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If you use Roku to stream TV, may not need a dedicated TV streamer device

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Edited

I stream Roku for my TV after cutting cable. I have a Roku 4K box to stream, don’t use the app on the smart tv. Lost my remote to the box and learned I could download the Roku app to control the Roku box. What I also learned was I could stream the audio from the Roku to my iPhone and output the audio to my aids or Air Pods - no streamer needed. If you use Roku and don’t have a streaming device for your aids you might want to give it a try. If you use Roku but don’t have the Roku box they are approx $45 at Walmart versus a $200+ streaming device from your HA manufacturer

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The potential problem is whether the aids can do aptx audio. The Phonak Paradise (KS10) do not.
No problem not using aids. I can do that with an aptx bluetooth transmitter going to an aptx bluetooth receiver that has a headphone jack and not have lag. The aids cause lag if they aren’t aptx. Maybe mfi aids are different.

@anytrams56 said:

a Roku 4K box

Is that the specific model name? Can this be done with most of their devices? To paraphrase, the Roku app on your phone is streaming the sound to your aids. I’ll have to try this. Any issues with sync? Audio matches the lips timewise?

IMG_0103
This is the device I have. Roku is a free streaming device that has its own programming but also allows you to launch third party apps. I use Hulu and Netflix to stream. So, I launch Roku, then stream for example Netflix. Last night I watched the new Kevin Hart movie. From my iPhone I launched the Roku app and select remote
IMG_0104
I then tap the headset icon and whatever my iPhone is connected to for audio is where the audio is output- hearing aids or Air Pods in my case. I was able to hear the movie and subtle sounds like I never am able to listening to the sound bar. Using my Air Pod Pros with tuned to my was wonderful. I was contemplating buying a TV streamer for my aids, but for me this solved the problem. As far as how it works - iPhone connects Bluetooth to the Roku device, and then the iPhone connects mifi to my aids or Bluetooth to the Air pods.

In reply to @anytrams56

But again, how is the lip-sync? As you’re watching the people on the screen talking and as you’re listening to them talk, are they aligned ie. in-sync? I’m assuming that mfi to the aids is making the difference. My aids are not mfi and I have no Apple products and nor do my aids support aptx. So the tv streamer works perfectly. In my case.

I agree that what I am discussing is limited to those aids that connect to an iPhone. In answer to your question I did not notice any lip syncing issues.

Edited

In reply to @anytrams56

I checked out the different Roku remotes and the there was none that offered a Headphone Icon on it like yours in the picture. The Roku Express 4K remote at Walmart does not have that icon. There are a few with a Headphone Jack. ???
There are more expensive Roku set ups that offer Bluetooth® Headphone Mode & music streaming. Still less expensive then a Hearing Aid brand TV Streamer.

This works well with my Jabra Pro 10s and Roku Stick 4K, but I already own a TV Streamer 2.

I watch some shows via the TV tuner, and the Roku app doesn’t help with that. Also, the sound is marginally better through the TVS2, though I can’t match volume, and within broad limits, louder sounds better, and the TVS2 was louder than the Roku in my brief test.

OTOH, if I hadn’t bought the TV streamer already, I’d be bowing down to you in gratitude, since everything I watch OTA is replaceable by apps, except for one channel I don’t use much. :slightly_smiling_face:

The Headphone control is in a Roku remote control app from the app store.

In reply to @bluckie1

The headphone icon is on the Roku app that you download to your iPhone. The screen shot is from the Roku app. Doesn’t matter which physical remote you have. Don’t know if Android has a similar app in their store but since I have iPhone can’t say whether this works the same in that space

I do this with my Roku TV all the time - the iPhone remote app audio goes to the Jabra Enhance 20 audio just fine.

This Roku app capability needs to be built into all the other streamer remote apps (Fire TV, AppleTV, Shield, etc.) - very simple solution.

Note that if you are in group watching TV, this option might not work.

Edited

Thanks for this information, I just tried it with my Roku Ultra model 4670X and iPhone and it works quite well. At first blush, I even like the sound better than my Oticon TV adapter. And when I switch my program to “Speech in Noise” the sound and dialog improves as well.

