Best Cell Phones for the Hearing Impaired

Every cell phone has accessibility features, but some models are more comprehensive than others. If you have a hearing loss, pick a smartphone that supports your hearing loss, and can help you with listening tasks. This article will help you select a suitable model for your needs and budget.

How can smartphones help with hearing impairment?

Whether or not you use hearing aids, your smartphone can help you hear or communicate better. Some features optimize sound streamed to your audio devices or hearing aids, while others turn speech to text, so it's easier to follow along.

Here are the most important features you'll find across different phones:

• Live captions: For video or audio streams that lack captions or subtitles, a smartphone equipped with this feature can create them for you on-the-fly—perfect for video or phone calls.
• Live transcriptions: Technically similar to captions, since a transcription turns spoken words into text, but different in that it listens to voices in your environment, rather than the audio playing on your phone.
• Real-time text (RTT): With RTT, you can text during a phone call, while at the same time submitting audio. The recipient will see your messages in real-time. This is useful when you can't talk. Alternatively, when you struggle to hear the person on the other end, you can ask them to use RTT on their phone. While both Android and iOS support RTT, not all cell carriers or phone models do; Google FI, for example, doesn't support RTT.
• Teletypewriter (TTY): A TTY device lets people with speech or hearing impairments handle phone calls by turning voice messages into text and vice versa. If your smartphone supports TTY, you can let it transcribe incoming voice calls into text, while you can respond with your voice. On phones like the iPhone 14, TTY and RTT work in tandem.
• Ambient sound amplification: Phones with this feature use the microphone to amplify ambient sounds, particularly voices. It's similar to the ambient mode in many active noise-canceling headphones, which lets you have a conversation without taking your headphones off.
• Customized headphone audio: This feature goes by a few different names, but it boils down to adapting streaming audio to your specific hearing impairment, much like hearing aids. Some phones let you use an audiogram, others will perform a basic hearing screening test, or you can manually choose your preferred left/right audio balance. The goal is to boost those pitches (frequencies) that you have trouble hearing.
• Mono audio: In stereo recordings, one channel can play a different sound than the other. For example, in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, vocals and instruments switch between the left and the right channel in parts of the song. With mono audio enabled, you can combine both channels and hear the same sound from both speakers, which is most useful when listening through headphones.
• Hearing aid compatibility (HAC): The HAC rating is an FCC standard that helps you spot phones compatible with analog hearing aids. The T-rating specifies compatibility with hearing aids that contain a Telecoil, while the M-rating applies to those without an induction pick-up coil. The scale reaches from 1 to 4, with higher values indicating higher compatibility, meaning M4/T4 represents an ideal rating. Phones with lower ratings might cause interference with hearing aids.
• Digital hearing aid support: There's more to pairing hearing aids with a smartphone than enabling Bluetooth. If you already own a pair of hearing aids, this might even decide which phone you'll choose. Likewise, if you're planning to upgrade your hearing aids, you'll want to choose a phone that will be compatible with your next hearing aid model. Consequently, you must understand the standard your hearing aid or desired phone uses to stream audio to hearing aids.

How to choose the right cell phone for your hearing aids (and vice versa)

Even if your hearing aids feature Bluetooth, they won't automatically support audio streaming from your smartphone. Not only should your phone support hearing aids, but your hearing aids also need to support the streaming standard your cell phone is using. Hence, check which Bluetooth standard your hearing aids support, then find a matching phone or vice versa.

These are the most common standards used for hearing aids:

• MFi: Made for iPhone is an iOS standard that works with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Apple pioneered this extension to BLE in 2013.
• ASHA: Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) is the Android equivalent of MFi. Google released this open standard in 2019.
• Bluetooth LE Audio: Both MFi and ASHA were developed before BLE supported audio streaming. The new Bluetooth LE Audio standard, announced in 2020, adds the much-needed audio streaming feature and will eventually replace ASHA and MFi. The much-anticipated Auracast broadcast system will also be using this standard.

There have been other wireless streaming solutions employed in hearing aids. For example, in 2018, Phonak launched a Classic Bluetooth solution in its hearing aids that could stream to both iPhone and Android phones.

Trends should continue to favor the BLE Audio standard, and this will also enable enhanced functions like Auracast for broadcast audio, another exceptionally useful Bluetooth technology on the horizon. Auracast is designed to enable an audio transmitter—like a public address (PA) system or a smartphone, laptop, or television—to transmit audio to nearby Bluetooth audio receivers, including hearing aids, cochlear implants, earbuds, and other Auracast-enabled devices.

Fortunately, not all is lost if your hearing aids and your phone aren't compatible. Most hearing aid manufacturers offer devices that can pair with both your hearing aids and your smartphone to facilitate audio streaming. For example, Signia offers the StreamLine Mic.

The best cell phone for hearing loss

Now that you know what features to look for, and how to choose a phone that will work with your hearing aids, let's review the phones with the best accessibility features for the hearing impaired.

iPhone 15

While all recent iPhones are compatible with MFi, the iPhone 15 tops our list because Apple's flagship has the most comprehensive set of accessibility features. With iOS 17, Apple added Music Haptics, which "plays taps, textures and refined vibrations to the audio of the music."

