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Phone games change hearing

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I have a petty problem. I’ll admit it, I’m addicted to mind numbing phone games and I’m cheap so always use the free ones that come with loud, persistent, repetitive and obnoxious advertising. Whether it’s spider solitaire, words with friends or sudoku, I can silence the ads by lowering the phone volume and shutting off the ringer and sometimes the game app allows you to turn off the volume BUT if I’m also watching TV the ads increase the volume and alter the sound quality of the tv audio on my KS10 hearing aids. Does that have a programming solution?

That sounds like the phone audio is being picked up and streamed to your hearing aids, rather than the game itself changing the TV settings. If your KS10s are connected to the phone by Bluetooth, you may be able to disable media/audio streaming while keeping the hearing aids connected for other functions. It would also be worth asking your hearing-care provider whether they can adjust the programming for this situation. Signia notes that streaming and hearing-aid microphone levels can be adjusted separately on compatible models.

What you describe cannot be done with Phonaks: you cannot selectively select what sounds to stream/not stream with them like you do with Signia and an iPhone for example. This is because Phonaks use Bluetooth Classic and behave like any ordinary Bluetooth headset.

The only solution I can think of is to disable the Bluetooth sounds in the Phonak app. The KS10 is a rebadged phonak so I assume the Bluetooth streaming function can be disabled in the app. Or OP can disable the notifications for each app as needed.

How are you listening to the TV? Ambient or through your phone? If it's the former it sounds like what's happening is the aids are connected to the phone and even though you have the volume turned down it's activating the connection when the game runs. To get around that you can use the switch @OcramSagev is referencing, or tell the phone to use its speakers and mute them, or disconnect the aids from the phone temporarily. The latter two actions can be done from the control center on an iphone.

If you're streaming the TV audio through the same device where you're playing the game then your options are more limited if it's a mobile and the game doesn't have a built in toggle. In that case I'd switch to watching the TV on another device and then do what I described in the first part.

Edited

In reply to @charyizquierdo

@charyizquierdo said:

I have a petty problem. I’ll admit it, I’m addicted to mind numbing phone games and I’m cheap so always use the free ones that come with loud, persistent, repetitive and obnoxious advertising. Whether it’s spider solitaire, words with friends or sudoku, I can silence the ads by lowering the phone volume and shutting off the ringer and sometimes the game app allows you to turn off the volume BUT if I’m also watching TV the ads increase the volume and alter the sound quality of the tv audio on my KS10 hearing aids. Does that have a programming solution? Honestly, if I'm going to spend time on my phone looking for a quick thrill to blow off some steam, I'd rather check out dynamic and smooth gaming options like https://mostbet.com.pk/ where you don't get blasted by these annoying pop-ups

It may be worth asking your audiologist to check the KS10 programming, but I suspect the phone is switching audio streams or triggering a different hearing-aid setting when the ads play. If you're watching TV through a Bluetooth TV streamer, try disabling media audio for the phone in its Bluetooth settings while you're watching TV, if your setup allows it. You could also check whether the games have a mute option for ads, though unfortunately many don't.

I'd explain the exact behavior to your audiologist: the ads seem to change both the volume and sound quality of the TV audio, not just play loudly through the phone. They may be able to adjust streaming priorities or automatic program changes, depending on how the KS10s are connected. The key detail is whether the TV audio is coming through a dedicated TV streamer or directly from the television's Bluetooth connection.

You didn't mention what phone you are using. On my Samsung Galaxy S26, I have installed the Good Lock suite from the Galaxy Store and Sound Assistant within that suite. Sound Assistant provides the ability to turn off all audio for an individual app, which I have done for any games that insist on pushing obnoxious video ads. I lost any audio features of the game but don't care about them on my typical word games and puzzles. Hopefully there is a similar software fix for your device.

Sound Assistant also provided the option to force incoming call notifications to play through my Oticon Intent when connected rather than through the phone speaker, and I then enabled a native option to announce the name of the caller so I'll know whether to answer (double-tap an ear) without looking at the screen.

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