Android Phones to Natively Support Hearing Aid Bluetooth Connectivity
Hearing aid wearers who use Android devices will be excited to learn that Google plans to release functionality in their Android P update that will enable natively connecting to hearing aids through Bluetooth. This means that no additional apparatus is needed in order to pair the phone with the hearing aids. While this feature is already supported natively on iOS devices, Android devices account for roughly 85% of all the devices owned, so this has the potential to impact a lot of people. Hearing aid wearers are typically interested in pairing their phone to their hearing aids so they can do every day tasks like take a phone call or listen to music directly through their hearing aids. Android P will likely be released to the Google Pixel model line first and then will later be released on other models and manufacturers. Google will reportedly have a session dedicated to Android Accessibility at their annual I/O tech conference where we hope to get more info about this important feature. If you'd like to find out more about how you can use bluetooth with your hearing aids, give us a call and make an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Wikoff.
Reference: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixel-2-bluetooth-hearing-aids-android-p/
