Stream audio directly from your TV to your hearing aids using Bluetooth
Audiology Manager and CASLPO registered Audiologist, Andreas Seelisch will guide you through this video tutorial and teach you how to pair your hearing aids with your television using Bluetooth.
This video will hopefully make it easier for you to watch your favourite television shows, must-see sporting events and all the latest news and entertainment with ease.
Aural rehabilitation is an important component of your hearing solution. We offer in-clinic counselling as part of our patients’ hearing aid package. However, now our aural-rehab online video tutorials can provide the practical information you need to care for and maintain your hearing aids wherever you are, 24-hours a day.
‘How to connect your hearing aids to your TV via Bluetooth’ video transcript
My name is Andreas Seelisch and I’m an audiologist working with Hearing Solutions.
I’d like to talk to you a little bit today about some of the wireless components that are available for hearing aids today.
Hearing aids are able to connect to a variety of different devices through wireless technology, including Bluetooth.
This means we can take cell phone calls directly from our phone and answer them into our hearing aids.
It also means we can take audio samples from just about any audio signal.
Most commonly this might be something like a television.
The reason we want to do this isn’t because the hearing aids won’t work without a television [but] because it can just make it something better.
Audio when it leaves something like a speaker is bouncing off of a lot of other objects and it’s losing energy on its way and it may be changing.
We also may be introducing noise – another person talking, a fan, an engine – anything that’s going on in the background and all of this can reduce from the enjoyment or it can make the signal to noise ratio worse.
When we use a wireless device like this we’re taking the audio directly from the television and putting it directly into the hearing aids.
This means that the signal isn’t being converted from electrical energy into acoustical energy in extra time.
It also means there’s less noise involved.
Overall what this means to the patient is just a much better listening experience.
Most of these systems make use of a base unit that gets attached to the TV.
A lot of my patients are concerned that the set-up is something that’s scary and so they avoid doing it.
But this is something that only needs to be completed one time.
The first item is connecting it to a power source.
It should be some sort of power cable that gets connected into the base station and gets connected into the wall.
This doesn’t typically require line of sight, meaning that it can be out in the open or it can be tucked away in a cupboard so that there’s no hassle with cords hanging around.
The second cord is very important.
This is the cord that’s going to be taking the audio signal from the television, stereo or wherever you’re trying to capture the music or audio from.
Again, one plug is going into the back of the unit.
This can be through something like an optical cable, a 3 ½ millimetre audio jack or an RCA or composite cable.
One of the plugs is again getting connected to the back of this device and the other side needs to be connected to the television.
One of the most important aspects of setting this up is ensuring that the audio coming out of the TV is going into either an auxiliary – A-U-X or an Audio OUT.
If this is connected correctly, the audio signal is then being transferred wirelessly right to the individuals’ hearing aids.
If people are not getting the signal that they want or questioning whether or not it’s working, it’s not set up correctly and so we just have to make sure that it’s connected to the correct Audio OUT.
For example, if you’re watching television on Audio 3, you would have to connect to the Audio OUT 3 on the back of the television.
So, one of the most common mistakes when connecting these units is that people are tempted to put the plugs into first matching plugs that they see.
In this case, they’d want to put these red and white cables into one of these red and white cables back here.
Unfortunately, that would be incorrect in this case.
These plugs are video and Audio IN.
Instead, we want to pick an Audio OUT and so we’re going to pick this cable right here.
Instead, we’re going to be using this optical cable and that’s going to be connected into the Audio OUT right here.
Now we have everything connected correctly.
Thank you, my name is Andreas Seelisch and I’m an audiologist working with Hearing Solutions.
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