TV audio improvement for a slightly deaf person

I suspect this is the RNID anyway and they sell hearing amplifiers and other hearing-related goodies.

Unless she lives in a detached property, a sound bar, AV amp or whatever at excessive loudness is just going to upset the neighbours.

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.

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.

My TVs have an Equaliser function with separate volume controls for

One alternative to headphones is a speaker very close to the listener's head.

NT

On most TVs the built-in speakers are on the back facing away from the viewer. A sound bar faces the right way plus it's probably miles better quality, so it doesn't necessarily have to be louder to help.

These days, for foreign language programmes (ie anything recorded in the USA), I use subtitles.

Subtitles?

Adjust the TV equaliser settings?

Persuade her that headphones are cool?

I ran many turns of wire in the form of multicore phone wire each wire connected in series so as to make about 8 ohms around the room on the picture rail and connected the ends to the output of an amplifier fed from tv and mums earphones on t worked very well

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

Mum (88) doesn't watch much TV, mainly because she can't hear it ... or can't hear it completely / easily and doesn't want to upset her nexdoor neighbours by having the TV very loud.

So, when we go round there and I'm watching TV whilst the Mrs plays Rummikub with her, if they finish and Mum ends up watching some TV, I turn the subtitles on and I notice how much more 'involved' she is (to the point where she seems quite hooked on the program).

What she doesn't seem to do is turn the TV on herself and that's a shame as I know there are tings she would (has, when I've been there) actually enjoy (like gardening programs or the news etc).

I'll have to check that she an turn the TV on, use the EPG and can change the source if it comes up on the DVD / NowTV.

We have some PC external speakers on there all the time (we often watch films when we are round there house-sitting) but I'm not sure if they offer much clearer audio (but better bass and image width).

I have a spare soundbar so might take that round there and see how it works.

Cheers, T i m

Well if the gadget does not work, are we sure its been used correctly? Its normally a portable induction loop. Often the problem is that assuming its the same as some I've seen elsewhere the gadget not only has volume controls, but also tone controls to help boost the part of the spectrum which is low. I remember once trying to share one of these with two deaf people, unfortunately one wanted more top and the other more bass, and we could not find a happy medium. Brian

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. 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. Brian

When last was her hearing aid adjusted?

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

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).

Mr Techmoan seemed to like this remote speaker ...

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

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.

Techmoan is fascinating. The videos are accomplished but I don't think he's bankrolled by a sponsor who provides video production assistance.

Headphones?