A method for receiving streaming audio with a first hearing assistance device from a system including a second hearing assistance device and a streaming audio source, the method comprising: at the first hearing assistance device: receiving first streaming audio from the streaming audio source over a first wireless link in a first timeslot, the first streaming audio being stereo streamed with a channel for a right hearing assistance device and a left hearing assistance device; determining a first quality metric of the received first streaming audio associated with the first wireless link; in response to determining the first quality metric is below a predetermined threshold or the received first streaming audio was not successfully decoded, listening for a second audio stream from the second hearing assistance device over a third wireless link in a second wireless timeslot, wherein the second audio stream corresponds to a retransmission, in the second timeslot, of the first streaming audio received by the second hearing assistance device over the second wireless link in the first timeslot when the second hearing assistance device determined the quality metric associated with the first streaming audio received over the second wireless link on the first timeslot was above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoded the first streaming audio, receiving said second streaming audio from the second hearing assistance device over the third wireless link in the second timeslot and using the received second streaming audio as an output audio stream; and in response to determining the first quality metric is above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoding the received first streaming audio, retransmitting the received first streaming audio on the third wireless link in the second wireless timeslot to the second hearing assistance device and using the received first streaming audio as the output audio stream, wherein retransmitting the received first streaming audio to the second hearing assistance device in the second timeslot on the third wireless link collides with the second hearing assistance device retransmitting the received first streaming audio to the first hearing assistance device in the second timeslot on the third wireless link when the first hearing assistance device and the second hearing assistance device, respectively, determined the first quality metric and second quality metric were above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoded the first streaming audio; and outputting to a speaker of the first hearing assistance device, audio corresponding to the output audio stream. receiving first streaming audio from the streaming audio source over a first wireless link in a first timeslot, the first streaming audio being stereo streamed with a channel for a right hearing assistance device and a left hearing assistance device; determining a first quality metric of the received first streaming audio associated with the first wireless link; in response to determining the first quality metric is below a predetermined threshold or the received first streaming audio was not successfully decoded, listening for a second audio stream from the second hearing assistance device over a third wireless link in a second wireless timeslot, wherein the second audio stream corresponds to a retransmission, in the second timeslot, of the first streaming audio received by the second hearing assistance device over the second wireless link in the first timeslot when the second hearing assistance device determined the quality metric associated with the first streaming audio received over the second wireless link on the first timeslot was above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoded the first streaming audio, receiving said second streaming audio from the second hearing assistance device over the third wireless link in the second timeslot and using the received second streaming audio as an output audio stream; and in response to determining the first quality metric is above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoding the received first streaming audio, retransmitting the received first streaming audio on the third wireless link in the second wireless timeslot to the second hearing assistance device and using the received first streaming audio as the output audio stream, wherein retransmitting the received first streaming audio to the second hearing assistance device in the second timeslot on the third wireless link collides with the second hearing assistance device retransmitting the received first streaming audio to the first hearing assistance device in the second timeslot on the third wireless link when the first hearing assistance device and the second hearing assistance device, respectively, determined the first quality metric and second quality metric were above the predetermined threshold and successfully decoded the first streaming audio; and outputting to a speaker of the first hearing assistance device, audio corresponding to the output audio stream.