Want to pass on something that can save you money and greatly improve your TV listening. Most higher end HA manufacturers have streamers that direct digital sound direct to your HAs. These are small devices that pair via blue tooth to your phone or other BT transmitter and rebroadcast the sound as an fm signal through an antenna loop worn around your neck. The output is very low wattage but can be picked up by your HAs (telecoil).
This is a great system as it allows you to keep the tv volume low for everyone else watching the TV as the streamer volume is independent of the TV speaker’s volume. . The streamer generally runs ~$200 and is specific to your brand of HAs. You can use this also to listen to TV but you need a device to broadcast the sound from the TV via blue tooth. These can be pricey $200+ if I recall.
Instead of using the HA manufacturer’s device you can buy very inexpensive BT transmitters that are also very small. I have one by MEE (~$35) and it works terrifically. Even better yet most new smart TVs have built in BT transmitters and you can pair your streamer with them without a separate device and select the streamer in the set up menu.
The only limitation to these is volume control. They tend to be loud and you can’t control the volume through your HA when they are connected to these devices.
I’m guessing you have a Phonak with Bluetooth Classic? I don’t think your advice is applicable to any other brand/model of hearing aid. Any generic streamer needs a Bluetooth Classic target. They are designed to be used with headphones with a volume control.
No I have a Widex Beyond and their streamer is COM-DEX Connect. Before that I had an Oticon Epoq and this system worked with both. The streamers work by pairing with a blue tooth transmitter. That’s how they connect with a cell phone to stream the call to your HAs. The device they all sell to connect to your TV or landline phone is nothing more than a blue tooth transmitter also. The point of my post was there are simpler and cheaper alternatives.
The more and more hearing aids are direct connecting to the MFI (Apple IOS devices), the Marvels are the only one that can directly connect to classic Bluetooth. More and more are not even using a streaming device to connect their aids to other streaming devices they are using only their aids to the TV connection.
CV, there is a trade off of battery life and quality of sound by going to a separate streamer vs direct Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth uses 10X the power that fm does, so it is far more efficient for a separate streamer to be the Bluetooth receiver and keep the HAs as just a fm receiver with their telecoil.
I agree that the streamer is a nuisance to deal with, but a small one. Maybe when batteries can be greatly increased in life will direct pickup be better.
Possibly but it is so much more convenient, I had a extra streamer around my neck for 10 years, and I am willing to pay the little extra in batteries to not deal with the streamer around my neck.
I look at it this way also I will do what ever I can to hear the best I can. And I hear so much better with my aids directly connected to the TV connect. And oh yes it is so great to hear the TV stereo, something I could not do with the streamers that I had to use.
On other thing with my setup I have no lag between the TV and what I hear like I did with the streamers I had in the past.
To stream via Bluetooth, you need a transmitter and a receiver.
To recieve a Bluetooth signal, some hearing aids need an external bluetooth receiver (eg Phonak ComPilot), and some newer aids can receive Bluetooth directly (either classic bluetooth, MFI or ASHA).
To send TV sound to the receiver, your TV will need a Bluetooth transmitter. If your bluetooth receiver supports classic Bluetooth, you can use a cheap generic transmitter as @jcech suggests. But there may be a noticeable audio delay between the TV speakers and your hearing aids.
You can buy “low latency” transmitters which support the AptX LL codec, but these only work if the receiver also supports AptX LL. Most (all?) hearing aid manufacturers don’t support AptX LL, and they reduce latency using their own proprietary solution instead.
If your receiver only supports ASHA or MFI, then you’re out of luck - a cheap generic transmitter won’t work, and you’ll need to buy a compatible transmitter
While there is some latency, it is small, but to solve this issue I turn off the HA mic. This has 2 benefits, it eliminates the sound of the TV speakers (which can also be turned down to levels people enjoy) and it cuts back any other background noise.
I have an Andoid phone (Samsung S9) and it pairs with the streamer just fine. I believe this is with standard Bluetooth and am sure all new phones are compatible with the current crop of streamers from HA manufacturers. I also have a Samsung smart TV and it has built in a Bluetooth transmitter and I dont need a separate one like I do with the older models. But the MEE transmitter I have is connected via optical (included) that is common in most TV for almost 10 years.
I agree with cvkemp 100%. Progressing away from a Streamer around my neck was life changing in terms of convenience, reliability, ease of use, and those annoying lighted buttons on the streamer. Batteries??? The 2 streamers I used — both had horrible battery life. They needed to be plugged in all the time, and once they used up their duty cycle life, the streamer was DEAD Forever. No more life.
Latency is horrible for me watching TV as I tend to read the lips as well.
For those looking for a quick, no cost way to stream with iPhone and MFI Hearing aids – use the Live Listen function. Set the iPhone or iPad next to the speaker on your TV or speaker. I mute my aids to shut out ambient noise which includes the TV sound. Very easy to do, and costs nothing providing you have iPhone.
A minor correction for the OP. The devices that use the cord around your neck do not use telecoil. At least the Phonak ones don’t. They use 10.6 MHz with a special digital format. My older Phonak aids don’t have a telecoil, and they work well with a neck worn device. As to using a Bluetooth streamer, if you happen to have Marvels, you will get significant delay with conventional BT. Latency can only be avoided by using the Phonak TV Connector. I am pretty sure the aids themselves are responsible for this. I have a Compilot and one of the older little silver remote mikes. When paired with the Compilot, there is no discernable latency. However, when I pair that same little mike with my Marvels, there is latency. I wanted to use my older TV connector that is used with the Compilot with my Marvels, but they refuse to pair with it. So, you are forced to get the new TV Connector.
There seems to be misunderstanding on this technology. Telecoils are small copper coils that are used as receivers like to the old “wireless” radios you played around with as a kid. They are ONLY in hearing aids not the streamer. Because BT receivers can only receive one signal at a time (it must be paired), these streamers work by receiving the BT signal from a transmitter. That can be a cell phone, TV or any BT transmitter attached to a device (eg mp3 player).
The BT signal is then broadcast out as a weak fm signal through an antenna. The antenna can be a loop worn around your neck connected to the streamer or a loop around a room. As long as you in the middle of the loop your telecoil will pick up the signal and play it through the speakers in your aids.
Latency comes from the delay in processing the received BT input and transmitting the fm signal. This is partially a software issue, but also a chip issue (faster processing = less delay = less latency). With the system I use (Widex Beyond HA and Com Dex streamer) the latency is small but noticeable when watching TV. The streamer however has the ability to turn off the HA mic. This makes the “echo” effect almost undetectable. It does however mean it is harder to head someone who wants to talk to me when I am connected.