Unraveling the Noise: An Investigation Plan for Signal Interference in Hearing Aids

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has revolutionized the performance of hearing aids with functionalities like seamless audio streaming and enhanced auditory functions. However, BLE operates within the highly congested 2.4 GHz frequency band, making it susceptible to signal interference that can degrade performance, reduce audio quality, and impact user experience. This paper documents interference patterns in BLE communication and introduces practical mitigation techniques aimed at improving the reliability of hearing aids. Attack vectors associated with Bluetooth enabled hearing aids include communication jamming, the interception of data between target devices, and GATT handle exploitation. Attackers could also use the vulnerabilities to block communications or intercept sensitive audio streams, posing significant security and privacy risks. These threats compromise two critical components of the CIA triad: (1) availability, by causing persistent connectivity issues, and (2) integrity, by enabling unauthorized data modifications. It is necessary to deal with these problems to ensure hearing aids work well and safely. This study investigates the impact of BLE signal interference on hearing aids, using tools such as HackRF [1], a Python tool to simulate interference scenarios, and Ubertooth [2] to sniff Bluetooth traffic between hearing aids and the device with the application. This paper investigates testing of BLE traffic in search of specific interference patterns that would impact the functionality of hearing aids, including jamming and flooding. This research focuses on developing robust mitigation techniques with the aim of securing BLE-enabled hearing aids against those vulnerabilities.