RE: nRF5340: Live I2S microphone audio streaming over BLE with low latency

Amanda Hsieh — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:20:41 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]Can LE Audio be used to continuously stream live I2S microphone audio from an nRF5340-based device to a mobile phone with significantly lower latency than my current GATT notification implementation?[/quote]

Yes. With LE Audio, you can get latency down to a few tens of milliseconds. A phone supporting LE Audio should be able to receive.

[quote user=""]Does Android 14/15 and newer support LE Audio connections from a custom BLE peripheral/source device?[/quote]

Android has supported LE Audio for quite some time, starting with some support in Pixel 7 (2022). I believe versions 14 and 15 offer solid support for LE Audio. (Version 14 came in 2024.) (Android is at version 17 now, BTW.)

[quote user=""]If I develop a custom Android application, can the application receive the LE Audio stream from my nRF5340 device and directly play the received live audio?[/quote]

You probably can not do this unless you modify the Android OS itself. AFAIK, the OS takes control over the LE Audio services itself, making it difficult (impossible?) to access this from a user-space app. On the other hand, the OS may already handle what you need, so you might not need to build a custom app.

[quote user=""]If LE Audio is not suitable for my requirement, what is the recommended Nordic approach for achieving continuous low-latency live audio streaming from an nRF5340 to an Android phone?[/quote]

I would recommend sticking with LE Audio. If that isn't suitable, I do not really know. Google's own ASHA could be an option, but I am not sure whether it is still being maintained now that LE Audio is available.

Regards,
Amanda H.