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Bluetooth for hearing aids to car sound system

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I’ve got a ten year old Subaru with a decent factory sound system, but with my hearing loss competing with road noise, I’d prefer to get the sound system feed streaming direct to my . My car has support, but not for streaming.

A quick look on Amazon shows a nice replacement sound unit with LED display to fit my car. Its powered by Android. It appears to have BT support that may allow me to sync my HAs, but it’s difficult to get confirmation. I’ve got a solo transcontinental trip planned and would like to get this working, but it’s a significant amount of work to R&R the system, only to find out that it won’t work.

Has anyone had success in syncing their HAs to one of these after market Android automotive sound systems?

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Edited

Car stereos can have receivers for music/podcasts/etc. They do not have BT transmitters afaik.

This is akin to asking, “Can I connect my AirPods Pro to my car stereo?” I’m not certain if this is permitted, as some governments might consider it hazardous (Can you hear an ambulance approaching if you’re blasting music to your ears?)

If you have a Phonak or a SIgnia BCT IX: You could buy a bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the AUX port of your car stereo (if your stereo has one).

If you have a hearing aid that has , buy an Auracast transmitter with a 3.5mm plug that can connect to the AUX port of your stereo.

If you aids are not in the group above: Get your hearing aid propietary accessory with a 3.5 mm plug (like a TV adapter) that can connect to the AUX port.

Edit: this assumes that the aux is an output port

Yes, I have Phonak I90 Spheres and I have three Phonak Streamers v2. My OEM car stereo has no earphone AUX/jacks. That’s why I’m interested in the aftermarket generic Android devices.

As for obstruction of hearing, how is it any different if I drove without hearing aids? I’m essentially deaf without them. And I ride that way all the time on my motorcycles. It’s not illegal to be deaf and drive a vehicle. Anyway, I can adjust the ambient/streaming mix on the Spheres.

In reply to @CaptainTrips

A quick search shows that Wisconsin has no law against wearing headphones or earbuds while driving. There was a failed attempt at passing legislation in 2015. The same law firm that provided that information was raring to go if you had been in an accident where the other driver was wearing headphones or earbuds, so it appears to be a factor in determining liability. They also mentioned that there are states that have laws against wearing headphones and earbuds while driving.

Just about any aftermarket receiver will have sub pre-amp outputs. My BOSS Audio BE7ACP receiver, which is about the cheapest one available, only has a fixed output level unlike a fading option like some other receivers so that one can adjust the volume using the receiver.

I plugged the phono cables into the Front-Left and Front-Right pre-amp output on the rreceiver, and the 3.5mm TRS end into the Avantree Audikast 4HA transmitter.

av_cables

The above cable works fine with Audikast 4HA, but you will need to supply USB-C power. The Avantree Voyager is self-powered but the aux cable input is male, so you would need to find a version of the cable with a TRS 3.5mm female end or use a 3.5mm TRS female-to-female adapter. If using the fixed output level pre-amp, when updating the firmware in the Audikast, change the volume to max in the settings.

The back of the aftermarket receiver should have a group of plugs for the pre-amp that look similar to the image below.

image

@CaptainTrips said:

LED display to fit my car. Its powered by Android

I have such a unit in my car- a chinese, 40$ screen running Android Auto that connects by Bluetooth (and I believe, WiFi) to my phone. It is a vast improvement over my primitive car system. I use it mostly to run Waze (GPS-driven maps, also showing my speed and speed limits, sounding warnings), and playing music, nicely displaying covers as well. It also handles phone calls and you can connect a rear camera that powers on when you switch to reverse. Absolutely great for older cars.
This setup will, however, hijack your phone’s . If you want to stream music to your you will need a separate mp3-player that has BT- these units only output sound to your car’s speakers afaik.

Thanks. That’s kind of what I suspected. The unit I’m looking at is fully integrated into the Subaru system, including the car’s built in backup cam and steering wheel audio controls. Larger display and navigation, and it even includes new factory-like trim. Primarily, I’d want to use it to listen to local radio where possible.

I may go ahead with it anyway if I can’t find one that has out. I could use taps on the the speaker wires and connect them to a standard headphone male jack that could plug into one of my Phonak streamers. There is USB power jack in the console, and I think that I remember some about one up front too.

Ever seen I bought this car, it’s had lousy radio reception with poor range. I don’t know if it’s an antenna issue or not. So, if I have to dig into the OEM system, I thought that I would just replace it, get a better display, test the antenna connections, and then maybe set up streaming to my as a bonus. I like not using my phone data for streaming and I like having the radio controls on my steering wheel. So, all of the above.

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