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Hearing Aids and Mac computers

If you can connect your hearing aids to iPhone and iPad via Bluetooth why has it taken so long to extend this ability to Mac computers, surely the technology is available or is it a cost factor?

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 24, 2019 5:21 AM

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Posted on Jun 24, 2019 5:41 PM

In general, hearing aid's are extraordinarily specific about which devices they work with. So as a general rule if they claim to work with Windows PC's and/or Android phones, they should work work anything including your Mac. In other words, they behave as genetic bluetooth devices. However, a lot of hearing aids' bluetooth connectivity is so hugely specific it will only work with iPhone bluetooth hardware and that doesn't include Mac unless the hearing aid manufacturer specifically adds that support.


So it's not really about Apple, but about the specific hearing aid manufacturer.


Unlikes normal bluetooth generic devices which can be programmed and configured in a very generic high-level / universal sort of way, with hearing aids things like latency are so critical that they have to be configured and programmed using very low-level hardware specific features of the device and hardware features they are going to support.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 24, 2019 5:41 PM in response to lcf

In general, hearing aid's are extraordinarily specific about which devices they work with. So as a general rule if they claim to work with Windows PC's and/or Android phones, they should work work anything including your Mac. In other words, they behave as genetic bluetooth devices. However, a lot of hearing aids' bluetooth connectivity is so hugely specific it will only work with iPhone bluetooth hardware and that doesn't include Mac unless the hearing aid manufacturer specifically adds that support.


So it's not really about Apple, but about the specific hearing aid manufacturer.


Unlikes normal bluetooth generic devices which can be programmed and configured in a very generic high-level / universal sort of way, with hearing aids things like latency are so critical that they have to be configured and programmed using very low-level hardware specific features of the device and hardware features they are going to support.

Hearing Aids and Mac computers

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