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Hearing Aids Connection Issue

  • August 29, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 249 views
S
  • SKYY
  • Contributor I
  • 3 replies

I am not able to get my Phonak Virto Hearing Aids with the Phonak Bluetooth TV Connector (HA Streamer) in the Optical Out connection in my LG UN 70 inch 4K Smart UHD TV (LGTV) to stream simultaneously with my SONOS ARC audio system in the LGTV HDMI ARC connection. If I switch to TV Speaker/Optical Out, the HDMI ARC automatically switches back and drops my HA connection almost immediately. 

Switching off the Smart Link in the LG TV and then switching to TV Speaker/Optical Out is not a solution because I need to simultaneously stream to my Hearing Aids and also use Closed Captioning so that I can understand speech, without blasting the eardrums of others in the room, who can hear normally. Has anyone come up with a solution where we can use the SONOS in HDMI ARC simultaneously with an HA Streamer in Digital Out on the LGTV?

Note: I use Android and not IOS.

Best answer by Stanley_4

Edit: I type slow, that box looks interesting.

It really comes down to the TV, if it refuses to activate two outputs not much Sonos can do about that.

You’d have to give up on using the eARC output and go to optical but then you could use an optical splitter/switch to get sound to both devices. I did that with a Beam and my hearing aids by adding the splitter and using the Bluetooth transmitter that came with my aids.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQ2R314/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

For me that works much better than Bluetooth headphones since I haven’t found any adjustable enough to compensate for my hearing loss and my current aids howl under headphones.

That adjustability is also an issue with the Sonos Ace as the simple sliders plus Loudness  toggle just aren’t enough to make voices understandable. Still like them as I can listen at night, loud enough to enjoy the sound and use subtitles to replace the voices I can’t usually hear on most movies. Oddly many TV shows work quite well so I have to  blame the audio engineer, not Sonos.

 

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5 replies

Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • 11223 replies
  • August 29, 2024

That question probably should be sent to the TV manufacturer.

I see the same issue on my Sony, it only seems to like one active output at a time.

S
1 person likes this
  • S
    SKYY
S
  • SKYY
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • 3 replies
  • August 29, 2024

LG is no help, they say it’s 2 different outputs that will not work together. My TV is out of warrranty, so no help in trying to submit a ticket. I have tried putting SONOS on a separate power strip to shut it off, except it’s a monster pain to get everything in SONOS system working again once its started back up. So that idea is not a plan. What I came up with next is to shut off the SmartConnect in LGTV and then switch over to Digital out so if I stay up later, I won’t disturb anyone, then I can’t use both the HDMIARC and optical out simultaneously, so I have to have the TV louder than most normal hearing people would like. And it shouldn’t be such a hassle to get this system to work!  I am at wits’ end. I feel like I have a VERY EXPENSIVE doorstop in this system, it is not working like I have expected. So now what, buy a new TV? I just got that one a couple of years ago! Why can’t everything JUST WORK TOGETHER in peace and harmony?

buzz
  • buzz
  • 23881 replies
  • August 30, 2024

This box should be able to extract audio from the HDMI-eARC connection between the TV and SONOS ARC.

Stanley_4
S
2 people like this
  • Stanley_4
    Stanley_4
  • S
    SKYY
Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • 11223 replies
  • Answer
  • August 30, 2024

Edit: I type slow, that box looks interesting.

It really comes down to the TV, if it refuses to activate two outputs not much Sonos can do about that.

You’d have to give up on using the eARC output and go to optical but then you could use an optical splitter/switch to get sound to both devices. I did that with a Beam and my hearing aids by adding the splitter and using the Bluetooth transmitter that came with my aids.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQ2R314/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

For me that works much better than Bluetooth headphones since I haven’t found any adjustable enough to compensate for my hearing loss and my current aids howl under headphones.

That adjustability is also an issue with the Sonos Ace as the simple sliders plus Loudness  toggle just aren’t enough to make voices understandable. Still like them as I can listen at night, loud enough to enjoy the sound and use subtitles to replace the voices I can’t usually hear on most movies. Oddly many TV shows work quite well so I have to  blame the audio engineer, not Sonos.

 

S
1 person likes this
  • S
    SKYY
S
  • SKYY
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • 3 replies
  • August 30, 2024

I am going to give the optical splitter a try, thank you for those solutions, Buzz and Stanley!

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