The new technology is really something, I’ve been thinking there should really be a better explanation of all possible functions and which we would like, instead we are treated like kindergarteners.
RDB
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Exactly. It seems that because hearing loss is often associated with aging, that senior citizens are presumed to all fear or detest “newfangled things” but the prejudice is even more insidious when that presumption is applied to members of younger generations that have premature hearing loss or other disability.
I’m thinking of buying the Costco TV connector for my KS 9s however I need the TV speakers to be operating (for family) in conjunction with the AirStream to my HAs. I have a Samsung TV with analog & digital outputs however use a Fetch box connected to the TV via HDMI. The Fetch has a digital audio output.
When connecting a BT speaker either by analog cable or by BT, the TV speakers are silenced and I thought this would probably apply to the TV connector i.e. the TV speakers would be shut off.
Has anyone succeeded in using the TV connector to their HAs while maintaining the sound from the TV speakers?
I have a Hitachi Smart TV and can use the tv connector through a digital to analog adapter then to tv conector. The sound will come from BOTH tv speakers and tv connector.
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I use the digital audio out from my TV into a receiver. Then I use the ‘record out’ output from the receiver into the TV connector. That way there is always audio to the TV. And I can stream music and radio from the receiver if I like. Plus, the volume on the receiver doesn’t affect the record-out level, so I can listen privately if I want to.
I know on my TV, a 57” LG, there are menu options for what happens to the audio in different situations. It’s possible to use the audio out and set it to still keep the speakers on, if desired. You may want to check the menu options on your TV.
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After using the TV connector I bought 2 more, they are a must and provide very good sound. As others stated the hook up is easy, and the TV speaker out is not a problem and will not affect volume. Most newer TV’s now have a Settings mode which includes Sound, you can make selections there that allow this if necessary.
RDB
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I use the RCA audio outputs of my TV with the adapter cable that came with my Phonak TV Connector. When you plug in a 3.5mm audio connector, some TVs assume you’re using headphones and disconnect the speakers. They may have that 3.5mm headphone output connected through the volume control as well for the purpose of convenient volume control with headphones.
RCA connectors always have constant-level audio output (regardless of the settings of the volume control or what’s plugged into the headphone jack) so they’re the best source of independent audio output, independent of the speakers or the volume control. That way, other people in the room can set the volume anywhere they’re comfortable and you have independent control through your HA’s.
Make sure you use “Audio Out” RCA jacks and not the “Audio In” jacks that are part of the Component Video Input group.
Unfortunately, YMMV because all TV’s may not have these, especially more recent TVs.
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I am very happy with the bluetooth connecting to my phone, sound is great. I am lucky and have only 1 ear with moderate hearing loss, so I use a bluetooth speaker connected to my TV for watching TV, Steaming, etc. I keep the speaker on my night stand close to my “good” ear. What I love about the KS9 streaming to my phone, not only can I make calls, but I can listen to music at work through the hearing aid, and no one at work knows. I still wish I could get a program correctly to help with cutting down on background noises and making voices clearer in noisy situations.
Your Costco HA fitter/audiologist can program your aids to mute with a long press down. It’s a simple adjustment.
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I have had a very strange experience with my aids. Good outcome, but still seems very strange to me.
Friday was my first follow-up appointment since getting the KS9s. I went in with a list of half a dozen things that I hoped to get tweaked, and we got through all of them. My biggest problem has been the radio in my small car, which generates a LOT of road noise at highway speeds.
So when I listened to talk radio, after about 50 mph the road noise was so loud I couldn’t understand the speaker. IMO all the KS9s did was sharpen and raise the volume of the voices and didn’t reduce the road noise at all. I couldn’t stand it.
Music had the same problem at speed, but even at slow speed, it sounded just plain tinny.
So the audi worked on the Music and Noise programs and put them in the aids as manual programs so I could switch to them, see how they were doing, etc.
When I got back to the car, the Music program was horrible (the Music program for my Trax is also horrible). If I just sat in the unmoving car and turned the radio on, it was great. Turn on air conditioning or put the car in gear and go – horrible. It does brings out the singer’s voice but it amplifies everything else right along with it. Talk about how wind noise is like someone blowing across a microphone, that’s what the background is like.
As for the Noise program, it reduces the road noise all right. And it reduces the voices right along with it. So no good there either.
However, the strange thing I can’t understand is that now if I leave the aids in Automatic, both music and talk work great, slow or fast. For the first time I was listening to talk radio and not working at listening if other h.a. users understand what I mean. Music actually has enough depth and richness I was enjoying it instead of thinking how sad it is music will never sound right again. Road noise at speed is reduced to where I kept looking at the speedometer and thinking, I can’t really be going fast enough for it to kick in. This as I hit 80.
