Bluetooth LE Audio is coming to improve future headphones and hearing aids
Android 12 has brought us a ton of new features and a brand-new interface design in the form of Material You, but a few things unfortunately hadn’t made the cut in time. Among them is support for Bluetooth Low Energy Audio (LE Audio), which is the future of wireless audio streaming for headphones and hearing aids. It looks like next year’s Android 13 could finally add support for the new standard.
Mishaal Rahman spotted a commit in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), showing that Google recently merged the LE Audio codec (LC3) and has added it to system settings as a new option. When connecting to an audio device, the codec will take the highest priority, meaning that supported devices will try to establish a LE Audio connection before any other. Rahman isn’t sure if these patches will be enough to get LE Audio working already, but he’s confident that the feature will be ready when Android 13 launches.
Bluetooth LE Audio is a big deal because it will offer drastically improved battery life and more stable connection, all without a drop in audio quality. On top of killer battery life, Bluetooth LE Audio will also support multiple streams to more than one pair of headphones, making it easy to enjoy a show or some music with friends right from your phone or tablet. Hearing aids will also benefit from the technology, making them essentially equal to consumer products that offer the same wireless calling capabilities and audio streaming options.
Google already introduced support for Bluetooth LE Audio API in Android 12, but that isn’t enough for full support and just some groundwork. The new commits are a good indicator that Google is ready to finally bring proper LE Audio support to Android, though.
Many headphones, earbuds, and hearing aids have yet to support Bluetooth LE Audio, and it will likely be restricted to high-end devices in the near future. The same goes for Android phones, as you’ll need high-end chips like the Snapdragon 888 and 865+ and newer to get it to work on current hardware. But if past Bluetooth versions are any indication, it will not take too long until cheaper models pop up, and soon everyone will be able to take advantage of it.
If you’re interested in the journey to Bluetooth Low Energy Audio, I described it in a feature a while back, starting out with Google’s Bluetooth LE audio streaming for hearing aids, which was the predecessor to the upcoming standard.
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