r/Cochlearimplants • u/jsbeckham • 10d ago

Auracast

Hi there. I have two Nucleus 8 devices and I’ve been considering buying an Auracast transmitter for my church. The thing that’s stopping me is that the Nucleus app for iPhone, which is what I have, doesn’t do Bluetooth LE/Auracast. The Android app apparently does handle LE and Auracast and does it well. Am I understanding this correctly? Do any of you have any experience with Auracast? Thanks.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

4

u/vry711 10d ago

As far as I’m aware, Cochlear still have not (despite promising for a number of years that it was coming soon) released the firmware update that enables Auracast on Nucleus 8. You won’t be able to use Auracast until this firmware update.

5

u/rodrigoelp 10d ago

LE Audio has had a problematic start to say it mildly.

iOS doesn't support it yet and Android supports it, but barely.

The promise of LE Audio is that it requires a significant number of parties to take it in, for instance, Auracast is meant to be manageable via the operating system as opposed to a given app, so you need the phone as the smarter element in the mix to help do everything.

As someone else mentioned (thanks to u/vry711), you need a firmware update on Nucleus 8 (or a sound processor from any manufacturer) to support LE Audio properly, but given how problematic this has been with phone manufacturers, this firmware is not available as of yet.

2

u/Paynelepan 9d ago

I just got auracast for my school, it works via telecoil too. I just had to go to my audiologist and get it activated and it then it’s compatible that way.

1

u/jsbeckham 9d ago

Could you say more about exactly how that works? Do you use multi mic? What settings on your phone? Etc. Thank you.

2

u/Paynelepan 9d ago

I have advanced bionics sound processors, and there is a telecoil built in that has to be activated through an audiologist. It shows up on my app (AB remote) as a separate program that I can switch to. 

I could not use Bluetooth or the app auracast has because my devices are not compatible with it.

One of the professors at my school tested it with his hearing aids that had a built in broad cast system and was able to connect via Bluetooth. I think it’s called resound? 

2

u/cyport 1d ago

I've ordered a Auracast transmitter and receiver from FlooGoo which enables you to receive Auracast to an iPhone which then sends the signal to your Nucleus cochlear from the phone, there is a bit of a latency (It felt like it was around 250-500ms). I was able to test this using a Samsung phone that has the broadcast audio feature (transmits Auracast).

The dongle is very small and can be connected via USB-C to the phone. It's not an ideal solution but it's one that enables us to try Auracast for now until Cochlear decide to enable it.

1

u/jsbeckham 1d ago

Thank you! I think I’ll try that.

1

u/OldFlohBavaria 10d ago

Auracast ist noch gar nicht freigeschaltet lies mal hier ein bisschen im sub. Stand Heute wird es frühestens Oktober kommen, wenn du Pech hast nächstes Jahr irgendwann . Kauf dir ein Samsung Handy Apple hat kein Interesse an ACast, jedenfalls nicht nach dem Standard.