Las Vegas, Jan 10 (IANS): Announcing a major update, Bluetooth SIG, the industry group that maintains the Bluetooth wireless communications standard used in devices, has unveiled LE Audio, touting it as the next generation of the Bluetooth Audio standard.

LE Audio will enhance Bluetooth audio performance, add support for hearing aids, and introduce audio sharing.

"With close to one billion Bluetooth audio products shipped last year, wireless audio is the largest Bluetooth market," Mark Powell, CEO of Bluetooth SIG, recently said in a statement.

"The launch of LE Audio is a prime example of how the Bluetooth community is driving technology and product innovation and enabling delivery of even better and more capable Bluetooth audio products."

Bluetooth audio will soon support two operation modes: LE Audio will operate on the Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) radio while Classic Audio operates on the Bluetooth Classic radio (BR/EDR).

LE Audio will support development of the same audio products and use cases as Classic Audio, while introducing new features to improve their performance, as well as enable new ones.

According to the industry group, the Bluetooth specifications that define LE Audio are expected to be released through the first half of 2020.