Disable notification sounds on hearing aid?

Asking for a friend with an old iPhone (6), running iOS 12 (no upgrade offered by Apple):

How can she prevent getting App notification sounds on a hearing aid which is coupled via Bluetooth?

The hearing aid does not seem to be “Made for iPhone”; it is listed in the Bluetooth devices section, but not in the MFi section (under Accessibility). The App for this hearing aid only allows changing the volume and equalizer settings.

Even before she got her hearing aid I already suggested her to disable (most) notifications (for example she gets a beep for every singleFacebook/WhatsApp post and often immediately pick up her phone to check that post…), in vain :cry:

Disabling Bluetooth is the last resort, since then also phone calls will not be routed to the hearing aid. Additionally COVID-19 contact tracing will not work…

The FAQ on my hearing aid states this:

Q: How do I turn off notification sounds from other apps (e.g. Gmail, Facebook)?

A: The hearing aids play all the sounds that the iPhone (iOS) tells them to stream. use your iPhone and/or the individual app settings to disable sounds from other apps. Go to Settings > Notifications, to configure your preferences.

That suggests to me that the iPhone is set up to stream all sounds for hearing aids.

That said, my hearing aid does show up in Accessibility, and there are toggles for Play Ringtones, Play System Sounds, and Audio Routing (Call Audio and Media Audio).

Why does she want notification sounds to play on her iPhone but not her hearing aid? Is the notification sound too loud in her hearing aid?

Too loud and too frequent…

(I think the same about the phone, but the experience is probably different for someone who needs a hearing aid)

To frequent can only be solved by adjusting notifications everywhere.

The “too loud” thing – I get it. I’ve experienced this with BT headphones and Car Play. For some reason, at some times, notifications are super loud. As in loud enough to startle me. It’s very unpleasant. I can’t figure out why or what circumstances. It’s not just my hearing – when it happens in the car, other people comment on it.

The car notifications are Messages, as that’s the only notification allowed. But on my Airpods, I also get notifications from Due that are loud. Sometimes. I’ll often get the first notification really loud, and then when it repeats (e.g., a minute later), it’s at the normal setting.

Because it’s not consistent, I think there’s a bug in Apple’s loudness setting for notifications.

My answer was to change my notification to something a little less sharp. Obviously, this doesn’t totally solve the problem.