Connecting iPhones and Hearing Aids: How to Get the Most Out of Your D - Olive Union

Call Olive Support
Mon - Fri: 9AM - 6PM (MST)

(708) 847-3208

0
  • My Cart (0)
  • Your Cart is Empty
0

Connecting iPhones and Hearing Aids: How to Get the Most Out of Your Device

Everyone seems to have smartphones nowadays and of all those users, 45 percent are iPhone users.

Are you one of them?

If so, this article is for you because we’ll go over just that: Connecting iPhones and Hearing Aids. 

New Hearing Aid Technology

With today’s hearing aids being more sophisticated than ever, one of the greatest advances in hearing aid technology is the ability to pair them to smartphones.

With Apple iPhone connected hearing aids, you can make quick hearing aid adjustments with the Apple Hearing Controls.

How to Connect Hearing Aids and iPhones

You can pair your hearing aid to your iPhone to make sure you don’t miss any sounds or audio. You can also enable subtitles and switch the music to mono.

To start, here are the directions to pair your hearing aids to your iPhone, and a list of devices and their hearing aid compatibility ratings.

  1. Launch the Settings app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap on Accessibility.
  3. Choose Hearing Devices under the Hearing section.
  4. Close the battery doors on your hearing device and your iPhone will search for your hearing device.
  5. Tap the name of your hearing device under MFi Hearing Devices.
  6. Tap Pair when you see the pairing request on the screen. If you have two hearing devices, you will get two requests.
  7. Once pairing is complete, you can use your hearing aids with your iPhone.

Here are some more directions to dive a little deeper into the accessibility function of iPhones:

Unlike some smartphones that have dedicated notification light, iPhone only has ringers and vibrations. You can however use the LED flash to provide a visible cue for incoming notifications.

  1. Launch the Settings app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap on Accessibility.
  3. Select Audio/Visual.
  4. Choose the switch next to the LED flash for Alerts to enable the feature.
  5. Select the switch next to Flash on Silent to use LED flash alerts when the ringer switch is set to silent.

Now, you should be set for using your hearing aid with your iPhone whether that be listening to music, watching videos, or talking to someone on the phone! 

Apple has created a Hearing Control function that can quickly be accessed in the Control Center.

For hearing aids paired to an iPhone, this feature lets you quickly and easily adjust hearing aid volume or change sensitivity.

Can AirPods Act as Hearing Devices?

You may have been told in the past that loud headphones will damage your ears, but now using your AirPods may actually let you hear better.

Although still not mainstream, as long as you tell your friends that you’re using the feature, they will know that you’re not just using your AirPods to ignore what they're saying, but rather to hear them better.

By using a feature on Apple products called Live Listen, your device can act like a microphone that sends sound to your AirPods much like a hearing device. Live Listen can help you hear a conversation in a noisy room or hear someone speaking across the room.

The steps are quite simple if you already tried connecting your hearing aids to your iPhone.

  1. Launch the Settings app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap on Accessibility.
  3. Choose Hearing Devices under the Hearing section.
  4. Close the battery doors on your hearing device and your iPhone will search for your hearing device.
  5. Tap the name of your hearing device under MFi Hearing Devices.
  6. Tap Start Live Listen.

If you want the best sound possible, try moving your iPhone near the sound source. If you’re watching TV, move it next to the TV and the microphone inside the device will be able to pick up sound much better.

To add, because AirPods do not come with volume rockers, you would have to adjust the volume on your iPhone.

Remember though, to not leave your iPhone on the table if you’re at the bar.

One downside of using this feature is that it eats up the battery of your iPhone very quickly. While hearing aids that are connected to your iPhone have their own microphone, using this feature puts all of the burdens on the phone itself. Apple Insider saw a 24% battery capacity drop while using this feature.

All in all, keep in mind that AirPods will only act as a sound amplifier and will not be a replacement for your hearing aids. It’s a good tip to know if your hearing aid runs out of battery or you want a quick amplifier when you already have your AirPods in your ears.

Check out our article: Can You Use AirPods as Hearing Aids? to get a better understanding of what AirPods can do for you! 

Connecting Your iPhone to Your Hearing Device: Olive Smart Ear Device

At Olive Union, we manufacture hearing devices that easily connect to your iPhone using our in-house app.

By pairing your Olive Union Smart Ear Device and using the app, you can test your hearing, adjust the sound output level, use the equalizer to personalize sound by frequency, change modes according to the environment you’re in, remove noise, and much more.

If you downloaded our app through the Apple App store, all you need to do is open the app and the guide will take you through the process of pairing your iPhone!

Here are specific directions:

1. After following through the initial guidance of checking if your Olive Smart Ear device works properly, turn it on by pressing on the face of the device for 2 seconds.

2. Release your finger from the device.

3. On your iPhone, launch the Settings app.

4. Tap on Bluetooth.

5. Slide the Bluetooth slider ON.

6. On your Smart Ear Device, press on the face of the device for 5 seconds to enter Bluetooth pairing mode.

7. On your iPhone, under “Other Devices” choose the device with the name starting with “Olive”.

8. Return to the Olive Smart Ear App and try all of its features!

If you have a hard time following through the guide, we made a video to make the process easier!

Make sure to read our article on Smartphone Apps for People With Hearing Loss if you wish to maximize your experience with hearing devices and connected smartphones! 

The information in this guide has been written using the following reliable sources:

https://www.healthyhearing.com/help/hearing-aids/technology

https://www.starkey.com/blog/articles/2020/06/benefits-of-smartphone-hearing-aids

https://www.truhearing.com/more-resources/amazing-benefits-smartphone-hearing-aids/

https://www.truhearing.com/getstarted/using-your-hearing-aids-with-a-smartphone/



Also in The Olive Branch