. You turn it on, hold down the button to put it in pairing mode, put your aids in pairing mode, and they should be connected to the receiver. You'll want to turn off bluetooth on your phone while pairing them and when turning on the airfly to ensure they connect to the device and not your phone again. After you have the them paired, turn on the airfly, and plug it into the headphone port of the device where you listen to the tour guide.

AirFly with Hearing Aids

Updated 6 months ago

Since AirFly wasn't designed for use specifically with hearing aids, we have not tested it ourselves. However, what we can tell you is that AirFly is a transmitter that provides a Bluetooth signal for a non-Bluetooth source. So as long as the source (i.e., a television, treadmill, or in-flight entertainment system) has a standard 3.5mm audio jack and the hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled, AirFly should work unless the hearing aids require some kind of app to pair them up. If an app is required to pair, it won't work.

Note that we have heard from customers that, per Oticon, the AirFly will not work with Oticon brand hearing aids. According to Oticon, the AirFly “will not pair directly to the aids as the aids use Low Energy Bluetooth (BLE) to help conserve the battery and the AirFly uses regular Bluetooth, so they do not speak directly to each other.”

A whole lot of us have been trying to solve the hearing aid / tour Whispers combination for as many as 15 years. Tried balancing external earpieces of all sorts, over the ear head phones, soft ear buds. Pursued the Bluetooth route which will NOT work since Oticon informed me they use a different Bluetooth protocol than that traditionally used on audio equipment, smartphones and Bluetooth adapters.

Alan's solution appears to be the best of all and I will try to get rigged for my next trip. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing your insights on this question, AlanG_from_NOLA. I have essentially the same issue as the original poster, henryfrommd. I wear Philips HearLink hearing aids, which can employ T-coil loop. I have used and enjoyed the T-coil feature in theaters and other venues that offer it.

We are going on a river cruise in Europe this fall, and the cruise line uses "QuietVox" portable receivers on their tours, The receivers have a 3.5" audio port, and are usually supplied with some sort of wired headphone. I'd like to be able to somehow listen to the tour audio feed directly through my hearing aids. I'm pretty sure that the Listen Technologies LA-438 neck loop (that you've previously recommended) would work for me, but it retails for around $100. I've heard from several people that the AirFly device (~$35) allows them to send audio from the QuietVox to their Bluetooth earbuds, and they speculate that I should be able to use the AirFly to send Bluetooth audio from the QuietVox to my Philips HearLink hearing aids. But I've never heard anyone confirm that this particular combination will work.

I have that same problem. Silversea has a system that, at least, works. We have to download an app that works with the system. On an excursion, the Tour Guide has a transmitter that generates a Wi-Fi network. I connect my iPhone to that Wi-Fi network and open the Silversea app. The voice of the Tour Guide is sent to my smartphone and then to my hearing aids.

People who do not wear hearing aids use their AirPods or other ear buds. The unit the Tour Guide has to carry is larger and heavier than those Vox units but it doesn't seem to be a major problem.

You might point out to your travel company that there is a solution - and there may be others that I don't know about. Maybe they will do something for their hearing impaired customers. Many travelers are older and many older people are hearing impaired.

[Edited by Moderator]

Not all hearing aids pair to Bluetooth…. Many aids have certain pairing restrictions.