Here's the complete list of features found in the iPhone 15:

• Support for hearing devices: M3 and T4 ratings for hearing aid and cochlear implant compatibility. An M3 rating means the device has a good level of compatibility with hearing aids for reducing radio frequency interference, improving call clarity. A T4 rating indicates the highest level of compatibility with telecoil-equipped hearing aids, allowing the hearing aid to pick up electromagnetic signals directly from the phone's speaker for clearer sound.
• Support for MFi hearing aids: Made for iPhone (MFi) hearing aids are designed to connect specifically to iPhone and integrate seamlessly with iOS devices. This allows for direct audio streaming from the iPhone to the hearing aids for music, videos, and notifications, as well as support for hands-free calls, enabling users to make and receive calls without needing to hold their iPhone.
• Live Listen: Stream sound captured by your iPhone's microphone to your AirPods or hearing aids, helping you hear conversations more clearly in noisy environments.
• Sound Recognition: Program your iPhone to vibrate or visually alert you of specific sounds in your environment, such as the doorbell or a baby crying, for better situational awareness.
• RTT and TTY: Real-Time Text (RTT) and Teletypewriter (TTY) support for text communication during calls, providing an alternative way to communicate if hearing is difficult.
• Audio adjustments: Enable mono audio, change the left/right balance, and enable Phone Noise Cancellation to help you hear calls better in noisy environments.
• LED Flash for Alerts: Visual notifications for incoming calls and alerts using the iPhone's LED flash, ensuring you don’t miss important calls or notifications even if you can’t hear them.
• Headphone Audio: Customize the sound profile for phone calls or media using manual inputs or an audiogram, making it easier to hear voices and sounds according to your specific hearing needs.
• Background Sounds: Mask distracting environmental noise with calming “brown” noise, helping you focus or relax.
• Subtitles and Captions: Display subtitles and captions for media content, making it easier to follow along with videos and movies.
• Transcriptions: Transcriptions for Intercom messages from HomePod, providing a written version of spoken messages.
• Live Captions: Real-time captions for spoken content, making conversations and media more accessible.
• Music Haptics: Haptic feedback to enhance the experience of listening to music, providing a tactile element to audio.

Apart from the latest iPhone, hearing aids that support MFi should work with all iPhone models released since 2014, including the iPhone 6 series. However, Apple recommends that you “confirm support for your model iPhone with your hearing aid manufacturer.”

Within the Apple ecosystem, you'll find many other gadgets that pair well with your iPhone. The Air Pods Pro 2 earbuds, for example, support Apple's Headphone Accommodations and Conversation Boost features, making them work almost like a pair of hearing aids.

Google Pixel 8

Google's flagship phone, Pixel 8, features all the accessibility features supported by Android.

Google Pixel 8 highlights include:

• Live Caption: Works on media and incoming calls, supports several different languages, and can automatically translate media captions.
• Live Transcribe: Supports over 80 languages and is available for offline use after downloading the respective language pack.
• RTT and TTY: Real-Time Text (RTT) and Teletypewriter (TTY) support for text communication during calls.
• Sound Amplifier: Reduces background noise, boosts quiet sounds or specific frequencies, and adjusts ears separately, all while using wired or Bluetooth headphones.
• Sound Notifications: Provides visual or vibration alerts for important sounds in your environment, such as alarms, doorbells, or baby cries.
• Hearing aid support: Compatibility with hearing aids, including M3 and T4 ratings for reducing radio frequency interference and enhancing telecoil performance, and ASHA (Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids) for direct audio streaming from Android devices.
• Clear Calling: Google's Clear Calling suppresses background noise to make it easier for you to hear your caller's voice and for your caller to hear your voice.

Not all phones running stock Android come with the features above. For example, Clear Calling is currently exclusive to the Google Pixel 7 and above, including Pixel Fold. Others, like Sound Amplifier, are only available through a separately installed app. Over time, however, Google may roll these features out to stock Android, and hence other phones.

Android on a budget? Check out the Pixel 8a

If you're looking for a budget version of the Pixel 8, look no further than the Pixel 8a. Coming in at a $549 starting price, Pixel 8a supports everything listed above.

Samsung Galaxy S24

Samsung phones run on Google's Android OS, but with the company's own One UI overlay.

While the interface looks different, the accessibility features on Samsung phones are nearly identical to the Pixel. Most audio-centric options are found under Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Enhancements:

• Live Transcribe
• Live Caption
• Sound Notifications
• Hearing aid support (M3, T3, ASHA)
• Amplify ambient sound
• Adapt Sound
• Mono audio
• Left/right sound balance
• RTT and TTY (under Call Settings)
• Flash notification (under Advanced Settings)

Unlike most other Android phone manufacturers, including Google, Samsung offers up to five years of security updates, keeping your phone safe and secure for longer. This phone also features Auracast broadcast technology.

Alternative options

You don't have to buy a flagship phone to access accessibility features. Older Apple, Google, and Samsung phones offer most of the features listed above, as long as you can upgrade them to a recent OS version (e.g., iOS 16 or 17 to gain access to Live Captions, Android 10+ for ASHA, and Samsung's One UI 4.1+ to customize the left/right audio balance).

Before you buy an Android phone, however, double-check whether your hearing aids support your preferred model. While iPhones have standardized hardware, Android hardware is all over the place, making it harder for hearing aid manufacturers to offer a seamless experience. Hence, your hearing aids officially might only support a limited number of Android handsets.

With this in mind, here are a couple of other Android phones you should consider if you're on a tight budget:

OnePlus 12

This flagship phone supports Live Caption, Hearing Aids, Mono Audio, and Channel Volume Balancing. OnePlus recently announced that it would provide “selected phones” with five years of security updates, putting it on par with Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy A Series

Samsung's A series has slightly weaker hardware than the company's flagship phones. However, the A35 5G packs a larger battery than the S24. The older A52 still sports an audio jack, which can be a lifesaver when your wireless headphones run out of juice. So check that model if an audio jack is a must.

Get the right smartphone for your hearing needs

Whatever your smartphone preferences, if you have hearing aids we suggest consulting with your hearing care professional and/or looking carefully at the manufacturers' compatibility webpages prior to either purchasing a new phone or hearing aid.