How can that be? Do I just figure it’s magic and enjoy it? I’m home right now and fighting a strong urge to go out and just drive around to see if it’s for real or my overactive imagination.
Go figure.
Congratulations.
A tip that I got from Mark Chambers that helps is to turn down the volume on the external mics on your HA’s and turn up your car radio volume a bit - this effectively increases the signal-to-noise ratio. Your HA’s hear everything at a lower volume but the radio alone (hopefully) becomes louder.
Actually, I found out by tearing out the HAs in frustration one time that if I remove them entirely and just turn the radio way up, everything sounds great. However, I don’t want to be doing that. First of all, with the Trax I used to use the app to increase the bass every time I wanted to hear music. Then I’d forget and go off at my destination and wonder why I couldn’t hear people well. So odds of my forgetting I’ve pulled the aids (especially since these KS9s are so light and receivers so small there’s no sense of there being there at all) and going to a training class or dog show, leaving them in the car when I haven’t time to retrieve them are high. Worse, I’m liable to lose them that way sooner or later.
The sound of the radio on Automatic really was excellent on the way home today. Can’t wait to see if everything still sounds that good tomorrow. Then I’ll know it isn’t my imagination. There are some differences just around the house in things like the sound of the microwave buzzer, so something has changed for the better, even though the manual programs are a disappointment, which seems like it should make the particular circumstances those programs address a disappointment.
Weird. Maybe those manual programs really don’t feed into the adjustments Automatic makes? But then why did things improve with Automatic? The only overall change made so far as I know was kicking up the Wind Noise reduction.
I find TV difficult, even with well-fitted HA’s, especially when trying to distinguish spoken dialogue from background music. Many times I have to turn to my wife and say, “What did they say?” That said, I’ve been less than pleased when trying to use a TV interface in the past, and the one that I had for Bernafon won’t work with my Kirkland 5.0’s…
I had KS3 with the TV connector, and found it more of a novelty than something useful. However the new KS9 with the TV connector is very good.
RDB
It COULD be that there are different programs at work when in your car and they are taking over vs the ones that were saved to your manual settings. I don’t know, for sure, how to check that, except to systematically save each of the automatic programs to manual slots (we only get three) and check them. For instance, while I have a MUSIC setting in AUTO, the one saved to manual sounds different, even though they are supposed to be the same. So I wonder is one of the other presets is actually reprsenting music in the car? And the only way to do that would be to check them all individually - a long process, but might be worth it to get to the bottom of it.
I have also had a similar experience with auto and wind noise. A little hard to explain and was hard to pinpoint. We have a 2 ton ac in the kitchen 2 years old and works very well. We found using it on power saver is great as it only runs when needed. To do this the fan comes on to get an air sample temp. and then shuts off, it will do that every 5 minutes or so until it comes on to cool, once it is satisfied it then returns to the on/off. Okay.
So when watching TV and a music interlude would come on or a commercial with music I would first hear that the music was enhanced, good enough. But occasionally the sound would increase to unreasonable levels. At another time while listening to the news and the AC was doing it’s temp check thing I noticed that when the AC shut off the volume went up. So coupled with music on just long enough, and apparently the AC fan coming on and off would cause the volume to run off the track. I tried to explain this to the fitter, but she felt I was being too sensitive to the change since I had the last 9 years of non-auto experience, and removed the auto and replaced with the Quiet, and Noise manuals. I do not believe she is fluent in the programming of the KS9 yet. I will be insisting on the auto return with adjustments and I want the third manual of choice as well. More than one Costco, or will return and re-buy until satisfied. Sounds really negative, but the truth is my hearing with the KS9’s has never been better since I first started wearing aids in 2003, and these are the cats meow!
RDB
Could you please clarify this sentence - are these the names of available programs for the KS9s? If so, what exactly are their intended functions?
Haggis- If the picture you posted is your actual TV, you are better off connecting to the digital audio out using the cable that came with the TV Connector.
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Yes, we always know what we meant, but …lol I was referring to the automatic program, and according to the product hype in addition to the automatic program there can be up to three manual ones. The manual ones are 3 of the 9 programs that make up the automatic program. I currently do not have the automatic program, and have 2 manual programs called Quiet, and Noise. The 9 programs that make up the automatic program are: Quiet, Comfort, Noise, Loud Noise, Echo, Car, Music, Streamed Speech, Streamed Music. This info was gleamed from a posted information sheet in post 258.
RDB
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