I use this for my Roger/soundbar output- and it works fine.
Glad you got there, only just seen this thread and this is exactly what I do and it works a charm.
There is no volume over Optical which is why you need your soundbar / Phonak base station to modulate.
I bought a second base station also for the TV in the study and just move the Roger between them when I want to watch.
Life is Good 
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Hi,
I sure wish I had known this informtion before I spent a lot of time and money on things that did not work. I donāt really know anything about audeo and related devices so I am still a bit confused as to why two very expensive devices that were supposed to split the optical off of the HDMI ARC signal were unable to do so. Both device companies said that their devices would work. I wonder if it is something to do whith how LG TVs output audio?
Not sure how you have your setup configured but I use eARC to get sound from my Consoles (xbox and PS5) through my LG TV to my Apple TV and then onwards via Airplay to my stereo pair of HomePods.
So PS5/Xbox go to Hue Play device (which syncs the lights). Hue Play to LG TV.
From TV on ARC HDMI I connect to the Apple TV and the Apple TV connects to the HomePods using AirPlay
It works really well in that the Consoles can play via the AirPods through the Hue Sync and the TV.
You canāt have this on at the same time as the Optical Out to the Phonak tho as you hit exactly the same problem that you came across in that the LG does not do HMDI Arc out and Opt Out simultaneously.
Looking at the Vertex it looks like you want the to put the Cable / Satellite into your Vertex, on the Output side you want HDMI Sound into the Soundbar, SpDif into the Phonak and then the another HDMI lead to plug the Vertex into the TV for the picture (and you may also get TV Speaker sound too if you want to)
So basically you need something into the Vertex and then that outputs sound to the two devices. You are not using eARC on the TV then.
I am of course only guessing. An Audio Out splitter is much easier as you have found.
Hi, You have an interesting setup. I donāt have the other devices that you do, like an xbox or PS5, and I only have one TV.
It is an interesting idea to put my Cable input into the Vertex and then run leads to the sounbar, Phonak and the TV. I donāt know if that would have worked or not. Since I have returned the Vertex I canāt give it a try. You are correct in that I cannot use the eARC on the TV anymore. I have lost the capability of itās ouput quality and the ability to control the soundbar. It was a tradeoff I was willing to make.
Yeah Opt Out is just a signal, itās doesnāt carry anything other than the sound signal (its basically a series of lights) and the TV cannot therefore pass Remote commands to devices using it so you need to use the Roger Base and the Sound Bar remote for Volume.
Sorry I missed the thread, could have helped a bit earlier
The only other way that you can do a SoundBar is to use a Bluetooth Soundbar and connect your hearing aids via Bluetooth to the TV too (you donāt use the Roger then). The TV can have two simultaneous Bluetooth connections so it powers both at the same time.
The downside to this is that the volume puts the volume up on both but you can always use the app on a phone to turn the hearing aids up or down independantly of the soundbar (or the soundbar remote of course).
Before I got my Roger this was the way I connected, hearing aids via bluetooth and my son connected his AirPods at the same time 
Thatās an interesting idea. Iāll have to give it a try.
I wonder just how hard it would have been for LG to pass sound to two differnt ports at the same time? More hardware or a software change?