Unitron Moxi Bluetooth Hearing Aids Not Being Recognized by Windows as Audio Output Devices

[britechguy]

Hello All,

This query isn't for a client, but for me, and I am really stumped by this one. I have a pair of hearing aids with Bluetooth capability that, historically, when connected to my computer it would automatically shift the audio output to them. I could always click on the speaker icon in the system tray, and use the mixer next to the volume icon if I wanted to redirect output back to the speakers. Suddenly, it's as though they do not exist as far as Windows recognizing them as a valid output device. I have been on the phone with Unitron support, and since we can get these to pair with the laptop (and I can get them to pair with my smartphone and they work there) they're saying, essentially, that it's someone else's problem, which is likely true. We went through entirely removing the right hearing aid as a Bluetooth device (as it serves as the master and feeds the left) from Windows, resetting the aids themselves, and reconnecting. Here's what one sees in the Bluetooth settings afterward:



and this looks perfectly normal. However, if you look under Windows Sound Settings, the only output device shown is the internal speakers:



When I click on the volume icon in the system tray, this is what I get:



and if I click on the sound mixer icon to the right of the volume slider, this is what appears:



Here is a screenshot of what appears in Device Manager. Notice that there are two entries under Bluetooth for the hearing aids, but there is no corresponding audio output device that should go with it:



I realize this is an esoteric question, but I'm out of ideas on how to get this computer to recognize my hearing aids as legit output devices, which used to happen seamlessly.

There may be some connection to the Microsoft Bluetooth LE Enumerator, and I say that only because at times the Right hearing aid has not shown up when trying to pair as R-Unitron Hearing Aid, but as a Bluetooth LE device, and if you try to connect that way it definitely has never worked.


Contrast the above with what I get when I do the connection of the very same pair of hearing aids to my partner's LG Gram 16 laptop:







Thoughts, anyone?

 

[britechguy]

I'm giving this a bump, with an additional specific query: Is it possible to "extract" the drivers being used on my partner's LG Gram under the Audio Inputs & Outputs entry of Device manager for installation on mine?

What seems to be missing is the device drivers for the Unitron device, and for some unknown reason it's not finding them. I'm going to reach out to Unitron, but my previous experiences with this have been less than successful.

 

[Markverhyden]

Have you tried rolling back updates to a point where it did work? Assuming that there are restore points of course.

 

[britechguy]

Have you tried rolling back updates to a point where it did work?

No, because the last time I recall it having worked on my machine was pre-23H2, and I don't want to go back, particularly when it's working on the virtual twin of this machine that's also on 23H2.

Ultimately, I may resort to a nuke and pave just to see if it can be fixed that way. I am trying to see if I can source the Unitron device drivers for Windows through my audiologist, as Unitron does not have them available for consumer download. I just can't figure out why Windows is somehow finding them, on its own, on one machine and not another. The only way they should be found is if they're in Microsoft's "Great Driver Library in the Cloud" when you first configure them on a machine where no drivers were previously installed. And I know I've never run a driver installer on either of my LG Grams nor on the HP 15 series, which also recognizes the things and sets them up correctly.

It's just weird.

 

[HCHTech]

You've probably been through this but make sure the setting to "display all devices' is selected:

1. Select Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices .
2. Under Device settings > Bluetooth devices discovery, choose one of the following from the drop-down list:
   • Default—displays common Bluetooth devices
   • Advanced—displays all types of Bluetooth devices

Also, there is a Bluetooth troubleshooter, but it probably works about as well as the other troubleshooters, which is to say, not very well:

Select Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters . Next to Bluetooth , select Run and follow the instructions.

I think I'd be doing a DISM run against a fresh 23H2 ISO, followed by an SFC run, just for fun. Does LG offer a driver download for your bluetooth card? I might also right-click on every Bluetooth device listed in device manager and remove it, then scan for hardware changes and add them back one at a time - maybe start with the hearing aid and save simple things like the mouse for last.

 

[britechguy]

@HCHTech

I skipped straight past DISM/SFC to a Windows 11 Repair install, so at this point using them (which I would usually do) is one step behind where I already am.

As I said, though, the issue does not appear to be with the Bluetooth side. If you look at the previous screenshots from device manager that part seems to be just fine, and exactly the same, across both machines. It's the audio device drivers associated with the hearing aids that just don't seem to be found and installed on my system as things stand now. It definitely was not always that way, as I've used them on many occasions in the past when I wanted to hear the computer with the screen reader without driving my partner crazy with all the output the screen reader produces. I've also used them when streaming stuff on the computer, too.

This is not an "end of the world" thing, but an annoyance. I'm definitely going to give the "advanced" option you note a try when time allows.

 

[HCHTech]

Maybe dig through the registry on the working computer looking for driver references for the hearing aids? Needle in a haystack, but it could give you a pointer to a file that could be copied to the problem computer. If you didn't actually have to run an install file in the first place, then something is scrambled somewhere. I sounds like you are quickly approaching the binary of "live with it" vs. "reinstall Windows from scratch".

Edit: this doesn't sound like a profile-specific thing, but it's trivial to make a new user and see if the problem follows to that account or not. Just another data point...

 

[britechguy]

Edit: this doesn't sound like a profile-specific thing, but it's trivial to make a new user and see if the problem follows to that account or not. Just another data point...

Which, for some reason, is something I just never think of doing, and should. I may try that today.

 

[britechguy]

Coming back to this months later. My right hearing aid recently died and was replaced, so was hoping this issue might resolve itself. No such luck.

First, I want to present some screenshots from my partner's LG Gram 16, where all is working normally and sound can be fed through the hearing aids acting as headphones.
Here is the main Bluetooth Devices screen in Settings:

Note the connection status shown.

