So this may be sort of obscure but I know someone else has to have had this issue so I thought it would be good to memorialize the solution I found.
OK, so I had an LG OLED television that worked fine with the Oticon Television Box 3.0. This is because LG televisions no not turn off the speakers when you plug in a Digital output cable, other televisions do.
The problem with the digital output turning off the speakers is that you can hear the television through your hearing aids but no one else in the room can hear the TV.
However, I am experiencing a big problem with the LG OLED television after only owning it a year. It is suffering BURN IN of images. Come to find out this is a major problem with this OLED technology. I have researched and researched and have come to learn that QLED televisions are much more immune to image burn in. So because I had the extended warranty COSTCO is letting me return the LG OLED and I was going to get a Samsung QLED.
Here is the issue, the SAMSUNG QLED I want to get has the digital output that turns off the speakers. So I could hear the television but no one else could.
I run everything through an ONKYO Home entertainment center. Some of the high end ONKYO receivers have a optical digital output, unfortunately mine does not. So I thought if I could get the Oticon Television Box 3.0 to work with that receiver, I would not have to worry about what television I wanted to buy. There is a set of RCA output jacks, so I thought I could just run RCA cables from that to the Oticon box. NO! The reason being is because all of my inputs to the receiver are HDMI, and if the input is HDMI it can’t send analog to the RCA outputs. Those outputs only work if your input is analog.
So nothing I am inputing into that receiver is capable of being output to those RCA jacks.
Now the receiver has two HDMI outputs. The Main HDMI output that goes to your television and a SUB HDMI. You have to go to the Menu in the ONKYO and #1. Turn on both HDMI outputs on your receiver (Input/OutputAssign/TVOut/OSD HDMIOut to “MAIN+SUB”). then #2. Enable the selected main zone audio to go back out on the HDMI outputs (Hardware/HDMI-AudioTVOut to “On”).
But here is where you have to get sneaky, and invest a couple of extra dollars. The HDMI Sub output does you no good at this point because your Oticon TV Box 3.0 only has RCA inputs or Digital Optical input.
For $34 you can get a small device that actually splits the audio out of a HDMI source, and sends it to both RCA outputs, or Optical Audio out.
ViewHD HDMI 1x2 Splitter with Integrated Audio Extractor and D2A Stereo Audio Converter | Support Digital TOSLINK and Analog L/R Stereo Audio Outputs | VHD-1X2HSACi
Available at u9ltd.com
So you take an HDMI cable and go from the ONKYO HDMI Sub Out to the HDMI Input on your extractor box. Then use either an RCA cable or optical audio cable to attach to the OUTPUT of the Extractor Box going to the Input of your Oticon TV 3.0 Box.
Now your hearing aids will work completely independent of whatever television you have because the receiver is outputting sound your television via HDMI 1 output, and the HDMI SUB is outputting sound to your Oticon TV Box 3.0 via the audio extractor box.
I read somewhere else that someone was trying to use a soundbar with an optical audio cord and it turned the speakers off on his television and he wanted the speakers to stay on. He said the solution for him was the following. He said there was a point when plugging the optical cord into the back of the television that if he did not insert it too far, the speakers on the television stayed on as did the soundbar. I don’t know if that would work with the Oticon Television Box or not. Maybe it’s a quirk with this guy’s television or maybe they all work like that if you just insert the plug halfway.
The other thing I have not tried is using a soundbar that has an additional OPTICAL AUDIO out. I don’t know if hooking your Oticon 3.0 box into the optical out of a soundbar would keep the soundbar on as well as the Oticon 3.0 box or not. If so that would be an easy solution with no need to have an expensive home entertainment receiver.
You can get pretty inexpensive ($79) soundbars at Walmart. I have a VIZIO soundbar that works great.