Why is hearing the television hard?
As sound waves travel away from the TV, high-frequency sound waves can fade before reaching your ears. Hearing aids are optimized for close-distance conversational speech (e.g. 5 ft). Most people don’t sit this close to the television!
A few factors that may also be contributing:
- Are the speakers located on the back of the TV?
- Speaker quality
- Shows with a lot of background noise
- Dialogue spoken in low or quiet tones
- How far away you sit from the TV
The good news is there are easy solutions for improving your TV watching experience.
Hearing, but not understanding
Some clients tell us that while wearing hearing aids, they can hear the TV but have difficulty understanding the dialogue. If you’re having trouble with the clarity of speech, you’re likely not hearing the high-frequency sound waves well enough.
How you can hear your TV better
There are some real benefits to setting up an enjoyable TV listening experience. If you already wear hearing aids, tell your Audiologist that you want to make your TV watching better.
Bluetooth® hearing aids: modern hearing aids can connect wirelessly to your TV if they are Bluetooth-enabled. Wireless connection allows you to hear the audio from the TV directly into your hearing aids.
Turn on Closed Captions: (these can be helpful for anyone!) so that you can read the dialogue as it scrolls across the bottom of the TV screen.
Adjust your TV audio settings: it may be possible to lower the base, lower mid-range sounds and boost the upper midrange and higher frequencies.
Neck and room loop systems: use a magnetic field and a neck loop worn around the wearer’s neck
Assistive listening devices: some wireless headphones will allow you to adjust the volume without affecting others watching the TV in the room.
How do I connect my hearing aids to my TV?
Your Audiologist can explain how to pair your hearing aids with the TV. Some hearing aids have special programs for TV-watching.
Often a TV connector is used. The process will be as simple as pressing a button on the back of the connector, waiting 10 seconds, and then hearing a beep when the hearing aids have successfully paired with the connector.
The benefits of improving TV listening
Sending the audio from the TV wirelessly into your hearing aids will significantly reduce the distance the sound waves have to travel and greatly enhance the clarity of speech from your TV. It also allows you to turn the TV volume down, so that it’s more comfortable for anyone else in the room.
If you want to hear the television better, request an appointment online: Broadmead Hearing Clinic: 250-479-2969 or Oak Bay Hearing Clinic: 250-479-2921.
This is an update to a blog that was originally published on 12/23/2015.