Bluetooth has been struggling for years, ubiquitous, essential and yet always promising something better. Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) Audio doesn’t change that, but it does bring some great new features.
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The Bluetooth LE Audio specification is now official, and it promises better audio quality and lower power consumption, meaning better battery life. It also adds a new feature called Auracast, which enables a kind of local broadcast, which could be a huge boon for accessibility.
“This is great news for hearing aid users! This new technology provides better audio quality while reducing battery consumption,” Doctor of Audiology Dr. Amy Sarow told Lifewire via email.
The new Bluetooth LE audio spec is pretty awesome. As mentioned, it uses a more efficient codec (the algorithm that encodes and decodes audio before sending and after receiving), resulting in a simultaneous improvement in both battery life and audio quality. That’s great, because it means future AirPods and other devices will be able to last longer between charges. It also means Bluetooth technology can be more easily adopted in small hearing aids, and can deliver True Wireless Stereo, or TWS, where separate left and right signals are sent directly to each headphone or earbud.
