GPS with Bluetooth

Thanks for the reply. I have sent an email to Garmin asking for info on their Bluetooth models and what sort of hearing aid devices they will pair with. Hopefully I will get some info from them.

@Clay_L said:

I did a search and didn’t find anything about pairing a Bluetooth capable hearing aid with a Bluetooth capable GPS unit.

Garmin (and probably others) make units that can be paired with mobile phones. Would they work with an aid like the one made by Resound that can apparently be paired with a Bluetooth device?

I understand the Phonak units require a pendant (iCom) to be paired with a Bluetooth device. I have just started looking at this in preparation for getting new aids. Is my understanding right so far?

EDIT:
I had a telecon with Resound customer service and they use a device called a PhoneClip that transmits to the hearing aid (2.4 GHz signal). It can be plugged into a TV audio output or paired to any Bluetooth device.
It would seem that it would work with a GPS unit.

I guess the proper term to use for the hearing aids made by Phonak and Resound is not Bluetooth but should be called wireless?
Are there aids that actually can be paired directly with a Bluetooth device?

What do you expect to accomplish in pairing a Garmin GPS to hearing aids? From what I see reading about the Garmin Bluetooth, it allows you to pair the GPS to a cell phone to make hands-free calls using the Garmin as the speaker and microphone. For example, you could find a restaurant and tell the Garmin to call it and it would call using your cell phone and the Garmin would act as the microphone and speaker. Hearing aids are not cell phones and the Garmin is not a cell phone … so what are you trying to do? The Garmin pairs to a cell phone and basically acts as a headset.

I suspect that Neilk is correct. I have a Garmin GPS and the ReSound Unite Phone Clip. You have sparked my interest, so I will give it a try and see.

I think I can answer Neilk’s question. I can hear much better when any device is paired via Bluetooth. I cannot understand my GPS while driving in my car so the Bluetooth would make it much better. In fact, to understand voices from my computer, I have to route it through my streamer for understanding, so I can appreciate what he’s attempting to accomplish.

@Reidan said:

I suspect that Neilk is correct. I have a Garmin GPS and the ReSound Unite Phone Clip. You have sparked my interest, so I will give it a try and see.

Sure would appreciate you posting your results!!

Yes that’s the idea.

I have been able to pair my Phonak iCom with many other Bluetooth devices, such as cell phone, iPad, iMac, PC, USB wireless transmitter, and Jabra. I think if you have A2DP Bluetooth wireless on your GPS it should pair with the Phonak iCom and the iCom will transmit to the Phonak HA’s.

I ended up getting the Resound Alera with a PhoneClip which is similar to the Phonak iCom. I am supposed to pick them up tomorrow. I plan to take a ride out to BestBuy and see if they will let me try to pair the Phone Clip with a Bluetooth GPS.

@Neilk said:

And therein lies the gist of the whole thing. Not hearing back from Clay says he did not get it to work … nor should he be able to. The Garmin GPS is looking to act as a headset to a cell phone. You cannot pair one headset to another, neither would have any functionality. Again, read the Gamrin documentation … the Garmin is a “HEADSET” that connects to a cell phone via Blue-tooth.

I did get the aids and accessory’s but have not had a chance to get out to Best Buy yet.
You very well may be right about the connection problem, however there is a note in the manual about some Bluetooth devices being in a connect mode when they are turned on. So I think I will try it just for grins.

Just as an additional input to this thread, I have a Garmin GPS and it will not pair with the Streamer/Agil Pro hearing aids. It only pairs with my cell phone.

Luckily, I can usually understand everything my GPS says from its speaker.

As you can read from the above posts, bluetooth in GPS units to link to phones normally allows the GPS unit to be the ‘headset’ in the phone<->GPS bluetooth link. You could try to asking Garmin if it can link to a bluetooth headset (backwards of the normal setup) instead of asking them if it links to your HA’s. Another solution would be to use a smart phone (iPhone, Droid, etc.) as the GPS unit and have it do Bluetooth audio to your HA’s.

Most hearing aids that do bluetooth use a bluetooth remote that relays to the hearing aids using a 2nd wireless system (not 2.4Ghz, sometimes using a neck loop).
These remotes often include a 2.5 or 3.5mm line-in jack, normally used for an MP3 player to stream music to your hearing aids. Some GPS units include a 3.5mm headphone jack/audio line-out so people can use headphones to hear the GPS directions.

This ‘headphone’ line might be a better solution. The downside is it isn’t wireless, the upside is it isn’t wireless ;). The cord can get tangled, but you don’t have to worry about bluetooth settings or PIN’s or increased battery usage. Another downside is there aren’t many GPS units with a line-out jack. At Garmin’s website I clicked through half a dozen units before I found one that does, you could call Garmin and ask their customer service reps to find you one.

I browsed around some of their(Garmin) units here are some I have found so far:
Motorcycle section:
zūmo® 665
zūmo® 660
zūmo® 550
Auto:
(Actually I couldn’t find any current models in the auto section)
Discontinued:
nüvi® 850 (I read that the ones that played MP3’s used to have a jack)

Another GPS product w/ Audio Jack:
Escort Radar Pasport IQ - GPS navigation & GPS enabled radar detector.
TomTom doesn’t list it in the product description on their website (it might be in the manuals)

I have a TOMTOM 920 GPS unit. Although the unit it self doesn’t have a audio out connection, the piece that the unit uses to attach to the windshield has a microphone and a audio out connection. I’ll try it with my ICOM with a direct connection wire to see it it works.:rolleyes: