tv/audio device for hard of hearing father....

[earlyre]

what I'm looking to do is something i can simply, and i stress the simply(cheaply(inexpensively) wouldn't hurt either

), install a headphone jack, with it's own volume control next to my dad's chair, that would be hooked up to the TV, so it wouldn't have to be so gosh darned loud for the rest of us!

Ideally it would just plug in to the rca outs on back of set, run the needed 15-20 ft of wire (much shorter "as the sound flies", but wanna hide the wires as much as possible), then attached to his end table would be a little box, with a headphone jack and a volume knob. kinda like churches & some theaters have.....

suggestions??

 

[Milkman]

If it were me, I would look for some sort of wireless device. You can't be the only one with this issue.

 

[Throckmorton]

Have you tried displaying the closed captioning yet?

 

[expat]

You can get a plug in FM transmitter, then he could hear on any FM radio device.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/4-channels-FM-Tra...=item3f10d9bad8

 

[Carbon]

1. Some hearing aids have an available attachment available to beam the TV audio right to the hearing aid. http://www.starkey.com/starkey-products/product-overview/browse-by-technology/wireless-hearing-aids

2. http://www.nextag.com/tv-hearing-devices/stores-html lists some.

3. http://abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=19327&ksectionid=19327&top=13440

 

[dparm]

You need to AVOID cheap stuff that just amplifies 100% of the audio. Go for devices specifically designed to improve audibility of TV programs.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/tv-hearing-aids-headphones

My mother is involved very heavily in audiology and teaching the deaf and hard of hearing, and she got a Sennheiser device for my father. He has moderate hearing loss in one ear.

 

[earlyre]

closed captioning - while not hearing impaired myself, i like having it on, but it drives everyone else in the family batty b/c they apparently can't read it fast enough..

I know all about the streaming hearing aids, and he's already spent several thousands on the aids he has now. not looking to repeat (unless these fail catastrophically out of warranty)

and any of the fm transmitter's i've tried in the past (for an mp3 player in car, etc), have been just slightly north of garbage. even placing within a foot of vehicle antenna, signal barely useable.

and dparm, while i do appreciate and understand what you are saying( a good friend of mine has her masters in speech pathology), there is no way i could justify (esp. to dad) spending several hundred dollars on a set of headphones.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: earlyre

Ideally it would just plug in to the rca outs on back of set, run the needed 15-20 ft of wire (much shorter "as the sound flies", but wanna hide the wires as much as possible), then attached to his end table would be a little box, with a headphone jack and a volume knob. kinda like churches & some theaters have.....

suggestions??

You mean like a headphone amp?

Google it. There are plenty of them out there. Popular among portable audiophiles...

http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/desktop-amps

 

[Rand]

Id get wireless head phones.
about 50$ for non junk ones.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
closed captioning - while not hearing impaired myself, i like having it on, but it drives everyone else in the family batty b/c they apparently can't read it fast enough..

I know all about the streaming hearing aids, and he's already spent several thousands on the aids he has now. not looking to repeat (unless these fail catastrophically out of warranty)

and any of the fm transmitter's i've tried in the past (for an mp3 player in car, etc), have been just slightly north of garbage. even placing within a foot of vehicle antenna, signal barely useable.

and dparm, while i do appreciate and understand what you are saying( a good friend of mine has her masters in speech pathology), there is no way i could justify (esp. to dad) spending several hundred dollars on a set of headphones.


I think it's smarter to buy the right product the first time than to waste time trying different headphones, installing various things, etc.

I guess it comes down to priorities.

 

[AdRock]

One thing you can also do is incorporate a 31 band eq into the audio signal chain.

The audiologist should be able to give you the test results of the frequencies he has the hardest time hearing. Boost those frequencies on the eq accordingly and you should be able to get in the ballpark of him hearing a flat eq curve. On the other hand, you could also use it to drop the level of the frequencies that might bother him.