hearing issues so solution is?

[forward]

Hearing issues. I'm thinking connect sound bar to TV and run a speaker from that? Any thoughts.

Thanks Ray

 

[Tigercubrider]

Flat screen tv' s have crap sound and a sound bar may help improve it
You don't say how bad the hearing loss is

https://www.connevans.co.uk/catalog...-a-suitable-product-to-help-with-TV-listening

 

[forward]

Thanks for the link. The aim is to hear the TV without it blasting out to the annoyance of others. Although even then yes it's the quality that's the issue. As soon as I plug in ear phones etc the sound is killed from the TV which of course might be the same with a sound bar? At present I can get by with wifi headphones. The transmitter being connected to a tv in another room whilst I watch with others in another room. Which is fine for live TV but not recorded

 

[Doggit]

Sounds as though you need a digital hearing aid, but these aren't cheap, aren't often supplied on the NHS (even though they should be) and take a couple of months to get used to.

Lucid may pick up on this soon, but if he doesn't then PM him. You need a sound bar that has bluetooth, but one that doesn't cut the sound bar out when it's used, but there are some sound bards that speech clarity mode that drops the bass, and is supposed to improve the mid and high range sounds.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Does your tv have a line out?
If there are no phono sockets on the back, a SCART socket should have line out on it's pins. You can buy Scart output plugs that convert to phono - which could then be connected to either an amp or possibly to the headphone transmitter ( my infra red phones transmitter will take line/phono or headphone out)
https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/scart-to-phono-out-adapter-web-only-l84ba
That way your tv would act as normal and additionally send audio to the headphone system without the additional tv

You might also consider using PC speakers closer to you ?
It might be more comfortable if it doesn't interfere with the family

 

[Lucid]

Thanks for the link. The aim is to hear the TV without it blasting out to the annoyance of others. Although even then yes it's the quality that's the issue. As soon as I plug in ear phones etc the sound is killed from the TV which of course might be the same with a sound bar? At present I can get by with wifi headphones. The transmitter being connected to a tv in another room whilst I watch with others in another room. Which is fine for live TV but not recorded

The answer is the Digital Optical out so long as your main TV has one. It also depends whether you watch via the PVR acting as the TV tuner so you get the advantage of live pause, or if you only put the PVR on when there's something recorded that you want to watch.

If you want better sound for everyone in the living room but also better sound for you via the headphones then we need two audio feeds. One which will feed a sound bar, and the other which will feed your headphones. A sound bar with an optical input would be the most appropriate solution for the general living room. This is because the audio connection is a better quality (less hiss) than you get with headphone jack. It also means that the sound bar will be usable with the next TV upgrade.

You see, headphone jack is becoming an endangered species. Fewer TVs feature it. Who knows; in 3-5 years time when you're ready for your next telly there might not be a headphone jack at all, and that means a perfectly good sound bar becomes useless with the new TV. This is exactly what's happened with Audio Out on TVs. That was quietly dropped years ago. Oh, people still think there's audio out because they look at the back and see a red and a white phono socket and automatically assume that it's there. But they aren't out sockets. They're Audio IN, and they go with Component In (the red, green, blue sockets) or Composite IN (the yellow socket). These are not Audio Exit sockets; they Audio Entrance sockets, and it doesn't matter what you connect up or which adapters you use, nothing in the world will change a socket labelled Audio IN in to an Exit socket.

SCART, if a full SCART socket is present, does support Audio Out but with a big big caveat; it's only the Freeview tuner audio. That's great for watching Freeview live, but no use at all for anything connected to a HDMI or AV input to the TV.


What we have then are a couple of possible solutions.

#1) The first is a sound bar connected to the Optical of the TV. Whatever is seen on the TV screen the sound for it will come out of the soundbar. Optical out works even if the TV speakers are muted. That means you could plug in the Bluetooth headphones to the jack and get sound without killing audio for everyone else. This will work for any audio from the TV, so the TV tuner, apps, HDMI inputs, SCART input; the whole bag of smashing, all covered. Job done.


#2) Bearing in mind what might happen in the future with headphone jack, if you do change the TV and there isn't a jack socket then you'll need some other way of getting sound for the headphones. The answer is an Optical splitter (one socket split in to two), and then an Optical to Analogue Audio Converter connected to one of the two Optical outs. It may also need a headphone pre-amp to make the output level suitable for connecting to the Bluetooth transmitter. The thing is you don't need to worry about this right now. Cross that bridge when you come to it. Solution #1 does everything you need immediately.


Good luck

 

[forward]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. We are at the point of needing a new TV (ours went bust so loaning from family). Doubt if we will have wifi or cable etc so just a set top box which also needs replacing (increasingly less chioce). So will digest your comments.

Ray

 

[foxhole]

Bluetooth headphones?

 

[Keithmac]

If it's just you struggling and you're happy with headphones then a soundbar is a bit overkill.

Optical out (Toslink) to Phono (headphone jacks) are cheap son as long as you buy a new TV with Optical out you should be fine.