Hopefully someone here can come up with a simple, maybe even cheap solution to a little problem I have.

I have hearing loss and have worn hearing aids for a few years now. It's just my wife and I at home and when we watch the tv she is very good at tolerating the subtitles however subtitles are a bit useless if it's a music programme. Although not perfect, my Sennheiser headphones allow me to listen to music although my ears still don't pick everything up. Plugging headphones into the tv unfortunately knocks out the tv's speakers so no good for listening to a music programme together. A previous Panasonic tv we had allowed headphones to be plugged in without muting the speakers and the headphone volume was adjusted via the Menu option. I went into a large tv specialist and asked what tvs had that facility these days and was told none.

Any thoughts how my wife and I can enjoy music programmes together? Most will be recorded shows off the tv that we have on a Humax PVR.

Paul

A BT headset with good quality audio would allow you to control the volume independently. It adds a little delay (a half second behind lip motion), but you can put a splitter somewhere into the audio output and add a Bluetooth transmitter. It might even be possible to use your current headphones with a portable receiver if the headphones are in a compatible impedance range.

An example, not a recommendation. Two of these, one set to transmit, the other set to receive.
https: //www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B4W40VC/

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

We have a Roku TV that I use for rowing. It has a pair of sennheiser wireless headphones connected. If I connect them to the audio out port, it defeats the TV volume control. Which is annoying for my wife b/c she does NOT use the headphones. But if I plug them in to the optical port, the TV volume has no effect on the headphone volume, so I can turn it all the way down, and turn up the headphone volume and we're golden.

So the TLDR version: I use the optical port instead of the line out port.

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“ I went into a large tv specialist and asked what tvs had that facility these days and was told none. “

Lots of current TVs offer an audio out connection; usually not a headphone jack but can be adapted.


“ Humax PVR “

This one?

[www.avforums.com]


I notice that it has Digital Optical output.

Airfly Pro at the Apple store purportedly allows two sets of BT headphones to connect. They say the AirPod Pro and the Beats, but I suspect that other headphones work. I bought one but haven’t tried it out on my Bose over-ears headphones; this will give me an incentive to try it. I’ll report back what I find.

Won't be of immediate help but many newer hearing aids have a TV function.

An Amazon Firestick or smart TV with a Fire TV platform has a built-in Bluetooth feature. You can pair your wireless headphones with the streaming media device and listen to audio from your TV. In the Fire TV settings, you’ll find the option to add another device.

Roku TVs and streaming media devices don’t have a Bluetooth function, but there is a Private Listening feature. When you turn the feature on and download the Roku app to your smartphone, audio is transmitted to your handheld device. You can either plug your headphones into the phone’s audio jack or if the device is Bluetooth enabled, pair it with your headset.

Some other options and limitations can be found here: [thehometheaterdiy.com]

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Just remembered Tunity:


[tunity.com]


[www.komando.com]

Focusing on your Humax (SD, really???) is probably your solution. You should be able to connect either a BT (many adapters) or wired headphones through a sub-$20 DAC to the optical output of the Humax. If your model does not have digital audio out, it probably has an extra analog audio out, in addition to SCART (assuming you are using SCART) and you can use one of many inexpensive headphone amplifiers with that as well.

I would provide you links for the headphone adapters but as you are in UK that would likely be useless.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2021 12:27PM by dk62.

Thank you for all the suggestions which I will look into more. I had better add more info like my wife does not like headphones and that the PVR won't be the only input although it is the main one. The tv is sort of smart so Netflix and BBC iPlayer can be got but also there is an Apple TV connected so the ideal solution would be trying to deal with what the tv is trying to output via the various inputs.

Paul

I have a bluetooth device which came with my Phoak hearing aids which is plugged into my amp attached to the TV via ATV. I use the telecom program on my Phonaks to listen to the TV and I can then either mute the tv if wife doesn't want to watch or she can independently adjust the volume herself. Most modern hearing aids have this functionality.

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Asheville, NC Area

Quote
MartyStickle
I have a bluetooth device which came with my Phoak hearing aids which is plugged into my amp attached to the TV via ATV. I use the telecom program on my Phonaks to listen to the TV and I can then either mute the tv if wife doesn't want to watch or she can independently adjust the volume herself. Most modern hearing aids have this functionality.

Unfortunately my hearing loss means that music heard through my hearing aids is nowhere near as good as through headphones. The hearing aids are set up specifically to make the best of the spoken word.

Paul

I have a Sennheiser RS 120 wireless headset that I wear on my head, and also wear my in-the-ear hearing aids at the same time. I just checked, and I have the Sennheiser audio wires connected to my Comcast RNG150N cablebox. It is connected using the two rca audio-out (red-black) connectors.

The connectors are not the audio-video out that go to the TV, but a separate rca connectors labeled “audio-out”.

By doing this we have complete control of the volume with our TV remotes. And, the Sennheiser/headset volume are completely controlled by the headset controls.

This lets my wife control the TV speaker volume with the TV remotes and I control my headset volume with the controls on the headset.

But, I don’t have any additional stereo equipment connected, so my system is pretty simple. LyleH

Sometimes I put the iPhone right in front of the tv speaker and turn on Live Listen to AirPods, so I can keep listening from the next room.
Got nothing…



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2021 02:49PM by rich in distress.

Years ago, no eons ago, many TVs and radios had two headphone jacks, one cut out the speakers, one did not.

As you were told, this is no longer an option, but it's what you need.

It would be a little pricey, but a TV boffin would be able to modify your headphone jack so that it didn't mute the speakers.

Then you'd have to contend with adjusting volume, and that could be handled by a BT dongle and BT headphones or 'buds, while your wife listened via speakers.

Barring a mod to the TV, what you want could be done with a bit of a kludge (which I'm told doesn't rhyme with fudge).

First thing would be to get a splitter for the Audio Out, 3.5mm would work.

One side would be for your 'phones, wired or a BT dongle, and the other side would go to a set of powered speakers.

This would be an easy DIY, allow independent control of levels, and possibly improve the audio over the TV's built in speakers.

The only potential downside is BT lag, with the audio being slightly delayed behind the video.

This isn't always a problem, and may be moot in many musical programs.

[ edit ] There are extension cables with volume control built-in that would allow control with wired headphones you already have, no BT required.

If your Senns are open-back, you and your wife might get some of the other's audio.

If not, no worries.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2021 04:13PM by RAMd®d.