Hearing Aids & The TV, Still A Challenge?
Sometimes even with the best of hearing aids listening to the TV can still be problematic. There are a few reasons why this can be so. A study was undertaken several years ago in the UK on the audio quality in TV shows. The research included everything from live braoadcasts through films to your favourite soap. It was found that the sound quality of televised TV could be that bad that people with normal hearing had problems understanding dialogue.
Bad Sound Mix on Your Favourite TV Show
In most cases the problem was between the volume of the dialogue being overpowered by the volume of the background sound. It simply was not being mixed correctly to focus on the understanding of speech. So, if the sound mix is that bad that people with normal hearing had difficulties imagine how difficult it was for people with hearing loss. Even with the best of hearing aids, it would still be as difficult to understand as it was for the people with completely normal hearing. After the study was released though, the TV companies in the UK realised they had a problem and have taken steps to fix it.
Competing Sound Sources
Even if the sound quality is good, if there are competing sound sources such as people talking in the room it can cause difficulty. It can make it difficult to hear the dialogue, even if you have normal hearing. So again, this will also be a problem for people with hearing aids. The hearing aid manufacturers realised this a couple of years ago. With the advent of wireless hearing aids, they decided to design something that would help.
Wireless Hearing Aids & TV
The benefits of wireless communication in hearing aids are many, the communication allows the hearing aids to work together as a combined system. This delivers probably the most natural hearing experience ever available. Beyond that, the communication protocol also allows the hearing aids to communicate with other audio devices, allowing sound to be streamed directly into the hearing aids. Most manufacturers have now used this ability to offer differing devices to deliver audio from TVs direct into users hearing aids.
For instance, Widex introduced the TV-DEX a couple of years ago. It works with all of their wireless hearing aids. The TV-DEX base simply plugs into the back of the TV, the base acts as a streamer for the audio and a charger for the remote device. The remote device catches the audio and re-streams it instantly to your Widex Hearing aids. It is also used to turn the system on and turn up and down the volume of the streaming audio. The volume change just happens on the audio that is being streamed, so the TV volume in the room isn't affected, The TV volume could even be muted and you can still hear the audio in your hearing aids clearly at the volume you want. You can even turn off the microphones in your hearing aids so you are just listening to the streamed audio.
This delivers reall benefit for hearing aid users, they can hear the TV clearly and set the volume to their own taste without upsetting anyone else. It also helps you hear the audio over any competing audio sources. If you want to talk to us about wireless hearing aids or accessory devices, give us a call 0n 1800 501 501 or come and see us in our hearing aid centres in Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny & Tralee.
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