How do I use Android Support for Hearing Aid (ASHA) on a capable phone?

Question

I have been looking around for a demonstration of someone using the ASHA feature on an android phone, but a general google search only brings up ASHA feature being announced (from 2018) or something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ZDzqC3Mak) which shows how to connect an android capable hearing aid to an android smartphone using their custom app.

I believe that ASHA feature being integrated into Android means I should be able to pair with a hearing aid without need for a custom app (correct me here if I am wrong). I have an embedded system development board which claims it can work as BLE device with an ASHA capable smartphone. I also have a Samsung Galaxy s10e which is supposedly ASHA capable (cannot find any official source confirming this, but lots of online discussions imply that s10e series supports ASHA, as well as there are some options in phone settings which makes me think it probably is). One of the only hearing aids in the market that supposedly uses ASHA claims it supports direct streaming with galaxy s10e phones (https://www.resound.com/en/help/compatibility).

If I go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Enhancements > Hearing Aid Support > Bluetooth Hearing Aid in my Samsung Galaxy s10e, I can see that it allows me to pair with my custom BLE device (which supposedly has BLE 5.0 and supports BLE audio streaming with android). However, if I play music on the phone after pairing, I cannot hear any output on the built in speakers, but I cannot hear anything in my BLE device either. It's possible that at this moment the BLE device does not have the required codecs for audio streaming, but that is a different question.

My main question is about ASHA streaming on the android phone. Am I correct in assuming that after pairing with my BLE device by going to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Enhancements > Hearing Aid Support > Bluetooth Hearing Aid, I should be able to hear audio played on my phone from the BLE device, like I would on a regular bluetooth earphone? I haver been searching online for at least a demonstration of ASHA streaming or how the Bluetooth Hearing Aid support on the galaxy s10e is supposed to be used, but I cannot find anything. Does anyone here have any experience with this?

Answer 1

Based on this developer oriented video:

Accessible audio: Android hearing aid support and the audio framework (Google I/O'19), the speaker noted that while apps can provide enhancement to the experience, an app isn't required.

That said, if you are trying to create a ASHA compatible device, you should watch the full video, as it does point out the Android ASHA spec:

https://source.android.com/devices/bluetooth/asha

and note that testing seems more involved as the speaker at end describes 'reference device hearing aids' provided by Google and specifically calling out to use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) codebase to ensure compatibility.

Also be aware that in the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) which defines what is needed to obtain the Google Play Store that hearing aid support is optional.

From: https://source.android.com/compatibility/11/android-11-cdd#7_4_3_bluetooth

If device implementations include support for Bluetooth LE and Hearing Aids Profile, as described in Hearing Aid Audio Support Using Bluetooth LE, they:

• [C-5-1] MUST return true for BluetoothAdapter.getProfileProxy(context, listener, BluetoothProfile.HEARING_AID).

So what does this mean as a end-user?

Given the quirks of Bluetooth on Android, wait for hearing aid manufacturers to provide a list and even then supporting manufacturers like ReSound have fine print:

• Full streaming compatibility with Android devices requires minimum Android v10 and Bluetooth 5.0 and that functionality has been enabled by the phone manufacturer and service carrier. Accordingly, the compatibility information provided should be used for reference only. Although ReSound strives to achieve seamless device compatibilities, ReSound cannot guarantee full compatibility with all Android devices.