Will any other brand of tv connector work with phonak hearing aids for a TV that does not have Bluetooth?
Phonak or Costco’s TV connector for the KS-9 & KS-10.
WH
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Any Bluetooth transmitter work with them but it won’t be LE like the Phonak TV Connector is. Might use a little more battery.
I’m mostly interested in more cost effective things rather then the Phonak TV connector which on EBay is still 70-100$ used
Phonak TV Connector is not Bluetooth at all.
It works on their own technology called AirStream technology.
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What I was saying is the hearing aids will connect to about any Bluetooth transmitter. If you do some reading on it I think you will find the Airstream Technology is really Bluetooth LE.
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Yes, they will connect to just about any Bluetooth transmitter, but many of them introduce an unacceptable degree of latency. This means that if you have the tv producing sound in the room for others to listen to, your aids will have a delay and therefore a significant echo in your ears. Also what you hear will be delayed in relation to the lips of the person on the TV. I find that most disconcerting! Streaming music, however, will be fine if there are no accompanying visuals.
Airstream technology is indeed very similar to Bluetooth LE but it is not exactly the same and proprietary to Phonak. It does use less power on the hearing aids and the latency (echo) is so low that it is unnoticeable in practice for most people.
The Phonak tv connector works really well, and was certainly a game changer for me. I had stopped watching tv almost entirely before I got one (having tried others unsuccessfully). YMMV.
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Hooby is on point
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