Bluetooth dongle with Auracast support - FlooGoo FMA120

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We’ve been waiting for such a beast for a while.

Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CN71FL92/

Manufacturer’s product page:
https://www.flairmesh.com/Dongle/FMA120.html

I emailed them asking for information and they replied. I’ll copy it verbatim. I don’t think there’s anything there that they want to keep private. My take is that Auracast is working assuming you have a phone that supports it (which is probably Samsung) but point-to-point LE Audio is a work in progress for hearing aids. I think it’s encouraging that they seem to be actively developing with hearing aids in mind, and development seems to be ongoing. Plus, it’s an Australian company!

There’s information in their email that some might useful.

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Thank you for reaching out to us.

Regarding the Philips 9050, I believe it is essentially the same device as the Oticon Intent, which we are currently troubleshooting with a volunteer in Australia. Since these hearing aids are regulated medical devices, we cannot purchase them like regular consumer electronics. However, we’ve been working with a retired IT professional who has been testing our debug firmware and sending logs to assist us. So far, the FMA120 successfully pairs with one of the devices in a pair, but we are still working on enabling pairing and connectivity with the second device. If you know anyone willing to lend us such a device, it would greatly accelerate our progress.

The FMA120 works seamlessly with a wide range of LE Audio earbuds. It should be compatible with any LE Audio device built on Qualcomm chips, so your Earfun Air Pro 4 fits right in. We’ve also had success with the Samsung Buds 2 Pro, and as we untangle the issues with Oticon, we’re on track to extend support to Sony products as well.

All of the above relates to “point-to-point” connections, but things are slightly different when it comes to Auracast.

As a qualified Auracast transmitter, the FMA120 is officially listed by the Bluetooth SIG:

We are also collaborating directly with Resound and Cochlear to ensure compatibility with their devices. Here are some details that you might find useful to share on forums, as we’ve received many inquiries about issues since we started selling the FMA120 on Amazon in November 2023. Often, these problems are related to the earbuds, hearing aids, or phones, but customers tend to return the FMA120 believing it’s at fault.

  1. Ensure the latest firmware (1.0.7, or at least 1.0.5) is installed on the FMA120. Use our desktop app, FlooCast, to set the FMA120 to “Broadcast” mode and play audio through the associated USB audio device. When the “LE Audio State” displays “Broadcasting,” the FMA120 is properly set up.

  2. For Resound hearing aids (and many other brands that are OEMs of Resound), ensure the firmware is updated to version 9.68 or later. This update can only be done by an audiologist. Additionally, the audiologist needs to upgrade the fitting software to version 2.0 or later. I recently assisted an audiologist in Melbourne with this process.

  3. For mobile phones, Samsung is currently leading the market in supporting Auracast. Once the latest firmware is installed, the phone should display a “Listen to Auracast Broadcast” option when connected to a compatible device. After selecting it, the phone will search for and detect the broadcast from the FMA120 (default broadcast name starts with “FlooGoo…”). Select the broadcast, and the audio will stream to the earphones. We’ve tested and verified this process on many devices, and I am confident that the Earfun Air Pro 4 will work as well. However, there is a known bug that may cause issues: after pairing with an LE Audio device, the phone will show an “LE Audio” toggle. Sometimes, due to a known bug (which will be fixed in future Android releases), the phone remains in ASHA mode rather than switching to LE Audio mode. This can be resolved by toggling Bluetooth off and on, enabling and disabling flight mode, and then turning the LE Audio switch on again. You may need to repeat this process a few times to get it working.

Feel free to share this information on forums to help others with device selection and troubleshooting. We understand that dealing with new technology can be challenging for both developers and users.

I forgot to mention an important setting in our desktop app, FlooCast, in my previous email. For hearing aids, which don’t support sample rates higher than 24k, it’s essential to turn off the “Broadcast high-quality music” option. This setting must be disabled for proper functionality with hearing aids.

For consumer earbuds such as the Sennheiser Momentum TW 4, Earfun Air Pro 4, Samsung Buds Pro, or Sony LinkBuds S, you can enable high-quality music at 48k without any issues.

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Nice to hear that a company that is not a hearing aid manufacturer is attempting to make their product(s) work with hearing aids.

That statement implies that the LE Audio “standard” doesn’t require negotiation to determine capabilities of the nominally compliant devices. Most hearing aids don’t need a frequency response beyond 10 kHz as the speaker (receiver) has little or no output above 10 kHz. That implies that a sampling rate of 24 kHz would be more than sufficient. The requirement to disable a “feature” that many would find desirable (high quality music) seems odd, at least to me. Or doesn’t the “standard” require transparent interoperability between devices from different manufacturers?

A while ago I tried to look up the capabilities of the new codec for LE Audio. I noted that some parameters that would be associated with high quality audio (high sampling rate and large bit depth for example) seemed to have the effect of requiring increased latency, at odds to one of the selling points of “low latency” which is useful for many hearing aid users.

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A user on Reddit writes:

New firmware update for the FlooGoo FMA120 is out! :rocket: It now supports hearing aids like Oticon Intent.

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For unicast, there’s no need to explicitly set the sample rate. For broadcast, receivers cannot modify the transmitter’s settings. The LE Audio standard supports either standard (16/24 kHz) or high (48 kHz) sample rates. If the FMA120 is set to 48 kHz, a phone acting as an assistant might filter out the FMA120 if the connected hearing aids only support 24 kHz. However, the phone cannot change the transmitter’s settings.

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Good point. However, what would prevent the transmitter from broadcasting on two different channels, one at 24 kHz and one at 48 kHz?

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[V1.0.8.7]: Added support for Oticon Intent and Philips HearLink 9050 in “High Quality” mode; Enhance reconnection in link loss scenarios (e.g., when returning from out of range); Some hearing aids introduce a several-second pause before entering pairing mode. We have adjusted the firmware to accommodate this behavior.

[V1.0.8.6]: Added support for Resound and Jabra hearing aids in ‘High Quality’ mode, enabling their use with VoIP apps like Microsoft Teams. Additionally, introduced an Auracast Assistant feature that allows Auracast receiving on connected devices without requiring a phone. Starkey hearing aids are also compatible with this assistant feature.

From FMA120

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