Today’s hearing aids make it easy to use Bluetooth™ technology to connect with your personal electronic devices and elevate your hearing experience. Let’s examine the ways you can utilize Bluetooth while using hearing aids.
How Bluetooth Works
Bluetooth uses high-frequency radio waves to transmit data between two or more electronic devices wirelessly within a short-range. It is safe, secure and used in many modern electronic devices such as smartphones, computers and speakers.
Bluetooth offers two radio options, Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Because hearing aids are small and don’t have as much battery capacity as other devices, most use BLE to reduce power consumption while still delivering quality sound.
How to Use
Many hearing aids have features that allow you to connect directly to your smartphone or other devices. However, if that’s not an option you can use compatible assistive listening devices called streamers.
Your hearing aids pair with the streamer and the streamer can be paired with your external device.
Since streamers have to be close by to connect, people either wear them around their neck or keep them in their pockets for hands-free use.
If you’re having trouble accessing Bluetooth on any of your electronics, contact a local tech store like Tech Turtle to see if they can help you address any issues.
Benefits of Pairing Bluetooth and Hearing Aids
- You can set the audio signal to stream to one or both hearing aids, depending on preference.
- Streaming can be amplified and customized to match your device’s settings, giving you the best listening experience.
- Your hearing aids can function as a set of wireless earbuds to listen to music.
- You can pair multiple devices to one streamer. This allows you do things like stay connected to your phone while streaming a TV show on your tablet. If you get an important call, you can easily pause the audio from your tablet and switch to the incoming call.
- You can adjust the TV volume for your hearing aids separately from the volume on the TV, which is helpful when watching with others who have different hearing needs than yours.
- Bluetooth works the same way and is not particular to one type of hearing aid or manufacturer. If you upgrade to a different pair, you should have no problem connecting them to your other electronic devices.
If you have additional questions or would like to schedule an appointment with a hearing aid expert, contact Hearing Advancement Center today.
