The Two Types of Bluetooth in your Phonak Hearing Aids

For years, many of us have been using Bluetooth in our daily lives without even realizing it: with our mobile phones, with our wireless headphones and with our cars.  Today, Bluetooth is ubiquitous. It’s now even in most modern hearing aids including all new Phonak hearing aids launched since 2019. But most people don’t know much about it.  For example, did you know that there are two types of Bluetooth in your Phonak hearings aids?  We’ve put together this short description on Bluetooth so that you can better manage your Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids. Let’s start with the basics, starting with a brief description of the two types of Bluetooth available in your new generation Phonak hearing aids.

Bluetooth, also known as “Classic Bluetooth”, is a short-range wireless connection technology developed in 1998, and is used to transfer a large amount of data accurately and without interruption, such as your voice on a mobile phone or a video call on your computer. It is called “short-range” since it connects two electronic devices that are no more than 10 meters apart.  Due to the fact that it transfers data “accurately and without interruption”, this type of Bluetooth consumes a great deal of energy, which means that it tends to drain the battery on your mobile phone and your hearing aids at a relatively fast pace.

Bluetooth Low Energy, also known as Bluetooth LE, is a short-range wireless connection technology developed in 2009 specifically for the healthcare, fitness and security industries.  Bluetooth LE is used to transmit small amounts of data in spurts, such as time, volume, temperature or heart rate.  As the name implies, Bluetooth Low Energy consumes considerably less energy than Classic Bluetooth since it transfers data in quick spurts followed by inactivity.  Hence the battery life of the devices transmitting and receiving the data will be conserved.

Both Classic Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE can co-exist in the same device, as they do in your Phonak hearing aids.  If your Phonak hearing aids are connected with your mobile phone, the Bluetooth connections showing “LE” use Bluetooth Low Energy.  All others use Classic Bluetooth.

When you receive a phone call in your hearing aids or when you listen to your favourite music, your hearing aids will be connected to your mobile phone via Bluetooth Classic. Even when you finish your call or stop streaming your music, this Bluetooth connection will remain activated. However, if you use the MyPhonak app to change the volume or the program, the hearing aids will connect via Bluetooth LE and, as soon as you exit the app, this connection will fade until you use the app again.

Please remember that even when your Phonak hearing aids are connected with your mobile phone, your mobile phone is the transmitting device, and your hearing aids are passive and are the receiving devices.  So if you are hearing odd sounds or beeps or if there is no sound at all being transmitted to your hearing aids for short periods of time now and again, this is most surely due to the fact that your mobile phone is transmitting audible sounds or inaudible signals to your hearing aids using the rules specified in the notifications menu on your mobile phone.  If the problem disappears when you turn off Bluetooth, then you will know for sure that your mobile phone notifications was the culprit. To remove all notifications from your iPhone, go to “Settings – Notifications”, and then remove the authorization on each of the visible applications.

With this short blog, we hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about Bluetooth and, most of all, we hope that you better understand how your mobile phone or computer connects with your Phonak hearing aids.