Android to make pairing hearing aids with your phone easier

Google Fast Pair has been discovered to be working on support for Bluetooth-compatible hearing aids.

Android 15 has delivered some big improvements to hearing aid compatibility. These include support for both Bluetooth LE Audio (LEA) and Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocols. The folks at Android Authority have now discovered some references to a new feature in development for hearing aid hardware in the code of Google Play Services 24.50.32 beta.

Google's Fast Pair feature works with earbuds, speakers, game controllers, and what have you with Bluetooth support. Of course, the new class of Bluetooth LEA-compatible hearing aids is a different category of device from earbuds, and it's not yet part of Fast Pair.



It seems, however, that the hearing aids category may get added to Fast Pair soon. Android Authority discovered a new setting in the works that would enable a hearing aid to be paired using Fast Pair.

But that's not all that Fast Pair is getting prepped up. Also, Android is working on adding Bluetooth keyboards to the list of supported devices for Fast Pair as well. Hints of that have also been discovered in the code.

Right now, it's not clear which models of hearing aid hardware would come with Fast Par support. The framework is now under development, however, and once it's ready, we may see such devices arriving, so it seems just a matter of time at this point.

Technology has been steadily growing and in the past decade, it's been highly helpful with hearing assistance. I believe that making it easier to pair hearing aids with Android is a step further into making health more accessible and enriching people's lives. And after all, that's what tech is all about - enriching us with experiences and improving our lives. So, kudos to Google for the work with Fast Pair!