TV audio improvement for a slightly deaf person

On Tue, 04 Sep 2018 14:41:51 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

I have a friend who struggles to hear the telly. She is not all that
deaf but has a deaf aid. At present she has a newish flatscreen telly
with very poor sound quality. I'm wondering what I can do for her. She
tried a gadget she got from RNID that is supposed to feed the TV sound
into the hearing aid when it is set to T, but it wasn't very successful.
She doesn't want to wear headphones. I'm wondering about a sound bar or
computer speakers or whatever. Ideas anyone?

Bill

It would help to know what outputs the TV has and how up market it is.
Also, where does she sit to watch the TV; is it always the same chair or
sofa?

If it has Bluetooth then there are loads of Bluetooth speakers available
(including sound bars).

I was mainly thinking of having a speaker next to where she sits, on her
better side. That way she gets the sound up close and personal and doesn't
have to have it too loud. Alternatively positioned just behind her on a
shelf or bracket if she sits with her back to a wall.

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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On 04/09/2018 17:18, Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes, I don't think the ones with microphones are much good. The problem is
it really needs to be right up to the speaker but on these modern tellies
they are at the back.

Surely they never use microphones? I would have thought they either use
audio via wire or optical fibre, or Bluetooth (with possible problems
with pairing and/or sync).

I suspect a pair of very good computer speakers and mute the internal sound
and maybe a Y splitter on its input to put the audio into the loop might be
better, but I'm not up to speed how these cope with stereo. Often this kind
of tech has not moved with the times since about 1970.

--
Max Demian

Bill Wright wrote:

I have a friend who struggles to hear the telly.

Mr Techmoan seemed to like this remote speaker ...

https://youtu.be/bn3hKbl9f-U

On 04/09/18 17:15, Brian Gaff wrote:
but also tone controls to help boost the part of the spectrum
which is low

Induction loops shouldn't need this, because the hearing aid already
does this, even when using an alternative source.

Note that you can buy bluetooth adaptors for modern hearing aids. This
is even true of NHS ones, at least for Oticon branded ones.

I think the reason that most of these solutions use a microphone is
because they are being used by people who have difficulty with new
technology. She's actually lucky that T is enabled at all, as it is
common to disable all the controls for older users.

In message , Bill Wright
writes

I'm wondering about a sound bar or computer speakers or whatever. Ideas
anyone?

We had a similar discussion a year or three ago, after which I bought a
sound bar, and although we don't watch much TV, when we do, I find
sound, particularly speech, from the bar to be easier to hear than the
built in flat screen TV speakers, at the same volume.
--
Graeme

On 04/09/2018 14:59, Andrew wrote:

Unless she lives in a detached property,

She does

a sound bar, AV amp
or whatever at excessive loudness is just going to upset the
neighbours.

I don't think she needs much more volume, just an improvement in sound
quality.


OTOH if she has been watching some recent BBC1 series where
the lead actor had decided that whispering huskily is the cool
way to act, then it's the program at fault, and not her hearing.

That is a factor, for sure.

Bill

On 04/09/2018 15:01, Peter Duncanson wrote:

Some TVs have a "Equaliser" function in the Sound/Audio part of the
Menu.

If her TV has that you could experiment by increasing and decreasing the
volumes of various frequencies.

That's an idea. I'll check up on the telly.

Bill

On 04/09/2018 17:09, Reentrant wrote:
On 04/09/2018 14:41, Bill Wright wrote:
I have a friend who struggles to hear the telly. She is not all that
deaf but has a deaf aid. At present she has a newish flatscreen telly
with very poor sound quality. I'm wondering what I can do for her. She
tried a gadget she got from RNID that is supposed to feed the TV sound
into the hearing aid when it is set to T, but it wasn't very
successful. She doesn't want to wear headphones. I'm wondering about a
sound bar or computer speakers or whatever. Ideas anyone?

Bill


Techmoan tested the Sony SRS-LSR100 recently and was quite impressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3hKbl9f-U&t=657s

That looks very promising.

Bill

On 04/09/2018 17:39, Richard wrote:
On 04/09/18 14:41, Bill Wright wrote:
I have a friend who struggles to hear the telly. She is not all that
deaf but has a deaf aid. At present she has a newish flatscreen telly
with very poor sound quality. I'm wondering what I can do for her. She
tried a gadget she got from RNID that is supposed to feed the TV sound
into the hearing aid when it is set to T, but it wasn't very
successful. She doesn't want to wear headphones. I'm wondering about a
sound bar or computer speakers or whatever. Ideas anyone?

Bill

When last was her hearing aid adjusted?

That's a very good question. Cheers.

Bill

On 04/09/2018 17:45, David wrote:
On Tue, 04 Sep 2018 14:41:51 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

I have a friend who struggles to hear the telly. She is not all that
deaf but has a deaf aid. At present she has a newish flatscreen telly
with very poor sound quality. I'm wondering what I can do for her. She
tried a gadget she got from RNID that is supposed to feed the TV sound
into the hearing aid when it is set to T, but it wasn't very successful.
She doesn't want to wear headphones. I'm wondering about a sound bar or
computer speakers or whatever. Ideas anyone?

Bill

It would help to know what outputs the TV has and how up market it is.

I'll have to look into that I suppose.

Also, where does she sit to watch the TV; is it always the same chair or
sofa?

Yes.

Bill