For hearing aid wearers: Pico-ASHA, audio streaming "dongle"

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › For hearing aid wearers: Pico-ASHA, audio streaming "dongle"

shermanp

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#319601 12-May-2025 20:24

Hello all!

For the past year or so in my spare time, I've been working on a solution stream audio to my Oticon More hearing aids from a PC. It is a Raspberry Pi Pico W (or Pico 2W) connected to the PC by USB, and shows as a USB sound card, and streams audio using ASHA which is the protocol used by Android to stream to many hearing aids.

The project is called Pico-ASHA, and the code can be found at https://github.com/shermp/Pico-ASHA

You can download precompiled firmware and Windows companion GUI from the "Actions" tab. Or you can compile yourself if you prefer.

I think I'm getting fairly close to a "beta" release, but more testing from other brands of hearing aids would be very useful.

So, if there's any other geeks here who wear hearing aids, and want to test it, please do!

The only hardware required is a Raspberry Pi Pico W or Pico 2W, both of which can be purchased from PBTech. And also a Micro-USB cable.

WARNING: There are "Pico W" clones out there which have a completely different Wifi/BT chip. These WILL NOT work.

This is primarily aimed at Windows users, although since it's a USB audio device, it should work on Linux and MacOS as well.

johno1234

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#3372525 12-May-2025 20:53

I will definitely look into this. My hearing aids (Specsavers advance) work natively with iPhone but afaik an app is required for Android.

I would really like a TV streamer for them. Specsavers have one at a ridiculous price about $500

gzt

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#3372526 12-May-2025 21:06

Google seem to be announcing Auracast support for Android 16. It's not clear to me if their existing streaming devices support all that. I assume the latest one does. The announcement doesn't say

https://blog.google/feed/auracast-hearing-aids-earbuds/

shermanp

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#3372575 12-May-2025 21:36

johno1234:

I will definitely look into this. My hearing aids (Specsavers advance) work natively with iPhone but afaik an app is required for Android.

I would really like a TV streamer for them. Specsavers have one at a ridiculous price about $500

In theory, it might work with some TV's. I just tested with my TCL (Google TV). I got audio but it was very distorted and I couldn't change volume.

shermanp

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#3372576 12-May-2025 21:37

gzt: Google seem to be announcing Auracast support for Android 16. It's not clear to me if their existing streaming devices support all that. I assume the latest one does. The announcement doesn't say

https://blog.google/feed/auracast-hearing-aids-earbuds/

I should have mentioned that this is for hearing aids which do not support LE Audio, and most likely never will. ASHA was designed and implemented before LE audio was a thing.

johno1234

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#3372589 13-May-2025 07:41

shermanp:

gzt: Google seem to be announcing Auracast support for Android 16. It's not clear to me if their existing streaming devices support all that. I assume the latest one does. The announcement doesn't say

https://blog.google/feed/auracast-hearing-aids-earbuds/

I should have mentioned that this is for hearing aids which do not support LE Audio, and most likely never will. ASHA was designed and implemented before LE audio was a thing.

Ah ok. Mine are definitely BTLE

shermanp

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#3372839 13-May-2025 17:18

Just for reference, because it can get a bit confusing:

Back in ye old times, wireless audio streaming to hearing aids involved a proprietary wireless device, often with some sort of neck loop antenna. For example, I had Phonak hearing aids with their Compilot accessory.

Bluetooth LE started being used to monitor and control hearing aid functions.

Apple developed (presumably with HA manufacturers) a Bluetooth LE audio streaming solution as part of their "Made for iPhone" (mFI) program. This is still used today.

Google saw what Apple did, and decided to create their own Bluetooth LE audio streaming solution. This is ASHA, and is still used today.

Bluetooth SIG announced LE Audio (along with Auracast), that was supposed to be released ~2020 but was delayed (for reasons I'm sure everyone can figure out!). It took a while, but the last year or so has seen the release of new hearing aids which support this new LE Audio standard. Such hearing aids may also support mFI and/or ASHA as well.

johno1234

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#3372862 13-May-2025 19:07

Yet most modern BTLE hearing aids support both iPhone and Android phones. Are the protocols functionally identical or do the HAs work with both?

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shermanp

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#3372869 13-May-2025 19:40

Yeah, most hearing aids for the past few years have supported both mFI and ASHA. I don't know how close their implementations are -- anyone who knows will be under NDA from Apple (the ASHA spec and reference source code is public).

The latest HA models are now starting to support LE Audio, which only works with very recent phones, and maybe some laptops. I think Windows 11 now supports LE Audio if you have the right Wifi/BT chip, as does Linux.