I’m nearing end of trial for my OPN 1, and after a brief mid way trial of a Widex Beyond Fusion 440, I am sticking with the OPN1.
However I wanted some feedback/input from forums on one thing.
For TV watching, due to more control Widex provided with their app, I was able to create a profile that was better for TV dialog that bumped the mids and highs. This made the dialog in many shows and movies more clear and understandable. Some shows have sound that is so bad while others have great audio quality which didn’t need me to change profiles on the Widex.
I know OPN have different sound management with their universal approach, so am looking for input. Would I be better off asking my audiologist to just tweak my overall profile or create another TV specific profile?
The way my TV is setup, audio adapters are more trouble than they are worth. I’ve got HDMI switch boxes, and cabling running to sonos systems etc. my confidence in being able to get a tv streamer to work in that environment is low.
I image you are using Toslink. You can pick up a Toslink splitter and feed both systems. I did that with my sound bar and it worked out nicely. You could also feed it off the RCA jacks. I just mention using a Low Latency BT transmitter instead of the TV Link. That works well at a fraction of the price using the BT accessory with the Phone Clip +. (I use a different brand aid but standard BT works across brands with the accessory.)
There is no neck/clip on streamer available on the OPN right now (the Connect Clip 3.0 is not due out until end of 2017) so the only streamer option currently is to buy the TV Adaptor 3.0 (what audiometrix_hearing calls the Connectline) to stream from TV or an audio source.
So the option for a low latency BT transmitter won’t work until the Connect Clip 3.0 comes out later this year. It was supposed to come out Q1’17 but was delayed with no reason given. But yes, it would have been a good idea to use a BT transmitter if you need a Connect Clip 3.0 anyway if you have an Android phone. But if you have an iPhone then the TV Adapter 3.0 would be a better option because then you don’t have to wear anything, neither for the iPhone nor for watching TV. I’d imagine that the Connect Clip 3.0 when available will cost about the same as the TV Adapter 3.0.
I second audiometrix_hearing that for the best TV experience, use the TV Adapter 3.0 to stream directly into your OPN. If you watch TV with other people, you can control your own volume on the OPN and they can control their own volume through the normal sound system. It has Toslink and RCA audio inputs and even if don’t have either connection but if you have HDMI output from your HDMI switch box, just get a third party HDMI box that has Toslink and/or line (RCA) audio for around $40 from Amazon and you’re all set. While watching TV from the TV Adapter 3.0, you can also set the OPN mic at normal level so you can carry on a conversation with somebody else who’s watching TV with you if you want. Or mute the OPN mic completely if you don’t want to hear any ambient noise.
The approach you did with the Widex can be done with the OPN, too, but the OPN ON app doesn’t have an equalizer like the Widex app so you’d need to have your audi create another program for you on the OPN. I would have your audi create a TV specific profile, however, and not mess with the default program. The OPN has some built-in program like Comfort, Music, Speech in Noise, Lecture. You may want to try out the Lecture mode first to see if that may be good enough for you as the focus there may be around speech. If not then just have the audi build your own.
But even before you create your own TV program on the OPN, try turning on Speech Rescue which lowers the high frequency sounds to a lower frequency region so you can hear the “s” and “sh” better. That may be good enough to help increase the speech clarity that you don’t need to have a special TV program. If you have Speech Rescue in the default program and use the TV Adapter 3.0, the setting in the Default program (with Speech Rescue enabled) will carry over to the TV Box mode so you’ll be hearing the lowered sound in TV mode as well.
I tested this for you. I took a Y connector and drive both the TV Adapter 3.0 and a wired portable speaker at the same time (the speaker simulates your TV speaker), and played both the speaker and the streamer sending sound to my OPN 1. My OPN 1 is set with no mic attenuation so I’d be hearing the speaker sound as clearly as the streamed sound. I can’t detect any latency at all. But if you don’t have to spontaneously talk with the people you watch TV with, then I’d suggest you use your iPhone (assuming you have an iPhone) to attenuate the mic volume manually so you don’t get bombarded by both sound sources at the same time, which can alter the sound quality if they compete. But then maybe you might like to hear from both sound sources, up to you.
You don’t need the Connect Clip 3.0 to get your audio from the TV because the TV Adapter 3.0 sends the streamed BLE audio it receives from the TV to your OPN directly, just like the iPhone would send the streamed BLE audio to your OPN directly. There’s no Bluetooth connection going into the TV Adapter 3.0. The input of the TV Adapter 3.0 is not wireless Bluetooth from the TV, it’s either wired analog audio or wired Toslink audio from the TV (or actually from any audio source, doesn’t have to be only the TV) into the TV Adapter 3.0. The TV Adapter 3.0 then sends wireless BLE sound signal to the OPN. Nothing gets routed to your phone. The TV Adapter 3.0 connects to the OPN via BLE just like the iPhone connects to the OPN via BLE. When the Connect Clips becomes available, it would connect wirelessly to a source device via regular BT, and passes on this audio from the source device to the OPN via BLE.
I’m going to jump in with another questions and kind of related. I cannot get my DVD to stream to my hearing aids. The TV stream great through my TV streamer, but fir some reason I guess I don’t know how to hook up my DVD player to work with it. Is there a trick? Not too TV tech savvy. Thanks.
I’d suggest getting a streamer. I think it will be a lot better than trying to deal with sound from the TV speakers. However, if you don’t want that, I’d go with a separate program for TV.
I’m a little confused by this question because I’m assuming that you hook up the DVD player to play on the TV. So if that’s the case, wouldn’t the TV streamer hooked up to the TV already picking up the DVD player’s sound when you watch it on the TV?
Ok. Sorry for confusion. The DVD plays through the TV just fine and we hear it. ( no HAs).
When I use the TV streamer to hear TV programs I hear it through my HAs great. If we put in. DVD, I don’t hear through my TV streamer. Hope I explained a little more clearly. Thank you
Sorry it’s still not clear. If your TV Streamer is hooked up to the TV correctly, then anything you can hear from the TV’s speakers, you should hear from the TV Streamer to your HAs just the same, regardless of whether it’s TV programs or DVD player or whatever else from the TV.
