It has been possible to connect your hearing aid to TVs, music players and computers for many years.
But although modern hearing aids can connect seamlessly, there are still a few hurdles to overcome, says our managing director Mark Scutchings.
Although it has been possible to connect your hearing aid to TVs, music players and computers for many years, the quality was not always good, the connection was not always reliable and the devices could be complicated to set up.
Modern hearing aids work seamlessly with other electronic devices, but there are still a few hurdles that you need to overcome.
Each hearing aid manufacturer implements their wireless technology in a slightly different way, so you need to speak to your audiologist to get help with your specific setup. However, all hearing aids have factors in common.
Using a modern hearing aid with a mobile phone.
Many hearing aid wearers want to use their hearing aid with a mobile phone, so that they can take phone calls on their hearing aid and so that they can use their phone as a remote control.
Most modern behind-the-ear and many modern in-the-ear hearing aids allow this. Your audiologist may need to pair your hearing aid with the phone or you may be able to do this yourself, but some sort of pairing has to take place before you can use the two devices together.
Once paired, you should be able to make and receive calls through your hearing aid microphone and speaker just as you would with a wireless earpiece, with the added advantage of having the hearing aid process the sound in a way that is optimised for your hearing level.
Connecting a modern hearing aid to TVs or laptops
If you want to connect to the TV or your laptop, things are a little bit more complicated. You will need to have an adaptor that receives the wireless signal from the hearing aid and connects to a USB socket on the TV. Even if your TV has Bluetooth, you will almost certainly not be able to connect your hearing aid directly to the television. The same principles apply if you want to connect to the sound output of a computer.
Despite all of this, it isn’t really complicated and once you get it working you will get excellent sound quality and a robust connection. In the case of the TV adaptor, your family will be able to listen to the TV at a level that suits them, without it altering your listening level.
If you are interested in finding out more, your audiologist will be able to tell you what options are available for your hearing aid setup.
