help my Dad hear the TV

December 22, 2005 7:29 PM

My father is hard of hearing. I'm looking for suggestions regarding easy audio devices that will let him listen to the TV at the volume he needs, but also let the rest of the family enjoy the program at a more reasonable volume.

He has tried the obvious solution of routing the audio signal through a stereo amp and plugging in headphones. This didn't work out so well--he found the headphone cable to be a nuisance, he would rather not swap out his hearing aids in order to use the headphones, and getting all the right settings on the TV, VCR, and amplifier can be something of a daunting task to a man of his generation.

Ideally, we're looking for a system that gives him some amplification in a way that works with his hearing aids, doesn't restrain him with wires, and is easy to use. Bonus points for a solution that lets him simultaneously hear people trying to talk to him. I realize that this combination may not exist, so any other recommendations would be most welcome.

posted by Galvatron to technology (9 comments total)

Maybe instead of sound, you can enable closed captioning on the TV?
posted by hooray at 7:39 PM on December 22, 2005

TV Ears
posted by ikareru at 7:46 PM on December 22, 2005

He is already using closed captioning in addition to the audio. Cutting the audio completely is pretty much out of the question.
posted by Galvatron at 7:48 PM on December 22, 2005

depending on what kind of hearing loss he has, you could try playing with the bass and/or treble settings. actually, in my experience, most people do better with the treble jacked up.

this doesn't work for all types of hearing loss, and it might drive everyone else bananas listening to things that harsh.

lastly: there are a bunch of wireless headphones out in the market, some more comfortable than others. most of the wireless headphones are the over-the-ear type, so i don't think he'd have to take his hearing aids out.

to make things easier, depending on how his TV/amp/etc. is wired, you could install a splitter that'll take the sound and route it to both amp and whatever the headphones are plugged into.

oh, and the TV ears above looks pretty spiff, too.
posted by herrdoktor at 8:37 PM on December 22, 2005

Radio Shack used to make (don't know if they still do) a little pocket-size audio amplifier for about $25.
posted by neuron at 10:08 PM on December 22, 2005

My mom, who is quite hard of hearing, used a product that goes by the name of Datawave. It's pretty much the same as the TV Ears ikareru links to: a transmitter that plugs into the audio out of the TV, and a set of lightweight wireless headphones. Worked great for her. Here's a link to one site that features it; oddly, though, I didn't come up with much else when I Googled it. Either they're no longer in business, or my Google-fu is weak before coffee.
posted by bricoleur at 5:40 AM on December 23, 2005

my father fabricated his own induction loop simply by wrapping speaker wire from the TV's audio out jack into a... er... loop which he then places under the pillow on his arm chair. This signal can then be picked up by his hearing aids at the volume he chooses while everyone else listens at a more comfortable level. Sort of like bionic ears. Of course, it also means that the only thing he can hear while using this device is the TV so he tunes the rest of us out.
I'm sure a quick search will turn up some more Homemade Recipes that you can try out.
posted by medium format at 7:29 AM on December 23, 2005

My TV is able to use its own speakers while also feeding out to a stereo system or receiver. Is your TV is capable of this, why not have your family listen to the TV speakers while running very small set of speakers to a certain spot where your dad can have it a little bit louder than everyone else.

And shouldn't be too expensive either, especially if you already have the components kicking around like many people do.
posted by travosaurus at 10:21 AM on December 23, 2005

The induction loop sounds like an awfully good idea. I had no idea that most hearing aids are equipped with induction receiver coils. It's not really going to cost anything to make a loop, so we'll definitely test out the concept in a few days.
posted by Galvatron at 2:41 PM on December 23, 2005