This is the Sound Settings:

Note that headphones are shown, and it's the R-Unitron hearing aid that is the "master" and handles feeding both Left and Right Channels.

This is the actual Headphones Settings:

It uses a Microsoft supplied device driver, nothing special, with no muss or fuss.

Here is what Device Manager looks like when all this is active under Audio Inputs & Outputs:


Now let's move back to my own machine, also an LG Gram 16. I just tried creating a new local account to see if that would rectify the problem and it did not. Some of these screenshots are from when I was logged in to that account while a couple are from when I'm logged into my real account, which is Microsoft linked. There is no difference in the results regardless of which I'm using.

First, from the Bluetooth & Devices Screen:

Note that the connection status is "Connected," but with no indication of the type(s) of audio device it's connected as.

Sound Settings:

Not shown in Output devices at all here.

Back to my own account now for the remaining screenshots . . .
Quick repeat from top of Bluetooth & Devices Settings:

Note, again, "Connected," but that's all.

Now, here's the kicker, if I drill down in System Sound Settings to All Devices, look at the mess that shows up:

There are numerous additional instances of "Headphones R-Unitron hearing aid" below what I captured in that screenshot.

This is Device Manager while the connection is active. This time I expanded Bluetooth as well as Audio inputs and outputs:



Any theories as to what this ungodly mess might be, and how to solve it would be appreciated. It doesn't seem to be limited to any one user or user profile, yet there is a real disconnect between what the new modern Settings is showing for all audio devices and what device manager itself seems to know about. That's a real mystery to me.

 

[HCHTech]

Grabbing at straws here - any warning messages from source HidBth in the system log? Is the BIOS the same version on both computers? Compare the various registry values controlling Bluetooth on both computers?

 

[britechguy]

@HCHTech,

If you wouldn't mind, please refresh my memory on an easy way or ways to examine the system log for the thing you suggest. I so seldom go digging into event logs, system logs, etc., that it's been years since I last used any particular tool(s) and I suspect changes and improvements in that regard.

Here is the info on BIOS (and a few other things) for my machine:


versus my partner's:




Just did a cruise through REGEDIT for the locations noted in the referenced article for Bluetooth, and unless I made a mistake somewhere (possible, but not terribly likely) all appears to be identical.

 

[Markverhyden]

View attachment 16154
There are numerous additional instances of "Headphones R-Unitron hearing aid" below what I captured in that screenshot.

This is Device Manager while the connection is active. This time I expanded Bluetooth as well as Audio inputs and outputs:

Multiple instances of the same item will cause issues. I'd try deleting all Sound Devices and then restart and see what you end up with. I've seen in the past where multiple instances of the same thing indicates there might be driver issues.

 

[britechguy]

@Markverhyden

But where? I'd normally do this in Device Manager, but they're not showing in Device Manager. Also when I go into "All Sound Devices" at this very moment, with the hearing aid still showing as connected, this is what I get:


Device Manager still shows nothing listed under Audio inputs and Outputs and Bluetooth still shows those same two entries for the hearing aid.

It's all freakin' strange, strange, strange.

I am sorely tempted to do an N&P, but I hate doing all the other stuff I have to do to then make Windows 11 "as I like it" afterward, so if it can be avoided . . .

 

[Markverhyden]

@britechguy I was referring to the Show All Sound Devices pic that had all the entries, including multiple Unitron. If you click on the right arrow does it give you an option? In Device Manager>View should have "show hidden devices" in the list. Not done it in W11 but I do remember you could delete things in W7 and W10.

I completely understand the trepidation of N&P.

 

[britechguy]

@Markverhyden

Back when the "nightmare list" was showing in All Sound Devices, which is now mysteriously gone, I tried hitting the right arrows and I cannot recall at this moment what options I had, but I am absolutely certain that delete was not among them, as I would have deleted them at that juncture if I could have and tried setting up again.

I just enabled Show hidden devices in Device Manager and not a thing changes under Bluetooth or Audio inputs and outputs.

 

[Markverhyden]

Bummer @britechguy. Nothing worse than having gremlins - aka a problem you can't put your hand on. Did that one with all the items happen in the same login you are using now?

 

[britechguy]

@Markverhyden

Yes, that screenshot was taken directly from the account I normally use just a few moments after I'd added the device "this time around." They disappeared all by their lonesome during the intervening hours, as I did nothing to get rid of them. But we went from overload to nonexistent.

 

[britechguy]

What's funny is that the main reason I care about this working is to be able to listen to a screen reader when it's active without driving my partner insane. It was so much easier when I could pipe the sound through my hearing aids rather than the computer speakers. It's also handy when watching YouTube and the like.

 

[HCHTech]

If you pull up event viewer (eventvwr.msc from a run box) Expand Windows Logs, click on System, that will show you the system log. Now, right-click on the system log, and choose Filter Current Log. Check the boxes for Critical, Error & Warning to show just the problems. Now scroll down through the list to see anything that looks interesting. Once you have the filtered list, you can click on the column headers to sort the list by that to make things easier to find if you are looking for something specific.

 

[britechguy]

Just circling back to this to present what Paul Harvey (you have to be a certain age) called, "the rest of the story."

For the heck of it, I decided to try pairing the Unitron Hearing Aids to the laptop again last night, but the result was the same: they paired, but were not being shown as an audio output device. So, I thought to myself, let's try a Windows 11 Repair Install again, but this time with the hearing aids currently paired and "active" even if inaccessible. I believe I had unpaired them before prior to doing my Repair Install back in January, but at this point I can't be certain whether I had done that or not.

So I used an ISO I created with the Media Creation Tool on July 1st. Well, lo and behold, when the system came back up again the hearing aids were showing up in audio output devices and I could switch from speakers to them!

I'll never know what it was that caused the issue in the first place nor what it was about this particular repair install that fixed it, but it's fixed.