I found out this week if there is a lip sync issue you can adjust it in the remote app. Hit the gear icon and there is a process to improve the sync

In reply to @joel_n

But does anyone else in your household watch TV with you in the same room? Cuz I watched a fascinating Youtube: “Crazy Cheap Streaming Device That Works With ALL Hearing Aids1” that provided the steps to enable streaming TV audio to your aids for $24 bucks:

  1. Make sure your hearing aids are already paired with your phone. Check! They are.
  2. You have to have a Roku box on hand (small, size of matchbox). Check! I have that.
  3. Download the official Roku phone app to Android or iPhone. Check! Did that.
  4. Make sure your Roku and phone are on same wifi network. Check! Made that happen.
  5. Under Settings icon (or just use the headphones icon on the phone app screen) select Private Listening. Check! Did that too.
  6. Now, select a show you want via Roku: Netflix, AmazonPrime, etc., Check! Watching “Rockford Files”.
  7. Now hit PLAY for the show and the audio should start streaming automatically through your hearing aids - NO NEED for Roger ON IN mic, nor Phonak TV Connector, nor ANY OTHER costly clutter of manufacturer-specific remote streaming/mic. Check! All other remote mics disabled, so I ensured sound was going from Roku to my Android phone and into my Phonak Lumity Life aids.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. But wait! Uh-oh! Hubs is sitting next to me with a quizzical look on his face. He ain’t hearin’ SQUAT from NOWHERE. We had this beautiful setup with my expensive Roger On In V2 plugged into the line-out port on a Savant pre-amplifier. That way both of us could hear the TV. I’d stream audio into my aids, he’d sit on the sofa and listen to thru the TV speakers.

So. That is the fatal flaw with this so-called DIRT CHEAP, DON’T GET SUCKERED into buying product specific streamers anymore. They only work if you are living all alone or watch TV all by yourself. NO ONE ELSE can hear the audio if you commandeer it through the $24 Roku box and phone app.

We de-installed the Roku app, went right back to our complicated, ridiculously cluttered and expensive way of streaming audo for the BOTH of us. Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble here, but I was annoyed as HECK that the first thing out of anyone’s mouth who makes videos about this cheap workaround doesn’t add the caveat: “THIS WILL NOT WORK EVER IF YOU WATCH TV WITH ANYONE BUT YOUR DOG.”

This is a long thread, so I’ll cut to the chase: how does your partner HEAR the TV if you are streaming thru the Roku to your aids?

I ask cuz my hubs and I have the Roko on hand, I downloaded the app onto my Android Flip7, selected “Private Listening” on the app, and streamed beautiful audio into my Phonak Lumity Life 312 aids.

Only prob? A big one. We could not figure out how to enable hubs to hear TV via the TV’s speakers. Does one need a split cable somewhere in the setup? ANYONE OUT THERE please advise, cuz I wasted $4G on 2 redundant Roger V2 mics, and would love to get rid of them and use a $24 Roku.

I haven’t tried this but from the Roku community one person posted this

I figured it out. So my parents need different volumes. So I got blue tooth speakers and I Downloaded Roku remote on both their phones. I connected the bluetooth speaker to my mom’s phone and my dad’s air pods to his. They both use private sound and my dad can control his volume on his AirPods. And my mom can control her volume in Bluetooth speaker or her headphones (what ever is connected.)

Like I said I haven’t tried this so can’t verify if it works

Hey thank you SO much for the quick reply here. Hmm. Much to puff a bubble pipe over. Currently, we have my Roger V2 plugged into a Savant pre-amp’s line-out port. I control the volume of that Roger and its being ON/OFF via a Savant app on an iPad. This setup has served us well for a couple years now, with hubs just getting volume off the TV (which plays through Monitor Audio speakers) and me using the Savant setup. NO latency issues with audio here either!

I think we may have some kind of HDMI audio extractor to split the video (from AmazonPrime, Netflix, etc.,) which projects on a large screen, while the audio goes to the Monitor Audio speakers. So I’m fuddled as to how to get that audio split again so it goes to the Roku (where I’d manage it on the phone app) and to the Monitor Audio speakers for hubs to hear.

Shall I just send a rocket to the moon instead? Might be easier. :thinking:

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