New accessibility features are rolling out for select Android devices, such as LE Audio hearing aid support and support for HID Braille displays.
Alongside updates to Gemini and Circle to Search, Google also unveiled new accessibility features coming to select Android devices, starting with Samsung's Galaxy S25 series.
For starters, Google says that it's launching LE Audio compatibility on the Galaxy S25, enabling hands-free calling and a low-latency connection to GN ReSound and Oticon Intent hearing aids. Users will also be able to easily manage their hearing aids through a native Android settings dialog that includes a way to change presets.
For those who don't know, LE Audio is the latest Bluetooth audio standard that brings enhanced performance, new features like Auracast, and support for hearing aids. Audio is transmitted over a Bluetooth Low Energy connection, which is beneficial for hearing aids due to their need for all-day battery life.
While most Android devices already support hearing aids via Google's ASHA profile, ASHA is a proprietary protocol, requiring hearing aid manufacturers to implement support for multiple platforms. LE Audio standardizes hearing aid support, making it easier for hearing aid manufacturers to create products that support multiple platforms.
Google says that this new integration is also coming to the Pixel 9 series, and it'll be available starting tomorrow with the Android 16 beta. Samsung's Galaxy S24 series will also be getting this integration with an upcoming Android 15/One UI 7 release in the coming weeks.
For people who rely on braille displays, Android 15 will add support for those that connect via Bluetooth and use the Human Interface Device (HID) standard. The Samsung Galaxy S25 series will be the first to receive this feature with TalkBack 15. This support will expand to other devices running Android 15 in the coming months. Samsung uses its own version of the TalkBack accessibility service, separate from Google's, which is the reason for the staggered rollout.
In addition, TalkBack 15 on Samsung devices will now use Google's Gemini models for AI-powered image descriptions. This feature is already available in Google's version of TalkBack for other Android devices.
