Your Audiology Tutorial: Bluetooth Hearing Aids

Hearing aids enabled with Bluetooth technology is not a new concept, but in recent years the need for accessories to link them have become unnecessary for several models.  Read: you no longer need things like "streamers" with laniards around your neck to stream calls directly into your amplification.  Smartphones can be paired to the aids without other devices needed to allow the connection.

You access an app on your iPhone or Android to make adjustments for volume, microphone configuration, and even pitch via an equalizer. "Geo-tagging" utilizes the phone's GPS to recall a favorite location (like a coffee shop) and you can create a specialized program that will remember the settings you set for that environment.  "Machine learning" will average your preferred adjustments over time.   Starkey, Widex, Oticon, Phonak, and GN Resound are some of the manufacturers who market said hearing aids.

Currently, only iPhones (5 or later) allow you to directly stream calls and other content from the phone to your aids.  Most BT hearing aids are the RIC (Receiver-in-the-Canal) type, although some ITC (In-the-Canal) custom aids have this feature.  Audiologists have been overheard lamenting that they spend as much time teaching folks how to use their phones as they do their aids.  We joke that we are an unofficial branch of Apple Technical Support.

Here is a troubleshooting tip should you lose your Bluetooth connection.

For iPhone:

Go to...
Settings
-General
-Accessibility
-MFi Hearing Aids

You'll see see your first name and "Hearing Aids" after it.  If it says "Not Connected" click on it to re-pair your hearing aids.  If this doesn't work, select "Forget This Device", which is visible after you click on the aforementioned tab with your name.  You will then have to start from scratch with pairing.  Open and close the battery doors of your aids, then repeat the above steps.