I just picked up my new T13-90 Marvels and a 2nd TV connector. Here are a couple of responses to the questions that have been asked based on my experience.
- Power: The TV Connector is wall powered using a USB cable with micro USB on one end for the device and a regular USB plug on the other end. Theoretically you could power it from anything that can power the USB cable with whatever is required by the device. I’ve got a meter to test that, but haven’t hooked it up yet.
- Quality: The quality of the streaming seems exactly the same as the Bluetooth streaming from my phone. It provides another way of streaming audio so I don’t have to swap the pairing as often due to the single device pairing limitations with the Marvel.
- Frequency: The frequency/format of the streaming from the TV connector is that it is a custom 2.4 broadcast from Phonak proprietary to their Hearing Aids called AirStream. While that may be in the same band as Bluetooth, they aren’t using Bluetooth for this. The AirStream is really a broadcast to paired devices. Bluetooth doesn’t work that way and has a lot more security, handshaking and responding transmissions required from the Hearing Aids, (and probably power as well). The TV Connector can supposedly be picked up by an unlimited number of devices as long as they are paired and you can’t do that with Bluetooth. That also means that the TV Connector doesn’t know/care if your hearing aids are receiving the signal or not.
This is from an Audiology Online article sponsored by Phonak:
The TV Connector uses Airstream™, a Phonak proprietary 2.4 GHz streaming protocol which offers high quality audio streaming from any television directly into the hearing aids. Designed with the end user in mind, it is easy to use straight out of the box with no complicated pairing or connection steps. It is an easy plug-and-play setup when installing for the very first time. Some benefits of AirStream technology include:
- High quality, stereo audio signals to Audéo B-Direct hearing aids with very low streaming delay
- Audio streaming with the TV Connector, without the need for body worn/around-the-neck streaming interface
- Broadcasting to an unlimited number of listeners with one compatible accessory
- Lower energy consumption than any suitable Bluetooth classic protocol/profile
- Easy plug-and-play connection to the television
- Up to 80 hours of streaming and listening enjoyment with one hearing aid battery
Since we’re using the proprietary streaming protocol, it delivers low hearing aid battery consumption. Patients can stream up to 80 hours on one single battery.