Pairing Hearing Aids with Your Smartphone

If you are new to hearing aids, figuring out how to use them can be a learning curve. Like all technology, once you get the hang of it, will be easy.
 
Linking up Hearing Aids with Your Smartphone
 
Just about every modern digital hearing aid can be paired with a smartphone. Audio files from your phone, computer, or tablet can be streamed through your hearing aids. They can basically be used like wireless Bluetooth® headphones. Not every hearing aid that features Bluetooth® is compatible with every smartphone brand. Android and iPhone are the only two smartphone brands that pair with hearing aids. It’s simple to set up because the technology automatically pairs them.
 
Switch on the Bluetooth® Feature  
 
Through your smartphone, select the Settings app. Search for Bluetooth®, select it and switch it on. 
 
Find Your Hearing Aids Listed in the Settings app
 
Through the iPhone, go to the Settings app. Find and select the “Accessibility” feature. Then find “Hearing Devices”, and select it. Your hearing aids should be shown. Through the Android phone, after the Bluetooth® is switched on, your phone should have started searching for other Bluetooth®-enabled devices to link up to. It should only take a few seconds for your hearing aids to show up on the list. For either one of these smartphone brands, if your hearing aids do not show up on your phone, the battery doors might need to be opened and closed, or you might need to place them back in the recharger. This switches them off and on again so that your phone can detect them.
 
When your hearing aids are listed as an option on your phone, select them. They will start their connection, which may take 30 seconds or more. 
 
Pairing Additional Devices to Your Hearing Aids 
 
Smartphone Streaming Systems
 
Even if your hearing aids are not Made for iPhone or Made for Android, wireless streaming is still available between your smartphone and hearing aids. You’ll just need a small, separate device known as a streamer. It can clip onto your shirt collar, or hang around your neck and be covered by your clothes.
 
Alternative Streamers
 
Different circumstances - even those with smartphone-compatible hearing accessories - need a streaming device if you want audio transferred to your hearing aids. TV streamers, mini-microphones, and other devices can help you hear clearly. There are different styles of streamers that are unique to every hearing aid manufacturer. They are just as simple or, in some cases, more simple than connecting hearing aids to your smartphone. 
 
If you or a loved one need hearing aids and/or an assistive streaming device for listening, please contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a complimentary consultation.  

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