Bluetooth SIG has announced that it has completed its work on Bluetooth LE Audio – a new set of technologies that are expected to greatly enhance the experience of using wireless headphones and hearing aids. In fact, this technology was supposed to reach consumers as early as the end of 2020, but the Corona epidemic caused a considerable delay and made it difficult for cooperation between all the manufacturers in the organization.
Now, however, Bluetooth LE Audio is already a fait accompli. The promise is that in supporting devices it will be possible to enjoy a much higher sound quality, or alternatively a very significant saving in battery time thanks to stable communication and a more efficient compression algorithm. In addition, LE Audio-enabled devices will be able to broadcast to an unlimited number of headphones simultaneously, so that multiple users can listen to music or a TV series displayed on a single tablet or media streams, for example.
The Bluetooth LE Audio update also ensures a better connection to wireless headphones (TWS), thanks to support for a separate connection to each of the headphones. All the innovations are also relevant for hearing aids, so a significant upgrade is also expected in this area.
The question is, of course, when it will be possible to enjoy all these innovations, and here the Bluetooth SIG organization has refrained from providing clear answers. It seems that some of the devices, including Android models that will be updated to Android 13, will be able to win an upgrade to Bluetooth LE Audio through a software update, but it is not clear exactly which and when. It is quite possible that for a significant number of users, the only way to enjoy the new device will be to purchase a new device and / or headphones towards the end of the year, with models that pre-support LE Audio appearing on store shelves.