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TV streamer - sound quality

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I’m in the process of getting used to a new pair of Signia Primax 5 hearing aids and I am having trouble with the TV to Easytek streamer. It works but the quality of sound is very poor. Like a pair of cheap speakers listening to old AM radio. It’s so bad that I simply cannot use it for streaming from the TV.

Streaming sound is good enough for use with my phone, but I’d never use it to stream music from it.

I talked to my audiologist about this and her only suggestion was use of receiver cones that are closed, or nearly closed. This change of cones helped a bit but the sound is still nowhere near as good as I used to get with my previous aids (Widex 330 dream) and it’s still too poor to be usable.

Do I need to change my hearing aids? I’m still in the trial period and that is an option. However, with this particular audiologist, the only options would be to a Primax 7 or a switch of brands to Phonak, both at significant added cost.

Are there any other suggestions to solve this? My audiologist had nothing else to offer.

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Do you have a dedicated streaming audio program for the easyTek? This will allow your audi to adjust the sound quality of the streamed signal from the TV transmitter.

Yes, on my phone the “Tv streamer” is listed.

Why did not my audiologist mention that when I complained about the TV streaming? Methinks I need a new audiologist!

In the meantime and to make this work, I’m going to have to tell her what to do rather than hope she has a solution for my problem. Specifically what should I ask her to do or what specific adjustment does she need to make?

@MarkT: I’d like to know why you switched brands from the Widex.
Also, interesting observations about the sound from the easytek.I would suspect the wider range of sounds from the tv may have something to do with it too as compared to just voice over the phone. So too with your comment about music.
I found using the feature (kinda similar to the easytek) that if I plugged my ears then the tinny sound improved as that keeps the sound from escaping. But remember these are TINY speakers in your ears. They ain’t gonna produce bass. With your loss though you should be able to still get some bass naturally if the sound is in the room.

Far be it for me to add to @rasmus_braun but he would be suggesting doing that to the “Tv streamer” program.

Just a helpful fyi…the “cones” are called domes in this business.

I switched from Widex for a couple of reasons. Price was the primary consideration. My current Signia Primax 5 aids have a similar feature set to the my previous Widex 330 Dream aids, but I think one generation newer (and still one generation older than current lines). For that, I was able to purchase them for more than $1700 less than a set of the current generation Widex 330 Beyond aids.

The other reason I switched from Widex is that I had too many problems with them. Note that I did like their sound quality, it’s just that to me they seemed to be fragile. Time will tell whether the Signias are any better in this regard.

Yes, I’m aware that the receivers in these aids are tiny and quite challenged when asked to produce bass. However, the receivers in my Widex aids were able to do it to my satisfaction so I see no physical reason that current Signia aids cannot do it too.

I will coax my audiologist to reprogram them as suggested by @rasmus_braun. I need to go in for an adjustment, anyway.

Thanks MarkT. Interesting about what you call fragility. Any specifics you’d be willing to share as to what you thought was fragile? There’s only so much that COULD be fragile so I’m curious.
Then I wonder about the “problems” you had. That would speak to quality. Although I guess one could get a sense of a lack of quality if it seems fragile. But problems seems to be a different matter here. Or I’m mis-interpreting.

Yup these things are dang expensive.

If you are using open domes, your initial hearing aid programming is set to enhance sounds you CAN’T hear and pretty much leave the ones you CAN hear alone, allowing you to hear those tones you can hear naturally. If the same parameters are used when setting up the streaming program, your going to get very flat, tinny sound from the TV because ALL of it’s tones are being processed through your hearing aids, and sounds you normally hear won’t be there. For streaming and phone conversations, your audi needs to ramp up the base and any other tones you don’t normally need processing for. (which is what Rasmus is referring to)
That being said, I do far better with using a totally separate listening device for my TV watching. My Williams Sound listening system allows me instant volume control (for those stupid loud commercials) and gives me all the amplification I need for a comfortable quality sound. I still struggle sometimes with understanding the voices because the Williams Sound system does not “process” like hearing aids do, but the overall sound is nice and rich and works better for me. However, having my streamer set up with some base punch for phone and music (from the phone) results in a much more usable system.

A useful post. Thanks! It nicely fleshes out what rasmus_braun posted earlier. I think what I had been missing was that the streaming program could be adjusted accordingly, as you suggest.

My experience with using Easytek for streaming on Pure Primax …

Need to adjust the gain offsets in Connexx under the “Music” mode. When you stream via Easytek, the automatically shifts to “MUSIC” mode (this is NOT the same as a different program, ie, Universal). By default the music is unfortunately amplified in line with your HA curves. This needs to be manually adjusted, in my case with high freq. loss, it required the boosting of all lower bands.

Secondly the sound quality and fullness you experience will be limited by the type of dome/sleeves you are using on the HA. Open fitting will never acheive the rich lows as low frequency soundwaves escape from your ear canal. A fully will provide the best sound quality. It might be worth having some fully closed domes/sleeves that are used only for streaming TV and Music.

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