I have the Weather Channel on right now as background noise, and they just had a Beltone hearing aid commercial. I swear I just heard the commentator say that you can stream your favorite music channels directly into the hearing aid! :eek: Is this true?
If it is, it would be the ultimate “headphones” experience.
My daughter has bone conduction hearing aids and can plug her MP3 player into them. They don’t get loud enough for her, though. I think they now have Bluetooth.
My friend has hearing aids that connect with his phone via Bluetooth. The other day I was at his house and he was at his table making calls…he was talking and I could hear the person on the other end very faintly, like he was wearing an earbud, but there was no bud or wire in sight. That’s when it dawned on me that he was piping it directly to his hearing aid.
My dad has wireless headphones hooked up to his tv. They just work with an RCA connector in the audio out ports of his tv, and the headphones connect to the base via RF.
Seems like this can be done via Bluetooth just as easily.
We used “bone phones” in the Army. It was supposed to be better on the earholes, but we just used them in addition to the old fashioned muffs so we could monitor more radio frequencies.
My Oticon miniRITEs have bluetooth, and can connect to phone, tablet, etc. I usually have the bluetooth turned off, but occasionally it fits the occasion.
My brother-in-law has hearing aids. In one ear, the ear basically has zero function - so that “aid” simply uses Bluetooth to pipe the sound into his other ear’s aid.
That’s to let him hear from both sides - though of course it plays hell with aural triangulation. He can “hear” sounds coming from the non-hearing side, but he doesn’t know which side they’re coming from. Hilarity sometimes ensues :D.
I don’t know if he can connect his phone directly to them.
That’s my situation, but my ENT and audiologist felt that an additional $3,000 was not worth it. They also pointed out that ideally I’d get a cochlear implant on my deaf side, but my insurance wouldn’t pay, so I’d need about $100,000 cash.
Many models of hearing aids use BT for volume and profile control. Some models may require external phone or audio adapters, but they are perfectly capable of streaming audio from just about any source. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not that great for music. Voice (telephone calls) works great.
BTW, one thing that you have to get used to with behind the ear models of hearing aids is that they are very good at picking up sound from BEHIND you. Better units use two or more microphones to help reduce the effect, but you quickly discover that you can hear people talking behind you with great clarity. I’m continually (and inconveniently) eavesdropping on the people at the tables behind me in restaurants, people behind me standing in line, people at airports in the waiting area seated behind me, and so forth. In fact, it is a challenge to concentrate on what my friends are saying to me from the front because of the distraction. I feel like Prof X hearing the thoughts of others as I try to hold a normal conversation.